Winter / Spring 2020 Exhibitions, See. Think. Do! Activity Guide

A BCA ACTIVITY GUIDE February 21 – June 7, 2020

Suzanne Anker, Astroculture (Eternal Return), 2015

Welcome to the BCA Center February 21 – June 7, 2020 Use this guide to explore the exhibitions on three floors of the BCA Center. You will SEE many different works of art, THINK about how the exhibition themes and ideas connect to our contemporary lives, and DO your own recording and sketching of your ideas.

Exhibiting artists featured in this guide: Jane Adams, Suzanne Anker, Andrea Haenggi, Ellie Irons and Anne Percoco, Estefania Puerta, Li Sumpter, Candace Thompson, and Brigitta Varadi.

Apocalypse Diet: What Will We Eat? Guest curated by Vermont artist Stella Marrs, Apocalypse Diet investigates food systems—how we grow and produce food for a population—as we face environmental challenges.

The exhibition shows creative ways to think about our relationship to food as we move toward the future.

Brigitta Varadi: Exploring the Invisible Brigitta Varadi explores the invisible, everyday rituals of working life. Labor is an important part of her creative process with each project, including research, experimentation, and community participation. Exploring the Invisible examines themes of sustainability, craft, and rediscovered traditions as they relate to the artist’s 2019 residency at Shelburne Farms.

Estefania Puerta: Sore Mouth Swore Estefania Puerta uses a variety of media, including video, beeswax, synthetic hair, mirrors, and coffee to create works of art that go beyond boundaries and defy definition. Her installation begins in the Lower Level Gallery and travels through the BCA Center’s stairwell, playing with notions of materials, media, and transformation. (please explore exhibition on your own)

Exhibition Themes and Vocabulary Food Security Research Sustainable Forage Wild Edibles

Environment Survival Resilience Climate Change Community

Labor Tradition Craft Experiment Materials

First Floor Gallery

Apocalypse Diet: What Will We Eat?

Candace Thompson, The Collaborative Urban Resilience Banquet, video still, 2019

Apocalypse Diet explores new ways to think about food and survival as we face environmental challenges. The artists in the exhibition investigate questions such as: What will we eat in the future? What will we grow?

What do we think of as food?

For her project Collaborative Urban Resilience Banquet (C.U.R.B.), Candace Thompson explores the wild plants we might think of as “weeds” that grow in her urban Brooklyn neighborhood. The artist researches the wild plants to learn if they are edible, tests for toxins, and processes them into different kinds of food. Candace shares her research and process through films, web projects, and community meals with food foraged from the city streets. Her work reveals how humans affect the environment and what weedy plants can teach us about resilience and survival in the face of climate change.

What is the difference between a plant and a weed?

Where does your food come from?

How does the artist’s C.U.R.B. project help us to think differently about food?

Many wild edible plants grow in Vermont. The dandelion, usually thought of as a pesky weed, grows almost anywhere: fields, sidewalks, backyards.

It’s leaves, flowers, and roots are edible. Fiddleheads from Ostrich ferns, can be found in the woods in early spring. The curled tops of the young ferns can be cooked. Imagine how you could use these local wild edibles to make a meal. Write and draw your recipes here:

DANDELION

FIDDLEHEAD

Please note: Some wild plants are poisonous. Only forage with an expert adult who can properly identify a wild plant or mushroom.Â

First Floor Gallery

Apocalypse Diet: What Will We Eat?

Jane Adams, Aquaponic Diorama, 2020

The artists in Apocalypse Diet combine scientific tools, techniques, and research with artistic materials and processes to create their work. They use a variety of media, including installation, performance, video, and social events, to explore ideas about the environment and food security.

Jane Adams, for example, collaborates with fellow researchers to explore data and complex ideas in visual ways. She built a small aquaponic system— raising aquatic animals with plants—to grow her own vegetables in her apartment. The artist’s installation Aquaponic Diorama presents her idea of how to create a sustainable food supply for a larger society, where aquatic animals, plants, and humans support each other in a balanced ecosystem.

What materials did Jane use to create her installation Aquaponic Diorama?

How did she use scientific research to make her art?

What does “sustainable” mean when we think about food?

Inspired by Jane Adams’ installation Aquaponic Diorama, imagine a way that you would want to live in harmony with plants and animals for the benefit of all. Draw your ideas.

Second Floor Gallery

Brigitta Varadi: Exploring the Invisible

Brigitta Varadi (Process image), 2019

Brigitta Varadi explores the disappearing crafts, traditions, and daily activities that are a part of working life in different communities. Research is an important part of her creative process, including taking pictures, recording videos of people and places, sourcing local materials, and experimenting with new crafts or fine art techniques.

In 2019, Brigitta visited Shelburne Farms as a BCA artist-in-residence to create her work for Exploring the Invisible. She researched the land, people, traditions, and way of life on the farm. Inspired by a tile restoration project at the farm’s historic inn, the artist decided to make similar tiles by hand using traditional methods and craftsmanship. She learned to harvest and process clay found on the farm, and with the help of community members, created over 2000 ceramic tiles. She also processed wool from the farm’s sheep to create her wall panels, and recorded her work with farmers, laborers, and community members. The exhibition reminds us of the importance of working together to maintain and honor our traditions while caring for the land.

What labor and step-by-step processes do you think Brigitta used to transform local raw materials into art?

Is there a daily ritual or family tradition that is an important part of your life? Who taught this tradition to you?

How did Brigitta work with people from Shelburne Farms and the local community to create her art?

Design your own tile inspired by the hexagon-shaped handmade tiles in Brigitta’s installation. What images, colors, patterns, or designs would you use?

GET CREATIVE AND MAKE ART TOGETHER!

Families are invited to drop-in to the BCA Center on each scheduled Saturday of the month to make their own artworks inspired by our current exhibitions.

Each Family Art Saturday offers a different art making project that will ignite the imaginations of your family members!

135 CHURCH STREET, DOWNTOWN BURLINGTON BURLINGTONCITYARTS.ORG

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

MARCH 28, 2020 APRIL 25, 2020 MAY 23, 2020 11-1 PM

Keep on drawing!

Conduct a treasure hunt in Apocalypse Diet: What Will We Eat? to search for different kinds of plants in the exhibition. Create an outline drawing of your favorite plant and record your findings.

Burlington City Arts 135 Church St Burlington VT 05401 BURLINGTONCITYARTS.ORG

See.Think.Do! invites youth and adults to the BCA Center for an interactive arts experience. Visits last approximately 1-2 hours and begin in the gallery with inquiry-based exploration, lively discussion, and active multidisciplinary learning. Programs conclude in the studio classroom, where students create works of art inspired by exhibition themes, materials, and artistic processes.

Youth and adults may also arrange for a guided gallery tour led by the BCA Center’s curator and gallery staff.

To schedule your visit, please contact: Melinda Johns, Gallery Education and Programs Coordinator, at mjohns@burlingtoncityarts.org, or call 802-865-7551.

Visit burlingtoncityarts.org/gallery-education for more information.