Event Title
Installation, Process and Method: Martha Whittington’s Shift Split at Blackbridge Hall Art Gallery
Faculty Mentor
Carlos Herrera
Keywords
Carlos Herrera
Abstract
Shift Split, the 2014 exhibition of work by Atlanta artist Martha Whittington, which I curated for Blackbridge Hall Art Gallery at Georgia College, comprised a large room for a site-specific installation and a smaller room for the artist’s preliminary investigations, studies, and maquettes made during the course of the research, development, and creation of the exhibition. The latter offered a more intimate examination of the work as a result of the artist’s approach to art making infused into the space; the former contained individual sculptural objects, assembled into the likeness of a campsite composed of early tools and a premature form of shelter. Whittington’s construction created a tension between the industrial materials and the primeval environment. These sculptures evoke the evolving history and physicality of manual labor. In this presentation I will address not only the role of site-specific installation work within contemporary art, but also the importance of the dialogue between the artist and curator. In Shift Split, the fusion of two different visions – of artist and curator – culminated in two rooms that each reflected our respective visions while at the same time emphasizing a common theme of labor. As curator, I underscored the functionality of the artist’s sculptural works in their materials and construction through their arrangement and display in the galleries. I sought to call attention to their transformations during the progression of work, which alters their functionality, to signify the importance of the entire creative process in Whittington’s works of art.
Session Name:
Finally!: Let's Talk Process
Start Date
4-4-2014 1:15 PM
End Date
4-4-2014 2:15 PM
Location
HSB 202
Installation, Process and Method: Martha Whittington’s Shift Split at Blackbridge Hall Art Gallery
HSB 202
Shift Split, the 2014 exhibition of work by Atlanta artist Martha Whittington, which I curated for Blackbridge Hall Art Gallery at Georgia College, comprised a large room for a site-specific installation and a smaller room for the artist’s preliminary investigations, studies, and maquettes made during the course of the research, development, and creation of the exhibition. The latter offered a more intimate examination of the work as a result of the artist’s approach to art making infused into the space; the former contained individual sculptural objects, assembled into the likeness of a campsite composed of early tools and a premature form of shelter. Whittington’s construction created a tension between the industrial materials and the primeval environment. These sculptures evoke the evolving history and physicality of manual labor. In this presentation I will address not only the role of site-specific installation work within contemporary art, but also the importance of the dialogue between the artist and curator. In Shift Split, the fusion of two different visions – of artist and curator – culminated in two rooms that each reflected our respective visions while at the same time emphasizing a common theme of labor. As curator, I underscored the functionality of the artist’s sculptural works in their materials and construction through their arrangement and display in the galleries. I sought to call attention to their transformations during the progression of work, which alters their functionality, to signify the importance of the entire creative process in Whittington’s works of art.