Press Release
 5151 Pacific Ave. Stockton, CA 95207 |
Media Advisory For More Information Contact: Jan Marlese L.H. Horton Jr. Gallery Director (209) 954-5507 jmarlese@deltacollege.edu |
Delta College Center for the Arts & L.H. Horton Gallery Presents:
Art & Social Change
October 9 - November 6
Arts Lecture with Jen Delos Reyes
October 9, 12 p.m. - Tillie Lewis Theater
(Stockton, CA)
Delta Center for the Arts L.H. Horton Jr. Gallery presents the 5th annual 2D–3D National Exhibition and Awards Competition, "Art & Social Change" October 9 - November 6, 2014.
The theme for this year’s 2D-3D works exhibition is focused on artwork that reflects current social issues, such as economic disparity; gender, LGBT, and race discrimination; environmental concerns, and affordable housing, among other complex social concerns. In addition, the selected work is also to facilitate critical thinking and awareness of the issue being addressed.
The exhibition presents a survey of artists working in two and three-dimensional forms, including painting, printmaking, sculpture, and assemblage. It’s an exceptional display of craftsmanship, diversity of style, and individual use of materials. There are 12 artists from around the country selected by the exhibition juror Jen Delos Reyes, Assistant Professor at Portland University, Art and Social Practice MFA program. In addition, guest artist Randy Brennan was selected by invitation of the Gallery Director, Jan Marlese.
Also presented by Ms. Delos Reyes is the installation of The Art & Social Practice Workbook comprised of assignments, evaluation tools and resources exploring socially engaged art and education. The workbook is a project by Erin Charpentier and Travie Neel of the Portland, Oregon collaborative Guestwork. Visitors of the exhibition will be able to assemble their own free workbook from printouts of the text.
Jen Delos Reyes will present an Arts Lecture on Art & Social Change, on October 9 at 12 p.m. in the Tillie Lewis Theatre. Ms. Reyes will also attend the Exhibition Opening Reception planned for October 9 from 5 - 7 p.m. Both events are FREE and open to the public.
Exhibition Juror, Jen Delos Reyes
Exhibition juror Jen Delos Reyes is an artist originally from Winnipeg, MB, Canada. Her research interests include the history of socially engaged art, artist-run culture, group work, band dynamics, folk music, and artists’ social roles. She has exhibited works across North America and Europe, and has contributed writing to various catalogues and institutional publications. She has received numerous grants and awards including a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Grant. Jen is an Assistant Professor at Portland State University, Oregon, in the Art and Social Practice MFA Program. She is also the founder and director of Open Engagement, a conference on socially engaged art practice, and speaks widely on Art and Social Practice at conferences and institutions around the world.
Exhibiting Artists:
Whitney Bandel |
Competition Award Recipients: |
Home Sweet Home - Randy Brennan
Guest Juror Article:
There is also a need outside of here: Art & Social Change
by Jen Delos Reyes
Situated in a small gallery in Paris in 2005 American artist Ben Kinmont hung upon the walls four small canvases. On each canvas was watercolor text “there is also a need outside of here.” While the work was traditional in regards to the materials of paint on canvas, and the location of the art gallery space is also par for the course, the work simply titled “Also,” points to and connects directly to an issue of social need beyond the walls of the art institution. Kinmont searched for a not-for-profit organization near the gallery and established a relationship with them. He explained to both the gallerist and the non-profit Association National pour l’Education des Chiens that his work if sold would go 100% toward the organization. Both parties agreed. While the work went unsold, Kinmont created a structure in which art had the potential to contribute to the creation of meaningful social change.
Like “Also” it was imperative that artists selected for the Art & Social Change exhibition be looking outside the walls of the gallery and directly address art as a force for social change. The works selected for the exhibition pay tribute to a linage of socially conscious and engaged artists. From the use of publications and printed matter in “Everything is the Truth” that harkens to its roots in conceptual art, “I’m Inviting You To Join Me On The Bandwagon Of My Own Uncertainty” which echoes the playfulness, and chance encounters that permeated Fluxus, to “The Idyllic America” series which employs similar strategies as the Situationist International media détournements, the works in the Art and Social Change exhibition all display a reverence for arts avante-garde forbearers, as well as a radical belief that all forms of art have the power to shape the world we want to see.
The works and artists included in this exhibition all point beyond the walls of the gallery and echo the idea the there is also a need outside of here. I hope visitors will leave the exhibition inspired by the creative agency of the contributors and see how they can bring creativity as a strategy to address the complex social issues and struggles of our time.
Jenn Delos Reyes
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The LH Horton Jr Gallery is located on the ground floor of Shima Center, and is wheelchair accessible. Admission is free and open to the public. Recommended parking is available in the Shima lot for a fee of $2. Tours are welcome, and Gallery Talks and special needs may be addressed by contacting the Gallery.
Visit the L.H. Horton Jr. Gallery at: http://gallery.deltacollege.