Burlington City Arts announces two new exhibitions at The BCA Center on Church Street: Diana Al-Hadid: Immaterial, Dave Kennedy: A Stranger Stands Here, and Vibrant Vermont. The exhibition will run from July 21 until October 8. Admission is always free at The BCA Center. Summer hours are Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday: 11-5 p.m.; Friday & Saturday: 11-8 p.m.; Sunday: 11-5 p.m.
The exhibition will open at The BCA Center at 135 Church Street in Burlington, VT on Friday, July 21 with an opening reception from 6-8 p.m. The opening reception is free and open to the public. There will be light hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar.
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About The Artists:
Enter the first floor of the BCA Center and encounter a towering sculpture that challenges perception and seems to defy gravity. Phantom Limb (2014) is an ethereal monument to memory, loss, and decay created by internationally recognized artist, Diana Al-Hadid. In Diana Al Hadid: Immaterial, the Syrian-American artist makes use of conventional, industrial building materials in a deceptively delicate way—creating complex, beautiful works that remind us of forgotten ruins and monuments to cultures and civilizations long past. Engaging in an entirely contemporary approach to form, Al-Hadid explores notions of reality, identity, and memory through imaginative and otherworldly forms.
Dave Kennedy uses a similar tactic of visual disorientation in his collaged constructions that explore neglected urban spaces and forgotten debris, challenging viewers to examine their practice of looking. In Kennedy’s installation A Stranger Stands Here, he questions the line between image and object, and in doing so, asks viewers to confront their perceptions of the world. Using vacant and derelict spaces as a metaphor for larger questions about culture and society, Kennedy challenges our attempts to categorize and objectivity what we see in our world.
Vibrant Vermont celebrates the profound relationship that exists between Vermont landscape painters and their subject. Each artist uses a different style to express the dynamic beauty of the place they call home. Working with varying levels of representation and abstraction, these artists often reference familiar themes to convey an intimate sense of place. Symbols and icons of rural life --common sights in the current landscape—evoke the nostalgia of a bygone era. Strongly rooted in tradition, yet reflective of present surroundings, these artists pay homage to the timeless essence of Vermont. Exhibiting artists: Bruce Conklin, Jennifer Hubbard, Susan Larkin, Phil Laughlin, Julia Purinton