Artists to visit BGSU in person and exhibits

BOWLING GREEN, O.—Bowling Green State University’s Fine Arts Center Galleries will host internationally recognized artists and a series of events both on and off campus Oct. 15-17. Two exhibitions, “The Poetic Dialogue” and “Contemporary India,” will open Oct. 16 in the galleries.

“The Poetic Dialogue” project is an ongoing collaboration between contemporary artists and of poets. It was inspired by a meeting of poet Lois Roma-Deeley and artist Beth Shadur. The exhibition coming to BGSU is the third in the project series, in which Shadur, the curator, paired 31 respected artists and poets to create collaborative new works of art.

“Contemporary India” is a multimedia exhibition showcasing work by 10 artists from India and of Indian origin, addressing questions of authenticity, iconicity, tradition, modernity and influence of westernization and technology in contemporary Indian art. The exhibition is curated by Shaurya Kumar, an assistant professor of art at BGSU.

Shadur and Roma-Deeley have been invited to Bowling Green for a three-day visit. On Oct. 15, they will present a 7:30 p.m. poetry reading and slide display, hosted by the BGSU Creative Writing Program in Prout Chapel. They will give the presentation again at 9 p.m. Oct. 16 at Grounds for Thought, 174 S. Main St. 

Also on Oct. 16, BGSU students will meet with the artists in classes and studio visits.

On the morning of Oct. 17, Shadur and Roma-Deeley will offer a workshop on collaboration for artists and writers at the Wood County District Public Library, 251 N. Main St., Bowling Green. The event is free and open to all, but space is limited and preregistration is required. Inquiries may be made to galleries@bgsu.edu. 

An additional concurrent event will be the opening of an exhibition, “Words and Pictures,” at Art-a-site Gallery in downtown Bowling Green, featuring more collaborations between Shadur and Roma-Deeley, and three local artists whose work combines art and literature—Dominic Catalano, Deb Allesee and Daniel Mauk.

Shadur has exhibited widely in solo and group exhibitions in the United States and abroad. She has created over 125 large, public murals as public, private and community art projects in both the U.S. and Great Britain. Roma-Deeley's second collection of poems, “northSight,” earned her a Los Angeles Book Prize nomination and a second National Book Award nomination. She received a Pushcart Prize nomination as well as two Arizona Library Association Author Award nominations for her first full-length poetry collection, “Rules of Hunger.”

Gallery Director Jacqueline Nathan, who organized “The Poetic Dialogue” showing and events, said, “The joy of this project lies in seeing the wonderful energy and insight that these artists and poets, so impressive in their own right, bring to the creation of these new pieces, and how they play off each other to take their work in new directions. BGSU hopes to share this creative excitement with artists and writers of all ages by providing the inspiration and opportunity to create their own collaborations.”

The opening for both “The Poetic Dialogue” and “Contemporary India” is set for 7-10 p.m. Oct. 16 in the galleries. 

“‘Contemporary India’ … showcases works of art that have a clear hint of a free mind that seeks change, responding to the real-life truths experienced by all Indian artists,” according to Kumar, the curator. “At the same time, the works suggest loyal psyches that cling to the inherent shared collective identity of Indian culture, values and philosophy. As such, all the works have a prominent and unmistakable mark of contemporary India, its past aura, present oxymoronic glory, and gleeful anticipation of and reservations about the future.”

Before the exhibition opening, at 6 p.m. in 115 Olscamp Hall, Indian artist Anupam Sud will give a lecture about her work, titled “4 Decades,” followed by an Indian dance performance by the Toledo-based Aha Dance Classes.

Born in the Punjab, Sud is known as one of the finest intaglio printmakers in India, winning 19 awards between 1969 and 1985. Through symbolism and metaphor, she engages with socially relevant themes, and moody depictions of interrelations between the sexes are a favorite topic in her work.

Gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, 6-9 p.m. Thursdays and 1-4 p.m. Sundays. “Contemporary India” is presented with support from the Ohio Arts Council and will continue through Nov. 13. “The Poetic Dialogue” will run through Nov. 19. Both exhibitions are free and open to the public, and will be closed Nov. 11 for Veterans Day.

Three additional lectures, also free and open, will be presented in connection with “Contemporary India,” all at 5 p.m. in 1101 Fine Arts Center:

Oct. 22: “Revival or Survival: Hybrid Temple Architecture in Western India,” by Dr. Ashutosh Sohoni, an assistant professor of family and consumer sciences at BGSU

Nov. 5: “The Travels of Popular Culture to and from India,” by Dr. Kristen Rudisill, an assistant professor of popular culture at BGSU

Nov. 12: “Image as Environment: The Phenomenological Relationship between ‘Image’ and ‘Architecture’ in Site Specific Installations,” by Rajoshri Ghosh, an assistant professor of art at Ohio University and a participating artist in the exhibit.

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Editor’s note: For more information, contact Jacqueline Nathan, director of BGSU’s Fine Arts Center Galleries, at 419-372-8525.

(Posted October 07, 2009 )