MFA in Visual Art announces summer residency events

Graduating Student Exhibition – VCFA Gallery

• Tuesday, July 25 – Friday, July 28. Hours: 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Gallery may be closed for critiques and reviews as determined by the program.
• Opening reception: Monday, July 24 – 7:30-9 p.m.

New and Returning Student Exhibitions – Alumni Hall

• Tuesday, July 25 – Friday, July 28. Hours: 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Alumni Hall may be closed for critiques and reviews as determined by the program.
• Opening reception: Saturday, July 22 – 7-8 p.m.

This residency’s visiting scholars and artists: Eshrat Erfanian, Paul Johnston, Michel Droge, Heather Ferrell, Peter Gallo, Harmony Hammond, Andres Hernandez, Adam Pape, Kaylynn TwoTrees

Visiting Artists presentations:

• Images, Digital Technology, Speed and War with Artist-in-Residence Eshrat Erfanian
• Friday, July 21, 7 p.m., College Hall Chapel

Artist-in-Residence Eshrat Erfanian will focus on the topics of digital technology, speed, and war as it relates to art and image making, discussing the works of several artists, including Trevor Paglen, Omer Fast, Harun Farocki and Hito Steyerl as well as some of the works by Erfanian and her take on use of the technology in slowing down the consumption of the image as a strategy to create critical work which questions and comments on the images of war and the change of our vision through the machine.

Toronto-based Erfanian works in a range of media including video, installation, digital photography and painting. Her work minds the phenomenon of speed related to digital technology and its relation to images of alterity. Her recent work has been exhibited at Azad Gallery in Tehran, the Jewish Museum in NYC, and the Incheon Biennale in Seoul. Her work has also featured in many solo and group Exhibitions in Canada, U.S., and internationally and presently, she is on the Advisory Committee to the Prefix Photo Magazine, published  by the Prefix Institute of Contemporary Art in Toronto. Erfanian has taught at York University in Toronto and McMaster University in Hamilton. She is an alumnus of the ISP at the Whitney Museum of American Art, and has a PhD from York University.

• Deaf Civilization: An Artistic Lens with Visiting Artist Paul Johnston
• Wednesday, July 26th, 1:30 p.m., College Hall Chapel

Paul Johnston will reflect an analysis of deaf artists and designers since the development of American Sign Language (ASL) from the 1970s to today. The widespread practice of ASL led the way for deaf people to define their own identity instead of the one foisted upon them by a hearing-based society. The art created at that time can be referred to “artivism” (a fusion of art and activism). Today’s challenges and opportunities for deaf artists lie in how to maximize their visually rich environment with a sound-friendly world. Deaf artists and designers can work in teams with hearing professionals to create the following: solution-based designs, entertainment devices and products, instructional and applied design, and new content and form in the visual arts.

Paul Johnston was born deaf to hearing parents who did not use sign language or become familiar with deaf culture. For 32 years Dr. Johnston taught at Gallaudet University. For most of that time he was a member of the art department. He was also a founding member of De’VIA (an acronym for Deaf View Image Art). This group of artists and scholars set a framework for how to discuss and generate art based on Deaf experiences. In an experimental design class at Penn State, Dr. Johnston taught the same concept to hearing students and empowered them to translate their hearing access into art. Dr. Johnston has been a frequent lecturer, exhibition juror, moderator and guest artist at venues in the U.S. and Europe. In 2011, he was artist in residence at Siena Art Institute in Siena, Italy.

This lecture will be followed by a moderated discussion with Artist-in-Residence Eshrat Erfanian.

To schedule a visit during the residency contact:

Thatiana Oliveira

Assistant Director of Admissions
Thatiana.Oliveira@vcfa.edu
802-828-8636