With Design in Mind; New Exhibitions Open at Winthrop University Galleries

Bodies in Transaction by Michael Gayk

ROCK HILL, S.C. – Three new innovative exhibitions are set to open at Winthrop University Galleries on Sept. 15 with the fall opening reception taking place Friday, Sept. 12, 6:30 – 8 p.m. The reception is free and open to the public.

Opening in the Rutledge Gallery is the CADlabORATION 1.0 exhibition which will present a collection of collaboratively designed objects utilizing CAD technology. The exhibition is coordinated by a group of artists and educators from across the country that has formed their own cooperative organization, CADlabORATION. These artists are simultaneously exploring emerging technologies, contemporary crafts education, and collaborative design and production. CADlabORATION’s mission is contribute to the ongoing evolution of the field of jewelry and metals by fostering education and substantive collaboration among artists working with digital technologies.

Participating institutions include Winthrop University, Tyler School of Art, Kendall College of Art, Savannah College of Art and Design, York Technical College, Cleveland Institute of Art, Indiana University, Mass. College of Art and Penn State Altoona. CADlabORATION 1.0 will be exhibited in Philadelphia during the Society of North American Goldsmiths (SNAG) conference in 2009.

This exhibition will run Sept. 15 – Oct. 23. Three of the coordinators will speak in Rutledge Auditorium as part of this fall’s Almost all on Thursday @ 8 p.m. gallery talk series. Assistant Professor of Jewelry Metals at Winthrop University Courtney Starrett will present on Thursday, Sept. 25 at 8 p.m.; the Dean of Faculty, and Professor of Jewelry and Metals at the Cleveland Institute of Art Matthew Hollern will present on Tuesday, Oct. 21 and Philip Carrizzi, assistant professor and chair of Metals/Jewelry Design at Kendall College of Art and Design, will present on Thursday, Oct. 23 at 8 p.m.

Also opening Sept. 15 and running until Oct. 23 in the Elizabeth Dunlap Patrick Gallery is the multi-media exhibition The Means by Which We Find Our Way. Winthrop University Galleries is excited to be hosting this international exhibition which includes Department of Design faculty member, Gerry Derksen.

This project, curated by David Gardener and Andrea Wilkinson, was born from a desire to bring the 'wider design world' to Hamilton, New Zealand within the context of local surroundings. Twenty-six images were selected that covered local urban locations. By removing the textual component from the imagery, empty canvases were created. After an initial call for interest, design educators from around the world were provided these blank-images along with the "missing text" and encouraged to reintegrate the textual content back into the image, generating new meaning by the organization of the words or by including new graphical elements. ‘The means by which we find our way’ intends to spark discussion about colloquial visual language and to initiate dialogue about cultural residue – how space and the meaning of words can inform design decisions.

On Oct. 2 at 8 p.m. in Rutledge Auditorium, M. Isabel Meirelles, Assistant Professor of Design at Northeastern University in Boston will present on the topic of wayfinding and design. Meirelles audio excerpt can be heard as a part of The Means by Which We Find Our Way exhibition.

Fuzzy Boundary by Michael Gayk will be on exhibition in the Rutledge Windows with a View Sept. 8 – Oct. 23. Gayk, an artist and instructional developer at York Technical College/3D Systems University, explores the processes and workflow of data acquisition from 3D scanning to 3D printing. Within these technologies, Gayk is interested in the transformation and mutation of the "Body" and its image. Gayk is also exhibiting in the CADlabORATION 1.0 exhibition in the Rutledge Gallery. He will present a lecture on Sept. 18 at 8 p.m. in Rutledge Auditorium.

On Oct. 30, professional blacksmith and artist Elizabeth Brim will lecture in Rutledge 119 at 8 p.m.
All exhibitions, presentations and receptions are open and free to the public. Winthrop University Galleries is located in the Rutledge Building and McLaurin Hall on the campus of Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C.

Gallery hours are Monday – Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and closed on weekends. For more information call 803/323-2493 or visit www.winthrop.edu/vpa/galleries.

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