As the fall semester progresses, the Lafayette College Art Galleries will be presenting a couple of exhibitions. The galleries will display art in a variety of mediums throughout the semester, as the exhibitions will hold a diverse array of pieces.
Starting Sept. 17, the Grossman Gallery will play host to an exhibition by artist Alison Saar entitled “Breach.”
The multimedia exhibition will focus on the relationship of rivers to the African-American experience, focusing on the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927.
According to a press release from the Lafayette College Art Galleries, “Through mixed media sculpture, paintings, and works on paper, [Saar] explores floods not only as natural phenomena; but also the complex interaction of social, cultural, and political factors associated with flooding and its aftermath.” Saar, selected as the 2016-2017 Richard A. and Rissa W. Grossman Artist in Residence, “mines mythology, ritual, history, music, and her biracial heritage as sources for her work.”
“Breach” will include a sculpture of the same name, the largest piece in the exhibition. Standing in excess of 12 feet, this life-size nude female figure is depicted steering a raft with a collection of simple household items – trunks, pots, pans and the like. Additionally, acrylic paintings, charcoal drawings and musical references will also populate the exhibition.
There will also be an abstract dance exploration, done by choreographer Jessica Warchal-King in collaboration with Saar, that pairs with the exhibition. The dance, entitled “Breach: Left Behind”, will take place in the gallery on Sept. 18 and Oct. 1.
The Williams Center Gallery, on the other hand, will be hosting an exhibition entitled “Celebrating 20 years of the Experimental Printmaking Institute, EPI, at Lafayette,” which is an exhibition presented in two parts.
Part one, which examines the period of 1996-2004, will run from Sept. 1 – Oct. 7. Part two, which examines 2005-2016, will run from Oct. 15—Dec. 17.
The Experimental Printmaking Institute (EPI) advocates “for printmaking as an indispensable component of cultural and creative engagement,” according to the Lafayette College Art Gallery’s website. Since it’s founding in 1996, the EPI has introduced “the printmaking medium to students through collaboration, shared artistic visions, intercultural exchange, and multigenerational engagement.”
The exhibition will contain examples from edition prints, monotypes, proofs and studies from 1996 through 2016 from the institute.