Conant & Williams Galleries
Housed in the Richardson-Mees Performing Arts Center, the Conant Gallery is host to three exhibits during each academic year. Those artists whose work is shown in the gallery typically serve for a day as an artist-in-residence, meeting with students and teaching classes following the opening of their exhbit. Recent exhibits have included photography, paper sculptures, paintings and charcoal sketches of Abraham Lincoln and the conspirators, and faculty work. A result of the renovations of the Ferguson Building, completed in 2007, the new and more spacious Conant Gallery opened with an exhibit of 17th- and 18th-century oil paintings.
Located in the adjacent Williams Arts Center in the Gray Building, the Williams Gallery is the site used to exhibit student work at the end of each trimester. Each exhibit opening includes refreshments, performances by student musicians, and is followed by the first dance performances. Students studying theatre indpendently may also perform in the nearby Recital Hall, which seats approximately 100.
Now in Conant Gallery
In The Williams Gallery
Opening on Thursday, February 23rd at 6:00 PM, the winter trimester student art show will feature the work of over 100 students enrolled in the Ninth Grade Program, Honors Visual Arts, and classes in Photography.
Please plan to attend the opening to enjoy the art, the refreshments, and the performances by students in Theatre Workshop and Physical Theatre. Following the opening will be the winter dance performance.
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Recent Conant Gallery Exhibits
“There is, it seems, just a possibility that a solution to capitalismʼs problem lies in some promised land or other space beyond the horizon.” David Harvey, Spaces of Hope
The concept of space is a slippery fish. As digital technologies continue to erode the boundaries between physical spaces and virtual ones, defining examples of either as separate and autonomous entities is becoming exceedingly difficult. Historically, space in the physical world has been shaped by geography and architecture (or lack there of), as well as the myriad of cultural differences that influence our notion of otherness. On the other hand, the virtual world is still in its infancy, with little or no defining structures or specific points of reference. It is a digital nebula from which new worlds, systems of governance, language and ontologies emerge and disintegrate at fiber optic speed. Although this new space is only a few human generations old it has asserted itself with such vigor that it is now nearly impossible to imagine a world without digital influence as smart phones, Facebook, Twitter, Google, streaming video, digital gaming, etc. have become inextricably entwined with everyday life. As such the idea of space, as a comprehensive concept, now exists in a perpetual state of flux.
Michael Demers alludes to the rapidly evaporating physical/virtual dichotomy with the title for this exhibition, post_space. By way of the title and his selection of works for this exhibition, Demers suggests that we are now living in a post-space era; a time in which the concept of space as we once knew it is being so drastically redefined that a schism has developed between the denotative value of the word “space” and any connotative evocations generated by this new site of exchange. In other words, “space” is simply inadequate for defining the amalgamated realm of the physical and virtual. But, like many artistic or philosophical movements that are defined by associations, similarities, or reactions to their predecessors, the inclusion of the antecedentʼs name is useful: Post-Impressionist, Post-Minimalist, Post-Modern, etc. Therefore, Demersʻ term “post_space” is effective in drawing upon what space once was without trying to hang a label on what it is becoming. His subtle gesture of using an underscore rather than a hyphen also speaks to the power of digital technology as an instrument of change.
Tommy Freeman
An exhibit of works created between 2006 and 2008 by Joshua Baptista opened on September 18, 2009, in the Conant Gallery in the Richardson-Mees Performing Arts Center.
Mr. Baptista attended the Accademia di Belle Arte in Viterbo, Italy, in 1998 before earning a bachelor's degree in art from the Montserrat College of Art. In 2005, he attended the Massachusetts College of Art, and in 2009 he earned a master's of fine arts from American University. He is also a graduate of Stoughton High School.
This year, his work has been exhibited by Enclave Arts and the Katzen Museum, both located in Washington, D.C., as well as RFD Gallery in Swainsboro, Georgia. In 2008, his work appeared in four different shows; seven different publications, including Juxtapose Magazine; and it is included in two permanent collections. Mr. Baptista's work has earned him three different awards, including an Award of Excellence from Montserrat College of Art in 1998.
View some of Mr. Baptista's work online at his own Web site and view photos from his opening at Lawrence Academy.
View more of Ms. La Force's work at www.heatherlaforce.com
View more of Mr. Ragouzeos's work at www. leonardragouzeos.com
