Collab and Ekphrastic 3.0 Reading

Please Join us Friday, September 7, 6-9PM for a celebration of creative collaboration.

 

Collab: Christopher E. Harrison + Laurie Van Wieren
and Ekphrastic 3.0 reading

We are pleased to invite you to the first iteration of Collab at SooVAC. Over the next nine months, artists of different disciplines will be collaborating at SooVAC with public programming. The first collaboration is between visual artist Christopher E. Harrison and dance artist Laurie Van Wieren. This event is free and open to the public.

 

6:00pm Doors open

 

7:00pm Ekphrastic 3.0 Reading by Ruth Gila Berger, Michael Kleber-Diggs, Clair Dunlap, and Anna George Meek

 

8:00pm Collab: Christopher Harrison and Laurie Van Wieren. Art and costumes by Christopher Harrison, choreographed by Laurie Van Wieren, performed by Lauren Coleman, Judith Howard and Marggie Ogas

Using Christopher Harrison’s solo exhibition, A Monster Anthology, as a setting; Harrison and Van Wieren have joined forces to create a new work. The resulting performance on September 7th was generated from this collaboration, it is choreographed by Laurie Van Wieren and features costumes and environment by Christopher E. Harrison. The piece will be performed by Lauren Coleman, Judith Howard and Marggie Ogas.

Upcoming collaborations will take place with Michael Kleber-Diggs, Megan Meyer, and Christopher Selleck this fall and Heid E. Erdrich and Rosy Simas next spring. All of the Collab projects are supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Experience the final drawing and a reading by Ruth Gila Berger, Michael Kleber-Diggs, Clair Dunlap, and Anna George from EKPHRASTIC 3.0 at 7pm. EKPHRASTIC 3.0 is the third iteration of an experiment in collaborative multi-panel storytelling, facilitated by artist Megan Vossler. Over the course of five weeks, thirty-nine participating artists stopped by SooVAC to draw onsite, during the final week of the exhibition, writers Ruth Gila Berger, Michael Kleber-Diggs, Clair Dunlap, and Anna George Meek visit the completed drawing and create short narrative responses. The reading will be of their resulting narratives.

EKPHRASTIC 3.0 Contributing Artists: Kelly Abeln, Alyssa Baguss, Yael Ben-Simon, Michael Brewer Carina, Tara Costello, Kendall Dickinson, Christi Furnas, Mary Gibney, Ruthann Godollei, Paige Guggemos, Christopher E. Harrison, Sherry Muyuan He, Noah Heil, Sophia Hill, Lindsay Hillenberg, Kathranne Knight, Ann E. Lawton, David Lefkowitz, Erik Lervold, Marlys Manville, Aaron Merrill, Alex Mitchell, Niky Motekallem, Terrence Payne, Sam Peck, Alex M. Petersen, Sidney Petersen, Jade Townsend, Christopher Tradowsky, Jenny Schmid, Caitlin Skaalrud, Joe Sinness, Carolyn Swiszcz, Alanna Stapleton, Andy Sturdevant, Tessa Sutton, Emma Thole, Angie Vogt, and Chris Willcox

 

Collab at SooVAC Artist Bios:

Christopher Harrison received his BFA from Columbus College of Art and Design in Columbus, OH. Harrison lives and works in Minneapolis. He has exhibited his work in solo and group exhibitions including Obsidian Arts, Nemeth Art Center, Smack Mellon in New York and currently at Soo Visual Arts Center. His work has been supported with grant funding by Jerome Foundation, Minnesota State Arts Board and MRAC Next Step. He is currently a Museum Arts Educator at Walker Art Center.

Laurie Van Wieren has been a creative force in the Twin Cities for 30+ years. Her choreography has been shown in the Twin Cities, nationally, and in Europe. 9x22 Dance/Lab, her monthly showcase, is the pre-eminent performance platform for local and visiting choreographers. She’s developed work for the Walker Art Center’s Open Field performance, which highlighted 100 local choreographers. Van Wieren has curated performance for the Southern, Ritz, Bryant Lake Bowl Theaters and Soo Visual Art Center. She is a recipient of fellowships/grants from McKnight, Jerome, Bush, NEA, Rockefeller Foundations and Mn State Arts Board. She has received a Special Citation SAGE Award and a SAGE Award for Outstanding Performance. Van Wieren received a City Pages Artists of the Year in 2016 for her solo dance Temporary Action Theory and her ongoing curation. She is currently making site-specific ensemble dance performances for parks and large spaces and a series of solo works for small spaces.

Artwork by Christopher Harrison...