HAND/MADE's first opening took place at MICA's Decker Gallery on January 30, 2015. The exhibition featured artists Maren Hassinger, Nancy Daly, Sebastian Mortarana, Annet Couwenberg, Richard Vosseller, Megan Van Wagoner and works from the late William Henry Reinhart. The artists created works that responded to Rinehart’s most reproduced sculpture, Sleeping Children. Each artist was been asked to reflect on the relationship between individual creative expression and artistic collaboration-and what it means when others’ labor is required to realize an artwork.
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In correllation with their respective shows, MICA & The Walters Art Museum paired up to create their first ever joint catalogue. The trifolded gated catalogue combined two very different institutes -one contemporary and one traditional. The immense catalogue detailed artist interviews, process, and events in not only the HAND/MADE exhibition but in Jenny Carson's "Rough Stone to Living Marble" show at the Walters.
Pamphlets & promotional cards were also provided for the HAND/MADE opening.
The commissioned performance, Women’s Work, was led by Maren Hassinger and included
a collaboration with her students from the Rinehart School of Sculpture. The performance
references the perception of weaving and other textile work as inherently
domestic, as well as the uncredited hands involved in the creation of a piece of art.
Hassinger addresses contemporary issues of gender and race using media that has only
recently become recognized as part of the inclusive field of sculpture.
In conjunction with the Walters Art Museum’s series of Thursday night Make Nights,
EDS organized a Make Night and Gallery Talk with HAND / MADE artist Annet
Couwenberg. The gallery talk portion of the evening focused on Golden Age Dutch
paintings, and on what Couwenberg refers to as “the humanity of fabric.” Following
the gallery talk, participants draped small objects in plaster in order to illustrate
decorative effects in cloth and reflect on the earlier discussion.
This panel discussion featured four of the commissioned artists: Annet Couwenberg,
Nancy Daly, Richard Vosseller, and Megan Van Wagoner. The panel was
moderatedby Marian Glebes, artist and co-curator of Design Conversations at D Center Baltimore.
moderatedby Marian Glebes, artist and co-curator of Design Conversations at D Center Baltimore.
Questions asked during the panel focused on authorship and its effects on
theartists’ studio practices. The artists discussed their commissioned pieces for HAND
theartists’ studio practices. The artists discussed their commissioned pieces for HAND
/ MADE and related them to ideas of collaboration, influence, and the
art community in Baltimore.
art community in Baltimore.
To simulate the structure of institutional practices, HAND/MADE collaborators were broken into smaller teams that
handled different aspects of the production of creating an exhibition. These teams were Curatorial, Communications, Graphic Design, Exhibition Design, Education, and the Project Coordinators. The program was student-run and driven largely by consensus-based decision making. Each collaborator had equal input and involvement in how the exhibition was formed, and every step of the processwas handled by them as a collective. Additionally, HAND/MADE worked closely with the Walters Art Museum & Jenny Carson's "Rough Stone to Living Marble" to coordinate shows and deliverables. In a nut shell: HAND/MADE was a year long project with sweat, tears, installation and art.
handled different aspects of the production of creating an exhibition. These teams were Curatorial, Communications, Graphic Design, Exhibition Design, Education, and the Project Coordinators. The program was student-run and driven largely by consensus-based decision making. Each collaborator had equal input and involvement in how the exhibition was formed, and every step of the processwas handled by them as a collective. Additionally, HAND/MADE worked closely with the Walters Art Museum & Jenny Carson's "Rough Stone to Living Marble" to coordinate shows and deliverables. In a nut shell: HAND/MADE was a year long project with sweat, tears, installation and art.
CREDITS / ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
EXHIBITION DEVELOPMENT SEMINAR
Communications: Emilyann Craighead Qin Tan, Curatorial: Adenike Adelekan, Lizzi Skalka, Annie Wilsey
Education Zoe Monnier, Tatiana Ordonez, Celeste Taylor Exhibition Design : Ece Gürleyik, Brittany Jasin, Janet Ma, Daphne Taranto Graphic Design: Leslie Chung, Kara Mask, Gloria You
Project Coordinators: Ricki Rothchild, Aubrey Vinson
EDS MENTORS
Jeffry Cudlin, Kirsten Walsh, Jenny Carson, Johanna Biehle, Rebecca Sine, l Tony Venne
EDS PHOTOGRAPHY
Jack Sorokin
Special Thanks to:
Julia Marciari-Alexander, Director, Walters Art Museum
Samuel Hoi, President, MICA
