Unprecedented?, BCA Center installation view, 2020
Eve NSteve
A RTIST FOCU S
A Wonderful Plague, 2020 In-camera collage on film Pigment on Japanese Kinwashi paper with hand-written text 6 panels, unique one of one 21.5" x 75.5" (each panel), 144" x 75.5" (overall size) Price Available Upon Request
On March 17th, 2020, fear about the COVID-19 virus in America was reaching a fever pitch; schools and businesses everywhere were closing. It was in this atmosphere that we made the decision to begin an artwork about the history of pandemics. In the space of 24 hours, Stephen traveled from Vermont to Provincetown, Massachusetts and back to find and photograph the Smallpox cemetery he had heard rumors about. Eve then researched the long history of plagues and their intersection in this geographic area, selecting quotations, anecdotes, and myths that pointed to recurrent themes. The resulting imagery and text formed the basis for A Wonderful Plague, an artwork in six panels. A Wonderful Plague traverses a wide history, from the 400th anniversary of the landing of the Mayflower, the shunning of Smallpox victims, and the “hidden” pandemics of HIV and AIDS, to the legends of Saint Corona and Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Native American saint. Man always looks for meaning in times of crisis. Who controls the narrative of disease? Who decides the meaning of a pandemic? - EveNSteve
A Wonderful Plague was created by creative team of artist Stephen M. Schaub (b. 1970, Toledo, OH) and author Eve O. Schaub (b. 1970, Boston, MA) in direct response to the COVID 19 pandemic in the months of March and April of 2020. Six panels pair text with photographic imagery from Provincetown, Massachusetts—a site repeatedly afflicted by pandemics of history, from smallpox and leptospirosis brought by the earliest European traders and fishermen, to the “hidden” pandemic of HIV/AIDS that hit communities like Provincetown especially hard, to the Coronavirus of today. Hand-inscribed over and around the images are quotes, statistics, comments, facts and myths, exploring the intersection of crisis, disease, and power. A Wonderful Plague lists 146,000 deaths within the United States due to the Coronavirus, serving as a time stamp for the creation of the work (as of Oct. 21 the American death toll stood at 222,000). The title A Wonderful Plague comes to us from a phrase found in the 1620 charter of New England, pointing to the idea that a divine hand had removed the native inhabitants through plague deliberately, in preparation for the arrival of the pilgrims.
The Home Of My Choice, 2020 In-Camera Collage on Film Pigment on hand-made Amate paper with hand-written text 9 panels, unique one of one 17.5" x 47.5" (each panel), 181.5" x 47.5" (overall size) Price Available Upon Request The case of Alexander Twilight is an important one. By any measure Twilight was a remarkable figure. Also remarkable is the manner in which his identity has morphed and shifted over time as history has changed around him, moving through different times and different agendas, being constructed and re-constructed. Even Twilight’s race changes depending on who is telling the story, and what they are seeking from his legacy. Because so many details and facts have been lost to history, we are left free to fill in his picture in an image that suits us. And leaving the image unresolved does not appear to be an option: at various times society has categorized him as Black, white, “swarthy,” “Negro,” mixed race, African American, or “passing.” Has any other Vermont historical figure been subject to such racial interrogation? And what gives us that right? We would like to celebrate the figure of Twilight, the man, discuss his fascinating achievements and legacy, but simultaneously acknowledge that to do so—as white artists, in an overwhelmingly white state—is fraught and complex. History is always more complicated than it first appears. What does it mean to the reputation of a famously progressive state to have such complexities brought to light? September 23, 2020 was Alexander Twilight Day in Vermont, and rightfully so. We can never know what Twilight would have made of being celebrated for the achievement of being the first “African American college graduate,” when it seems clear he “neither embraced nor rejected his racial identity.”1
More importantly, what does our celebration of Twilight say about us as Vermonters? - EveNSteve
1. Professor Bill Hart, as quoted in Revisiting Middlebury’s Racial History by Conor Grant, Mar 19, 2014
The Home of My Choice is titled after one of the only known non-sermon quotes from Alexander Twilight (1795-1857), a Vermont educator, minister, and politician reputed to be the first African American to graduate college in the United States. He speaks of his return to the Vermont town of Brownington, where he was a beloved teacher and mentor to thousands of students over the course of his lifetime. The nine panels depict the Brownington Village historic district and surrounding landscape, including the Old Stone House Museum. Hand-inscribed over and around the imagery are dates and descriptions of notable facts or events from Twilight’s lifetime and after it, as well as quotes pertaining to the various interpretations of his life and legacy.
Commentary
EveNSteve The Home of My Choice The Home of My Choice offers an excellent opportunity to engage in conversation around race in Vermont...the popular perception as well as the truth. It is an opportunity to open the eyes to current events and engage the mind as to how historically we got to this point. As an educator, that would please Alexander Lucius Twilight. “I will devote myself to the interests of education.” Information about his race is inexact but there is no ambiguity about the importance of education in his life and the courage of the man’s conviction. His individual story is historically significant. The title, The Home of My Choice, engages in a visceral way as Vermont is indeed “the home of my choice” embodying who I am, was and hope to be. It is the personal sense of place that gives meaning to my physical location. Is there a better expression of freedom than to choose the place you call home? Alexander Twilight chose to spend his exemplary life in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. That choice presents a unique opportunity to continue his legacy of education in this “pivotal moment in history.” Thank you Eve and Steve for your insightful artwork. Carmen Jackson President, Board of Trustees, Old Stone House Museum Brownington, VT
Biographies EveNSteve is the creative team of artist Stephen M. Schaub (b. 1970, Toledo, OH) and author Eve O. Schaub (b. 1970, Boston, MA). In 2019 they formed EveNSteve and began collaborating on a series of artworks that combine photographic imagery and handwritten text. Stephen Schaub is a Marine Corps Veteran who served in Operation Desert Shield / Desert Storm and a recipient of the Navy Achievement Medal, who went on to earn his BFA from the Rochester Institute of Technology in 1996. His photography explores fragmented states of memory and the passage of time, created through specialized in-camera and darkroom processes, and printed on rare and handmade papers from around the world. Schaub’s work has been shown both regionally and internationally including exhibitions at the Kent Museum, the Bennington Museum; X Edition, Singapore and Espace Bergger, Paris; the San Francisco and Palm Springs Art Fairs; and Kolaj Fest, New Orleans. Eve Schaub received her BA and BFA from Cornell University in 1993, and an MFA from Rochester Institute of Technology in 1997. Her memoir, Year of No Sugar, was published in 2014 and has been translated into Chinese, Hebrew and Spanish, followed by her second book Year of No Clutter in 2017. She has been a guest on the Dr. Oz Show and FOX and Friends, and has appeared in numerous print and online outlets. Currently she is at work on a third memoir, Year of No Garbage. EveNSteve has been awarded grants from the Vermont Arts Council and the Vermont Community Foundation. They currently live in Pawlet, Vermont with their family.
According to Carmen Jackson, “Life’s adventures and challenges directed me and my husband, Dixon, to the Northeast Kingdom in the early 1970’s. An early mid-life retirement resulted in our making a home and a way of life that sustains in mind, body and soul to this day.” Jackson currently serves as the President, Board of Trustees, for the Old Stone House Museum, in Brownington, Vermont, where on September 23, 2020 she helped lead the museum’s celebration of the 225th anniversary of Alexander Twilight’s birth—a date to be celebrated annually as Alexander Twilight Day in Vermont.
Participating Artists Jeremy Ayers, Becci Davis, Lillie Harris, Akiko Jackson, Brielle Rovito, EveNSteve (Eve and Steve Schaub), Dan Siegel, and Sarah Camille Wilson Community Contributors Tyeastia Green, Elizabeth Goldstein, Carmen Jackson, Milton Rosa-Ortiz, and Tamara Waraschinski
Unprecedented? is presented as part of 2020 Vision: Reflecting on a World-Changing Year, a statewide exhibition initiative of the Vermont Curators Group.
Burlington City Arts is supported by the New England Foundation for the Arts through the New England Arts Resilience Fund, part of the United States Regional Arts Resilience Fund, an initiative of the U.S. Regional Arts Organizations and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, with major funding from the federal CARES Act from the National Endowment for the Arts.
2020 EXHIBITION YEAR PRESENTED BY
BCA Exhibitions are funded in part by a grant from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Vermont Arts Council.
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