Wave Hill Launches 2012 Sunroom Project Space Season April 3
Shown above is Alejandro Guzman's work El Vejigante, 2011. Image is courtesy of the artist. More images are available upon request.
Contact: Martha Gellens 718.549.3200 x232 or pressroom@wavehill.org
Bronx, NY, January 31, 2012 – Now for the sixth season, Wave Hill, a public garden and cultural center in the Bronx, commissions a diverse set of emerging New York-area artists to create a new body of work or site-specific project for a solo exhibition in Glyndor Gallery’s Sunroom Project Space. For 2012, a jury review considered over 130 applications―the highest volume of applicants to date―and ultimately selected Alejandro Guzman, Annie Varnot, Crystal Z. Campbell, Yeon Ji Yoo and Gail Biederman as this year’s Sunroom artists. In addition, two Van Lier Visual Artist Fellows, Nova Jiang and Cameron Rowland, were chosen by Wave Hill’s Curators and will exhibit in the Sunroom Project Space. These seven join the growing list of artists who have created and exhibited new work in a context unique to New York City, inspired by Wave Hill’s breathtaking gardens, sweeping vistas and rich history.
The Sunroom artists are chosen by a jury that included Assistant Curator Gabriel de Guzman; Felicity Hogan, Program Officer at the New York Foundation for the Arts and former Executive Director of Artists Alliance Inc.; and Rita MacDonald, a 2010 Sunroom artist. The panel reviewed the applications and selected 10 finalists. Mr. de Guzman conducted a studio visit with each of these artists and ultimately chose the five who will exhibit in the Sunroom.
The Sunroom Project Space contributes significantly to the professional advancement of each exhibiting artist. Throughout, artists are supported by Wave Hill’s curatorial staff, have access to the grounds and are encouraged to engage with the visiting public. Annie Varnot, a 2012 Sunroom Project Space artist, expresses her attraction to the program: “My most dynamic work tends to be site-specific. Having a site to work with helps me manifest ambitious projects, and Wave Hill’s mission and site are perfect for fusing my ideas about nature with my sculptural intentions.”
Two of the Sunroom artists are Van Lier Visual Artist Fellows. This one-year fellowship is awarded to two New York City-based artists who are 30 years of age or younger, providing valuable mentorship opportunities for emerging artists from culturally diverse backgrounds. Fellows learn from the curatorial staff about the creation and interpretation of exhibitions and arts programming, as well as working with artists and arts professionals to define career paths. In addition to the Sunroom Project, the Van Lier Fellows are given a studio space during the second session of Wave Hill’s Winter Workspace Program (February 14 - March 25, 2012).
Sunroom Project 2012 Schedule
Alejandro Guzman, April 3–May 13
Intellectual Derelict: The Meltdown, an Outdoor Ice Sculpture Performance, Sun, April 1, 3PM
Meet the Artist: Performance and Artist Talk, Sun, April 15, 1:30PM
Intellectual Derelict: Lovers’ Dilemma, an Outdoor Falconry Performance, Sun, April 29, NOON NEW DATE!
Alejandro Guzman’s work acknowledges the blend of Native, African, Asian and European influences that informs the cultures of the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean. Guzman creates performance objects from man-made and natural materials, and incorporates large-scale geometric drawings and photographs into his three-dimensional sculptural work.
Annie Varnot, May 19–July 1
Meet the Artist: Sun, May 20, 1:30PM
To create this highly personal and contemplative sculptural installation, Annie Varnot has collected unsellable eggs from a poultry farmer whom she befriended during an artist residency in Nova Scotia. She then washed and hollowed the dirty or irregularly shaped eggs and set them in plaster, creating ambiguous forms with odd protrusions that seem mysterious yet strangely familiar. For this project, the Sunroom is filled with these white sculptures, setting up a serene space for contemplating life’s impermanence, as well as the potential for growth and renewal.
Nova Jiang, July 8–August 19, 2012
Meet the Artist: Sun, July 8, 1:30PM
One of two Van Lier Visual Artist Fellows, Nova Jiang is concerned with fostering a sense of community and often creates situations that allow people to interact in unexpected ways. Her work explores the evolving definition of public space, and her goal is to create new participatory models of creation. She aims to inspire people’s curiosity about each other as well as their everyday surroundings through play, often transforming strangers into collaborators. As a Van Lier Fellow, Jiang will participate in the Winter Workspace Program and will develop her Sunroom Project during that time.
Cameron Rowland, July 8–August 19, 2012
Winter Workspace Workshop: Sun, March 18, 1–4PM
Meet the Artist: Sun, July 8, 1:30PM
Van Lier Visual Artist Fellow Cameron Rowland’s work engages with architecture and explores the notion of site specificity by considering a combination of the natural features and cultural context of a place. His previous installations have treated the exhibition space as both site and subject, using photographic set-ups and architectural models. He will continue to develop his Sunroom Project during the Winter Workspace Program.
Crystal Z. Campbell, September 1–October 14
Meet the Artist: Date and time to be announced
Crystal Z. Campbell’s site-specific installation engages with the history of Wave Hill’s gardens and the surrounding Bronx community. Campbell is conducting archival research and consulting with local historians concerning Wave Hill’s history and site. Having been built in 1843 exactly two decades before the abolition of slavery in 1863, Wave Hill House is of particular interest to the artist as she investigates its past to find clues concerning heroism, power and nationality through mediations of the land. Campbell’s project will be a rethinking of the utility, politics and economy of the public garden and will consist of modified archival forms, sound, image and sculptural ephemera.
Yeon Ji Yoo, September 1–October 14
Meet the Artist: Date and time to be announced
Yeon Ji Yoo’s work explores the cyclical transfer across generations of nutrients, memories, histories, genetic legacies and life’s acquisitions from one living being to another. The artist creates a sculptural installation in the Sun Porch: The Fight explores ideas regarding the natural cycles of death, decay, renewal and growth, offering an imaginary woodland environment composed of translucent trees, flora, dying fauna (beasts) and diabolical roots.
Gail Biederman, October 20–December 2
Meet the Artist: Date and time to be announced
Gail Biederman is interested in mapping, topography and patterns of growth, whether natural or artificial. She sees both natural and built environments as having a strange similarity; just as highways and roads expand, vines creep up the sides of old mansions in continual growth. For her Sunroom project, Biederman uses commercial and handmade felt to create a net-like, three-dimensional map, which she suspends from the ceiling. Her materials, referencing the topography of the Bronx, incorporate natural elements, such as leaves, vines and sticks from Wave Hill’s gardens, transforming the urban streets of the Bronx into a vibrant and evocative form.
Organized by Assistant Curator Gabriel de Guzman, the Sunroom Project Space provides an opportunity for New York-area emerging artists to exhibit in a site-specific solo show. The selection process for the 2013 season begins in February 2012. An information session for interested artists will be held at Wave Hill on Sunday, March 4, at 2:30PM; online registration is recommended. The deadline for the 2013 season is Tuesday, April 17, 2012. Guidelines and application information will be posted in February at http://www.wavehill.org/arts/artist.html.
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Wave Hill 675 West 252ndSt Bronx, NY 10471 718.549.3200 www.wavehill.org
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DIRECTIONS–Getting here is easy. Located only 30 minutes from midtown Manhattan, Wave Hill’s free shuttle van transports you to and from our front gate and Metro-North’s Riverdale station, and the 242nd Street stop on the #1 subway line. Limited onsite parking is available for $8 per vehicle. Free off-site parking nearby with continuous, complimentary shuttle service to and from our front gate. Complete directions, shuttle bus schedule at www.wavehill.org.
THE SUNROOM PROJECT SPACE IS SUPPORTED IN PART BY the Milton & Sally Avery Arts Foundation and the The New York Community Trust. Additional support for the Visual Arts Program is provided by the Lily Auchincloss Foundation, Inc., Dedalus Foundation, Inc., and by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. Sustaining support for Wave Hill is provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.
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