Recipher: Coding With Collage Features Ten Diverse Artists Exploring the
Malleability of Meaning and Context of Print Media Imagery
The group show opens on Saturday, September 13, at MAP (Mill Arts Project) in Easthampton, MA
Easthampton, MA, August 4, 2014 – What does collage’s inherent manipulation of content and context offer an artist? Recipher: Coding With Collage invites 10 artists to explore how collage can be used to reinterpret and repurpose the messages and representations in mass communication into something more elusive and personal. The group show features a diverse roster of local, national, and international collage artists.
The exhibition opens on Saturday, September 13, 2014, at MAP (Mill Arts Project) (easthamptoncityarts.com/map) located in Eastworks, Rm. 137, in Easthampton, MA. The opening reception from 5 to 8PM will feature DJs, Thorian Maxwell (mixcloud.com/thorianmaxwell) and Studebaker Hawk (acapulconights.net). The show will run until September 30, 2014. This exhibition is free and open to the public Wednesday through Friday from 5:00pm to 9:00pm, and Saturdays from 12:00pm to 7:00pm. There will be a moderated Q&A with several of the participating artists on Wednesday, September 17, at 7:30pm at MAP.
“Print media images are generally easy to decipher. Emotions seem familiar. Storylines predictable,” says Recipher curator and collage artist, Michael Sjostedt. “But when visuals and text are yanked out of context, the common definition of the extracted information can shift – sometimes drastically. I’m curious to see what the artists create with an intention and awareness about this particular aspect of the collage process.”
Curator Michael Sjostedt is a collage artist, social media professional and event organizer. Previously, he has organized LOOP (facebook.com/LoopPopUp), a successful pop-up event for upcycled artists and crafters and purveyors of vintage goods. He has exhibited at Popcorn Noir, Unite, ECA+ Gallery, and the Green Bean.
The following artists will each create nine pieces for the show:
Michael Church – Little Rock, AR
Zach Collins – Minneapolis, MN
Heather Sky Fulton – Greenfield, MA
Devin Grosz – Brooklyn, NY
Bronwen Hodgkinson – Easthampton, MA
Evan Clayton Horback – Olympia, WA
Wim Maes – Temse, Belgium
Travis Medford – Asheville, NC
Lilliana Pereira – Hadley, MA
Michael Sjostedt – Easthampton, MA
Three satellite events will take place in the MAP space throughout the exhibition.
- ECA+ Coordinator, Burns Maxey will moderate a Q&A with several Recipher artists on Wednesday, September 17, at 7:30pm.
- Art New England magazine will host a reception from 6pm to 8pm on Thursday, September 18.
- Michael Sjostedt will collaborate with Unbuttoned to host a Black Out Poetry Reading on Wednesday, September 24 at 7:30pm. Viewers of the exhibit are invited to write their interpretations of the art. Local poets and writers will black out text from the descriptions to make poems of the remaining text.
Please contact Michael Sjostedt at 413-230-1812 or msjost@gmail.com for more information about Recipher: Coding With Collage.
About Easthampton City Arts+ and Mill Arts Project (MAP)
Easthampton City Arts+, formed in 2005, enriches lives through the integration of arts, culture and community, and promotes revitalization and protection of Easthampton’s cultural assets. ECA merged with the Easthampton Cultural Council & Art Walk Easthampton to form ECA+ in 2011. Easthampton City Arts+ is funded in-part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
The Mill Arts Project is a collaboration between Easthampton City Arts+ and Eastworks that offers gallery space to incubate new curatorial voices in a community context. While curators bring a vision and dedication, Eastworks and ECA+ assist with space and offer an intensive educational curatorial and organizational guide as well as assistance in project direction. Learn more about ECA+ at easthamptoncityarts.com/MAP.
