October 10- November 8, 2020

Opening Saturday October 10th, 12-9pm, then open usual hours on weekends, 12-5pm

Room 1:

Victoria Bradbury
S-Witch

S-Witch draws upon the familiar exhortation of “she’s a witch”, used throughout history to condemn people who are viewed as straying from the norm, or people for whom it is convenient or profitable to jail or execute. This exhibition features documentation from the artist’s 2019 virtual reality project, Blue Boar VR, which allows players to experience her 10th great-grandmother Mary Bradbury’s 1692 witch trial conviction. At 75 years old, Mary was accused by her neighbors, the Carrs, of having turned into a blue boar, amongst other fantastical crimes. Blue Boar VR can be played from three perspectives: that of Mary (the accused), The Carrs (the accusers) or the fantastical blue boar. A story about violent power structures inherent to a 17th Century New England village is incomplete without considering the broader context of American history in which my ancestor played a part. She was among the first generation to live in a colonialist society on lands stolen from the Wampanoag and benefitting from wealth built by enslaved black bodies in the American South. Perspectives on guilt, innocence and false accusation can also be reconsidered as they extend beyond witch trials to touch the wicked problem of mass incarceration as modern day slavery. In addition to print and video documentation of Blue Boar VR, this exhibition features a new work, a series of six digitally fabricated analog projection boxes that rotate between “SHE’S A” and “SWITCH”, to present a phrase that condemns, accuses and lays blame. The play on words between “switch” and “witch” incorporates notions of switching in a mechanical, electrical and computational sense, but also shifting notions of gender and identity in a complex and changing world.

Victoria Bradbury is an artist and researcher working with code, physical computing and virtual reality. She is the co-editor of “Art Hack Practice: Critical Intersections of Art, Innovation and the Maker Movement” (Routledge 2019) and a recipient of an Epic MegaGrant for her work combining physical computing and the Unreal Game Engine. With Mark Hursty, Victoria co-taught “The Glass Electric: Glassblowing, Electroforming, Interactive Electronics” at Pilchuck Glass School 2019 Summer Session 3.  Her work has been showcased on the Radiance Blog and at IEEE-GEM, xCoAx, Harvestworks, Revolve Gallery, Albright Knox and The New Britain Museum of American Art. Victoria’s PhD is from CRUMB at the University of Sunderland. She is Assistant Professor of New Media at UNC Asheville.

www.victoriabradbury.com

Images:
1.     Headshot of the artist, Victoria Bradbury, Photo by Brandon Buckles
2.     BlueBoar_Bradbury04, “Boar crashes fence”, still of Blue Boar VR, Unreal Game Engine, 2019
3.     BlueBoar_VR_Carrots.png, “Carrots”, digital still of Blue Boar VR, Unreal Game Engine, 2019
4.     BlueBoar_VR_Carrs_on_road, “Carrs on the road”, digital still of Blue Boar VR, Unreal Game Engine, 2019
5.     BlueBoar_VR_Carrs, “The Carrs”, still of Blue Boar VR, Unreal Game Engine, 2019
6.     BlueBoar_VR_House, “Mary’s house and door garden”, digital still of Blue Boar VR, Unreal Game Engine, 2019
7.     BlueBoar_VR_Mary, “Mary enters the gate”, digital still of Blue Boar VR, Unreal Game Engine, 2019
8.     ShesA_vb, “She’s a S-Witch”, blown and sandblasted electroformed glass with LEDs, 2019
9.     Switch_vb, “She’s a S-Witch”, blown and sandblasted electroformed glass with LEDs, 2019

Rooms 2 & 3:

Cynthia Scott
May You Live In Interesting Times

a mini retrospective

Once you’ve lived through a certain number of crises some connections become apparent. It appears that we as a species are stupid enough to allow history to repeat itself.

Repetition in my own work is not as common. I may seem to jump from medium to medium, subject to subject, gripe to gripe. The intent of this selection is to suggest the through lines tying these idiosyncratic jumps through the years to events that have altered our understanding of what we thought we knew. Each work, although primarily created in response to a specific crisis, was either intended or later revealed itself to be a symbol of greater systemic problems.

Which, of course, are all connected.

Cynthia Scott followed a BFA in Sculpture from RISD with stints as an actress (Aliens) and singer(Red Flame/Virgin 10 Records) in New York, London and Los Angeles – eventually completing the circle by establishing a home and art studio in New Orleans. She received her MFA in Studio Art from Tulane University in 2008. 

Scott is the recipient of several public art commissions, an Artist Fellowship, and numerous grants from Louisiana Division of the Arts, Louisiana Cultural Economy Foundation, the Contemporary Arts Center’s SweetArts Fund, and Transforma Projects. She has exhibited in London, Edinburgh, Mexico City, New York, Los Angeles, Houston, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Providence, Baltimore, Cedar Rapids, Minneapolis, Nashville, New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Alexandria (LA), and cities in Alabama, Texas, South Carolina and California. From 2009 to 2011 she established and coordinated Current:NOLA, a discussion group/think tank of artists and writers engaged in raising the national and international profile of contemporary New Orleans visual art through dialogue, promotion, and critical writing.

Images:
1. 1967:2016
Metal, plastic, paint, faux flowers, cable ties, monofilament, toy soldiers, picture frame, appropriated photographs
Variable dimensions
2018
2. Lust
Pomegranate skin, thread, resin
14” x 22” x 4”
2010
3.Vessel for the Ties That Bind Us   
Katrina debris, electric wires, cable ties
13” x 31” x 28”
2005

cynthiascott2000.com

Room 4:

Ra'Jae' Wolf
Dreamscapes

In “Dreamscapes”, Ra’Jae’ Wolf uses fragments to create worlds that feel weightless and groundless. Rather than being bound to the confinements of reality, these new terrains are complex in nature and produce microcosms; including this installation for the viewer to become immersed in. The process of creating these works began by digitally tearing apart pieces of other compositions; drawings of aquatic creatures, water elements, and the cosmos to name a few. This imagery was then reassembled to create entirely new designs. Throughout this process, Ra’Jae’ refers to parts of her internal self; dreams and thoughts manifested by accumulated emotions, which dictate color choices and become fragmented to introduce whole new surprising landscapes.