BCA CENTER
EXHIBITION
CALENDAR
2018-19
ABOUT BURLINGTON CITY ARTS
Burlington City Arts (BCA) has served the community as a department of the City of Burlington and as an independent nonprofit for over 35 years. BCA's mission is to nurture a dynamic environment through the arts that makes quality experiences accessible to a wide audience. We do this by offering arts education opportunities; serving as the City's cultural planner; fostering partnerships among the arts, education, human service and business communities; and supporting Vermont artists. Through a wide spectrum of accessible educational opportunities for all ages, thought-provoking exhibitions, community-wide events, and cultural planning activities, BCA works to advance the creation of new art. We support systems that develop the critical thinking skills necessary for creativity to flourish across many sectors, and bring people together to celebrate, reflect, and respond to the world. LAST
YEAR: • 21,127 people visited the gallery • 1,092 youth explored exhibitions and the world through our Gallery Education program, See.Think.Do! • 3,616 students of all ages learned in studio workshops, classes and after-school programs in clay, printmaking, photo and visual arts • 5,737 people created art with Art from the Heart, our program at the UVM Medical Center • 200 Burlington elementary youth participated in the annual Children's Art Exhibition • and 71,235 people participated in a range of BCA events, from Festival of Fools to Soundcheck, a partnership with the Young Writer's Project
In 2016, BCA partnered with Americans for the Arts to collect data on the economic impact of arts and culture non-profits in Greater Burlington. The results of the study point out the significant local economic outcomes for investing in the arts. In Greater Burlington, the arts contribute:
• • • •
$95.1 million in direct expenditures by organizations and their audiences 3,671 Full-time-equivalent jobs $2.5 million in revenue to local government $6.6 million in revenue to state government
Learn more about Burlington City Arts and the BCA Center at www.burlingtoncityarts.org.
ABOUT THE BCA CENTER
BCA CENTER STATISTICS • The BCA Center attracted more than 21,127 visitors in 2017 • On average, more than 300 people attend each BCA Center opening reception • Over 2,500 people have attended the free BCA Center public programs in 2017 • Last year the BCA Center education program See.Think. Do! served over 1,092 students
WINTER 2018 EXHIBITION SCHEDULE
Dusty Boynton: From Within January 19 - April 7, 2018 1st Floor, BCA Center Artist Reception: Friday, January 19 • 6-8 p.m.
Dusty Boynton, Odd Lot, 2014, mixed media, courtesy of the artist and Denise Bibro Fine Art
Dusty Boynton merges memory and personal experience to create works that are seemingly child-like in appearance but sophisticated in gesture and expression. Drawing from her subconscious world, the artist’s cast of characters rejects conventional representation and inhabit a fantasy world of their own. Boynton’s expressive brushstrokes, vibrant color palette, and supernatural imagery give her compositions carefree and imaginative innocence. From Within includes large-scale paintings and monoprints created by Boynton over the past decade. From Within courtesy of the artist and Denise Bibro Fine Art.
Edwin Owre: New Constructions January 19 - April 7, 2018 Roth Gallery, 2nd Floor, BCA Center Artist Reception: Friday, January 19 • 6-8 p.m.
Edwin Owre, Fleurs du Mal, 2016, polychrome wood and paper
With an artistic career spanning more than five decades, artist and educator Edwin Owre works continuously in his Grand Isle studio creating colorful “constructions” that explore the possibilities of drawing and gesture through abstract sculpture. Referencing the sensibilities of the innovative American art movements of the 1960s and 70s, while embracing contemporary expressions of mark-making, Owre creates work that is exciting, immediate, and most importantly formative to a generation of Vermont-based contemporary artists. Edwin Owre: New Constructions is presented in part by The Mollie Ruprecht Fund for Visual Art, The UVM Department of Art and Art History, and the Humanities Center, University of Vermont. Special thanks to the Edwin Owre Advisory Committee: Patty Corcoran, Cameron Davis, Bill Davison, Leslie Fry, Melinda Johns, Bill Lipke, David Sellers, Andrea Rosen, Kathleen Schneider, and Frank Owen
WINTER 2018 EXHIBITION SCHEDULE
Elise Whittemore: One by One January 19 - April 7, 2018 Fourth Floor, BCA Center Artist Reception: Friday, January 19 • 6-8 p.m. In her beautifully designed prints, Elise Whittemore is drawn to the physical process of art-making and how it challenges her to pursue the different ways in which hand and material create meaning together. Using pattern to develop a narrative, Whittemore explores the physicality of printmaking as well as formal constructs that are intrinsic to the natural world. Elise Whittemore is the recipient of the 2017 Barbara Smail Award. Elise Whittemore, Specimen Book 5, 2017, woodblock print on fabric (detail)
WINTER 2018 PUBLIC PROGRAMS January Exhibitions Opening Reception Friday, January 19, 2018 • 6-8 p.m. BCA Center, First, Second, and Fourth Floor Please join us for the Opening Reception for three new contemporary exhibitions featuring the work of Vermont-based artists Dusty Boynton, Edwin Owre, and Elise Whitemore (the 2017 Barbara Smail Award winter). During the evening, BCA will announce the winner of the Barbara Smail Award for 2018.
A Conversation with Edwin Owre Tuesday, January 30, 2018 • 6-7:30 p.m. 301 Williams Hall, University of Vermont Artist and art educator, Edwin Owre, will discuss his exhibition of recent abstract "constructions" that explore the possibilities of drawing and the gesture in conversation with fellow UVM Professor Emeritus, Bill Lipke. A public reception will follow. Edwin Owre: New Constructions is presented in part by the The Mollie Ruprecht Fund for Visual Art, The UVM Department of Art and Art History, and the Humanities Center, University of Vermont.
Artist at Work: Dusty Boynton Thursday, March 15 • 6-7:30 p.m. BCA Center invites you to join artist Dusty Boynton for the next Artist at Work series. The two-part program features a gallery talk on Boynton’s current exhibition of paintings and monoprints followed by an interview-format discussion on her evolution and insights as a professional artist. Family Art Saturday
Saturday, January 20 • 11-1 p.m. Saturday, February 17 • 11-1 p.m. Saturday, March 17 • 11-1 p.m. BCA Center, Third Floor Get creative and make art together! Families are invited to drop-in to the BCA Center and enjoy an art activity inspired by our current exhibitions. BCA will offer a different art-making project each scheduled Saturday that will ignite the imaginations of kids and adults.
All programs are free and open to the public.
Art Talk: Elise Whittemore Thursday, February 22, 2017 • 6-7:30 p.m. Elise Whittemore discusses her new body of work created for One by One focused on printmaking multiples, books, and installation developed over the course of the past year as part of the 2017 Barbara Smail Award.
SPRING 2018 EXHIBITION SCHEDULE
Vox Populi April 13 – June 10, 2018 1st floor, BCA Center Artist Reception: Friday, April 13 • 6-8 p.m.
Misoo Filan, Giant Asian Girls #4, 2017, acrylic paint and collage on panel
How can we capture the mood of a nation and reflect on the current state of American culture through portraiture? In contemporary art, there is an ongoing trend in evocative portraiture that questions, probes, and evokes larger ideas of identity and culture. Whether seen in current events, or with the swell of populism that informs today’s American sentiment, people – their beliefs, opinions, and rhetoric – have become polarized, and differences pronounced. Vox Populi (or voice of the people) aims to capture the character and inner psyche of people through contemporary portraiture, who, despite sharing divergent perspectives and views, find commonality through our shared image. Vox Populi features recent painting and sculpture by six Vermont-based artists: Catherine Hall, Misoo Filan, Harlan Mack, Nathaniel Moody, Ross Sheehan, and Susan Wilson.
From Across the Distance: Select Video Works from the Barjeel Art Foundation April 13 – June 10, 2018 Roth Gallery, 2nd Floor, BCA Center Artist Reception: Friday, April 13 • 6-8 p.m.
Adel Abidin, Memorial, 2009, video still
From Across the Distance provides a glimpse into thought-provoking artistic practices of the Arab world today and features the work of London-based Palestinian artist Larissa Sansour, Iraqi-Finnish artist Adel Abidin, and Jordanian-born artist Lawrence Abu Hamdan. Each of these artists shares a portrait of urban capitals imagined during a past, present, or future moment of political and social instability. Although rooted in distinct local histories and contemporary political landscapes, the three videos speak to broader global concerns of collectivity, censorship, and the possibility of co-existent national identities. From Across the Distance features, contemporary video works from the Barjeel Art Foundation, a museum and cultural institution located in the United Arab Emirates, and one of the most essential and comprehensive resources of modern contemporary art from the Arab world. From Across the Distance is guest curated by Dr. Sarah Rogers and courtesy of the Barjeel Art Foundation, UAE.
SPRING 2018 PUBLIC PROGRAMS Spring Exhibitions Artist Reception
Artist Panel: Portraits and Society
Friday, April 13, 2018 • 6-8 p.m. Sponsor Preview: 5-6 p.m. BCA Center, First and Second Floor
Thursday, May 10, 2018 • 6-7:30 p.m. Join several of Vox Populai’s exhibiting artists and BCA Curator Heather Ferrell to discuss the role and rise of portraiture in contemporary art practice and society.
Guest Curator Talk: Dr. Sarah Rogers Tuesday, April 17, 2018 • 6-7:30 p.m. Dr. Sarah Rogers reveals insights about the artists Adel Abidin, Lawrence Abu Hamdan, and Larissa Sansour featured in Across the Distance. She will discuss contemporary artistic practice in the Arab World and the important role of the Barjeel Art Foundation’s collection.
Family Art Saturday Third Saturday of Each Month BCA Center, Third Floor Saturday, April 21 • 11-1 p.m. Saturday, May 1 • 11-1 p.m. All programs are free and open to the public.
SUMMER 2018 EXHIBITION SCHEDULE
Project Vermont: Nicole Czapinski June 15 – August 5, 2018 Roth Gallery, 2nd Floor, BCA Center Artist Reception: Friday, June 29 • 6-8 p.m.
Nicole Czapinski, Suspend, 2016, thread, fabric, wood
Nicole Czapinski explores illusions within perception, the mystery of consciousness, and is inspired by the invisible and unknown. By employing the simplest of materials, she examines the micro and macro aspects of our awareness – from the interior elusiveness of consciousness to the enormity of an expanding universe. Her work is comprised of framed shapes “drawn” with colored thread that appear suspended in space. For Project Vermont, the artist will activate her work by creating a series of frozen sculptures, and a more extensive wall installation of thread that will be periodically reconfigured by Czapinski throughout the show. Project Vermont is a new series dedicated to experimentation and providing a setting for contemporary Vermont artists to push their artistic practice while creating new work. Presenting visual, performance, and interdisciplinary exploration from emerging to established artists, Project Vermont supports artists’ exploration of new ideas and challenges, enables innovation, and creates engagement between audience and artist.
Artist’s Artists: The Way You Look Tim Simonds and Ashish Avikunthak August 10 – October 7, 2018 Roth Gallery, 2nd Floor, BCA Center Artist Reception: Friday, August 10 • 6-8 p.m.
Tim Simonds, Danny (leave in), 2014, installation
In this inaugural installment of the Artist’s Artist series, Vermont-based artist and guest curator Pete Moran contrasts the stark and intense work of filmmaker Ashish Avikunthak with an intimate and subtle installation by Tim Simonds. The light from Avikunthak’s early films from India spills off the screen into the pink and white world of Simond’s wall to wall carpet, bleached vegetables, and stainless steel. The emotional intensity in Avikunthak’s films placed alongside Simond’s unnatural installation, leaves us to wonder not only how we look at art, but how we view the world. The Artist’s Artist series offers insights into contemporary art and artists by inviting Vermont artists to guest curate intriguing and challenging work that has influenced their creative practice.
SUMMER 2018 EXHIBITION SCHEDULE Crystal Wagner: Fractal Nature June 29 – October 7, 2018 1st floor, BCA Center and exterior facade Artist Reception: Friday, June 29 • 6-8 p.m.
Crystal Wagner, Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA, 2016, bday party table cloth, chicken wire, 60x15x40’, install view
Multi-disciplinary artist Crystal Wagner transforms organic and biomorphic designs into colorful prints, wall sculptures, and sprawling installations. Her two and three-dimensional work boasts loud neon hues consisting of distinctive, intricate circular patterns suggestive of the natural world. The artist incorporates prints and alternative materials, such as disposable tablecloths, to create textural pieces that are as expansive as they are voluminous. Wagner will create a site-specific installation in BCA’s first-floor gallery that grows from floor to ceiling and emerges from the Art Center’s gallery to meander across the exterior façade.
SUMMER 2018 PUBLIC PROGRAMS Summer Exhibitions Artist Reception Friday, June 29, 2018 • 6-8 p.m. Sponsor Preview: 5-6 p.m. BCA Center, First and Second Floor
Artist Talk: Nicole Czapinski Thursday, July 26, 2018 • 6–7:30 p.m. Artist Nicole Czapinski discusses her Project Vermont exhibition and reflect on how her artistic practice as evolved over the past year.
Artist at Work: Crystal Wagoner Tuesday, September 18, 2018 • 6–7:30 p.m. Artist Crystal Wagoner reveals the evolution of her large-scale installation featured in and out front of the BCA Center first floor gallery, and offer insights into pursuing gallery representation and art commissions.
Family Art Saturday Third Saturday of Each Month BCA Center, Third Floor Saturday, June 16 • 11-1 p.m. Saturday, July 21 • 11-1 p.m. Saturday, August 18 • 11-1 p.m. All programs are free and open to the public.
FALL 2018 EXHIBITION SCHEDULE
Tectonic Industries: Dreams Can Come True (If It’s Not Working For You, You’re Not Doing It Right) October 19 – January 12, 2019 1st floor, BCA Center Artist Reception: Friday, October 19 • 6-8 p.m.
Techtonic Industries, If I Knew Where I Was I Wouldn’t Have To Ask, 2011, dingy, glitter ball, constellation lightboxes
Tectonic Industries is a collaborative art partnership based in Portland, Maine and comprised of Danish artist Lars Boye Jerlach and British artist Helen Stringfellow. Through sculpture, wall mounted instructional videos, physical surveys, and interactive creative activities that engage visitors; Tectonic Industries examine the artifice inherent within the creation of the modern myths and belief systems in popular culture. In Dreams Can Come True, the artists present a series of self-help questionnaires that look to address and solve visitor’s most pressing problems, and thus help them to begin living the “life of their dreams.” Guided by a series of instructions, visitors navigate the installation in search of self-actualization which can be manifested in an interactive model they can build or leave in the gallery. Interactive and engaging, while balancing wry amusement with philosophical reflection, Dreams Can Come True, explores the impossibility of our collective endless search for concrete answers and endeavor for self-improvement.
Project VT: Pauline Jennings’ Becoming Human October 19 – January 12, 2019 Roth, 2nd Floor, BCA Center Artist Reception: Friday, October 19 • 6-8 p.m.
Pauline Jennings, Mutable Spirals of Ascension, 2018, video still
In this “dance for camera work” by contemporary choreographer Pauline Jennings, we follow two dancers in their search for interdependent Mutable Spirals of Ascension. Ascension – an awareness of interconnected movements of body, mind, breath, and air – occurs when remaining open to the inherent wild of the natural world. Featuring original choreography, film making, and sound design, Pauline Jennings’ Becoming Human consists of interwoven, site-specific dances filmed in Shanghai, China and Burlington, Vermont, which explore the sensuous ‘wild’ through an intimate, symbolic journey. Project Vermont is a new series dedicated to experimentation and providing a setting for contemporary Vermont artists to push their artistic practice while creating new work. Presenting visual, performance, and interdisciplinary exploration from emerging to established artists, Project Vermont supports artists’ exploration of new ideas and challenges, enables innovation, and creates engagement between audience and artist.
FALL 2018 PUBLIC PROGRAMS Guest Curator Talk: Pete Moran Thursday, October 4, 2017 • 6-7:30 p.m. Guest Curator and Vermont-based artist Pete Moran discusses his selection of Tim Simonds and Ashish Avikunthak for BCA’s first Artist’s Artists series installment. Moran will explore how these artists’ work help us view art and the world in a new way.
Fall Exhibitions Artist Reception
Friday, October 19, 2018 • 6-8 p.m. Sponsor Preview: 5-6 p.m. BCA Center, First, Second, Fourth Floor
Artist at Work: Lars Jerlach and Helen Stringfellow Thursday, November 8, 2018 • 6-7:30 p.m. Join collaborative partners Lars Jerlach and Helen Stringfellow, who comprise Tectonic Industries, in a conversation about their original installation for the BCA Center, Dreams Can Come True. Jerlach and Stringfellow share their artistic practice and exhibition history that has spanned three continents and nearly two decades.
Artist Talk: Pauline Jennings’ Becoming Human Thursday, November 29, 2018 • 6-7:30 p.m. Artist Pauline Jennings discusses her newest interdisciplinary project that ties together choreography, film making, and sound design into a “dance for camera work” exploring the sensuous ‘wild’ in urban spaces.
Family Art Saturday Third Saturday of Each Month BCA Center, Third Floor Saturday, September 15 • 11-1 p.m. Saturday, October 20 • 11-1 p.m. Saturday, November 17 • 11-1 p.m. Saturday, December 15 • 11-1 p.m. All programs are free and open to the public.
WINTER 2019 EXHIBITION SCHEDULE Project VT: Rebecca Weisman’s Skin Ego January 26 – April 6, 2019 1st floor, BCA Center Artist Reception: Friday, January 26 • 6-8 p.m.
Rebecca Weisman, Untitled Film Still from Pink on Pink2, 2017, Archival Pigment Print
Rebecca Weisman examines the subconscious and psychological spaces of identity. The artist combines video, installation, sound, sculpture, and photography to create a large-scale, immersive installation in the first-floor gallery. Skin Ego is comprised of several narrative threads that weave a story about the body’s corporeal nature. A central component of Skin Ego is the large-scale, eight by twenty foot sculptural recreation of a beached whale. Incorporating film and performance within her surreal environment, the artist spins a mysterious narrative between the fisherman and whale that expresses the nature of our impermanence. Project Vermont is a new series dedicated to experimentation and providing a setting for contemporary Vermont artists to push their artistic practice while creating new work. Presenting visual, performance, and interdisciplinary exploration from emerging to established artists, Project Vermont supports artists’ exploration of new ideas and challenges, enables innovation, and creates engagement between audience and artist.
Imperfect Societies January 26 – April 6, 2019 Roth, 2nd Floor, BCA Center Artist Reception: Friday, January 26 • 6-8 p.m.
Tuan Andrew Nguyen, The Island, 2017, video still
Featuring film and photography, Imperfect Societies probes themes of history, trauma, and nationhood set within the tropes of science fiction. In Icarus 13: The First Journey to the Sun, Kiluanji Kia Henda plunges viewers into parallel traditions at pivotal movements in Angolan history, from the politics of Marxism-Leninism to the practice of witchcraft, as told within sci-fi narratives of the Cold War. Henda employs a sense of humor and criticality in his videos and photography, which often investigates themes of identity, politics, and perceptions of post-colonialism and modernism in Africa. Vietnamese-born artist Tuan Andrew Nguyen’s work questions the individual’s relationship to history, nationhood, and cultural displacement. In Nguyen’s short film The Island, shot on the Malaysian island Pulau Bidong (once the largest and longest-operating refugee camp after the Vietnam War that also housed Nguyen and his family) we encounter a dystopian future focused on the last two people on earth.
WINTER 2019 PUBLIC PROGRAMS Winter Exhibitions Artist Reception
Family Art Saturday
Friday, January 26, 2019 • 6-8 p.m. Sponsor Preview: 5-6 p.m. BCA Center, First, Second, Fourth Floor
Third Saturday of Each Month BCA Center, Third Floor Saturday, January 19 • 11-1 p.m. Saturday, February 16 • 11-1 p.m. Saturday, March 16 • 11-1 p.m.
Curator Talk: Heather Ferrell Thursday, February 7, 2019 • 6-7:30 p.m. BCA Curator Heather Ferrell discusses the work of Angolan artist Kiluanji Kia Henda and Vietnamese artist Tuan Andrew Nguyen featured in Imperfect Societies.
Artist Talk: Rebecca Weisman Thursday, March 7, 2019 • 6-7:30 p.m. Artist Rebecca Weisman discusses her original large-scale, immersive installation for the BCA Center, Skin Ego. Incorporating film and performance, Weisman spins a mysterious narrative expressing the nature of our impermanence.
All programs are free and open to the public.