4 chazen museum of art exhibitions
Iceland’ s Vanishing
Beauty: Photography by Michael Kienitz
September 14, 2018 – February 3, 2019
Leslie and Johanna Garfield Galleries
Shelter: Crafting a Safe Home
November 24, 2018 – January 6, 2019
Pleasant T. Rowland Galleries
This exhibition features a selection of images completed by Michael Kienitz over many years of work in the region of Vatnajokull National Park in Iceland. A visually stunning area of extremely varied features, the park encompasses— and is named for— Europe ' s largest glacier. Kienitz calls upon his deep photographic experience to capture this incredible but disappearing landscape of active volcanoes, ice caves, beaches, canyons, waterfalls, wetlands, black sands, and mountains, all created by the combined forces of rivers, glacial ice, and volcanic and geothermal activity. This exhibition was supported in part by a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Michael Kienitz( American b. 1951), Einar Rúnar Sigurðsson Decends into Ice Cave, South East Iceland, 2017, photograph on aluminum, courtesy of the artist.
Shelter is universally identified as a basic human right, yet refuge and protection are out of reach for millions of people worldwide.
How does lack of safety and security, from the physical elements as well as unseen external dangers, affect our psyche and ability to live and flourish? Shelter: Crafting a Safe Home provides a forum for craft artists’ responses to issues of shelter— global and local, public and private.
Featuring works by fourteen contemporary artists from the United States and abroad, Shelter aims to create awareness and open dialogue around the pressing public issue of human displacement and housing insecurity. The exhibition validates the human experience by showcasing art infused with personal stories and perspectives, and demonstrates that art-making is a vehicle for open communication, healing, and compassion. This exhibition was organized by Contemporary Craft, Pittsburgh, Pa., and is supported by a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.