OPENING TOMORROW! 4×4: Willie J. Bonner, Nazafarin Lotfi, Alejandro Macias, and Anh-Thuy Nguyen.
A week ago we bid farewell to works by three generations of the Wyeth family. After a very successful exhibition at TMA, a semi truck backed in near the museum entrance and our installation crew loaded crate after crate of paintings for the return trip to the Bank of America Art in our Communities® program (thank you, Bank of America, for the loan of your collection!).
The installation crew sees off the truck carrying the Wyeths exhibition to its next destination.
While the crew got to work inside prepping and painting walls for the new exhibition, a team transformed the outside of the building with new banners. The large banner on Alameda Street is 20 feet wide and requires three people to install on the metal frame and then attach to mounting brackets.
The process of installing the 4×4 exhibition was a bit different from our norm. Most TMA exhibitions have a single curator, while a few are organized by two curators working as a team. For this exhibition, four curators each selected one local artist to show in one of four distinct gallery spaces.
The result is four solo shows that begin to examine the diversity of human experiences in our community. While the artists’ work spans a wide range of media and styles, common themes include the influence of personal experiences, politics of space and social issues of our time. They are four distinct voices that contribute to the unique artistic landscape of Southern Arizona.
Each artist/curator pair spent time in the galleries this week bringing to life an exhibition that previously existed only on paper. The artists and curators provided vision while Rachel Adler, TMA’s registrar and collections manager, led the work of hanging artworks and adjusting lights.
Rachel Adler on the scissor lift adjusting lights for Jeremy Mikolajczak (curator, and also Jon and Linda Ender Director and CEO) and Nazafarin Lotfi (artist) in the James J. and Louise R. Glasser Galleries.
Willie J. Bonner creates an extended dialogue regarding the culture of African American people both historically and in contemporary society. He and Chief Curator Dr. Julie Sasse first worked together 20 years ago at the University of Arizona.
Anh-Thuy Nguyen (right) uses photography, video, installation and performance art to investigate conflicting emotions and thoughts about existing between two cultures–Vietnamese and American. Nguyen currently serves as the head of the photography program at Pima Community College. She is pictured with Marianna Pegno, curator of community engagement.
Below, enjoy a timelapse video of installers hanging paintings by Alejandro Macias in the Lois C. Green Gallery.
