2008 Woodie Awards
Isolation, interaction, community
Kate Casper - The Daily Iowan
Issue date: 3/22/07 Section: 80 Hours
- Page 1 of 1
Rough-edged wood cutouts, rust-colored scraps of burlap, and faces painted in sky blue make up the figures in Alicia Henry's installations.
Henry, a visiting artist in the School of Art and Art History, will arrive on the UI campus today for a residency that ends on Saturday. Her lecture today at 8 p.m. in 116 Art Building West will discuss the history, rationale, and scope of her art.
She refers to her installations as "communities" and said that through them, she explores issues of isolation and interaction, as well as familial and social relationships.
Henry's work is created using mixed media. Her figures resemble charred and painted paper dolls dressed, masked, and pinned to the wall. The pieces reflect elements of folk art and African sculpture. Displayed in groups, the figures are striking and haunting. Their expressions are distant and almost ambiguous, more representative of people than distinct identities. Her palette is reminiscent of earth; particularly common are varying shades of brown, gray, black, and red. Layers of fabric, paper, and wood in collages form the contours of the bodies, masks, or faces.
"As an artist, I am curious and inspired by the world," Henry said. "Often, my images are colored by a sense of place." Her pieces reflect her African-American heritage as well as her experiences in Ghana while traveling on a Guggenheim Fellowship.
Her work is wide-ranging. "I am interested in that which moves me, and so, I really don't have an art bias."
She earned a B.F.A. at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and later received an M.F.A. in painting and drawing from Yale University. In 2000, Henry held a solo exhibition titled Family Portrait in the New York City gallery Art in General. Since she completed her Guggenheim Fellowship in 2001, her solo shows include Four Corners at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an exhibition in Nashville's Cheekwood Museum of Art's Temporary Contemporary gallery. Her work was also featured in group shows in Nashville.
UI painting and drawing Professor Sue Hettmansperger said Henry is part of a new and interesting pulse in the art world: "She will bring to the UI a fresh voice on matters of race and an individual artistic statement that will broaden our knowledge."
Henry's lecture will address why the images she creates are important on a personal level and why the work is significant to the larger culture, Hettmansperger said.
In addition to the lecture, Henry will hold individual critiques and participate in a forum with UI graduate students. While she teaches collegiate artists daily at Fisk University, she said she is excited to work with Iowa students. "I am looking forward to their passion and their artistic point of view."
E-mail DI reporter Kate Casper at:
kate-casper@uiowa.edu
Alicia Henry Artist Lecture
When: 8 p.m. today
Where: 116 Art Building West
Admission: Free
More information: Henry is a visiting artist from Nashville who creates mixed-media installations populated by figures. Her art shows the influence both of Western traditions such as Expressionism and African sculpture.
Wanna know more?
To see Alicia Henry's artist statement, as well as a variety of images of her work, head to the website for the Nashville gallery Zeitgeist
More images are available at Chicago's Hammer Gallery's site
For more information about Henry's visit and lecture, see the UI school of art and art history site
Henry, a visiting artist in the School of Art and Art History, will arrive on the UI campus today for a residency that ends on Saturday. Her lecture today at 8 p.m. in 116 Art Building West will discuss the history, rationale, and scope of her art.
She refers to her installations as "communities" and said that through them, she explores issues of isolation and interaction, as well as familial and social relationships.
Henry's work is created using mixed media. Her figures resemble charred and painted paper dolls dressed, masked, and pinned to the wall. The pieces reflect elements of folk art and African sculpture. Displayed in groups, the figures are striking and haunting. Their expressions are distant and almost ambiguous, more representative of people than distinct identities. Her palette is reminiscent of earth; particularly common are varying shades of brown, gray, black, and red. Layers of fabric, paper, and wood in collages form the contours of the bodies, masks, or faces.
"As an artist, I am curious and inspired by the world," Henry said. "Often, my images are colored by a sense of place." Her pieces reflect her African-American heritage as well as her experiences in Ghana while traveling on a Guggenheim Fellowship.
Her work is wide-ranging. "I am interested in that which moves me, and so, I really don't have an art bias."
She earned a B.F.A. at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and later received an M.F.A. in painting and drawing from Yale University. In 2000, Henry held a solo exhibition titled Family Portrait in the New York City gallery Art in General. Since she completed her Guggenheim Fellowship in 2001, her solo shows include Four Corners at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an exhibition in Nashville's Cheekwood Museum of Art's Temporary Contemporary gallery. Her work was also featured in group shows in Nashville.
UI painting and drawing Professor Sue Hettmansperger said Henry is part of a new and interesting pulse in the art world: "She will bring to the UI a fresh voice on matters of race and an individual artistic statement that will broaden our knowledge."
Henry's lecture will address why the images she creates are important on a personal level and why the work is significant to the larger culture, Hettmansperger said.
In addition to the lecture, Henry will hold individual critiques and participate in a forum with UI graduate students. While she teaches collegiate artists daily at Fisk University, she said she is excited to work with Iowa students. "I am looking forward to their passion and their artistic point of view."
E-mail DI reporter Kate Casper at:
kate-casper@uiowa.edu
Alicia Henry Artist Lecture
When: 8 p.m. today
Where: 116 Art Building West
Admission: Free
More information: Henry is a visiting artist from Nashville who creates mixed-media installations populated by figures. Her art shows the influence both of Western traditions such as Expressionism and African sculpture.
Wanna know more?
To see Alicia Henry's artist statement, as well as a variety of images of her work, head to the website for the Nashville gallery Zeitgeist
More images are available at Chicago's Hammer Gallery's site
For more information about Henry's visit and lecture, see the UI school of art and art history site
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