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March 19th - April 17th, 2009.
In June of 2008, three visual artists and one writer were invited to Spartanburg for eleven months to “live free and create”. During their stay as HUB-BUB Artists-in-Residence they created public art, organized events and taught workshops & classes, all while working on their own art. This exhibit is a representation of the work created during thier stay in the Hub City.
Jonas Criscoe
Jonas Criscoe (B. 1979) is an interdisciplinary visual artist interested in how our ever-expanding consumer culture has shaped the environments and landscapes in which we now live. His work has been exhibited throughout the United States, notably the Texas Biennial and the International Print Center in New York. Criscoe has also been featured in various art publications, including Art Lies and New American Painting: The Western Edition and most recently was a finalist for the West prize. A native of Austin, Texas, he received his BFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York and the University of Texas at Austin, and his MFA from
the Rhode Island School of Design.
During his time in Spartanburg, Criscoe and fellow resident Ellie Pierson worked through the COLORS Inner City Art Studio to teach photography and graphic design to students at Whitlock Junior High. Recognizing the role that art plays in creating a stronger and more diverse community, Criscoe set out to facilitate opportunities for community members to experience art-making first hand by teaching both a screenprint and a collage workshop at HUB-BUB. Influenced by the deteriorating mill infrastructures and by the beauty and intensity of the myriad shades of color that engulf the local scenery during autumn Criscoe was inspired to create the works in this show. It is one artist’s interpretation of an amazing and diverse place, the Upstate of South Carolina.
Ellie Pierson
Ellie Pierson (B.1981) approaches the activity of ‘art’ making through a sort of sloppily hand-picked, colorfully aggravated manner of display. She pokes at consumerism and addresses this sort of ever changing, ever re-arranging mess of questions concerning culture's role in complicating and dumbing down the animal in us. A native of Ohio, Pierson was educated at the University of the South and Belmont College. Pierson made her way to Spartanburg after receiving her MFA from UNC Chapel Hill in May 2008.
During her time in Spartanburg, Pierson and fellow resident Jonas Criscoe worked through the COLORS Inner City Art Studio to teach photography and graphic design to students at Whitlock Junior High. She also collaborated with fellow resident Sarah Witt in a partnership with the Spartanburg Ballet on a performance piece for the production of DanSynergy. Her work for the 2009 AIR Exit Show, 'Lil Teenie is a collaborative performance/installation piece sponsored by Spark-n-Boil (a.k.a. Sarah & Ellie). Interactive and neon, inspired by a myriad of things- including an advertisement from an old fashion magazine, miniaturized cookies, consumerism, and 'smart' shopping- it exists somewhere between the world of nothing and the world of something.
Sarah Witt
*Sarah Witt, of Mongolian descent, was born in the Czech Republic. She gradated from the Royal Ballet Academy in London at the age of 11, and continued her education at Stanford University, which conferred upon her a PhD in Astrophysics. While researching the curious declination of nebulas, and the sudden appearance of Northern lights at the Equator, she maintained an evening job as an accordion player with the Tokyo Philharmonic. A broken thumb brought her musical engagements to a halt, so she took up the more sedentary hobby of storytelling. She eats a lot of sauerkraut and is known for her impeccable game of hopscotch.
*Sarah is really from St. Louis, Missouri (B. 1982) and has never been to Czech Republic or Mongolia. But she did go to Syracuse University where she earned a BFA in Film Art (with honors.) She will be continuing her education next fall as she tackles a candidacy for an MFA from some graduate school yet to be determined.
During her time at HUB-BUB, Witt collaborated with fellow resident Ellie Pierson in a partnership with the Spartanburg Ballet on a performance piece for the production of DanSynergy. Her downtown installation ‘Tent(ative)’; a temporary village of tipis built from recycled and renewable resources, attracted community members to the area and provided a platform for dialogue on sustainability issues. Her recent works are influenced by the burgeoning presence of global aspirations in environmental and economical reform. Her work in the Exit Show confronts consumerism from a buoyant, humorous angle and invites audience interaction. As she pursues this semi-political, semi-playful work, she directs her spectators to delight in the colorful imagery, but to simultaneously analyze the larger absurdity defining our plastic, product-plagued society.
Patrick Whitfill
Patrick Whitfill (B. 1980) is a poet whose work is a study of love and landscape. A devout student of all-things-written, Whitfill’s work is often informed by his countless literary influences. Born, raised, and educated in Texas, near the Llano Estacado he received a PhD with an emphasis in poetry from Texas Tech Universtiy in May 2008. During college and graduate school he performed in a number of plays, joined several now-defunct 'bands,' and read everything he could get his hands on. Whitfill moved to HUB-BUB in early June 2008.
During his time in the Hub City, Whitfill taught a Poetry and Drama class and an Advanced Poetry class at Wofford College. He spent time at Spartanburg High School and Boiling Springs Intermediary School, relating different facets of poetry and/or information on becoming a poet/writer to the students there. He has kayaked, mountain biked, hiked, seen a Coon-Dog Day, and reached a number of other, personal goals. Between working within the community and enjoying his stay in Spartanburg, Whitfill has written the first section of a new manuscript and will read a selection of those poems during the March 19th AIR Exit Show.
Opening Reception photos
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