Studio VU welcomes Ruth Erickson, February 1, 2018
The Vanderbilt University Department of Art and the Studio VU Lecture series, in conjunction with the Chance Operations: Experiments in Art and Education at Black Mountain College (1933-1956) Symposium, welcomes Ruth Erickson as our next Lecturer and Symposium Keynote Speaker. Erickson will speak on February 1, 2018 at 6:00 pm in Room 203 of Cohen Memorial Hall on the Peabody Campus. Cohen Memorial Hall is located at 1220 21st Avenue South, Nashville, Tennessee.
Ruth Erickson is Mannion Family Curator at The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston, where she organized the major exhibition Leap Before You Look: Black Mountain College 1933–1957 with Helen Molesworth and will open Mark Dion: Misadventures of a 21st-Century Naturalist, the first U.S. survey of Dion’s work, in October 2017. She has also curated solo exhibitions of the work of Rokni and Ramin Haerizadeh, Ethan Murrow, and Hesam Rahmanian. From 2004 to 2007 she was curator at BCA Center, Burlington, VT. She received a Ph.D. in art history from the University of Pennsylvania in 2014. She has upcoming projects with artists Kevin Beasley and Wangechi Mutu.
Her lecture entitled Learning from Black Mountain College will examine pedagogy at Black Mountain College tracing ways learning and living coalesced to form a unique experimental environment. Erickson will closely consider a range of examples, including class exercises, campus architecture, performance workshops, and artwork by Ray Johnson, Robert Rauschenberg, Ruth Asawa, and Merce Cunningham. These illuminated the culture of “making do,” which she argues, allowed for increased experimental ingenuity on the part of students and teachers
Erickson’s keynote address and the Chance Operations: Experiments in Art and Education at Black Mountain College (1933-1956) Symposium is cosponsored with the Department of Art, the Department of Theatre, the Cinema and Media Arts program, The Ingram Commons, the Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery, The Wond’ry, and the Department of History of Art.
Following the talk, Intermission Arts and New Dialect will perform Third Voice: a research lab and performance program incorporating newly composed music, video installation.
The Chance Operations: Experiments in Art and Education at Black Mountain College (1933-1956) Symposium occurs February 1 – 2, 2018.
For a schedule of symposium events can be found at Black Mountain College Symposium information website – Here.
This lecture is free and open to the public.
Cohen Memorial Hall additional information:
Parking
Limited metered and handicap parking is available in front of the building by the 21st Avenue entrance. Additional metered parking is available on 18th Avenue South, on the eastern edge of Peabody Campus, and also along the circular drive accessible from Edgehill Avenue.
During opening receptions and special events, free parking is available anywhere in Lot 95, accessible from 21st Avenue South.
Admission to the gallery is free and the public is welcome to all events.
The gallery is closed during academic breaks and holidays. Please call ahead to confirm schedule.
Accessibility
The Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery recognizes the diversity of our general public’s abilities and needs, and strives to ensure the accessibility of the gallery and its exhibitions. All public areas of the gallery are wheelchair accessible. A wheelchair-accessible entrance with power assist doors can be found on the west entrance of Cohen Memorial Hall. An elevator is located adjacent to this entrance. With advance notice, wheelchairs are available free of charge on a first-come, first-served basis by contacting the Gallery Administrative Office at (615) 343-1702. Wheelchair-accessible restrooms are located on all floors.