12/2/2003
Susan Leopold
Mass MoCA, North Adams
Mixed-Up Worlds. With sculptures using mirrors, photographs, and angled walls to fracture spaces, Susan Leopold's work addresses human perception and how memories affect our interaction with space.
"Susan Leopold: Mixed-Up Worlds" Is Next at Kidspace at MASS MoCA
Exhibition runs February 13, 2003 - September 5, 2003
(North Adams, Massachusetts) With sculptures using mirrors, photographs, and
angled walls to fracture spaces, Susan Leopold's work addresses human
perception and how memories affect our interaction with space. "Susan
Leopold: Mixed-Up Worlds", a solo exhibition of her sculptures and
installations, will open at Kidspace at MASS MoCA on February 13, 2003.
"Susan Leopold: Mixed-Up Worlds" will include eleven works created between
1989 and 2002. Leopold gained fame in the mid-1980s for her boxes outfitted
with fish-eye lenses. These boxes allowed magical views of tiny models of
city streets, grungy apartment interiors, and indoor swimming pools.
Leopold's current works also feature windows to the inside, but now the
boxes have been fragmented, elongated, and opened to accommodate the
collaging of images and patterns found in architectural environments.
Leopold takes a fresh and innovative approach to creating the illusion of
space, using elements of sculpture, painting, collage, and digital
technology. These elegant architectural structures offer a portal through
which the viewer peers into familiar worlds such as schools, motels, and
bathrooms. Since the viewer's presence becomes part of the visual illusion,
each piece presents a unique optical and "maze-like" experience.
In addition to sculpture, the exhibition presents two large installations.
Waterway, originally housed at the Franklin Street Subway Station in
Manhattan, offers a view into a seductively gloomy underground maze-a subway
station that is more like a house of mirrors, where the viewer wonders which
way is out. Motel Scenes provides views of a motel room on different scales.
Suitcases containing miniature motel scenes are displayed within a
full-sized motel room. Motel Hallucinations, an interactive video
installation, appears next to the life-sized room, offering the opportunity
for visitors to alter the space. Two photo-collage drawings are included in
the exhibition as well.
A 1982 graduate of New York's School of the Visual Arts, Leopold is
currently working on her master's degree in the Interactive
Telecommunications Program at New York University's Tisch School of the
Arts. She has received numerous awards and residencies from such
organizations as the MacDowell Colony, YADDO, and the Ragdale Foundation.
Most recently, Leopold completed the Wampler Visiting Artist Professorship
at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA. Her extensive exhibition
record includes recent solo exhibitions at the John Weber Gallery, New York,
and The Sawhill Gallery at James Madison University. She is the recipient of
many prestigious awards including the New York Fellowship for the Arts and
the Indo-American Fellowship, which allowed her to travel to India where,
for 10 months, she studied traditional Indian miniature paintings. Leopold's
work is displayed in permanent collections nationwide as well as in public
mural projects throughout New York City. Her work is also on exhibit at the
Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Brooklyn Museum in New York City.
This winter and spring Kidspace will continue its partnership with Savoy,
Clarksburg, and Florida, Masssachusetts elementary schools. Students and
teachers in grades pre-K through 8 will visit Mixed-Up Worlds and
participate in interdisciplinary programming at Kidspace and in their
classrooms. Curriculum materials, educational resources, and programs have
been developed by Kidspace staff to complement the exhibition. Students from
Conte Middle School in North Adams will continue to participate in a weekly
after-school program focusing on Kidspace exhibitions. Also, students from
Greylock, Brayton, and Sullivan Schools will participate in the Kidspace
Three Museum Semester as part of this expansion of the Kidspace program,
visiting the Williams College Museum of Art, Clark Art Institute, and MASS
MoCA galleries in the winter and spring.
Kidspace at MASS MoCA is a joint program of the Williams College Museum of
Art, the Sterling & Francine Clark Art Institute, and MASS MoCA. Additional
funding has been provided in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council (a
state agency), the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency), the
Cherkis family, and the Brownrigg Charitable Trust in memory of Lynn
Laitman.
During the school year, Kidspace public hours are Saturdays and Sundays,
noon to 4 P.M., and Thursdays, 3 to 5 P.M., plus holiday hours. Family
programs will be held during the school mid-winter recess (February 17 - 21,
2003) at Kidspace, MASS MoCA, Williams College Museum of Art, and the
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. At each museum, visitors can
explore the theme of architecture, whether in artists' renditions or in
actual architectural settings. Additional public hours are planned for the
summer. Please call Kidspace at (413) 664-4481 x8131 for more details on
hours, programs, and exhibitions. Admission to Kidspace is free.
MASS MoCA, housed on a 13-acre campus of restored 19th-century factory
buildings, is the largest center for contemporary art in the country. During
the winter, MASS MoCA's galleries are open every day except Tuesdays from 11
A.M. to 5 P.M. Admission is $7 for adults, $2 for children 6-16, free for
children under 6 and free for members at all times. For additional
information, call (413) 662-2111 or visit the website.
MASS MoCA
1040 MASS MoCA Way
North Adams, MA 01247
413-664-4481 ext. 8111
FX: 413-663-8548