UMBC Students Exhibit with Leading Contemporary Artists at the Baltimore Museum of Art
An outdoor installation by recent UMBC Undergraduate Research Award (URA) recipients Christina Ralls and Katie Better was selected to be part of siteMaryland, an exhibition presented by the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) and the Maryland State Arts Council.
“It is exciting to see emerging artists like Christina and Katie recognized with a URA,” said Steve Bradley, associate professor of visual arts, who is advising them on their project. “Now we see another testament to their creativity and hard work with siteMaryland awarding their continuing collaboration with a highly competitive and prodigious commission.”
siteMaryland is a free, month-long juried exhibition by the state’s leading contemporary artists, now on view through November 5. Designed to change venues each year, the inaugural exhibition features artwork that reinvents the BMA’s gardens and grounds. In addition to Ralls and Better, siteMaryland includes work by UMBC visual arts faculty Calla Thompson and Rick Dulaney.
Ralls and Better used their URA award to create and install their interactive sculpture, Traum Baum (Dream Tree). Visitors are invited to write their dreams, goals and aspirations on the banners of the colorful maypole-like structure. Small figures of children hold on to the banners.
“We initially wanted to ask ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ using the childhood notion that we can be anything we want to be,” said Ralls, a senior animation major and Imaging Research Center Fellow who is studying abroad at Schwäbisch Hall in Baden-Württemberg, Germany during the fall 2006 semester. “We want to give people a way to interact with art that can inspire them to continue reaching for their dreams despite adversity.”
Both Ralls and Better’s interest in community art grew out of their participation in a spring 2005 visual and performing arts class, which brought together UMBC students, the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange and residents of nearby Charlestown Retirement Community. “It was a real learning experience, to see how everyone can enjoy art from different perspectives and come together so nicely… and it was a lot of fun,” said Ralls.
“It introduced us to a new kind of art,” added Better, a junior animation major. “So when the time came to apply for the URA, we decided to create a community art piece.”
As part of their research, Ralls and Better studied environmental artists such as Christo. They also worked with inner-city school children in the College Gardens after-school program, who helped paint the figures of children on Traum Baum and wrote their goals and dreams on the banners. They will continue their research by chronicling the creation, installation and response process, and hope Traum Baum will travel to other venues.
Ralls and Better will be among the presenters at UMBC’s Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day on April 25, 2007. URA and URCAD are just two programs offered by UMBC’s Office of Undergraduate Education, which strives to present an honors university experience for every UMBC undergraduate.
(10/9/06)
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