Exhibitions Archive
Emmet Gowin Dreams of Stars
Emmet Gowin photographs subjects at the core of life, from intimate family relationships to the man-marked landscape. He records the textures, tones, and patterns that surround us, forcing us to look closely at the seemingly familiar. In the fall of 2014 Gowin was a Montgomery Fellow at Dartmouth, and while on campus he met with students, faculty, and community members. This exhibition displayed work spanning Gowin’s career—pictures of his wife, Edith, and her family from the 1970s, aerial environmental images from the 1980s and 90s, and more recent work exploring the beauty and diversity of insects, especially moths. Each body of work reflects the rich nuances of life and the complexity of humans’ relationship to nature.
Vehicles of Artistic Ideas
Colorful Squares
While the use of squares as decorative elements can be traced back to the geometric patterns on Greek pottery in 700 B.C.E., the square did not become a dominant compositional element in paintings until the twentieth century. The simplicity and regularity of the square, as both surface and compositional element, might be seen to restrict freedom of representation; however, some artists found that through nuanced coloring, shading, and positioning of squares they were able to convey ideas without distracting the viewer with complicated forms. This installation explores the use of the square in paintings during the 1960s and 1970s to illustrate the range of effects produced through this simple geometric form.
The Art of Public Placemaking
Placemaking is the process of making spaces meaningful to those who experience them. This can be done in small or large ways, by groups or by individuals. Take a moment to think of your favorite place. Maybe it is your childhood backyard, the coffee shop down the street, or a neighbor's front porch. What makes this place meaningful to you? Perhaps it is the social interactions, fond memories, or simply that feel-good sensation you associate with this place. When people attach meaningful ideas and emotions to places, these places take on unique identities. They become a part of our lives and of us.
Burning as It Were a Lamp
Enrique Martínez Celaya
On view for just five weeks this summer, the Hood's installation of Burning as It Were a Lamp (2013) introduces Miami-based artist Enrique Martínez Celaya to the community. This immersive installation consists of two paintings, a weeping bronze boy, and mirrors. The work only fully reveals itself when the viewer enters—and is reflected in—the mirrored space. Martínez Celaya is in residence at Dartmouth for the month of July and will present both a public lecture and a gallery talk in conjunction with his visit.
Small-Scale Art, the Viewer, and the Art World
Rejecting the Diminutive
Small-scale contemporary art has often been ignored or trivialized by scholars and critics. This exhibition looks at seven works that reveal different strategies for rejecting conventional artistic standards. Some of these artists appropriate "insignificant" materials—either everyday or ephemeral in nature—while others employ a hybridized practice to break down traditional institutional boundaries between "high" and "low" art.
Contemporary Artists at Dartmouth
In Residence
Organized in collaboration with the Studio Art Department, this exhibition celebrates the important history and legacy of the Artist-in-Residence Program at Dartmouth College, which began in 1931 when the Guatemalan painter Carlos Sánchez, Class of 1923, was invited back to campus on a year-long fellowship. The exhibition showcases the work of more than eighty artists who have participated in this acclaimed international program since that time, including Charles Burwell, Walker Evans, Louise Fishman, Allan Houser, Donald Judd, Magdalene Odundo, José Clemente Orozco, Robert Rauschenberg, Alison Saar, Paul Sample, and Frank Stella, whose presence on campus has undoubtedly enhanced the vitality of the arts at Dartmouth.