Extending the Line

 

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Krysten Cunningham, Golden Trapezoid, 2014

Extending the Line

January 26 — March 7, 2015

A line represents the connection of two points in space, and as such represents a basic component of representation.  This act of joining gives a line a particular physical, social and metaphorical weight. Extending the Line explores the mathematical, kinesthetic, and poetic aspects of line. The exhibition considers line in multiple dimensions. In two-dimensional drawings and prints, the agency of line is foregrounded: what does it mean to trace connections between disparate elements? The exhibition then traces line as it migrates off the page into three-dimensional space through fiber arts: here line folds on itself to realize into sculptural form. Line extends through in time in video explorations, and into performance space through dance.

Extending the Line will take place in Colorado College’s two campus galleries. Artists featured in IDEA Space include: William Anastasi, Herbert Bayer, Krysten Cunningham, Susan Hefuna and Luca Veggetti, Sol Lewit, Senga Nengudi, Abbie Miller and Anne Wilson.  The Coburn Gallery exhibition features Jean Gumpper and Jeanne Steiner.

  • A series of drawings and prints borrowed from the collection of the Colorado Springs Fine Art Center, provides the exhibition’s foundation. From Sol Lewitt’s geometric constructions to Herber Bayer’s graceful arcing forms to William Anastasi’s explorations of line in motion, this portion of the exhibition reveals the structural and expressive qualities of line in two dimensions.
  • Prints and works in fiber by Jean Gumpper and Jeanne Steiner will consider the qualities of line by considering the relationship of the incised line of woodblock prints to the three-dimensional woven forms.
  • Anne Wilson and Krysten Cunningham both create bas-relief images composed of fibers and woven elements that allow lines to emerge from planar surfaces, thus allowing line to realize from two dimensions into three.  Video pieces in which lines move, multiply and weave together extend both artists’ investigations by incorporating elements of process, motion, and time. Abbie Miller’s monumental sculptures composed of vinyl sheets that are zipped onto structural armatures trace the progression from line, to plane, to three-dimensional object.
  • Susan Hefuna and Luca Veggetti’s piece Notationotations  and Senga Nengudi’s RSVP series address line’s relationship to the body. Engaging elements of performance, their works tease out the relationship between representational line and lines created through bodily motions.
  • Extending the Line will also feature a soundscape component, wherein three musicians respond to the exhibition concept and specific pieces in the show.

Extending the Line will comprise a component of Colorado College’s Cornerstone Arts Week (January 26 -30) a fifteen-year-old endeavor that features a week of thematically related art, performances, lectures, and discussions. This year’s theme, What’s My Line?: explores connections between theater, dance, mathematics, and visual art.

Exhibition sponsored by: The National Endowment for the Arts, the Art Department/Stillman Fund for Exhibitions.