curatorial project

for well over a year, fellow artists, kelsey dalton, erin algiere and i have been creating, producing and curating upcoming group exhibit "So, I Work in an Art Museum", a show about artists who work in art museums across the front range. i am proud and excited to have been a part of the production and curation of this unique exhibit that is close to my heart.

PRESS RELEASE

Artists who work in art museums explore their experiences in So, I Work in an Art Museum at RedLine, on view from November 12 through December 4, 2011. This group exhibition, featuring eight artists working in five art museums across the Front Range area, provides a critical look at the influence(s) that working at an art museum has had on their creative development and production of art. Various media are employed in an effort to address this complex relationship, including painting, photography, ceramics, animation and multimedia installations.

The works created for this show reflect personal experiences, yet when shown together, they form a collective and critical voice from artists who share an intimate connection with the formal art institution. “Each of the eight exhibiting artists address a shared aspect of what is like to be an artist working in art museum”, co-producer Sandra Fettingis explains. For example, ceramicist and Center for Visual Arts administrative assistant Jenny Pokorny reappropriates the mundane instructional manuals she routinely refers to for her job into high art objects; by slip-firing and displaying these manuals as a ceramic library, Pokorny’s work both friezes and marries the relationship between back-of-house production and front-of-house product. Alternatively, by drawing on his personal experience as Denver Art Museum employee, Jon Geiger explores the inspiration he found in the Alvise Vivarini painting of St. Jerome featured during the Cities of Splendor exhibition. Playing on the shifts of scale and structure in the Vivarini painting, Geiger’s large floor installation merges Renaissance vernaculars with contemporary art practices. Additionally, artists Erin Algiere, Amelia Carley, Dalton & McClellan, Harold, Keith Jenstzch and Jen Schneider present alternative perspectives on their experience working both inside – and outside – the institutional structure of the museum.

The exhibition was born out of a series of conversations between three local Denver artists, Erin Algiere, Kelsey Dalton and Sandra Fettingis, about the various influences that working in an art museum has had on their artistic careers. “We talked about large influences, like how I wouldn’t have become a photographer without having worked at MCA Denver, to the almost unnoticeable differences in a shifts in our vocabulary when talking about art and artistic processes,” comments co-producer Erin Algiere. Curious about other artists’ perspectives, the three approached over twenty local art museums, inviting artists to submit work that explored themes of personal influence, identity and observation. Creative Director Kelsey Dalton explains, “We designed So, I Work in an Art Museum to reveal a different type of artist working within the art world, one who has an intimate viewpoint of the art museum.”

Exhibiting Artists:
Erin Algiere
Amelia Carley
Dalton & McClellan
Jon P. Geiger
Harold
Keith Jenstzch
Jennifer Pokorny
Jen Schneider

RedLine hosts this show in their Community Gallery, which is free (donations welcomed) and open to the public Tuesday – Friday, 10am – 5pm and Saturdays and Sundays 11am – 5pm. RedLine: (303) 296-4448

Postcard Design: Alex Stephens