WORKS. Exhibition Opens at Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery

The Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery at Scripps College is pleased to announce the exhibition WORKS. on display from April 25 through May 18, with an opening reception on April 25 at 7:00 p.m. in the Bixby Courtyard of the Williamson Gallery. Featuring artwork by 14 graduating senior studio art majors from Scripps and Claremont McKenna Colleges, this mixed media exhibition explores culturally critical themes as personal and seductive narratives of madness, the psychology of death, intersections of art and pornography, the visual application of gender, a loss of identity from a multi-racial and multi-cultural perspective, among others. Located on the Scripps College campus in Claremont, the Williamson Gallery is open from 1-5 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday. This event is free and open to the public; for more information on this exhibit, please contact the Gallery Office, (909) 607-6581.

The Scripps College and Claremont McKenna College senior art exhibition is an annual juried show displaying the final projects that culminate in an undergraduate degree with emphasis in studio art. This year’s featured artwork has been created from several media, ranging from steel wool to bookmaking, and includes medium/large format black & white photography, painting, digital and video installations, among others. The following are exhibiting artists from the class of 2003: Chevon Alderson, Mary An, Sarah Awad, Heather Dannhausen, Lisa Durow, Rachel Eller, Ellie Irons, Lauren Mishkind, Chizu Morihara, Mari Myojin, Alexis Ross, Shawn Tamarabuchi, Hannah Turiansky, and Jessie Wender.

Alderson’s self-portraits create a visual representation of the violent application of gender upon the body. An’s painted 4’8″ ft. diptych investigates physical manifestations and cultural constructs of madness. Awad’s paintings visually represent life that is marked by beauty, and strength not in spite of, but in the midst of weakness. Dannhausen explores childhood memories of the home tainted by poverty. Durow’s process oriented piece focuses on the intention or lack thereof in unconscious creation. Eller’s paintings connect to the psychological and physical space surrounding a person in the time of death. Irons explores themes of stifled female creativity in the 1950s via a digital display. Mishkind’s video documentary presents a dialogue focused on the commodification and manifestation of American ideals through the symbol of one’s front lawn. Morihara offers a tactile challenge in her installation consisting of the repetitious binding of steel wool. Myojin employs dynamic imagery and language in her children’s book describing identity loss. Ross’s piece, consisting of a hanging installation involving craft materials, also focuses on process and repetition. Tamarabuchi’s photographs—constructed through sexual and artistic agency—investigate connections between fine art and pornography within a neo/post-feminist queer identity. Turiansky expands upon personal experience with blindness, employing blur within medium format photography to deconstruct false conceptions of normative vision. Wender’s photographs focus on intimate portraiture with subjects encountered on the streets of Los Angeles.

Tags