{"id":8683,"date":"2014-08-04T16:25:21","date_gmt":"2014-08-04T22:25:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/?p=8683"},"modified":"2014-08-04T16:25:21","modified_gmt":"2014-08-04T22:25:21","slug":"conversation-pieces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/2014\/08\/conversation-pieces\/","title":{"rendered":"Conversation Pieces"},"content":{"rendered":"

I<\/span>t\u2019s right there in the name: InterDisciplinary Experimental Arts. IDEA Space is an art gallery, sure, but it bursts out of that box to deliver enlightenment and inspiration wrapped in texture, color, shape, and line.<\/p>\n

\"Jessica<\/a>

Jessica Hunter-Larsen \u201990<\/p><\/div>\n

Jessica Hunter-Larsen \u201990<\/strong> has been the curator since 2006, when she was handed a tabula rasa for the resource in the Edith Kinney Gaylord Cornerstone Arts Center.<\/p>\n

Hunter-Larsen sees visual art as a portal to learn about history, language, religion, sociology, psychology, performing arts, and science. It\u2019s the perfect job for the art history major, who as a 16-year-old realized that she could study everything by studying the art of a culture or of a person.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seemed very natural and really exciting to move into this position. I could be very collaborative, not only with the Art Department here, who are wonderful partners, but with everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most of the fun happens during IDEA Cabarets, when the campus population and the public are welcome to interact with experts.<\/p>\n

This summer, IDEA Space hosted \u201cMandala of Enlightenment: The Dhyani Buddhas and Tara: Goddess of Liberation,\u201d Joan Bredin-Price\u2019s feminist interpretations of traditional iconography. Visitors could learn from David Gardiner, associate professor of religion at CC and friend of Bredin-Price; yoga instructor Kat Tudor \u201977<\/strong>; Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader Za Choeje Rinpoche; and Judith Simmer-Brown of Naropa University.<\/p>\n

Last spring, the gallery hosted \u201cRhythm Nations: Transnational Hip Hop in the Street, in the Gallery, and on the Stage,\u201d with work by Ruben Aguirre, iROZEALb, Jacque Fragua, and Kelly Monico. Hunter-Larsen, abetted by Idris Goodwin of the CC Theatre and Dance Department, hosted speakers including CC\u2019s Joan Ericson, professor of Japanese, and Heidi Lewis, assistant professor of feminist and gender studies; and Aya Louisa McDonald, associate professor of art history at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

The next exhibit will pay homage to Nikola Tesla, who conducted experiments in Colorado Springs from 1899 to 1900. The exhibit runs Sept. 4-Oct. 18 and will feature historical information, photographic reproductions, excerpts from Tesla\u2019s notebooks, and art influenced by his ideas.<\/p>\n

W. Bernard Carlson, who recently wrote a biography, \u201cTesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age,\u201d will be among the speakers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to have a conversation about \u2018What is it that made him so innovative? How was he conceiving of problem-solving that was so completely different from some of his contemporaries? How was he taking ideas from the past and applying them?\u2019\u201d Hunter-Larsen said.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s partnering with the Innovation Institute to explore topics including the gap between idea and implementation. Tesla, who died penniless, is practically the poster child for just how challenging it can be to bridge that gap.<\/p>\n

Hunter-Larsen also has tapped the alumni pool, with past participants including artist Jon Cohrs \u201900<\/strong>, Robin Reisenfeld \u201978<\/strong> of Christie\u2019s Education New York, and Lydia Matthews \u201981<\/strong> of Parsons The New School for Design.<\/p>\n

She admitted that not every idea works as planned.<\/p>\n

\u201cI take the word \u2018experimental\u2019 in the title very seriously. That gives me a lot of freedom to fail,\u201d she said, laughing. \u201cWe\u2019re all part of the experiment, so if something doesn\u2019t work, we can sort of step back and say, \u2018Well, that was interesting. What can we learn from that?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Her inspiration can come from something as simple as hearing a song called \u201cRaw Sugar\u201d on the radio. The result: the \u201cSugar, Sugar\u201d exhibit of 2009-2010, with talks about the sugar industry and a beet farmer\u2019s experiences, poetry, even a sugarplum tasting. Or she\u2019ll hear about CC-based research and think of ways to engage people who may be too intimidated to enter a gallery.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the great philosophies on campus, and here, is that anybody can bring something to the table. You don\u2019t need to know anything about art to come to an art exhibition and have an experience.\u201d She likens that experience to a really great dinner conversation \u2014 so pull up a chair and dig in.<\/p>\n

More information: sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ideaspace<\/a> or (719) 389-6066.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s right there in the name: InterDisciplinary Experimental Arts. IDEA Space is an art gallery, sure, but it bursts out of that box to deliver enlightenment and inspiration wrapped in texture, color, shape, and line. Jessica Hunter-Larsen \u201990 has been the curator since 2006, when she was handed a tabula rasa for the resource in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":8684,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-8683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-august-2014","tag-features"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/files\/2014\/08\/IDEA-Space-Gustavo-Victor-Goler-by-Oller.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8683"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8683\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8687,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8683\/revisions\/8687"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}