By Riki MossEvery time I wander through the Fleming Museum in Burlington, or have a conversation with its director Janie Cohen, I'm struck by the delicate balance of its role as a teaching museum with its intention to engage the public in a dialogue with contemporary art. To this end, the museum is participating in what it calls a resurgence of painter-poet collaborations by showcasing one between Peruvian-born visual artist William Cordova and African-American poet Major Jackson , a UVM faculty member.
"What's wonderful about collaboration is that it gives us an opportunity to have cross-genre conversations around ideas, large ideas that are important to us," Jackson said. "There's the sense of this melding that happens, even at the level of the poem or the visual art."
This from the website: The artists find inspiration and common ground in music, literature, and the urban aesthetic. Cordova's mixed-media drawings and his installations of discarded stereo speakers and record albums allude to modern urban subcultures as well as to his memories of Peru. Jackson's poetry explores race and language, and ways in which language can both perpetuate cliched attitudes and foster new ways of thinking. Individually and collaboratively, their works celebrate and critique how cultural territories are dispersed, redefined, and transformed in urban settings.
In the Wolcott Gallery More than Bilingual: William Cordova and Major Jackson
January 27 - May 10, 2009
On Wednesday, Feb. 18th 6 PM at the Fleming
A panel discusion with the artists and Joseph Falconi, Art Forum Curator at the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Harvard University; and Aimee Marcereau DeGalan, Curator of Collections and Exhibitions.
In conjunction with the exhibit and part of the poetry series:
On Wednesday, February 25th 6:00-7:30 PM
Jim Schley and Greg Delanty,
"What's wonderful about collaboration is that it gives us an opportunity to have cross-genre conversations around ideas, large ideas that are important to us," Jackson said. "There's the sense of this melding that happens, even at the level of the poem or the visual art."
This from the website: The artists find inspiration and common ground in music, literature, and the urban aesthetic. Cordova's mixed-media drawings and his installations of discarded stereo speakers and record albums allude to modern urban subcultures as well as to his memories of Peru. Jackson's poetry explores race and language, and ways in which language can both perpetuate cliched attitudes and foster new ways of thinking. Individually and collaboratively, their works celebrate and critique how cultural territories are dispersed, redefined, and transformed in urban settings.
In the Wolcott Gallery More than Bilingual: William Cordova and Major JacksonJanuary 27 - May 10, 2009
On Wednesday, Feb. 18th 6 PM at the Fleming
A panel discusion with the artists and Joseph Falconi, Art Forum Curator at the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Harvard University; and Aimee Marcereau DeGalan, Curator of Collections and Exhibitions.
In conjunction with the exhibit and part of the poetry series:
On Wednesday, February 25th 6:00-7:30 PM
Jim Schley and Greg Delanty,
