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The Environmental Art of MFA
“They are a group of art researchers,” says Professor Yolande Harris, organizer of the exhibition. Search Party is the culminating exhibition of the EASP MFA program. Seven artists – Genesis of the Waves, Jingtian Zong, Kevin Corcoran, Lee Chang Ming, Leslie Horwitz, Raty Syka and Shane Scopatz – contribute new projects developed in a survey conducted over a two-year period. Search Party is organized through Yolande Harris in collaboration with the artists of the EASP 2024 cohort and Valéria Miranda, director of Galeries Sesnon.
Search Party offers a window into the exclusive long-term studio projects of seven artists growing beyond the gallery space. In the form of image, sound, movement and intervention, his works read together about the fragile and imperfect situations of our time. and look for choices. In this festival, social and environmental contexts intertwine, intertwine and parallel.
Research projects include Kevin Corcoran’s Landslip Frequencies, which examines the attractions and sounds of Bay Area shorelines regarding landfills and erosion. These 4 audiovisual works hint at the way in which human activity and elemental forces are intertwined in placemaking.
When it came time to curate the exhibition, Harris gave his students a more hands-on experience. Unlike general curation, which involves creating a subject and opting for existing art and artists, Harris had to work to bring together seven separate paintings. under one roof. All of this was made much more complicated by the fact that the artists were still painting their paintings while the exhibition was being organized.
One such piece is Shane Scopatz’s rendition of A Worried Song, which will be presented at normal times on April 25 and May 2. This essay-turned-dance performance combines movement, improvisation, quoted text, and personal narrative to investigate how Jews are used in environmental politics.
It took many organizational discussions before Harris and the artists could come up with a name that encompassed all of their work. “Everybody’s busy looking for something,” says Harris. This becomes especially true when contemplating the overlap between art and environmentalism. in the EASP program. ” There’s this urgency of climate change, of disaster. “The artists’ goal is to dig through the rubble of climate change and find, if not a solution, then a vision of a better future. As for the “component” part of the name, it has a double meaning, either as a description of an organization’s other people and as part of their work.
Although many of the works are still in progress ahead of the exhibition, the artists still had the opportunity to experiment in the area. Since the Mary Porter Sesnon Gallery on campus had an area with no exhibition, Harris asked her students to install their works. there at least once or twice. This not only gave scholars time to perceive how their art affects the audience, but also how each other’s works would be collected in this gallery.
Paintings in the EASP program are already at odds with the concept of gallery exhibitions. Harris describes art’s move away from classical galleries by saying that artists are oriented toward “social space” or “the environment. “Scholars have a voice and a platform now that they will emerge into the world as full-time artists.
Learn more
Display
Friday, April 19 – May 19, 2024
Mary Porter Sesnon Gallery @ Porter College
University of California, Santa Cruz
1156 rue Alta
Santa Cruz, CA 95064
Opening Reception
April 19, 2024
17:00-19:00
A Troubled Song – Dance Show
April 25, May 2 and 9
17:30 – 18:30
RSVP here.
Parking
Lots 124 and 125 are the closest parks to the gallery.
Parking is done through UCSC or through the ParkMobile app
Directions and parking here.