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August 9, 2004

UMBC's Center for Art and Visual Culture presents
The HOME House Project

http://www.umbc.edu/newsevents/arts/hi-res/#homeUMBC's Center for Art and Visual Culture presents The HOME House Project, an innovative multi-year initiative organized by the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA), Winston-Salem, North Carolina, from September 30 through November 27, 2004. An opening reception will be held on Thursday, September 30 from 5 to 7 pm. The exhibition will be enhanced by public programs and outreach.

About the Exhibition
The Center for Art and Visual Culture presents The HOME House Project, an innovative multi-year initiative organized by the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA), Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Through a competition and subsequent exhibition addressing the future of affordable housing, SECCA challenged artists and architects to propose new designs for affordable and sustainable single-family housing for low and moderate income-families. These designs were guided by the existing building criteria and price parameters for typical three and four bedroom Habitat for Humanity houses, supplied by Habitat International in Americus, Georgia. Competition participants were required to use the Habitat information as a point of departure. In addition, the design criteria focused on green and sustainable materials, technologies, and methods. Response was overwhelming, with house designs from more than 442 individuals and firms from the United States, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, Canada, Russia, and England. The jury consisted of three nationally-known figures who share the multiple designations of critic, architect, educator, author, designer and builder: Michael Sorkin (New York), Ben Nicholson (Chicago) and Steve Badanes (Seattle).

http://www.umbc.edu/newsevents/arts/hi-res/#homeThe 100 works represented in this exhibition are the award winners plus other selections from the initial group. Presented as framed two dimensional works or in virtual format, they offer a range of design solutions—from the adventurous and visionary to the traditional, and everything in between.

The HOME House Project was made possible by grants received from the North Carolina Arts Council, an agency funded by the State of North Carolina and the National Endowment for the Arts, the Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation, and an anonymous gift. The HOME House Project Design Awards were made possible by a generous gift from Bank of America. For its exhibition at UMBC, funding for The HOME House Project is provided by the Neighborhood Design Center, AIABaltimore, the Enterprise Foundation, the Baltimore County Commission on Arts and Sciences, and the Maryland State Arts Council, an agency funded by the State of Maryland and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Public Programs

The HOME House Project exhibition will be enhanced by public programming, including a lecture, a panel discussion, a symposium, a film series, a solar home tour and co-sponsorship of Baltimore Architecture Week:

Mike Tidwell's HomeOctober 2
The Center for Art and Visual Culture will participate in the 14th Annual Tour of Solar Homes, organized by the Potomac Region Solar Energy Association. A bus will depart at 10:00 A.M. from CAVC, UMBC to visit the home of Mike Tidwell of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Maryland's only 95% renewable energy home, designed to fight global warming through energy conservation and use of solar wind and corn power.
Tour tickets are $10 for non-students and $5 for students (cash or check the day of the event).
Drinks and snacks will be provided.
Information or rspvs: 410-455-1440 or vanderst@umbc.edu by September 30.

October 9–16
The Center for Art and Visual Culture partners with American Institute of Architects Baltimore Chapter, the Neighborhood Design Center, the Baltimore Architecture Foundation, and Baltimore Heritage, Inc. to sponsor the first annual Baltimore Architecture Week, a week of lectures related to architecture and planning in the Baltimore/Washington areas. Support for this program has been provided by media sponsors WYPR and urbanite and host sponsor Century Engineering.
Public information: AIA Baltimore at 410-625-2585.

October 11
The Center for Art and Visual Culture and the Neighborhood Design Center present Michael Pyatok, who is considered the leading designer of low-income housing in the United States. His lecture, “Affordable Housing in the US: Who is Responsible for Good Design?” will review the role of twelve different players who contribute to the circumstances that can improve the chances for quality design (from elected officials to residents, and ten other participants in between, one being the architect). Pyatok is a professor of Architecture at the University of Washington, is Principal of Pyatok Architects, Inc., and is part time tenured professor and Director of the Center for Affordable Housing and the Family at Arizona State University. His work has been featured recently in the national media, including Newsweek and Atlantic Monthly. A practicing architect for some 30 years, Pyatok is known both for his innovative design work and for his efforts to assist in the creation of the community groups that design and build low-income housing projects.
6 – 8 pm, Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery.
$10 general admission (payable by cash or check), free for UMBC students with an ID and free for members of the Neighborhood Design Center.
Public information: 410-455-1440.

The Rural Studio FilmOctober 14
As part of the HOME House Project Film Series, the Center for Art and Visual Culture and The Commons present The Rural Studio, directed and produced by Chuck Schultz. Fine architecture is usually reserved for wealthy patrons or grand civic spaces. But in 1993, MacArthur Fellow and Auburn University Professor Samuel Mockbee set out to change that. He and Professor D.K. Ruth founded The Rural Studio, which guides students in the design and construction of homes and community spaces in economically depressed Hale County, Alabama. The film captures this innovative program's vision of architecture as a social art form capable of raising the human spirit. This contextual based learning philosophy seeks to transcend race and class and in the process change the lives of both student and client.
6 pm, the Sports Zone at The Commons (UMBC).
Admission is free.
Public information: 410-455-1440.

October 28
In partnership with the Neighborhood Design Center and the UMBC Department of Geography and Environmental Systems, the Center for Art and Visual Culture presents Community Building by Design: Affordable Housing and Neighborhood Revitalization, a panel discussion on affordable housing and neighborhood revitalization in the Baltimore-Washington area.
Panel Moderator: Ralph D. Bennett, Jr., School of Architecture, University of Maryland, College Park
Panelists:
• David Brown, Senior Curator, Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston Salem, North Carolina
• Jelili Ogundele, Director of the Harlem Park Revitalization Corporation
• Stephanie Prange Proestel, Housing Initiative Partnership
• Dr. John Rennie Short, Professor and Chair, Department of Geography and Environmental Systems, UMBC
• Thomas J. Vicino, doctoral student, UMBC Department of Public Policy, Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education
6 – 7:30 pm, Fine Arts Building Room 306.
Admission is free.
Public information: 410-455-1440.

Blue VinylNovember 4
As part of the HOME House Project Film Series, the Center for Art and Visual Culture and The Commons present Blue Vinyl, which searches for the environmental truth about vinyl. With humor, chutzpah and a piece of vinyl siding firmly in hand, Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Judith Helfand and co-director and award-winning cinematographer Daniel B. Gold set out in search of the truth about polyvinyl chloride (PVC), America's most popular plastic. From Long Island to Louisiana to Italy, they unearth the facts about PVC and its effects on human health and the environment. Back at the starter ranch, Helfand coaxes her terribly patient parents into replacing their vinyl siding on the condition that she can find a healthy, affordable alternative (and it has to look good!). A detective story, an eco-activism doc, and a rollicking comedy, Blue Vinyl puts a human face on the dangers posed by PVC at every stage of its life cycle, from factory to incinerator. Consumer consciousness and the “precautionary principle” have never been this much fun.
6 pm, the Cabaret at The Commons (UMBC).
Admission is free.
Public information: 410-455-1440.

November 11
In partnership with the Neighborhood Design Center, the Center for Art and Visual Culture presents Building Community Through the Arts, a symposium on the role of the arts in community development and cultural activity in neighborhoods. Speakers will include:
• Steven Goldsmith, Director of the Rose Fellowship of the Enterprise Foundation, who will address Affordable Housing in the Art Community.
• Jennifer Mange, Public Art Coordinator, Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts
• Nick Francis, Executive Director of Gateway Municipalities Community Development Corporation, who will discuss successes and challenges in developing the Gateway Arts District along Route 1 in Prince George's County.
• A representative from Station North, who will speak about recent accomplishments in the Station North Arts District in Baltimore.
6 – 7:30 pm, Fine Arts Building Room 306.
Admission is free.
Public information: 410-455-1440.

Ecological DesignNovember 18
As part of the HOME House Project Film Series, the Center for Art and Visual Culture and The Commons present two films: Up Close and Toxic and Ecological Design: Inventing the Future, which examine issues related to environmental hazards related to in door pollution and the evolution of environmentally aware design. Up Close and Toxic discloses the many surprising and not so surprising ways that we are exposed to pollution—hazardous gasses, particulate matter and various chemicals in the very places we feel safest. Ecological Design: Inventing the Future outlines the evolution from a mechanistic model of building and system design to one rooted in natural systems. The film features interviews with R. Buckminster Fuller, Paolo Soleri, Paul MacCready, Peter Calthorpe, Ian McHarg, William McDonough, Jay Baldwin, Hazel Henderson, Jaime Lerner, Armory Lovins, John Todd, Stewart Brand, and Pliny Fisk, all of whom bring the design evolution to life and provide insights in the ideas and concerns that have motivated their work.
6 pm, The Commons Cabaret.
Admission is free.
Public information: 410-455-1440.

The Next Industrial RevolutionDecember 2
As part of the HOME House Project Film Series, the Center for Art and Visual Culture and The Commons present The Next Industrial Revolution, directed by Chris Bedford and Shelley Morhaim, which outlines the work and vision of architect William McDonough and chemist Dr. Michael Braungart, two leaders in a growing movement to transform the relationship between commerce and nature. While some environmental observers predict doomsday scenarios in which a rapidly increasing human population is forced to compete for ever scarcer natural resources, Bill McDonough sees a more exciting and hopeful future. In his vision humanity takes nature itself as our guide reinventing technical enterprises to be as safe and ever-renewing as natural processes. Can't happen? It's already happening...at Nike, at Ford Motor Company, at Oberlin College, at Herman Miller Furniture, and at DesignTex...and it's part of what architect McDonough and his partner, chemist Michael Braungart, call “The Next Industrial Revolution.” Shot in Europe and the United States, the film explores how businesses are transforming themselves to work with nature and enhance profitability.
6 pm, The Commons Cabaret.
Admission is free.
Public information: 410-455-1440.

Outreach
The HOME House Project exhibition and events at UMBC will be accompanied by a K-12 educational outreach program. Details on the outreach program are available through Renée van der Stelt at 410-455-1440 or vanderst@umbc.edu.


About the Center for Art and Visual Culture
The Center for Art and Visual Culture is a non-profit organization dedicated to the study of contemporary art and visual culture, critical theory, art and cultural history, and the relationship between society and the arts. The CAVC serves as a forum for students, faculty, and the general public for the discussion of important aesthetic and social issues of the day. Disciplines represented include painting, sculpture, drawing, printmaking, photography, digital art, video, film, television, design, architecture, advertising, and installation and performance art.

Since 1989, the CAVC has incorporated a number of public programs into its exhibition programming schedule to further impact the communities it serves. Symposia, lecture series, conferences, film series, visiting artist series, and residencies have all been fundamental in an effort to create an ongoing dialogue about contemporary art and culture. The Center has also initiated a number of projects with Baltimore and surrounding schools systems to integrate the contemporary artist and their concerns into the classroom. These projects take place on-site at both middle schools and high schools and are team taught by the instructors at these schools, professional artists, and students from the CAVC's Internship Program.

Currently the Center produces one to two exhibition catalogues each year. Each document is fully illustrated and contains critical essays on the given subject by a variety of distinguished professionals in the field. Recent publications include Postmodernism: A Virtual Discussion and Paul Rand: Modernist Design. These catalogues are published yearly and are distributed internationally through Distributed Art Publishers in New York.

Since 1992, the Center for Art and Visual Culture has actively pursued the organization of exhibitions that contain the aesthetic, theoretical, and educational potential to reach both a national and international audience. Over the years, the CAVC has traveled these exhibition projects to a broad spectrum of museums, professional non-profit galleries, and universities national and internationally. These traveling exhibitions include:

  • White: Whiteness and Race in Contemporary Art (2003)
  • Fred Wilson: Objects and Installations (2001)
  • Adrian Piper: A Retrospective (1999)
  • Bruno Monguzzi: A Designer's Perspective (1998)
  • Minimal Politics (1997)
  • Kate Millet, Sculpture: The First 38 Years (1997)
  • Layers: Contemporary Collage from St. Petersburg, Russia (1995/96)
  • Notes In Time: Leon Golub and Nancy Spero (1995)
  • Ciphers of Identity (1994)

Beyond the scope of these traveling exhibitions, the Center for Art and Visual Culture also undertakes an exhibition schedule that includes a Faculty Biennial, and projects such as the Joseph Beuys Tree Partnership. As part of the educational mission of the CAVC, one graduate thesis exhibition and one undergraduate senior exhibition are scheduled on a yearly basis.

This multi-faceted focus for presenting exhibitions, projects and scholarly research publications focused on contemporary art and cultural issues positions the Center for Art and Visual Culture in a unique position within the mid-Atlantic region.

Upcoming Exhibitions at the Center for Art and Visual Culture
March 10 – April 2
Tour de Clay, presented as part of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts 2005 Conference, which will present other events in venues throughout Baltimore. An opening reception will be held on March 10 from 5 to 7 pm.

April 14 – May 7
The IMDA Thesis Exhibition, an exhibition by graduates of UMBC's MFA program in Imaging and Digital Arts, an interdisciplinary program integrating computer art, video, filmmaking, photography, art theory and criticism. An opening reception will be held on April 14 from 5 to 7 pm.

May 18 – June 18
The Senior Exit Exhibition. This exhibition reflects the interdisciplinary orientation and the technological focus of the Department of Visual Arts and provides the opportunity for undergraduate seniors to exhibit within a professional setting prior to exiting the University. An opening reception will be held on May 18 from 5 to 7 pm.

Hours of Operation
Sunday: Closed
Monday: Closed
Tuesday: 10 A.M. – 5:00 P.M.
Wednesday: 10 A.M. – 5:00 P.M.
Thursday: 10 A.M. – 5:00 P.M.
Friday: 10 A.M. – 5:00 P.M.
Saturday: 10 A.M. – 5:00 P.M.

Admission
Admission to the CAVC and all events is free.

Telephone
CAVC offices: 410-455-3188
UMBC Artsline (24 hour recorded message): 410-455-ARTS
Media inquiries only: 410-455-3370

Web
CAVC website: http://www.umbc.edu/cavc
UMBC Arts website: http://www.umbc.edu/arts
UMBC News Releases: http://www.umbc.edu/newsevents/oci/index.phtml?r=Art

Directions

  • From Baltimore and points north, proceed south on I-95 to exit 47B. Take Route 166 toward Catonsville and then follow signs to the Fine Arts Building
  • From I-695, take Exit 12C (Wilkens Avenue) and continue one-half mile to the entrance of UMBC at the roundabout intersection of Wilkens Avenue and Hilltop Road. Turn left and follow signs to the Fine Arts Building
  • From Washington and points south, proceed north on I-95 to Exit 47B. Take Route 166 toward Catonsville and then follow signs to the Fine Arts Building
  • Daytime metered visitor parking is available in Lot 10, near the Administration Building. Visitor parking regulations are enforced on all University calendar days. Hilltop Circle and all campus roadways require a parking permit unless otherwise marked
  • Online campus map: http://www.umbc.edu/aboutumbc/campusmap/

Images for Media
High resolution images for media are available online: http://www.umbc.edu/newsevents/arts/hi-res/ or by email or postal mail.

http://www.umbc.edu/newsevents/arts/hi-res/#home

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Posted by dwinds1 at August 9, 2004 12:00 AM