Saturday, August 29 from 4–7 p.m.
Location: Gillespie Gallery, Art and Design Building (First Floor), 4400 University Drive, Fairfax, VA 22030
Free and open to the public, RSVP Requested
This exhibition underscores the deep understanding of paper as a lasting, portable, and democratic vessel for information—one that is easily altered, recyclable, or even destroyed. This notion is manifested in a diverse array of works, including paintings, prints, artist books, graphic designs, collages, and sculptures.
Paper as Politic acts as a cultural petri dish, capturing not only the darker aspects of our times but also interrogating the nuances of deception, criminality, and potential restoration, all while inviting satirical, sublime, judgmental or non-judgmental perspectives. Through various personal explorations, the exhibition consolidates the power of paper as a medium of expression. Its honesty stands in stark contrast to the distortions often present in social media, ultimately recognizing the importance of sustainability in artistic practice.
Mason Exhibitions hosts GMU School of Art Professor Emerita, Maria Karametou for a celebration of her debut novel, The Amalgam at Gillespie Gallery in the GMU Art and Design Building on Tuesday, April 14th from 2-4pm. Refreshments will be provided.
Maria Karametou, a first-generation immigrant to the U.S. from Athens, Greece, is a visual artist, writer, curator, and professor whose mixed media works are exhibited internationally in numerous museum and gallery shows that, aside from the U.S., include Germany, Greece, Russia, Bulgaria, Turkey, China, and Korea, and are also in various museum, private, and public collections, including at the Holter Museum, Helena, MT; The Vorres Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens, Greece; the Freddie Mac Corporation; and the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities. Her most recent solo exhibition, “Kallos,” was at the Katzen Museum, Washington, D.C. Karametou has organized and curated several international projects, such as EcoReflections (Resim ve Heykel Müzesi Galerisi, Ankara, Turkey) and participated in international collaborative projects, like Penelopeia, sponsored by the Presidency of the European Union. Her long career as a university professor includes, among others, a Fulbright Research Scholar award.
As a writer, Karametou has published short stories and poems in literary magazines, including Poet Lore, The RavensPerch, A Bilingual Anthology of Greek American Poetry, and Bethesda Magazine, after receiving an award in the Washington Metropolitan Area Short Story Competition. Other publications involve numerous artist statements, artist books, and essays. Presentations include reading her poems at the D.C. Embassy of Greece.
She is a Professor Emerita, having recently left her tenured position at the School of Art, George Mason University, Virginia, where she directed the Drawing Division to devote more time to her studio work and writing.
Inspired by her experiences and history of migration, mobility, and displacement, her work, both visual and literary, relates to identity and our personal journey of self-discovery. The Amalgam is her first novel.
About the Book:
Athens, 1984. All Meta wants is to escape her tyrannical father and the future he demands of her. But when her dying grandmother, Metaxia, presses a mysterious heirloom into her hands—begging her to return it to the lost Greek village in Asia Minor from which she was violently expelled during World War I—Meta makes a promise she doesn’t fully understand.
Fleeing to America in a desperate bid for freedom, Meta must survive on her own after her father cuts her off—penniless, hungry, and clinging to her dream of becoming an artist. Yet the heirloom wrapped in her grandmother’s handkerchief refuses to be forgotten. Years later, a shattering moment forces Meta to confront the life she has built—and the history she has tried to outrun.
Her journey to Turkey becomes a pilgrimage across continents and across time, echoing Metaxia’s own flight from violence decades earlier. As their parallel stories converge, Meta must finally face the truth: can we ever return to the places that made us—or only to the person we were meant to become?
Sweeping, intimate, and deeply human, The Amalgam is the tale of two women bound by survival, exile, and the unbreakable pull of home.
Paper as Politic- Call for Artists
The Paper as Politic exhibition invites artists working with paper—materially, conceptually, and politically—to submit work for inclusion in an exhibition presented during the 2026 Paper as Politic symposium at George Mason University.
Application Deadline: February 1, 2026
Join us on Saturday, October 4, 11:00am-6:30pm at the Center for the Arts Concert Hall on George Mason University's Fairfax Campus for a Symposium about Before the Americas, curated by Cheryl Edwards.
We are looking forward to having you at George Mason University's Fairfax Campus next Saturday, October 4 for the Before the Americas Symposium!
The Symposium will take place at the Center for the Arts on George Mason University's Fairfax Campus (4373 Mason Pond Drive). There will be free parking in Lot K and the nearest paid parking garage is Mason Pond Parking Garage.
We invite you to arrive as early as 11am if you would like to visit Gillespie Gallery to see the exhibition before the symposium begins. There will be a shuttle service to/from the gallery for those who need it. Below is the program for the day.
11:00am - Optional self-guided visit to Gillespie Gallery in Art and Design building
12:00pm - Light food/beverages
1:00 - Welcome and Opening Remarks
1:15 - Artist Panels - Renee Stout, Joyce Scott, Alec Simpson, James Phillips, Martha Jackson Jarvis, Michelle Talibah, Aziza Gibson Hunter, Wilfredo Valladeres, Melanie Royster, Irene Clouthier, Fabiola Yursicin, Luis Vasquez LaRoche
3:15pm - Intermission
3:30pm - Historical Perspectives - Dr. LaNitra Berger, Dr. Ariana Curtis
4:15pm - Panel of Curators - Cheryl Edwards, Donald Russell
5:30pm - Panel of Collectors - Eric Key, Antoinette Peele, Adlai L. Pappy, MD
6:00pm - Performance of The Cleanse by Luis Vasquez LaRoche
Before the Americas is an art historical survey featuring 45 works by Afro-Latino, Caribbean, and African American artists, many of whom have lived and worked in Greater Washington. These artists confront racial and colonial constructs and have often been invisible within common art historical narratives. Their works span painting, printmaking, sculpture, book art, performance, and video art.
The exhibit traces the significance of these artists through four themes: Genetic Memory, Migration, Invisibility, and Interconnectivity.
If you throw a flower in another language into the air, who will catch it? Let’s make a bouquet together in many languages! Please join us for a Big Tent Community Event, a chance to convene and bring together ideas, literary translators and multilingual writers from around the world alongside writers from the DMV for a festival of translation.
Location: Gillespie Gallery, 1st Floor Art and Design Building, 4515 Patriot Circle, Fairfax
Bus stop: Mason shuttle stop is nearby. Please use google maps to find us.
Parking: Shenandoah Parking Deck (Validation will be provided for readers. Please save your receipt)
Program: attend part or all of the afternoon!
11:45 am Arrivals
12:00 pm: Panel 1: featuring Cheuse Visiting Writer from Poland Grzegorz Kwiatkowski and Randi Ward
01:15 pm: Lunch will be served
01:30 pm: Panel 2: featuring Rohan Chhetri, Ena Selimović, Roman Kostovski and Vivek Narayanan
03:00 pm: Panel 3: featuring Cheuse Writer-in-Residence from Spain Marta Sanz and Katie King in conversation with Katherine E. Young
04:30 pm: Keynote Conversation: Featuring Peter Cole, visiting from Yale; and Judy Leserman
05:30-6:30 pm: Networking reception
BEFORE THE AMERICAS
August 25th - November 15th, 2025
Curated by Cheryl Edwards
Before the Americas is an art historical survey featuring 45 works by Afro-Latino, Caribbean, and African American artists, many of whom have lived and worked in Greater Washington. These artists confront racial and colonial constructs and have often been invisible within common art historical narratives. Their works span painting, printmaking, sculpture, book art, performance, and video art. The exhibit traces the significance of these artists through four themes: Genetic Memory, Migration, Invisibility, and Interconnectivity. A public symposium of artists, collectors, and scholars will occur during the exhibition, and additional public programs will engage students and the public. A printed catalogue will be published and will be available online.
Learn more here: https://www.masonexhibitions.org/exhibitions/before-the-americas
Join us on Saturday, September 13, 5-8pm for the Opening Reception of Before the Americas at Gillespie Gallery inside the Art and Design Building on George Mason University’s Fairfax Campus.
The address to the building is 4515 Patriot Circle, and the nearest paid parking garage is the Shenandoah Parking Deck.
Before the Americas
August 25 - November 15, 2025
Before the Americas, curated by Cheryl Edwards, is an art historical survey featuring 45 works by Afro-Latino, Caribbean, and African American artists, many of whom have lived and worked in Greater Washington. These artists confront racial and colonial constructs and have often been invisible within common art historical narratives. Their works span painting, printmaking, sculpture, book art, performance, and video art. The exhibit traces the significance of these artists through four themes: Genetic Memory, Migration, Invisibility, and Interconnectivity.
Join us on Friday, April 18, 4:30-6pm at Gillespie Gallery in the Art and Design Building for two poetry readings followed by a Q&A led by Katey Funderburgh. Books will also be for sale!
Taylor Franson-Thiel and Martheaus Perkins, two Poetry MFA students at George Mason University both have debut poetry collections releasing in 2025. Perkins’s The Grace of Black Mothers and Franson-Thiel’s Bone Valley Hymnal both centralize on the impact of maternal lineage. What burdens do we lift from our mothers’ shoulders? How does poetry help us explore our inherited traumas? This event will showcase both debut collections and curate a conversation about publishing as a student.
About the Writers and Moderator
Taylor Franson-Thiel is the author of “Bone Valley Hymnal” (ELJ Editions 2025). She is an editorial reader for Poetry Daily, the Assistant Poetry Editor for phoebe and the EIC of BRAWL. She can be found on Twitter @TaylorFranson and at taylorfranson-thiel.com
Martheaus Perkins was born to a single mother in Center, Texas. After a childhood in and out of homes in Houston, he graduated from Stephen F. Austin University as a first-generation student. His debut poetry collection, "The Grace of Black Mothers," releases in 2025. He currently lives in the DMV, co-edits BRAWL Lit, and teaches at George Mason University.
Katey Funderburgh is a queer poet from Colorado. As a current MFA student at George Mason University, she is a co-coordinator for the Incarcerated Writer's Project of phoebe journal. She serves as a Poetry Alive! fellow and is a 2025 Cheuse Travel Research Grant recipient. Her favorite things include very tall trees, very strong coffee, and her very wonderful community.
The Alan Cheuse International Writer’s Spring Scholar in Residence Oksana Maksymchuk will share selections from her powerful poetry collection, Still City amongst the current art exhibition in Gillespie Gallery, Morgan Ashcom: Abstract Land and Filing Company.
Gillespie Gallery is inside the Art and Design building of GMU Fairfax. The nearest paid visitor parking is at Shenandoah Parking Deck.
ABOUT OKSANA MAKSYMCHUK
Oksana Maksymchuk is a celebrated poet, translator, and essayist whose works resonate deeply within and beyond literary circles. Her poetry collections, translations, and essays have received international acclaim, positioning her as a vital voice in the contemporary literary landscape. Oksana’s impactful work has resonated widely, with her latest book, Still City, captivating readers with its profound explorations of resilience and identity. She is the author of poetry collections Xenia and Lovy in the Ukrainian. She coedited Words for War: New Poems from Ukraine, an anthology of contemporary poetry, and has published a few single-author volumes of translations. Born and raised in Lviv, Ukraine, she has also lived in Chicago, Philadelphia, Budapest, Berlin, Warsaw, and Fayetteville, Arkansas. She currently teaches at the University of Chicago.
ABOUT MORGAN ASHCOM
Morgan Ashcom's multidisciplinary artworks and books explore the tension between fiction, myth and lived experience in the context of imperialism. Ashcom's work has been exhibited and published across the globe. He has received numerous awards including German Photobook and the Center for Photography at Woodstock Purchase Prize. His work has been featured in Le Monde, The Brooklyn Rail, Jewish Currents, and The British Journal of Photography. Ashcom is former faculty of Western Connecticut State University, Ithaca College, University of Hartford, Cornell University and the University of Virginia. He is also the Founding Director of Visible Records. He currently lives and works in Charlottesville, VA
Join acclaimed author Moriel Rothman-Zecher for an engaging reading and discussion of his latest novel, Before All the World. He will be joined by multidusciplinary artist Morgan Ashcom amongst his current exhibition, Abstract Land and Filing Company at Gillespie Gallery inside the Art and Design Building of GMU Fairfax. The nearest paid visitor parking is Shenandoah Parking Deck.
Rothman-Zecher will share insights into his writing process and discuss themes explored in the novel, along with his broader body of work that continues to captivate readers and critics alike.
ABOUT MORIEL ROTHMAN-ZECHER
Moriel Rothman-Zecher is the author of the novels Before All the World (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), which was named an NPR Best Book of 2022, and Sadness Is a White Bird (Atria Books / Simon and Schuster), for which he received the National Book Foundation’s ‘5 Under 35’ Honor, and which was a finalist for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, the winner of the Ohioana Book Award, a finalist for a National Jewish Book Award, and longlisted for the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize. His poems and essays have been published or are forthcoming in The American Poetry Review, Barrelhouse, Colorado Review, The Common, Nashville Review, The New York Times, The Paris Review’s Daily, ZYZZYVA, and elsewhere. Moriel is the recipient of two MacDowell Fellowships for Literature (2017 & 2020), a Wallis Annenberg Helix Fellowship for Yiddish Cultural Studies (2018-2019), and holds an MFA in Poetry from the Bennington Writing Seminars, where he was the recipient of a Donald Hall Scholarship for Poets (2021-2023). Moriel teaches creative writing at Swarthmore College, where he is a Visiting Assistant Professor of English and Creative Writing, and is a member of the faculty of the Bennington Writing Seminars’ MFA Program.
ABOUT MORGAN ASHCOM
Morgan Ashcom's multidisciplinary artworks and books explore the tension between fiction, myth and lived experience in the context of imperialism. Ashcom's work has been exhibited and published across the globe. He has received numerous awards including German Photobook and the Center for Photography at Woodstock Purchase Prize. His work has been featured in Le Monde, The Brooklyn Rail, Jewish Currents, and The British Journal of Photography. Ashcom is former faculty of Western Connecticut State University, Ithaca College, University of Hartford, Cornell University and the University of Virginia. He is also the Founding Director of Visible Records. He currently lives and works in Charlottesville, VA.
Visual Voices is a lecture series hosted by Mason Exhibitions and the School of Art and Design. We look forward to seeing you in person or online on Thursday, February 20, 4:45pm to 6:30 pm.
Morgan Ashcom's multidisciplinary artworks and books explore the tension between fiction, myth and lived experience in the context of imperialism. Ashcom's work has been exhibited and published across the globe. He has received numerous awards including German Photobook and the Center for Photography at Woodstock Purchase Prize. His work has been featured in Le Monde, The Brooklyn Rail, Jewish Currents, and The British Journal of Photography.
Ashcom is former faculty of Western Connecticut State University, Ithaca College, University of Hartford, Cornell University and the University of Virginia. He is also the Founding Director of Visible Records.
This event will be held at the Harris Theater and RSVP is required to receive the zoom link the day-of the event via email!
Harris Theater is building #27 on the campus map and the nearest paid visitor parking is at the Mason Pond Parking Deck.
Questions and concerns should be emailed to Jeffrey Kenney at jkenney5@gmu.edu.
We look forward to seeing you on Thursday, January 23, 5:30-7:30pm for the opening reception!
About the Exhibition
The Abstract Land and Filing Company (ALFC) enlists its archivist Morgan Ashcom to install a two part exhibition at the Gillespie Gallery of Art. The first part, consisting of selections from the ALFC corporate archives, combines industrial remnants and historical ephemera with original works by Ashcom, depicting the years leading up to a worker-led take over of the company. The second half presents an installation of site-specific research, drawing on Ashcom’s experience as a BFA student at George Mason University (2001-2006), concerning the university’s ongoing collaboration with the radical rich of the American far right.
About the Artist:
Morgan Ashcom (b. Charlottesville, 1982) produces multidisciplinary artworks and books that explore the tension between fiction, myth and lived experience in the context of imperialism. Ashcom's work has been exhibited and published across the globe. He has received numerous awards including the German Photobook and the Center for Photography at Woodstock Purchase Prize. His work has been featured in Le Monde, The Brooklyn Rail, Jewish Currents, and The British Journal of Photography.
Ashcom is a former faculty of Western Connecticut State University, Ithaca College, the University of Hartford, Cornell University, and the University of Virginia. He is also the Founding Director of Visible Records. Ashcom is an alumnus of George Mason University’s School of Art (BFA ‘06). He currently lives and works in Charlottesville, VA.
Join us on Tuesday, November 19 from 6-8pm to see an Original Documentary about Patriot Packout at Ike's Dining Hall on Mason's Fairfax campus.
In collaboration with Mason Dining's Gourmet Gathering, a curated menu of locally sourced and campus-grown food will be served!
Patriot Packout (PPO) is George Mason's community-based donation initiative that diverts new and gently used items from trash and redistributes them to students, faculty, and staff for free!
Items you may find through PPO include clothing, shoes, books and tech, art-making and office/school supplies, non-perishable food and toiletries, small appliances and furniture, bikes, scooters, and skateboards, and MORE.
PPO is made possible by countless university partners and supporters, including (mostly volunteer) staff, faculty, students, and community members.
This event is a collaboration between Facilities and Campus Operations, Mason Exhibitions, and Mason Dining.
Join us on Thursday, October 17 at 4:30pm for Fall for the Book with A.B. Spellman amongst the current art exhibition in Gillespie Gallery, Nothing Personal: A Collaboration in Black and White. This event is free and open to the public!
In Between the Night and Its Music, renowned poet and leading figure of the Black Arts Movement, A.B. Spellman intertwines jazz and poetry through the collection of new and selected poems. Author and scholar Margo Natalie Crawford says, “This necessary book shows that [Spellman’s] entire poetic flow has been a profound movement of words that create the sensuality, music, and quiet of a Black collective consciousness.” Sponsored by African and African American Studies.
If you throw a flower in another language into the air, who will catch it? Let’s make a bouquet together in many languages! Please join us for a chance to convene and bring together literary translators and multilingual writers in the DMV for a kaleidoscopic reading and gathering.
Location: Gillespie Gallery, 1st Floor Art and Design Building, 4515 Patriot Circle, Fairfax
Bus stop: Mason shuttle stop is nearby. Please use google maps to find us.
Parking: Shenandoah Parking Deck (Validation will be provided for readers. Please save your receipt)
Program
3:30 - 4: 30pm Reception with Introductions, and a discussion on building community around translation; hopes for literary translation practice in the DMV
Poetry Reading 4:30 pm - 6:00 pm
Lineup: includes Padma Narayanan, Katie King, Munir Hachemi (Cheuse Center Writer-in-Residence from Spain). Nancy Naomi Carlson and Vivek Narayanan
Book Sales: All writers are welcome to bring books to sell via cash, check, venmo, paypal, zelle, with payment to be issued directly to them.
About the Exhibition: Nothing Personal: a collaboration in black and white: https://www.masonexhibitions.org/exhibitions/nothing-personal
Join us on Monday, September 16, 1:30-3pm in Gillespie Gallery of the Art and Design Building. The Fall Symposium II will feature a compelling roundtable discussion entitled "Evidence of Things Not Seen: Creativity as Reconstruction from Trauma." Esteemed panelists including Lina Alattar (visual artist), Monifa Love (writer and academic), Kris O'Shee (therapist, memoirist, dancer, host of the Baldwin100), will come together under the moderation of Alison Landsberg, who will help us talk about a framework of exploring memory and empathy.
Together, they will share their reflections on creativity and resilience in the face of adversity within the context of Baldwin’s life and works, talk about their perspectives on the role of place, both local and global, and the shaping influence of upbringing in a creative journey, and navigate a deep exploration of memory, empathy, and the transformative power of creativity as inspired by Baldwin's enduring legacy.
The Fall Symposium I features a roundtable discussion titled “Meditations on Masculinity and Sexuality in the Life and Art of James Baldwin.”
The roundtable conversation promises an insightful exploration into the intricate ways in which Baldwin’s writing and personal narrative challenge conventional notions of gender and sexuality, offering profound understanding into the human experience and to appreciate Baldwin's contributions to literature and social thought, and understand his lasting impact on discussions of identity and society.
PANELISTS
GerShun Alivez
GerShun Avilez is a cultural studies scholar who specializes in contemporary African American and Black Diasporic literatures and visual cultures. His teaching also covers 20th century US literature. Much of his scholarship explores how questions of gender and sexuality inform artistic production. In addition, he works in the fields of political radicalism, spatial theory, gender studies, and medical humanities. He serves as the Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the College of Arts and Humanities.
His first book, Radical Aesthetics & Modern Black Nationalism (Illinois), appeared in 2016 as a part of “The New Black Studies” Series. Radical Aesthetics won the 2017 William Sanders Scarborough Prize from the Modern Language Association (MLA). The prize is given to an outstanding scholarly study of African American literature or culture. His second book, Black Queer Freedom (Illinois), explores Black Diasporic queer artists and questions of social space. It was published in 2020 and is also a volume in “The New Black Studies” Series. Black Queer Freedom was a finalist for the 2021 P. Sterling Stuckey Book Prize (Association for the Study of Worldwide African Diaspora). He edited a special issue of the journal Women's Studies (2019) and recently co-edited the 10th edition of the Norton Anthology of American Literature, 1945-Present (2022).
He is currently working on two research projects, one which focuses on art and healthcare and another which explores Black queer history. He has written articles and book chapters on a range of historical and cultural subjects, including the Cold War, segregation narratives, early African American writing, race & terror, social death, queer life, experimental poetry, Black women’s writing, literary & cinematic satire, the Harlem Renaissance, Black Power Politics, and the Black Arts Movement.
Throughout his work and teaching, he is committed to studying a wide variety of art forms, including, drama, fiction, non-fiction, film, poetry, visual and performance art, ethnography, and comic books/graphic novels. He was the recipient of the Poorvu Award for Excellence in Interdisciplinary Teaching in 2011 (Yale University).
He created and coordinates the departmental Africana/Black Studies Colloquium, which hosts a number of events (lectures, roundtables, book launches, discussion groups, etc.) each year centered around African American and Black Diasporic research. He was an elected member of the MLA Delegate Assembly, and he served on the Program Committee for the annual convention of the American Studies Association (ASA).
He received his PhD in English from the University of Pennsylvania, where he also earned a Graduate Certificate in Africana Studies. He has held professorships at Yale University and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He also held the Frederick Douglass Post-doctoral Fellowship at the University of Rochester.
Keith Clark
Keith Clark is Distinguished University Professor of English and African and African American Studies. He earned a B.A. from the College of William and Mary (1985) and a Ph.D. in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1993). He is the author of Black Manhood in James Baldwin, Ernest J. Gaines and August Wilson(Illinois UP, 2002), The Radical Fiction of Ann Petry (Louisiana State UP, 2013; winner of the College Language Association Creative Scholarship Award), and editor of Contemporary Black Men's Fiction and Drama (Illinois, 2001). His latest book, Navigating the Fiction of Ernest J. Gaines: A Roadmap for Readers, was published in Spring 2020 by Louisiana State. His critical and pedagogical essays and book reviews have appeared in Callaloo, African American Review, The Oxford Companion to African American Literature, Resources for American Literary Study, American Writers V, Modern Drama, and GLQ. His teaching interests include Black Literary masculinity studies, the Black bildungsroman, and African American LGBT studies. In addition to his academic interests, he is involved in several community service projects related to mentoring, tutoring, and hospice.
Shane Stevenson
Shane Stevenson is an undergraduate student studying Civil Engineering with a deep interest in city planning and ecology. Although his academic focus is practical and industrious, his background is based in artistic expression. Currently recording an acoustic guitar EP, his down time is spent making music, drawing, reading, or playing games. Recently, Shane has enjoyed examining stories and dissecting them to understand their relevance to current social dynamics in America, and worldwide. Without a doubt, his highest achievement in college so far is being selected by his former Professor Mehta to speak on a panel to celebrate the impact of James Baldwin in the month of his 100th birthday.
Join us for an evening of critical discourse and creative responses to Blues for Mister Charlie and other works on Monday, September 9, 7-9pm at the Center for the Arts Concert Hall.
In Blues for Mister Charlie, James Baldwin turns a murder and its aftermath into an inquest in which even the most well-intentioned whites are implicated—and in which even a killer receives his share of compassion.
In a small Southern town, a white man murders a black man, then throws his body in the weeds. With this act of violence, James Baldwin launches an unsparing and at times agonizing probe of the wounds of race.
Begun in Instanbul in 1963, you can read about the writing of Blues for Mister Charlie in this 1964 edition of Playbill where the interviewer asks: When and where did you write Blues for Mister Charlie?
Join us on Monday, September 9 at 5-6:30pm for the exhibition opening of Nothing Personal: A Collaboration in Black and White in Gillespie Gallery of the Art and Design Building at Gillespie Gallery of the Art and Design Building.
Following the opening, join us for A Critical Discourse: Blues for Mister Charlie and other works organized by the Alan Cheuse International Writer's Center at the Center for the Arts at 7pm on Monday, September 9.
Learn more about the yearlong Baldwin100 initiative here:
Join the Alan Cheuse International Writers Center and Mason Exhibitions for a Poetry Reading featuring Chilean writer Raúl Zurita and his translator Anna Deeny.
Professor Vivek Narayanan will be moderating this event, set against the backdrop of the exhibition 'Faces & Figures: Identity Through Printmaking in South Africa'.
The Art and Design Building is building #3 on the campus map. Paid visitor parking is available at the Shenandoah Parking Deck.
Raúl Zurita’s Purgatory, a landmark in contemporary Latin American poetry, records the physical, cultural, and spiritual violence perpetrated against the Chilean people under Pinochet’s military dictatorship (1973–1990) in the fiercely inventive voice of a postmodern master. This beautiful en face edition, superbly translated by Anna Deeny, brings to English-language readers an indispensable volume written by one of the most important living poets writing in Spanish today. Zurita was a 24-year-old student in Valparaíso when, on the morning of the coup, he was arrested, detained, and tortured. Conceived as the first text of a Dantean trilogy that includes Anteparaíso (Anteparadise) and La Vida Nueva (The New Life), Purgatory is his anguished response to Chile’s violent recent history.
Join us on Tuesday, April 2, 5-7pm in Gillespie Gallery of the Art and Design Building for an opening reception for Faces and Figures: Identity Through Printmaking in South Africa, an exhibition curated by students taking the "Curating an Exhibition" course taught by Dr. LaNitra Berger.
Faces & Figures: Identity Through Printmaking in South Africa is a student-curated exhibition that explores artists’ expressions of identity in contemporary South Africa through the lens of printmaking. The artists are alumni and current students of the Artist Proof Studio (APS), a community printmaking center of excellence in Johannesburg, South Africa. Featuring over 100 prints by 40 artists from throughout southern Africa, the prints range in technique, style, and subject matter, drawing inspiration from South African popular culture and history as well as personal narratives. Embracing the spirit of self-awareness and innovation central to APS, these artists offer a glimpse into the complexities of personal and collective identity in Johannesburg.
The Art and Design Building is building #3 on the campus map. Paid visitor parking is available at the Shenandoah Parking Deck.
TIME CHANGED!
Join us on Monday, February 26, 1:30-4:10pm at Gillespie Gallery of the Art and Design Building for a Disability Justice Zine-Making Workshop led by artist and advocate Jen White-Johnson.
All materials will be provided, and no experience is necessary!
Questions should be directed to Yassmin Salem (mailto: ysalem@gmu.edu)
Jen White Johnson is a disabled and Neurodivergent Afro-Latina art activist and design educator whose visual work aims to uplift disability justice narratives in design. As an artist-educator with Graves disease and ADHD, Jen uses photography, zines, and collage art to explore the intersection of content and caregiving, emphasizing redesigning ableist visual culture.
Artist Website: https://jenwhitejohnson.com/
Taekyeom Lee is an educator, maker, and designer whose research explores unconventional materials and digital methods to graphic design, to create 3D type, graphics, and even designed objects. This research began with two questions: Where does typography belong in the post-digital age? How do we bridge digital and physical experiences?
This event will be held in Center for the Arts Lobby, on the GMU Fairfax campus, and via Zoom. RSVP is required for Zoom link.
The Center for the Arts is building #7 on the campus map. The nearest paid visitor parking is available at the Mason Pond Parking Deck.
Join us for a Tactile Design Workshop led by Taekyeom Lee in Gillespie Gallery of the Art and Design Building of GMU’s Fairfax Campus on Thursday, February 8, from 11am-1pm.
No experience is required, but you must bring a laptop to work with the 3D software. The software (https://www.tinkercad.com) will run on the web browser. Participants do not need to install anything.
Samples will be provided for inspiration.
Taekyeom Lee is one of 12 artists in Disrupt and Resist. In the exhibition, he presents several 3D printed embossers that visitors can use to print the English alphabet in Braille.
Taekyeom Lee is a multidisciplinary designer, educator, and maker. His research explores unconventional materials and alternative solutions to create tangible typography, graphics, and even designed objects using digital fabrication. He infused 3D printing into his research and has been experimenting with various methods and materials for tactile experiences. His latest project aims to make graphic design more accessible with tactility and materiality.
Visual Voices is an online lecture series hosted by Mason Exhibitions and the School of Art and Design. This event will be held via zoom on Thursday, October 12 @ 4:45pm-6:30pm. RSVP is required to receive the zoom link:
Aimée Beaubien is an artist living and working in Chicago. Beaubien reorganizes photographic experience while exploring networks of meaning and association between the real and the ideal in collages, artists books and immersive installations. Her work has been exhibited widely, including SF Camerawork, San Francisco, CA; Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL; Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL; Houston Center for Photography, Houston, TX; Gallery UNO Projektraum, Berlin, Germany; Marvelli Gallery, New York, NY; Virus Art Gallery, Rome, Italy; Demo Projects, Springfield, IL; The Pitch Project, Milwaukee, WI. Aimée Beaubien is an Associate Professor of Photography at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL where she has taught since 1997.
Questions about this event should be directed to Jeff Kenney at jkenney5@gmu.edu
Join us for a Cyanotype Workshop at Gillespie Gallery of the Art and Design Building on the Fairfax Campus on Tuesday, October 3 at 2-4pm. The workshop will be led by Professor Brenda Perry-Herrera, and is free and open to the public!
This event is held in conjunction with the Into the Hothouse exhibition by Aimee Beaubien.
Paid visitor parking is available in Sandy Creek Parking Deck.
Brenda Perry-Herrera (b. Juarez, Mexico) is an artist who emigrated from Mexico at the age of three and grew up in the U.S.-Mexican border region of west Texas. Her work often explores themes of social and ecological relevance. In multiple projects, the artist has undertaken the roles of researcher, airplane pilot, programmer, scientist, educator, and mother.
Join us for a Cyanotype Workshop at Gillespie Gallery of the Art and Design Building on the Fairfax Campus on Tuesday, October 3 at 11am-1pm. The workshop will be led by Professor Brenda Perry-Herrera, and is free and open to the public!
This event is held in conjunction with the Into the Hothouse exhibition by Aimee Beaubien.
Paid visitor parking is available in Sandy Creek Parking Deck.
Brenda Perry-Herrera (b. Juarez, Mexico) is an artist who emigrated from Mexico at the age of three and grew up in the U.S.-Mexican border region of west Texas. Her work often explores themes of social and ecological relevance. In multiple projects, the artist has undertaken the roles of researcher, airplane pilot, programmer, scientist, educator, and mother.
