Community: Eat, Work, Play exhibit @ UMFA (SLC: now - Jan 9, 2011)

Contacts:
--Shelbey Peterson, UMFA Public Relations and Marketing Associate, shelbey.peterson@umfa.utah.edu, 801-585-1306
--Megan Hallett, UMFA Curator of Education, megan.hallett@umfa.utah.edu, 801-585-7190

Community: Eat, Work, Play
On view through January 9, 2011

Salt Lake City, UT – Big canvases, bold colors, and intriguing ideas are offered in Community: Eat, Work, Play, a collaborative exhibition on view in the Emma Eccles Jones Education Gallery at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts.

During the 2009-2010 school year, first- and sixth-grade students from Lincoln Elementary School in Salt Lake City worked with UMFA Curators of Education and University of Utah Artsbridge Scholars to create large, energetic works inspired by the Mexican muralist movement.

“I wanted my students to take part in the art community not only as an audience but as active participants, as art-makers,” says Janelle Wride, Art Specialist at Lincoln Elementary School. “My students are being challenged in art class to think abstractly, to make connections, to work as a class and in small groups, all with the goal of communicating a meaningful message about themselves and their community.”

Each child was asked to explore themes from their everyday lives and then visually translate their observations onto large canvas panels. They thought about what and how they eat, where their food comes from, the impact that school and work has on their families and community, and what play means in their neighborhoods and homes.

Organized by Megan Hallett, UMFA Curator of Education, the exhibition will include an important participatory component. Visitors to Community: Eat, Work, Play will have the option to express their reactions to the exhibition and related themes on an interactive response wall, using magnetic words and pictures in English and Spanish.

Community: Eat, Work, Play visually demonstrates the influence and impact of Mexican art on Utah schoolchildren, and reflects the UMFA’s mission to provide local students with arts education opportunities. The exhibition will be on view at the UMFA from May 6, 2010 through January 9, 2011, and will serve as one of three companion exhibitions to Las Artes de México, an exhibition on view at the UMFA during the summer of 2010.

On loan from the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Las Artes de México celebrates the art, history, and culture of Mexico through ancient Mesoamerican artifacts and twentieth century works by Diego Rivera and other modern masters. All labels and information in Las Artes de México, Community: Eat, Work, Play, and the two additional companion exhibitions will be available in both English and Spanish to better meet the needs of Museum visitors.

Programming
Third Saturday Art Activity for Families: T-shirts
Saturday, May 15 from 2-4 pm
Join us in celebrating the children’s work on view in Community: Eat, Work, Play, and then be inspired to create an art project of your own.