Back to School: 8 University Art Exhibits to Check Out this Fall

August 31, 2016

This past winter, we did a preview for the spring semester's most exciting new exhibitions. Now we are emerging on the beginning of the fall semester, and perhaps one of the most exciting seasons for the arts, with galleries all over the city waking from their summer slumbers to present compelling new work.

 

Boston's many acclaimed institutions are no exception. Here are 8 exhibitions opening at some of the country's best campus galleries and museums:

 

Gallery 360 at Northeastern University

Ralph Pucci: The Art of the Mannequin

August 11  – October 23, 2016 

Image courtesy of Northeastern University

Image courtesy of Northeastern University

 

This unique exhibition presents a 30-year retrospective of work by designer Ralph Pucci, curated by the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD). Pucci's work is both innovative and influential in the fashion retail industry, reflecting social and cultural trends in body image, fashion, and individual identity. The exhibition illuminates an aspect of the New York City fashion business not often addressed in the fine art setting, but which is essential to the industry.

 

Lesley University Art Galleries

Mouth (for L’Oréal), New York, 1986printed 1992, Smithsonian American Art Museum. Copyright © The Irving Penn Foundation.Image courtesy of Lesley University

Mouth (for L’Oréal), New York, 1986
printed 1992, Smithsonian American Art Museum. 
Copyright © The Irving Penn Foundation.
Image courtesy of Lesley University

 

Irving Penn: Beyond Beauty

September 10 – November 19, 2016

In a retrospective that spans all three of Lesley University's art galleries, this retrospective showcases work by legendary American photographer, Irving Penn. This is the first retrospective of Penn's work in over 20 years, and includes 140 photographs from the Smithsonian American Art Museum's permanent collection. Penn's photography examined the cultural significance of personal and public style, using outward appearance to reach for the deeper significance of human experience.

 

The Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University

The Letting Go by Sarah SzeSite-Specific Installation at the MFA, BostonImage Courtesy of Sarah Sze

The Letting Go by Sarah Sze
Site-Specific Installation at the MFA, Boston
Image Courtesy of Sarah Sze

 

Sarah Sze: Timekeeper

September 11 – December 11, 2016

Sarah Sze combines sculpture, installation, and painting in large-scale architectural landscapes from the scenes and objects of everyday life. Sze works with a variety of materials ranging from found objects to handmade sculpture, to living plants. For this exhibition, she will create a new, site-specific installation in the Lois Foster Wing of the Rose Art Museum. 

 

The opening reception for this exhibition will be on Sunday, September 11th, from 5 - 9 p.m.

 

 

Aidekman Arts Center at Tufts University

Lost in my Life (fruit stickers) (2010)Rachel PerryPigmented ink printImage courtesy of Tufts University

Lost in my Life (fruit stickers) (2010)
Rachel Perry
Pigmented ink print
Image courtesy of Tufts University

 

Mortal Things: Portraits Look Back and Forth

September 14 – December 4, 2016

To celebrate its 25th anniversary, the Tufts University Art Gallery will present an exhibition addressing the changing role of portraiture in examining individual, social, and institutional identities, and the varying concepts of gaze used in observing it. It will draw from Tufts University's permanent art collection and contemporary art exhibition history, with nearly 100 works in a variety of media. The 50 artists featured will span from the mid-nineteenth century to present day, nearly all concerned with the human figure. 

 

Bakalar Gallery at Massachusetts College of Art and Design

Encircling the World: Contemporary Art, Science, and the Sublime

Data Visualizations (2011)Mary Bates NeubauerBronze, ABS plasticImage courtesy of MassArt

Data Visualizations (2011)
Mary Bates Neubauer
Bronze, ABS plastic
Image courtesy of MassArt

 

September 19 – December 3, 2016

Encircling the World is a multidisciplinary exhibition featuring 14 international artists, whose work visualizes scientific inquiry. Datasets and natural phenomena are interpreted in unique, aesthetically stimulating methods. Each artist investigates scientific practice, and materializes its discoveries in unique ways. The work featured is both inventive and compelling, and a testament to the intersection between science and art, logical and beautiful, in their dedication to imagination.

There will be a reception for the exhibition on Monday, September 19th, from 6:30 - 8 p.m.

 

The Davis Museum at Wellesley College

Cuban singer La Lupe performing in New York City, 1970. Gelatin silver print.Gift of Katherine Hall Page (Class of 1969)Image courtesy of Wellesley College

Cuban singer La Lupe performing in New York City, 1970. Gelatin silver print.
Gift of Katherine Hall Page (Class of 1969)
Image courtesy of Wellesley College

 

Charlotte Brooks at LOOK, 1951­-1971

September 28 2016 – December 18, 2016

The Davis Museum will present the first retrospective of the work of notable postwar female photographer, Charlotte Brooks. Despite being pigeonholed with assignments which primarily featured domestic subjects, Brooks' photojournalism used the opportunity to cover concerns of civil liberties and women's rights. This exhibition consists primarily of Brooks' work at Look magazine, which featured her best-known work, and where she was one of only a handful of women who ever hired.

There will be a curatorial gallery talk with exhibition curator, Ileana Selejan on Tuesday, October 4th, at 4 p.m. at the Davis Galleries.

 

The List Visual Arts Center at Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Edgar Arceneaux: Written in Smoke and Fire

October 14, 2016 – January 8, 2017

A Book and A Medal II (Unredacted) (2014 - 2015) by Edgar ArceneauxSeven parts, silver, painting on mirrored glass, handcrafted steel frame and light boxes41.50 in H x 160 in W x 4.50 inPhoto by Robert Wedemeyer, Courtesy of the artist and…

A Book and A Medal II (Unredacted) (2014 - 2015) by Edgar Arceneaux
Seven parts, silver, painting on mirrored glass, handcrafted steel frame and light boxes
41.50 in H x 160 in W x 4.50 in
Photo by Robert Wedemeyer, Courtesy of the artist and Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects
Image courtesy of MIT List Visual Arts Center

 

This solo exhibition will present three major, interlocking projects by LA artist Edgar Arceneaux, whose work spans from installation and sculpture to drawing and photography. The work in this exhibition all reflect on history and remembrance, especially that of African-Americans, and how social and cultural narratives transform with time. This exhibition will be premiering a brand new installation, Until, Until, Until (2016), which will examine Broadway artist Ben Vereen's controversial performance during Regan's 1981 inauguration.

 

The Harvard Art Museums at Harvard University

Doris Salcedo: The Materiality of Mourning

November 4, 2016 – April 9, 2017

A Flor de Piel (2013), detail by Doris Salcedo© Doris Salcedo. Photo: Joerg Lohse; courtesy of the artist and Alexander and Bonin, New York.Image courtesy of Harvard Art Museums 

A Flor de Piel (2013), detail by Doris Salcedo
© Doris Salcedo. Photo: Joerg Lohse; courtesy of the artist and Alexander and Bonin, New York.
Image courtesy of Harvard Art Museums

 

The Materiality of Mourning will be an exhibition of recent work by Doris Salcedo, a Bogotá-based artist whose sculptures and installations honor the victims of political violence in Columbia and beyond. A Flor de Piel (2013), a large-scale tapestry made of thousands of preserved red rose petals meant to be a shroud for a nurse who was tortured to death in the Columbian War. It will be shown publicly for the first time in this exhibition, along with several additional objects and a collection of Salcedo's small sculptures.

 

There will be an opening celebration for this exhibition on Wednesday, November 2, 2016 at 6 - 7:30 p.m., including a discussion between Doris Salcedo and Elaine Scarry, the Walter M. Cabot Professor of Aesthetics and General Theory of Value at Harvard, as well as a Q&A with the artist.

 

Wednesday, August 31, 2016: Puloma Ghosh

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Abigail Ogilvy

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