CDC Art Show Exhibits 'Consequential Matters'

Too often, art and science are treated as opposing forces considering their subjects in contradictory fashion. An artistic look at something might focus on the warmth it exudes or the emotion it drives, while a scientific look can be a cold, hard assessment of the facts. But sometimes facts aren’t enough to convince and art isn’t sufficient to spur action. Treated together, though, art and science can both persuade us with passionate arguments and increase our understanding of our world.

The Global Health Odyssey Museum at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta is bringing together art and science for a look at our world in the exhibit, Consequential Matters, from June 15 - September 11, 2009. The show consists of the investigations of four Atlanta-based artists of the consequences of urbanization, technology consumption, indulgence and globalization.

"We want to address the audience on an emotional level, an instinctive level,” explained Carl DiSalvo, assistant professor of Digital Media at the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts at Georgia Tech. “We asked ourselves, how do we use the skills we have in taking the scientific data and making it more visceral and not hide the emotion and experience that lies behind the data.”

The title of DiSalvo’s and Ph.D. candidate Jonathan Lukens’ exhibit, “Smog is Democratic,” is taken from sociologist Ulrich Beck. The installation looks at particulate matter, the dust and debris that people produce as they wear away at the city, according to the artists. It’s comprised of five pieces in all.

"Particulate matter is not just man-made, it’s evidence of life. Life leaves a residue,” explained DiSalvo.

To illustrate this, their piece “Do you see what I see?” is comprised of 25 images of common sources of particulate matter. The images were all taken in the greater Atlanta area.

"We wanted to give people an idea of where this pollution comes from, so we made a list of sources and photographed what we could find,” said DiSalvo.

In another piece, “Smog Alert Days 2008,” they combined a four-minute video clip of a flyover of I-85 with daily particulate matter measurements of the city of Atlanta.

"We used the data to change the image, so that the image comes to represent the data. Part of the image shows the flyover without any effects. The other half shows an image that gets more distorted as the particulate matter measurement gets higher,” said DiSalvo.

Other pieces in “Smog is Democratic” juxtapose images of Atlanta with data from the smog alert days so that those alert days appear as holes, either in white or gray in the image. One piece compares that image with an image of a home air filter, giving the viewer an idea of the entire scale of the visible spectrum of pollution.

"We’re trying to bring together a scientific approach to the data with an artistic approach, so that we can creatively interpret this data and address the audience on an emotional level,” said DiSalvo.

Another exhibit in the show is “High Tech Trash,” a look at the trade in electronic waste, such as computers, cell phones and hard drives across Asia, Africa, Europe and the United States. The photo essay, by National Geographic photographer Peter Essick, chronicles the workers who mine these discarded products for reusable metals, while exposing themselves to health risks.

"XLounge x 3” by Atlanta sculptor Mark Wentzel has adapted three iconic Eames Lounge Chairs and Ottomans to make a comment on American consumption.

The show can be seen at the CDC’s Global Health Odyssey Museum through September 11 from 9AM to 5PM weekdays and 9AM to 7PM on Thursdays. Admission and parking are free.

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Rare Emory Books Part of New York City Exhibition

Two of Emory University's libraries are contributing items to a New York City exhibition showcasing 16th century Biblical illustrations this summer, and the exhibition will come to Emory's Carlos Museum in the fall.

“Scripture for the Eyes: Bible Illustration in Netherlandish Prints of the Sixteenth Century” is the first major exhibition to explore the form, function and meaning of printed biblical images produced in the 16th-century Low Countries.

The exhibition runs June 5–Sept. 27, 2009, at the Museum of Biblical Art (MOBIA) in New York City, and Oct. 17, 2009–Jan. 24, 2010 at the Carlos Museum on the Emory campus in Atlanta.

Emory's Pitts Theology Library contributed five of the eight volumes comprising the Antwerp Polyglot Bible, published in the 16th century by Christopher Plantin, one of the greatest early printers, says Pat Graham, director of Pitts.

Richly colored woodcuts

“In addition to its scholarly value for biblical studies, this particular copy with its richly colored woodcuts is a stunning work of art and a suitable tribute to this pioneer [Plantin] of 16th-century book illustration,” says Graham.

The Antwerp Polyglot Bible is perhaps the most significant item loaned by Emory, says Walter Melion, Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Art History at Emory and co-curator of the exhibit. Polyglot means it was published in several different languages, such as Latin, Hebrew, Greek, Syriac and Aramaic, side by side in the same Bible.

“We have one of the most beautiful copies,” says Melion. “It’s a grand folio book, so it’s very large. And several of the volumes have exquisite pictorial title pages. Ours is really extraordinary because they have several pages that are hand-colored.”

Other rare works from Emory

Two other books are from Emory's Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Books Library (MARBL): "Humanae Salutis Monumenta" (“Monuments of Human Salvation”), published in 1571, and "Septem Psalmi Davidici," a bound series of prints depicting the seven penitential psalms, published prior to 1604. The libraries are also contributing digital images of a few pages from the books for a catalog to accompany the items on display.

Melion says "Humanae Salutis Monumenta" by Benito Arias Montano is the first Catholic scriptural emblem book – a collection of images and descriptive text.

“Emblems were a way of thinking through topics by meditating on the complex dynamics of a mutually interactive image and text,” he says. “This is one of the very earliest emblem books. It’s a very rare thing indeed, and it’s in beautiful condition.”

Antwerp engravings

"Septem Psalmi Davidici" features prints created by Hieronymus Wierix, considered among the greatest engravers of the time. Each scene is surrounded by an elaborate border composed of the entire text of the penitential psalms, says Melion.

“They are seven of the finest engravings produced in Antwerp in the 16th century in terms of technique and skillful execution,” says Melion. “They’re also very inventive in the way they explain the penitential psalms and relate them to the Passion of Christ.”

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Human and Civil Rights Exhibition Opens June 16 at National Archives at Atlanta

/PRNewswire / -- The struggle for freedom is a recurring theme in the annals of American history, and it is the subject of a new exhibition of milestone documents opening June 16 at the National Archives at Atlanta.

To mark the 75th anniversary of the National Archives and Records Administration, the National Archives at Atlanta opens Documented Rights, a traveling exhibition of original documents from each of the 13 regional branches of the National Archives.

Documented Rights presents records that give voice to the national struggle for human and civil rights. It features more than 80 documents, facsimiles, images and sound recordings, including:

-- Selected documents from all five court cases that comprised Brown v.
Board of Education Topeka, the landmark Supreme Court ruling that
ended school segregation -- exhibited for the first time together;
-- Court records of the schooner Amistad, that tell the story of 53
Africans who resisted enslavement, overpowered the ship's captain and
were found off the coast of Long Island;
-- Court records from San Francisco in the 1890s chronicling the
citizenship odyssey of San Francisco-born Wong Kim Ark;
-- The official logbook recording the WWII evacuation and relocation of
Aleuts in Alaska;
-- Court records reflecting the efforts of white residents of Koinonia
Farms, Georgia, to overcome various forms of discrimination;
-- An early Montgomery Improvement Association booklet by Martin Luther
King, Jr.; and
-- A court martial order for Second Lt. Jackie Robinson who refused to
move to the back of the bus on a military post.


Documented Rights is part of a nationwide series of commemorative events that includes a one-day symposium at the National Archives at Atlanta on June 13 on the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement; registration for the symposium is closed.

The exhibition is free and open to the public at the National Archives at Atlanta, 5780 Jonesboro Road, Morrow, Georgia. The facility hours are Tuesday - Saturday, 8:30 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. Call 770-968-2100 for more information or see http://www.archives.gov/southeast/.

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William H. Scott Exhibition Opens Jan. 23 at Emory

An exhibition on the papers and personal effects of an African American leader who brought early attention to the issue of civil rights will open at Emory University’s Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library (MARBL) Friday, Jan. 23.

"Slave, Soldier, Citizen: The Journey of William Henry Scott," an exhibition by Randall K. Burkett, curator of African American Collections, will be in display in MARBL Jan. 23-Aug. 8. A public opening and reception is scheduled 1:30-3:30 p.m. in MARBL.

Following the opening will be an address by Julian Bond, chairman of the NAACP, at 4 p.m. in Cannon Chapel, part of the King Week celebration at Emory Jan. 19-27.

Witnessed Civil War

Scott (1848-1910) grew up in Virginia in his master’s house and didn’t realize he was a slave until he was eight years old. He immediately began plotting his escape and found an opportunity in 1862, when Union troops moved into the area. Major Loring Muzzey of the 12th Massachusetts Regiment was looking for a bright young slave to educate, and he and the regiment took Scott under their wing. Scott spent three and a half years as Muzzey’s aide-de-camp, witnessing some of the worst battles of the Civil War.

Scott became a teacher, owned a bookstore in Washington, D.C., and was ordained a Baptist minister. Politically active throughout his adult life, he founded the Massachusetts Racial Protective League in 1896 and was one of the 29 original members of the Niagara Movement, the predecessor of the NAACP.

"As a teacher, historian, preacher and political activist, he was a fearless advocate for full citizenship rights at a time when, increasingly, those rights were being crushed by Northern indifference and Southern intransigence," says Burkett.

Highlights

The exhibition encompasses photographs, sermon manuscripts, broadsides and pamphlets documenting all aspects of Scott’s life, including

A sword Scott snatched from a dead Confederate officer during a lull in the Battle of Fredericksburg.
Recordings of Scott’s sermons read by the Rev. C. T. Vivian, one of Atlanta’s eminent civil rights leaders.
Tintypes and photographs including a portrait of Muzzey, a photo of young Scott in his Union uniform and many family portraits.

Scott’s achievements came to light when one of Burkett’s students in Massachusetts wrote his senior thesis about the original members of the Niagara Movement and located Scott’s grandson, Henry T. Scott. The grandson bequeathed the family papers to Burkett with the request that his grandfather’s story be brought to public attention.

The exhibition is free and open to the public during normal library hours. MARBL is located on the 10th floor of the Woodruff Library on the Emory University campus, 540 Asbury Circle, Atlanta, GA 30322, marbl@emory.edu, 404-727-6887. Cannon Chapel is located at 515 Kilgo Circle on the Emory campus.

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Booth Museum Celebrates the African American Experience in the West

/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The largest exhibition of Western art by black artists ever assembled opens December 20 at the Booth Western Art Museum in Cartersville, Georgia. "The Black West: Buffalo Soldiers, Black Cowboys and Untold Stories" features 65 works of art by 16 contemporary African American artists. Visitors to the museum can view the exhibition through March 22, 2009.

"The Black West" is an important and groundbreaking exhibition because it tells the often overlooked story of blacks in the West through the art of contemporary African American artists. In addition to the stories of black cowboys and buffalo soldiers, the art chosen for the exhibition focuses on the complete African American experience in the West, encompassing black explorers, lawmen, rodeo stars, outlaws, and women. The exhibition is co-curated by Booth Museum Executive Director, Seth Hopkins, and "Cowboy Mike" Searles, professor of history at Augusta State University.

Artists in the exhibition include: Gil Ashby (Michigan), Thomas Blackshear (Colorado), Alexander Bostic (Virginia), Eddie Dixon (Texas), Ed Dwight (Colorado), Michael Godfrey (Maryland) , Ed Hamilton (Kentucky), Dean Mitchell (Florida), Bob Snead (Texas), Ivan Stewart (Michigan), Ezra Tucker (Colorado), Bobb Vann (Arizona), Ernest Varner (Georgia), Steven Walker (Ohio), Burl Washington (Texas), and Bernard Williams (Illinois).

Throughout the run of the exhibition, the museum will offer programming on related topics including lectures by artists, writers, and historians as well as dramatic historical performances. Visit www.boothmuseum.org for a complete schedule.

In addition to the fine art on display in the "The Black West," the Booth Museum's Reel West Gallery will feature "Bronze Buckaroos: Mythic Images of the Black West." Featuring 25 vintage movie posters from the Booth Museum collection and the Ron Finley Midnight Matinee Poster Collection, this exhibition explores Hollywood's portrayals of the African American experience in the West. The museum will screen several of the movies advertised in the posters during the run of the exhibition.

For more information on the "The Black West: Buffalo Soldiers, Black Cowboys, and Untold Stories," call the Booth Museum at 770-387-1300 or visit www.boothmuseum.org.

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