| Radically visual
Two years ago, Ricardo Viera embraced the idea of an exhibition of snapshots with the typical gusto of a Cuban Falstaff. The director/curator of Lehigh University's galleries and museum operation relished the notion of a show of everything from family pictures to experimental collages. He knew it would neon-light his belief that photography is a level field, that a photograph is a flat world.
Viera made just one major proposal to the exhibit's proponents, Donald Lokuta and Robert Yoskowitz, arts professors and owners of large collections of snapshots. Why not, he suggested, pair pictures by amateurs with pictures of similar subjects by renowned photographers represented in Lehigh's collection? Why not invite visitors to debate who takes, and what makes, a better photo?
Organized by Viera, Lokuta and Yoskowitz, ''Vernacular to the Masters'' is a visual, intellectual hornet's nest.
Green fashions finding a following among designers
At the "aWear: An Eco Fashion Event," an all-day teach-in and celebration of sustainable style held recently at Green City Gallery in Berkeley, designer Kirsten Beneke showed off her dresses made from recycled fabric scraps. To conserve electricity, Beneke didn't use a sewing machine, instead making an elegant pink evening gown by simply cutting the fabric and securing it with a purple sash. Other attendees showed their support for ecological fashion by participating in a clothing swap that featured fuzzy scarves and lots of fluorescent caftans (it was in Berkeley, after all). "I made sure everything I was wearing tonight was sustainable" - as in purchased at thrift stores, said Abraham Kneisley, the gallery's spokesman. Even though "aWear," an event put together by Beneke, was sparsely attended, it points to a growing area of fashion interest among those who aren't just obsessed with having the latest looks from the hottest designers on the pages of glossy magazines.
Grimshaw-Gudewicz Art Gallery explores printmaking
"Printmaking NOW," an invitational exhibition featuring the work of nine regional artists, explores works made using a variety of print processes including lithography (traditional and offset), woodcut, screen-printing, collagraph and letterpress. The nine artists to exhibit include Grace Bentley-Scheck, Stephen Fisher, Jennifer Hughes, Barbara Pagh, Elias Roustom, Anne Tait, Kurt Wisneski, Dan Wood and Pippi Zornoza. Grace Bentley-Scheck Bentley-Scheck's collagraphs are held in a number of public and private collections including Knoxville Museum of Art; Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon; and Bristol Community College. Recent exhibitions include SAGA Exhibition, Prague; a solo exhibition at Hunter Gallery, Middletown, R.I.; and the 20th Parkside National Small Print Exhibition, University of Wisconsin-Parkside, Kenosha, WI.
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