Lansing, Mich. – MICA Gallery’s July and August show presents the artwork of the late Clif McChesney, distinguished MSU faculty in art. This show extends from Creole Gallery (1218 Turner St.) to MICA Gallery (1210 Turner St.).
The show opens July 5, and the opening reception is 1-5 pm, Sunday, July 10. MICA Gallery’s hours are Monday-Friday, 9 am-5 pm.
McChesney passed on March 17, at the age of 82. At that time, McChesney was a retired Michigan State University professor of art, awarded the Distinguished Faculty Award for the College of Art and Letters in 1985. His work has been shown across the country and in Japan.
McChesney’s wife, Jane, has arranged this showcase of his work.
MICA Gallery is dedicated to featuring artists whose work represents a mix of progressive styles, social commentary, experimentation, and innovation, the gallery provides exhibition opportunities for visual artists, musicians, poets, and performance artists. Its sponsoring organization, Michigan Institute for Contemporary Art (MICA), is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that serves as a catalyst for community development through quality arts programming. For more information about the MICA Gallery, call 517-371-4600 or email info@oldtownarts.org.
The June art show at MICA Gallery (1210 Turner St., Lansing) will feature artists Bruce Thayer and Ilene Curts. The show opens Wednesday, June 1, featuring special hours on Saturday, June 4 for “Be a Tourist in Your Own Town” and an artist reception on Sunday, June 5 from noon until 4pm for First Sunday Gallery Walk.
Bruce Thayer’s work has evolved over time to touch on social issues, word play, and figurative abstraction. He works in printmaking, watercolor and acrylic on paper, sometimes collaged, from his home studio in Michigan.
Thayer has a BFA from Central Michigan University, did printmaking and belonged to the Both Up Co-op Gallery in Berkeley, Calif., and completed a MFA at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago. He studied under such artists as Karl Wirsum, Christina Ramberg, Phil Hanson, and Ray Yoshida, becoming interested in figurative work influenced by cartoon, narrative, and humor. He has been associated with Printworks Gallery Chicago and Sonia Zaks Gallery Chicago.
Ilene Curts is a still life artist based in Michigan. She studied life drawing in Cambridge, Mass., where she belonged to the Boston Visual Artist’s Union – but it was a move to a studio on a farm that inspired her to take up still life painting. Curts follows in the steps of contemporary realism.
She explains, “I enjoy the abstract nature of painting, and the quality of the paint itself. I use a lot of objects from the forties and fifties for their design. Objects carry on them potent bits of color, wear, memory, and character. I like to paint familiar objects in a non-traditional setting to challenge myself to find visual ideas but continue to explore tradition as well.”
MICA Gallery is open 9 am to 5 pm, Monday through Friday, with special hours for Saturday, June 4 and Sunday, June 5.
Michigan Institute for Contemporary Art (MICA) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization serving as a catalyst for quality arts programming. See www.oldtownarts.org or call 517-371-4600 for more information.
MSU Students Explore Home through Multimedia Installation at MICA Gallery
Photo by Hilary Higgins
Lansing, Mich. – As part of the First Sunday Gallery Walk in Old Town, students from three different MSU courses are working collaboratively to produce a multimedia event called “That Familiar Place: House and Home” that will take place at MICA Gallery on Sunday, May 1. Using photographs, poetry, and dialogue, these students help us to confront fundamental questions that pertain to place and identity: What is home? How do the identities of people and places develop and become intertwined? How do physical objects and structures – streets, bricks, sidewalks, and buildings – acquire the meaning and significance associated with phrases like “my home,” “my home town,” and “my neighborhood”?
WHAT: That Familiar Place: House and Home (a multimedia installation)
WHERE: MICA Gallery, 1210 Turner Street, Old Town, Lansing
WHEN: May 1, 2011, 12:00-5:00pm. Student readings at 1-1:20, 2-2:20, & 3-3:20. (Photo exhibit lasts through May 31; MICA Gallery regular hours are 9-5 Monday-Friday.)
All of the students contributing to this installation are in MSU’s Residential College in the Arts and Humanities, an interdisciplinary “living and learning community” focused on art, culture, and civic engagement. These students are enrolled in one of three upper-level courses taught by professors Eric Aronoff, Anita Skeen and David Sheridan.
“Our focus is on the relationship between Old Town and the surrounding North Lansing neighborhoods,” says Sheridan. “Those neighborhoods are right next door to one of the densest hubs of creative professionals in the state.”
Old Town is known as a local center for art, culture, and creative professionals. Many economists see creative centers like Old Town as the key to future economic prosperity. They represent Michigan’s transition to a “creative economy.”
“We are interested in exploring the ways that the success of Old Town can nurture the creativity of young people who live in the surrounding neighborhoods and who might be interested in video, music, and other forms of creative expression,” Sheridan explains.
For more information on MSU RCAH or “Home,” contact David Sheridan, 517-884-1326, sherid16@msu.edu. Download show poster here.
With the support of the City of Lansing Arts & Cultural Grant Program funded through the Lansing Economic Development Corporation with help from the Arts Council of Greater Lansing, Inc.
with help from the Arts Council of Greater Lansing, Inc.
Michigan Institute for Contemporary Art (MICA) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit serving as a catalyst for quality arts programming. For more information about the MICA Gallery, call 517-371-4600 or email info@oldtownarts.org.
