Morton Bartlett, “Girl Licking Lips,” C-print
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The Westport Arts Center will present “Toy Stories,” a group show with artists who work with toys, toy production technology, animation, and video games. The exhibition will open with a public reception on Friday, January 27, 6 – 8pm, and will run through Sunday, March 18. The Westport Arts Center Gallery on 51 Riverside Avenue is free and open to the public seven day a week, Monday – Saturday, 10am – 5pm and Sunday, 12pm – 4pm.
Director of Visual Arts, Helen Klisser During, said, “Toys can change the way you feel. As a child, through the thoughts conjured up by playing with toys, one can imagine fame, fortune, death, destruction, time travel, beauty…toys transport you to a place…to live out fantasies, fortune, conflicts or harmony in a free-for-all, no-holds-barred fashion. Those feelings, those imaginings are very much the way an artist thinks and creates. There is that unity between conscious and unconscious, reality and fantasy, or the past and the future that comprises the non-linear world that the artist’s mind inhabits are very much like the fantasies of a child at play.”
Klisser During has selected more than 30 artists, including Jo Andres, Morton Bartlett, Nina Bentley, Janine Brown, Miggs Burroughs, Alexander Calder, Nick Cave, Peter Drake, Bethany Jean Fancher, Christian Faur, Laurence Hegarty, Dan Hernandez, Arcady Kotler, Dan Levinthal, D. Dominick Lombardi, Norma Minkowitz, Margaret Roleke, Cesar Santander, Larry Silver, Steven Skollar, Susan Wides, and Michael Zansky.
Toys and other forms of play have had influenced artists throughout the 20th and 21st Centuries. From Marcel Duchamp’s ready-made bicycle wheel in 1913, to Alexander Calder’s intricately assembled circus figurines in the 1920s, to contemporary artists such as Margaret Roleke, who use an iconic toy such as GI Joe to comment on current socio-political issues, it is this familiarity with the toy that enlivens and enhances the dialogue between the artist and the viewer. The artwork in this exhibition expands our traditional understanding of childhood, nostalgia, and the importance of imagination and play in contemporary culture.
During the eight-week exhibition, WAC will present integrated arts programs that make these types of connections across disciplines and address the role of media in our society. WAC’s New Media Lab is both a physical space at 42 Main Street above the popular restaurant, Bobby Q’s, and a curriculum of courses in film, animation, and photography for teens and adults. “The manipulation and use of new media and digital platforms for education and artistic understanding is becoming more relevant on a daily basis,” said Peter Van Heerden, executive director. “We will help students develop artistic foundations and provide an interface between the environments of education, art, and technology.”
The launch for New Media Lab will take place during a panel discussion with specialists in the fields of technology, including game designers, new media scholars, media theorists, and artists, on Thursday, February 9 in the WAC Gallery. Moderated by Artist Carolyn McKenzie, this event titled “Play Time / Games and the Theories of Play” will incorporate discussion about the art on the walls as well as what is happening in the greater world of digital media.
To engage young artists, the Arts Center is hosting a Toy Design Competition for children ages 5 – 18. “Kids can submit up to 3 designs for fun-to-play objects—be it an educational toy, action figure, a product to play with outdoors, a stuffed animal, doll series, or an animated mechanical robot,” said Director of Education, Danielle Ogden. “We encourage a maximum level of creativity, fantasy, and imagination.” Local toy-makers, Melissa & Doug, will serve as judges for the competition, doling out first, second, and third place prizes. The first place winner will have his/her toy design exhibited in the gallery for the last week of “Toy Stories,” and will have a soft toy replicated by 3-D artist. Entries are due February 10, 2012. Details on how to apply are available at www.westportartscenter.org
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