Tuesday, January 20, 2015

The Mountain and the Bumblebee - 2014 - 16






In 1842 the geologist and land surveyor John C Fremont led a prestigious expedition to explore the Rocky Mountain territory. In his travel log Fremont records an unlikely high‐altitude encounter with a bumblebee where he imagines each of them to be the first of their species ever to brave such geological extremes. This unlikely encounter is suggestive of America’s unique brand of landscape nationalism that has historically attempted to reconcile both expansionist and conservationist thought. Romantic descriptions of Fremont’s adventures were published in the Emigrant’s Guide to California and effectively united the interests of science and nature within the cultural framework of national inheritance. After all, “landscapes are culture before they are nature; constructs of the imagination projected onto wood and water and rock.” *
The Mountain and the Bumble Bee brings together selected works by contemporary artists and poets who confront broadly defined notions of landscape as both cultural icon and raw material. Working in a variety of media including photography, sculpture, painting, digital media and poetic verse, featured artists maneuver the complex web of references contributing to our understanding of landscape. Scenes from Hollywood westerns abut survey photographs and miniature paintings to highlight America’s often‐contradictory role as both steward and exploiter of the land.

Participating visual artists and poets:
Rick Barot, Patrick Bizarro, Robin Clarke, Mathew Conboy, Todd Davis, Wesley Dunning, Heather Green, BA Harrington, Chele Isaac, Chris McGinnis, Erika Osborne, Josh Reiman, Gwyneth Scally and Meg Shevenock

* Simon Schama, Landscape and Memory (New York: Alfred A. Knopf), 61


Venues:
Kipp Gallery, Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Fall 2014
Media Arts Gallery, Robert Morris University. Spring 2015

Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education. Philadelphia PA. Summer/Fall 2015
SPACE Pittsburgh. Winter 2015/16
Pennsylvania College of Art and Design. Lancaster Pennsylvania. Spring 2016

















Children of the Romantic Age - 2014

Children of the Romantic Age is an exhibition of artworks by Brooklyn artist Gwyneth Scally curated by Chris McGinnis in the Spring of 2014.

Gwyneth's work explores "... the historical underpinnings of our attitude towards the natural world, as well as our contemporary methods of experiencing it.  In some of these works, the Romantic movement, with its emphasis on transcendent and sublime natural encounters, is implicated in depictions of a literal romance between man and wild beast, rendered with the drama of overwrought Harlequin novel covers.  As a foundation for this series, I conducted extensive research at the National Archives in Washington DC, compiling photographic references of historic polar expeditions, including those of Admirals Peary and Byrd, and the English explorer, Sir Ernest Shackleton.  The Heroic Age of Arctic Exploration combined the most dramatic aspects of the Romantic Movement with the conquering entitlement of the Colonial Age, and as such provides an excellent foil for the examination of our current attitudes towards nature and its resources.  For example, Endurance and the I-10 depicts the ice-bound ship of explorer Ernest Shackleton, now stranded, not in the Weddell Sea, but in the arid desert landscape bordering Interstate 10 south of Phoenix.  In other images, the imperiled pine forests of Arizona are combined with high-end modernist “cabins” and space-age camping gear, describing the products and means through which we mediate and romanticize our contact with Nature.  These images of “cabins”- often multi-million dollars homes lifted directly from Dwell magazine- describe the irony of treasuring Nature through building on it.  In these works, trees, animals, humans and their structures all seem to melt and bleed, suggesting that both the civilized and natural worlds are in a state of instability and flux."











Songs Sonnets and Stolen Lines - 2014

Songs Sonnets and Stolen Lines is an exhibition of paintings and kite drawings by artist Teresa Getty.  The works were curated by Chris McGinnis for a solo exhibition of the artists work at Kipp Gallery in 2014.  Getty’s work is inspired by literary memories from her childhood, including rhymes, song lines, and poems. During her creative process, Getty scribbles notes and reminders that form a visually lyrical movement throughout the work. This movement is likewise extended into the entire installation composed of roughly 25 paintings on panel and stretched paper that range in size from six inches to 5 feet in size. Getty considers her work to be “process-driven” documents that are “rooted in contemplating the commensal relationship between man and machine.” She experiences this relationship first-hand having a daughter whose life is dependent upon a machine.

Teresa Getty's website










Alloy PGH 2013


Alloy Pittsburgh is a unique visual and performing arts project co-founded by Pittsburgh artists Sean Derry and Chris McGinnis. The project was developed in collaboration with the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area and the Kipp Gallery at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Alloy Pittsburgh offers 15 emerging artists from the greater Pittsburgh region the opportunity to develop temporary site-based artworks for the Carrie Furnace National Historic Landmark.





http://alloypittsburgh.blogspot.com/


Anika Hirt

Anna Mikolay

 Carl Bajandas

 Dan Wilcox

 Edith Abeyta

 Emily Scuili

 Kara Skylling and Meghan Olson

Kyla Grout

 Laurie Barnes

 Michelle Colbaugh

 Ryan Keene

Will Schlough

Monday, January 19, 2015

We Two Founts - 2013

We Two Founts is an exhibition produced by Chris McGinnis and Kipp gallery.  The show was guest curated by Marc Mitchell and featured the work of both Mitchell himself and multimedia sculptor Derek Larson

















A Small Craft - 2013

A Small Craft is an exhibition by artist Adam Manley that was curated in 2013 for Kipp Gallery at Indiana University of PA.

"Trained in Furniture making, design, construction, and general building of things, Adam Manley creates human scale sculptures and objects that are meant to speak of and interact with the landscape and those that inhabit it. Adam is interested in the wide expanses of land and space that we inhabit. Having grown up in the Adirondack park in Upstate New York and exploring the various natural and man made areas of the Northeast and some throughout the West, he has a natural fascination with these spaces and how we inhabit them. In his sculptural work, he plays with the sense of place that exists in everyone. Adam employs recognizable man made forms from familiar settings in order to create objects that warp this sense of place. He uses altered scale, juxtaposition of disparate imagery, and carefully chosen settings within the landscape to force the viewer to reassess his or her surroundings and reconsider their perspectives of the spaces that they are accustomed to. "

"It is my hope that the objects I make will instill a mix of emotions in people. Many of my most recent works contain elements of fear, safety, watchfulness, wonder, humor, and confusion simultaneously. My goal is that the objects themselves will offer the viewer an opportunity to rethink his or her own comfort zones and senses of place."

Adam Manley



















Promiseland - 2013

Video Installation by Chele Isaac
Curated By Chris McGinnis, Director Kipp Gallery 2013.
Kipp Gallery 

Indiana University of Pennsylvania

 

 
 



 
 

 


 

 

 

 

 




Fauna; Figuring and Fathoming 2013


Exhibition produced for Kipp Gallery by Chris McGinnis, Gallery Director 2012/13. This exhibition was curated by Carnegie Mellon Professor Susanne Slavick.