May 18, 2016

DUE TO UNFORESEEN CIRCUMSTANCES THE EXHIBITION HAS BEEN CANCELLED

The Grant Wood Fellows will culminate their time at the University of Iowa with an exhibition entitled GWAC 1516 at the Sculpture Court of Music West (formerly the University of Iowa Museum of Art), May 21 through June 30. The exhibition will include the work of 2015-16 visual art fellows Terry Conrad and Neal Rock and music fellow Christopher Jette. GWAC 1516 is free and open to the public, Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Patrons are to use the south entrance.

Terry Conrad, the Printmaking Fellow, will show prints made from a system using found materials collected from local Iowa landscapes and towns. Conrad allows homemade inks—derived from dirt, Iowa City walnuts, and other raw materials—to seep through a network of tubing linking layer upon layer of repurposed objects. The ink finds its resting place trapped between bent tin cans pressed tightly to the paper. The end results are unpredictable abstract designs of warm hues. The process is as much art as the final print. Conrad will erect a working “press” in the exhibit. More information about the artist can be found on his website, http://www.terryjamesconrad.com/.

Returning from installing his work in Catlin XL Art Prize exhibition in London, Neal Rock will feature several silicone and polystyrene pieces on the concrete walls of the Sculpture Court. Rock thoughtfully drapes, wraps, and stretches printed silicone over bulbous forms. His work exchanges traditional supports of paint for other materials and relations, exploring paint as a cultural and material prosthetic. Examples of his work can be found on his website, http://www.nealrock.com/.

Music Fellow Christopher Jette collaborated with Conrad on translating sound vibrations into print. They will display a selection of these sound marbling pieces in the exhibition. Jette is a curator of lovely sounds, translating the common pings, rattles, and buzzes of everyday life into an electronic composition and converting laptops, brain-sensing headbands, and motion sensors into the next generation of instruments. During the exhibition reception Jette will present an original sound piece derived from global warming data entitled, On the Surface: a sonification of climate change and walrus population data. See http://www.cj.lovelyweather.com/ for more information about Jette and his work.

The Colony will host a reception on Saturday, May 21, from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Sculpture Court of Music West. All are welcome to see the exhibition and speak with the Fellows. Music West is located at 150 North Riverside Drive, Iowa City, Iowa. No tickets are necessary for this event.