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Living with Art

Modern and Contemporary African American Art from the Collection of Alitash Kebede

October 24-December 19, 2003
Opening Reception: Friday, Oct.24, 5:00-7:30 pm.

Jacob Lawrence
Harlem Streetscene (detail), 1975

The Gallery of Contemporary Art at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs is hosting an exhibit called Living with Art, Modern and Contemporary African American Art from the Collection of Alitash Kebede. It includes 74 works by 40 African American artists, including work from the Harlem Renaissance to the present. This private collection is considered one of the best collections of African American Art in the United States, and is particularly timely as interest in African American art is at an all time high.

Norman Lewis, Charles Alston, Palmer Hayden and Louis Mailou Jones represent well known artists from the Harlem Renaissance period during the 1920’s and 30’s.Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, Alma Thomas, Charles White, and Elizabeth Catlett represent the group active during the Works Progress Administration period during the 40’s. Notable contemporary artists represented in the exhibition include: Herbert Gentry, Richard Mayhew, Ed Clark, Mel Edwards, Al Loving, Bill Huston, Betye Saar and her daughters, Alison and Leslie Saar, and many others.

The exhibition and its tour were organized by Landau Traveling Exhibitions of Los Angeles. Exhibition support was provided by Institute of Museum and Library Services, a federal agency supported by the National Endowment for the Arts; Apple Foundation of Atherton, CA; UCCS student Government Association on behalf of the cultural development of the student body; Stonehouse Agency of Colorado Springs; and Springs Magazine.

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Manifestations of the Sacred

August 15-October 10, 2003
Opening Reception: Friday, Aug. 15, 5:00-7:00 pm.

The Gallery of Contemporary Art is proud to present the regional invitational exhibition Manifestations of the Sacred. The curator for this exhibition is local artist and preparator for the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Liz Szabo. This is the museum’s second collaboration with Szabo acting as an independent curator. Her previous show here was Art History 101. She worked at the museum as a student Gallery Assistant while attending Gallery Management classes. At that time she became interested in learning what was involved in curating exhibitions.

This show addresses imagery that the participating artists visualize as Sacred. Sacred in this instance is defined as something worthy of reverence, respect, or veneration; something made or declared holy; something dedicated to or set apart for worship;something pertaining to religious objects; rites or practices, but not specifically religion or any particular religious body.

The show itself is an expanded version of an earlier show Szabo and Jina Pierce, Curator for the Sangre de Christo Art and Conference Center in Pueblo, put together for the Art Gallery at the University of Southern Colorado. This expanded version includes 31 artists, mostly from Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs, but also one each from Chipita Park, Pueblo, Alamosa, Buena Vista, Evergreen and Denver. Two others from Colorado now live and work in Illinois, and one each in Texas, and New Jersey.

The Exhibition includes photography, painting, mixed media, sculpture, as well as video and audio works. The artists invited to participate include Sarah Asleson, Jeff Brown, David Caricato, Pat Dagnon, Carol Dass, Atomic Elroy, George Ericson, Lin Fife, Patricia Heath, Milissa Hicks, Julia Hoerner, Margaret Kasahara, Ramona Lapsley, John Lawson, Liz McCombs, Lenore McKerlie, Dale Mueller Smith, Conrad Nelson, Sean O’Meallie, Barbara Resch, Gene Schilling, Karen Simkiss, Scott Synder, Laurle Swab, Elizabeth Szabo, Kevin Thayer, Antonio, Tirado, Any Towne, Floyd Tunson, Bonnie Wah and Dawn Wilde.

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NEO-GEO REVISITED

June 6-August 1, 2003
Opening Reception: Friday, June 6, 5:00-7:00 pm.

Sharon Carvell
Parking Lot King (detail)
mixed media

“Moving Toward a Sustainable Colorado Springs” is presenting public programming over the summer months on various issues related to our community’s growth and future sustainability. This group evolved from the Geo -Genetics Network which formed in Colorado Springs roughly ten years ago to address the ideas surrounding notions of a sense of place.

Joining the network in 1995, the Gallery of Contemporary Art at UCCS, invited local artists to visualize their concerns, both positive and negative, about our community’s growth and development. At the time, the big issues were visible scars on the surrounding mountains, and traffic problems on I-25. This exhibition, called Neo-Geo was undertaken to involve citizens, through network programming, to develop a sence of responsibility for sustainable and appropriate growth.

This time, looming issues, brought on by drought, nearby fires and coping with seemingly unchecked growth, appear much larger and more pressing for our community. Eighteen local artists from the 1995 show have accepted the invitation to readdress the theme in light of what their concerns are now. An additional six artists have been added to the show to provide further insight. Returning artists are: Roger Appleton, Michael Baum, Doug Beechwood-LeFae. Bill Bugress, Christie Callaham, Sharon Carvell, Max Eisele, Tracy Felix, Don and Maxine Green, Richard Hansen, Tom Latka, Lenore McKerlie, Steve Morath, Pat Musick, John Odlin, Floyd Tunson, Dawn Wilde.

New participants include: Bill Beard, Elaine Bean, Deb Komitor, Steve Wood, and Gerry Riggs. The Exhibition marks the initial event for collaborators to kick off a wide range of planned public programs to take place throughout Colorado Springs between June and August.

Colaborators of NEO-GEO REVISITED are: Catamount Institute; Colorado Springs Clean Air Campaign; Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center; Ft. Carson Sustainability Project; A New Deal for the New Deal; Pikes Peak Chapter of the Colorado Mobility Coalition; Pikes Peak Peace and Justice Commission; Slow Food Convivium; Sustainable Business Network; UCCS Sociology Department; Voters Network of the Pikes Peak Region; and Young at Art.

Support for NEO-GEO REVISITED was provided by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a federal agency; Colorado Council on the Arts, a State agency funded by the Colorado General Assembly and the National Endowment for the Arts; UCCS Student Government Association on behalf of the Student Body; Springs Magazine; And the Gallery’s Membership.

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2003 Student Art Exhibition

April 18-May 16, 2003
Opening Reception: Friday, April 18, 5:00-7:30 pm.

The CU Colorado Springs Student Artists’ Connection (the campus art club), is co-sponsoring two annual Spring art exhibitions featuring works by student artists. This annual Student Art Exhibition at the Gallery of Contemporary Art is juried and submissions come from any student enrolled at CU Colorado Springs. The Jurors for this year’s Student Art Exhibition are Chris Weed, a local sculptor and former UCCS art student, and Jerry Dowdy, a local gallery owner and artsit. Student artists may elect to show work juried out of this exhibit in a special exhibition called the “Salon des Refuses” which takes place in the lower level of the University Center. This spin off exhibition is very popular and invites comparison with the “accepted” works at the Gallery of Contemporary Art.

The “Salon des Refuses” exhibit takes its mane from the exhibit sanctioned by Napoleaon III in 1863 as a result of public outcry at the Impressionist’s exclusion from the annual French Academies Beaux Arts Salon. These artists were attacked in the press of the day as being revolutionists, incompetents, and anarchists. It has always been an easy target to be critical of new art because it is human in nature to invest ourselves with authority in matters involving aesthetic judgment. Likewise, new ideas have always invited the wrath of the complacent, the stupid, and the ignorant who frequently make up the court of public opinion. Of course, today, the Impressionists are the best-known and most popular artsists of all time.

Support for the 2003 Student Art Exhibition was provided by the Colorado Council on the Arts,a state agency funded by the Colorado General Assembly and the National Endowment for the Arts; the CU Colorado Springs Student Government on behald of the student body; the Student Artists’ Union; the Department of Visual and Performing Arts; Springs Magazine; and the Gallery’s membership.

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2003 Biennial Art Faculty Exhibition

February 21-April 4, 2003
Opening Reception: Friday, February 21, 5:00-7:00 p.m.

Left toright: Sean O'Meallie, Mariya Zvonkovich, Kathy Romberg, Carol Dass, Chris Alvarez(painting), Valerie Brodar, Kevin Thayer, Lenore McKerlie, Lin Fife, Kathy Hutton, Gerry Riggs.
Not pictured: Julia Hoerner, Senga Nengudi Fittz, Louis Cicotello, Gloria Menzer, Kim Sayers-Newlin

The Gallery of Contemporary Art, a university museum, in conjunction with the Visual and Performing Art’s Department of the College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences, is proud to present its biennial art faculty exhibition featuring work by 16 teachers. From its beginning as a degree program in 1970, the Visual Art Department at CU, Colorado Springs, has offered Bachelors of Arts degrees in studio art and art history. Since 1981 there has also been an undergraduate minor in Gallery Management in conjunction with the art museum, which acts as a lab for the minor. Within the studio program, coursework is offered in painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, papermaking, computer imaging, and time based media.

The UCCS art faculty are active not only in teaching, but in pursuing their own creative interests. The tradition of artist/teachers began centuries ago when master artisans took apprentices into their workshops to teach them their trade. Outside the United States it is less common for universities to offer degrees in art, leaving this job to trade schools, which are referred to there as polytechnical schools.

Exhibition and programming support provided by the institute of Museum and Library Services, a federal agency; Colorado Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Colorado General Assembly; the UCCS Student Government Association on the behalf of the Student Body; Springs Magazine; and the Gallery’s membership.

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