RestonArtsCenter
TGIF Free Friday - Feb 4, 2011
GRACE,Exhibitions,Current
document.write(bp['exhibitions']);
Current Exhibition
WINTER FOCUS EXHIBITIONS
January 7 - February 18, 2011
OPENING: January 8, Gallery Talk 5 - 5:30pm, Reception 5:30 - 7:00pm
TRAVIS CHILDERS (UN)NATURAL
Staplerscape, stapler, model material, foam, glue, 3" x 7" x 2", 2010
(UN) NATURAL, Travis
Childers' exhibition of sculpture and installation examines the
meaning of "nature" and how humans manipulate the natural world to
create fabricated environments. In Staplerscape, the artist
covers a stapler with a miniature landscape and examines the idea of
nature taking something back from man. He questions what would happen
if people disappeared from the earth, how soon would nature take
over? As in all of Childers' work, Staplerscape illuminates
an important, current issue through a clever re-purposing of
materials: Pressing on the stapler would destroy a fragile landscape
while posing a larger question: How do everyday actions impact the
global environment?
See a brief video of Travis Childers at GRACE
See the DCist review
ELLEN CORNETT MENAGERIE
The Happy Marriage, pastel on paper, 34" x 26" , 2010
MENAGERIE, Ellen Cornett's series of pastel paintings, explores
contemporary social dilemmas through the world of fairy tales and
animals. Using her impressive drawing facility, the artist
juxtaposes vivid pastel paintings with unsettling content. One of
ten works on exhibit, The Happy Marriage, features two
chickens in a reversal of the usual barnyard pecking order. With
her claws extended, a hen stands on a rooster's back while he
appears bewildered. Cornett is deliberately vague about the meaning
of this work: Is the rooster a hen-pecked husband or is the hen-wife
hanging on for dear life? Either way, it's a wry commentary on
the modern marriage as a complicated balancing act.
Brief video of Ellen Cornett at GRACE
MATT RAVENSTAHL GUILT
Slave Block (stills), digital video, 5 minutes, 2010
Matt Raventstahl's GUILT uses video and sculpture to expose
the internal experience of racism and blaming others. Slave
Block documents the artist wielding a sledgehammer as he attempts
to smash a marble replica of a slave auction block. The video
addresses both the punishing burden of slave labor and the artist's
attempt to free himself from white guilt. In a related installation,
Untitled, the remnants of the marble block have been gathered
into a pile.
Ravenstahl used the same stones in his second video, Throwing
Stones, which explores how guilt often leads to victimization.
The video documents the artist casting stones directly at the viewer.
As the video progresses, a Plexiglas wall separating the artist from
the viewer gradually scars, taking the focus of the camera from
the perpetrator to the wounds.
Brief video of Matt Ravenstahl at GRACE
An interesting article about Matt in the Reston Patch
Education Programs
Adult Programs (Appetite for Art & the hub theatre)
T.G.I.F and InterAct Story Theatre (Families)
Super Studio (Children 6-10)
Weekend Workshops (Children must be accompanied by an adult.)
Press:
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TGIF Free Friday - Feb 4, 2011
GRACE,Exhibitions,Current
document.write(bp['exhibitions']);
Current Exhibition
WINTER FOCUS EXHIBITIONS
January 7 - February 18, 2011
OPENING: January 8, Gallery Talk 5 - 5:30pm, Reception 5:30 - 7:00pm
TRAVIS CHILDERS (UN)NATURAL
Staplerscape, stapler, model material, foam, glue, 3" x 7" x 2", 2010
(UN) NATURAL, Travis
Childers' exhibition of sculpture and installation examines the
meaning of "nature" and how humans manipulate the natural world to
create fabricated environments. In Staplerscape, the artist
covers a stapler with a miniature landscape and examines the idea of
nature taking something back from man. He questions what would happen
if people disappeared from the earth, how soon would nature take
over? As in all of Childers' work, Staplerscape illuminates
an important, current issue through a clever re-purposing of
materials: Pressing on the stapler would destroy a fragile landscape
while posing a larger question: How do everyday actions impact the
global environment?
See a brief video of Travis Childers at GRACE
See the DCist review
ELLEN CORNETT MENAGERIE
The Happy Marriage, pastel on paper, 34" x 26" , 2010
MENAGERIE, Ellen Cornett's series of pastel paintings, explores
contemporary social dilemmas through the world of fairy tales and
animals. Using her impressive drawing facility, the artist
juxtaposes vivid pastel paintings with unsettling content. One of
ten works on exhibit, The Happy Marriage, features two
chickens in a reversal of the usual barnyard pecking order. With
her claws extended, a hen stands on a rooster's back while he
appears bewildered. Cornett is deliberately vague about the meaning
of this work: Is the rooster a hen-pecked husband or is the hen-wife
hanging on for dear life? Either way, it's a wry commentary on
the modern marriage as a complicated balancing act.
Brief video of Ellen Cornett at GRACE
MATT RAVENSTAHL GUILT
Slave Block (stills), digital video, 5 minutes, 2010
Matt Raventstahl's GUILT uses video and sculpture to expose
the internal experience of racism and blaming others. Slave
Block documents the artist wielding a sledgehammer as he attempts
to smash a marble replica of a slave auction block. The video
addresses both the punishing burden of slave labor and the artist's
attempt to free himself from white guilt. In a related installation,
Untitled, the remnants of the marble block have been gathered
into a pile.
Ravenstahl used the same stones in his second video, Throwing
Stones, which explores how guilt often leads to victimization.
The video documents the artist casting stones directly at the viewer.
As the video progresses, a Plexiglas wall separating the artist from
the viewer gradually scars, taking the focus of the camera from
the perpetrator to the wounds.
Brief video of Matt Ravenstahl at GRACE
An interesting article about Matt in the Reston Patch
Education Programs
Adult Programs (Appetite for Art & the hub theatre)
T.G.I.F and InterAct Story Theatre (Families)
Super Studio (Children 6-10)
Weekend Workshops (Children must be accompanied by an adult.)
Press:
document.write(footer);