Fall 2019 Exhibition, See. Think. Do! Gallery Guide

A BCA ACTIVITY GUIDE October 18, 2019 – February 8, 2020

Zarina, Spinning House, 2013

Welcome to the BCA Center galleries October 18, 2019 – February 8, 2020 Use this guide to explore the exhibitions on three floors of the BCA Center. You will SEE many different works of art, THINK about how the exhibition themes and ideas connect to our contemporary lives, and DO your own recording and sketching of your ideas.

Exhibiting artists featured in this guide: Anila Quayyum Agha, Leonardo Benzant, MaĂŻmouna Guerresi, Shahzia Sikander, Sandy Sokoloff, Shelley Warren, Zarina, and Travis Shilling.

Transcendent: Spirituality in Contemporary Art Drawing upon diverse artistic and cultural traditions, the artists in Transcendent explore or evoke themes of spirituality through their work. The exhibition aims to connect art and creative practice with the meditative or the sacred.

Travis Shilling: Tyrannosaurus Clan Canadian-Ojibwe artist Travis Shilling explores the connection between the natural world and human civilization. His narrative dreamscape paintings depict scenes where modern humanity meets the realm of animals and animal spirits.

First Floor and Lower Level Galleries

Transcendent: Spirituality in Contemporary Art

Shelley Warren, When Pandit Hats Speak, 2019 (video Still), Lower Level Gallery BCA Center

In Transcendent, a selection of artists from diverse backgrounds create works of art that explore themes of spirituality, human nature, and identity.

To transcend is to go beyond the limits of an idea, a belief, or a barrier.

Art and spirituality have the power to help us transcend our daily lives and ways of thinking. When we view and experience works of art, we may feel emotions, connect with something familiar, or be curious about something new and different.

We are all shaped by where we come from, our family histories and traditions.

The artists in Transcendent investigate this idea through their work, each drawing upon their own cultural, religious, and personal experiences. Their art opens our minds to include a variety of cultures and beliefs in our shared understanding of humanity. Multimedia artist Shelley Warren, for example, combines her studies of Buddhism, an Eastern religion, with her own Western artistic practices and materials found in the natural world. By bringing together various traditions, the artists make connections between different cultures as well as the past and present to reimagine traditional art forms for contemporary times.

Which work of art in the exhibition speaks to you the most? How do you feel when you experience this work of art?

What are your family or cultural traditions? What art forms or creations do you make that are part of those traditions?

What does the word spiritual mean to you?

Find Maïmouna Guerresi’s photographs from her series Aisha in Wonderland in the exhibition in first floor gallery. In each print, notice the character Aisha, her environment, and the use of color and light.

Below, fill in the thought bubble for each print with what the character Aisha may be thinking or feeling.

First Floor and Lower Level Galleries

Transcendent: Spirituality in Contemporary Art

Anila Quayyum Agha, Hidden Diamond, 2019, First Floor Gallery BCA Center

The works exhibited in Transcendent demonstrate a variety of art forms, materials, and artistic styles, including painting, sculpture, video, printmaking, and photography. These artistic forms and processes often involve repeated actions, such as the recitations of prayer, movement, the painting of circles, or the stringing of beads. Many works feature symmetrical designs and patterns. In this way, the action of artmaking can mirror the practice of spirituality, since both incorporate elements of ritual and repetition.

Anila Quayyum Agha’s installation combines sculpture, light, and shadows to produce an interactive work of art. The artist made the suspended cube by creating ornate patterns, inspired by traditional Islamic designs, into steel plates with a laser cutter. The light inside the sculpture casts geometric and organic shapes into the gallery, covering the floor, the walls, and immersing visitors. As you move throughout the space, notice how the pattern warps and changes as it folds over your body, allowing you to participate in the artwork. The other artists in Transcendent create similar transformative effects through their use of color, line, texture, movement, and sound.

How do the artists in Transcendent use different art forms and materials in their works?

What are some rituals you perform regularly? A ritual can be both a cultural practice and an everyday repeated action.

How have the artists used pattern and repetition? What different shapes and designs can you find in the artworks?

Create your own pierced pattern design inspired by Anila Quayyum Agha’s installation in the first floor gallery. Using the paper provided, fold it in half, then, in half again to make a small square. Use the hole punches or the scissors provided to punch or cut a design through the paper. Unfold the square and notice the repeated symmetrical patterns. Hold your creation above the white space below to see the light and shadow design.

Second Floor Gallery

Travis Shilling: Tyrannosaurus Clan

Travis Shilling, Under Water, 2019

Travis Shilling is an artist of Canadian-Ojibwe heritage. His paintings in Tyrannosaurus Clan tell stories, using humans and animal spirits as his cast of characters. The scenes show interactions between humans and nature as well as connections between the past and present.

The artist uses color to symbolize the difference between the spiritual world and the physical world, painting animal spirits in vibrant blues, pinks, and purples, and earthly landscapes in warm tones. Travis completes his artwork in a single overnight sitting, as if he is having a vision he needs to record in paint. Through his paintings, Travis invites us to consider our human relationships with the environment, need for survival, and our ability to adapt to change.

Select your favorite painting in the exhibition. What story do you think is being told in this work?

How has the artist used dark and bright colors in similar ways in his paintings?

What symbols of the spirit world can you find in Travis’s paintings?

What elements symbolize modern life and impact on the environment?

Observe Travis Shilling’s painting Totem in the second floor gallery.

Imagine the story that the work is telling.

Use the drawing space to create a sketch of what you believe would happen next in the story.

GET CREATIVE AND MAKE ART TOGETHER!

Families are invited to drop-in to the BCA Center on each scheduled Saturday of the month to make their own artworks inspired by our current exhibitions.

Each Family Art Saturday offers a different art making project that will ignite the imaginations of your family members!

135 CHURCH STREET, DOWNTOWN BURLINGTON BURLINGTONCITYARTS.ORG

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

OCTOBER 26, 2019 NOVEMBER 23, 2019 JANUARY 25, 2020 11 - 1 PM

Keep on drawing!

In some spiritual traditions or cultures, spirit animals refer to a spirit that helps guide or protect a person or place. Imagine an animal spirit that would guide or protect you. Make a drawing of your animal spirit using colors, shapes, and designs to symbolize its special powers.

Burlington City Arts 135 Church St Burlington VT 05401 BURLINGTONCITYARTS.ORG

See.Think.Do! invites youth and adults to the BCA Center for an interactive arts experience. Visits last approximately 1-2 hours and begin in the gallery with inquiry-based exploration, lively discussion, and active multidisciplinary learning. Programs conclude in the studio classroom, where students create works of art inspired by exhibition themes, materials, and artistic processes.

Youth and adults may also arrange for a guided gallery tour led by the BCA Center curator and gallery staff.

To schedule your visit please contact: Melinda Johns, Gallery Education and Programs Coordinator, at mjohns@burlingtoncityarts.org, or call 802-865-7551.

Visit burlingtoncityarts.org/gallery-education for more information.