Eugene Contemporary Art is pleased to present A Critical Conversation, a multi-disciplinary project that focuses on the intersections of art, race and privilege as we experience them here at home and in the culture at large. A Critical Conversation features a group exhibition, in-gallery printmaking performances, moderated panel discussions, and selected poetry presented online at antiaesthetic.com.
A Critical Conversation will take place January 14 through March 21, 2021. The exhibition will be presented at the ANTI-AESTHETIC art space, 245 W 8th Ave, Eugene, dependent on Covid19 safety protocols with information and viewing reservations available online at eugenecontemporaryart.com/appointments.
A Critical Conversation focuses on art that is anti-racist in its intention and comments on or questions racism. Issues of identity, privilege, politics, history and place are rich areas to explore through work that subverts or reveals a point of view. Work by BIPOC and White artists will be presented in dialog with one another, with the artists’ own location within this conversation at the heart of the exhibition.
Exhibiting artists and co-applicants Gregory S. Black and Kathleen Caprario were recently awarded a Jordan Schnitzer Black Lives Matter Artist Grant to support the project. Kathleen Caprario is also a 2020 Lane Arts Artist Grant recipient. The nine other artists presented in A Critical Conversation’s gallery exhibition are: Mika Aono, Kaitlyn Carr-Kiprotich, Ka’ila Farrell-Smith, Perry Johnson, Stormie Loury, William Rutherford, Josh Sands, Kerry Skarbakka, and Yvonne Stubbs. Mika Aono, Stormie Loury and Josh Sands are Jordan Schnitzer Black Lives Matter Artist Grant Awardees.
Two printmaking performances by artist Mika Aono, with Neal Williams, will be presented on Saturday January 16, 2021, 2–4 pm and Saturday, March 6, 2021, 2–4 pm. A small number of advance in-gallery reservations will be available and the performances will also be live streamed on Instagram. Prints completed during the performances will be free to the public and available at ANTI-AESTHETIC.
On Friday, February 19 and Saturday, February 20, 2021, Beth Robinson-Hartpence and Megan Malone will co-moderate panel discussions with selected community members in a conversation that explores questions of racial equity and culture. The panel discussions will be live streamed and offered online with information and access available on the ECA website.
Poets Ana-Maurine Lara, Ben Gorman, Carter McKenzie, and Lydia K. Valentine will have their poetry available on the ECA website and presented throughout A Critical Conversation. Ana-Maurine Lara is a Jordan Schnitzer Black Lives Matter Artist Grant Awardee.