New Exhibition: Migration Narratives

Migration Narratives

January 31 – March 29, 2014

Free opening reception and all-age art workshop:

Friday, January 31, 6:30-8:00pm

Curator Talk:

Thursday, February 27, 2014, 6pm

Pelham Art Center is pleased to announce a group exhibition of kinetic sculpture, installation, drawing, painting, and video narratives by seven contemporary artists. Migration Narratives will be on view from January 31 – March 29, 2014 with an opening reception and all age hands-on workshop on Friday, January 31 from 6:30-8:00pm.  Admission is free and open to the public. This multi-media exhibition relates stories of individual transitions from one state of being to another. Independent Curator, Lisa A. Banner is an art historian and Visiting Associate Professor at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. Additional FREE public programming will include a Curator Talk on Thursday, February 27, 6pm.

Migration
Narratives are the stories of individual transitions from one state of
being to another. They are stories, or narratives, that mark and divine
changes in life that take place along that trajectory from one place,
physical and spiritual, to another. Historical Migration Narratives are
the histories of freed slaves who moved north, away from what was known
and binding---slavery,
captivity, oppression----to something that was completely unknown and
new---self-determination, discovery, and experimentation with
life----and both types of narratives are deeply human.  When applied to
contemporary life, this concept of a migration narrative reveals the
personal histories of families, and individuals, as they move through
time and across time, to new places.

Immigration,
a movement into a new place, like Migration, the movement of creatures
from one habitat to another, is not determined by physical or political
statements or borders, but by the inner need and determination to move,
and change one's situation, be it internal or external, determined by
self, or by nature.

Artists
who are new immigrants, first generation Americans, or reflective
immigrants to a new way of life are expressive storytellers of such
personal narrative. Their stories have a broad appeal. Monika Bravo,
Erika Harrsch, Timothy Hawkesworth, Doug Jeck, María Noël, Eliana Pérez,
and Christopher Smith reflect differing ways of seeing these migrations
of people through time, and through states of being. Their work is
expressed in kinetic sculpture, installation, drawing, painting, and
video narratives.

Related Programming

Opening Reception and All-Age Art Workshop

Friday, January 31, 2014, 6:30-8:00pm. FREE.

The opening reception for Migration Narratives
is free and open to the public. Families are welcome. During the
opening, visitors of all ages may participate in a free hands-on art
workshop led by local artist Zafiro Acevedo.   

Curator Talk.

Thursday, February 27, 2014, 6pm. FREE.

Combining the ideas of migration and immigration, movement from one state of being or physical place into another, Migration Narratives
reveals stories of personal transition that involve crossing
boundaries, political, imagined, and real.  Curator Lisa Banner will
discuss how artists examine these migrations through painting and
drawing, video installations, kinetic sculpture and photographs.

About the Curator

Lisa
A. Banner is an independent curator and art historian who is a Visiting
Associate Professor at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.  She has published several artist interviews with Site95 Journal, in addition to extensive publications on Spanish baroque art in Master Drawings, and a recent catalogue of Spanish Drawings in the Princeton University Art Museum
(Yale University Press, 2013). As an independent curator she has worked
on shows for The Frick Collection, the Museo del Prado, and other
venues. Banner has also been a Research Fellow at the National Gallery
of Canada, and Samuel H. Kress Curatorial Fellow at The Hispanic Society
of America. Recently, she curated several contemporary art exhibitions,
including "Light Matter,” and “Vital Signs: The Enigma of Identity” at
the Pelham Art Center, as well as a series of installations in the Great
Hall at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, and a
forthcoming exhibition in the Schafler Gallery at Pratt Institute.

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Pelham Art Center   155 Fifth Avenue   Pelham, NY 10803   914-738-2525   info@pelhamartcenter.org

Hours: Tuesday–Friday, 10–5pm; Saturday, 10–4pm

Directions: Located 5 blocks from the Hutchinson Parkway exit 12 and 2 blocks from the Metro North Pelham stop

These
events and programs are made possible, in part, by the ArtsWestchester
with funds from Westchester County Government. Pelham Art Center also
receives funding from: New York State Council on the Arts, A State
Agency; Westchester Jewish Community Services; Nurses Network of
America; Town of Pelham; Strypemonde Foundation; New York Multi-Arts
Centers Consortium; New Rochelle Campership Fund; Bistro Rollin; Robin’s
Art+Giving; Nycon; Junior League of Pelham, Amani Charter School;
Prospect Hill Lunchtime Enrichment; Yellowbook; Members; and Annual Fund
Donors.