Written by: United Theological Seminary March 2, 2020

Curating Faith in Solidarity

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Faith in Solidarity – Art by Ricardo Levins Morales

Curated by Roderic Southall and Sheryl Schwyhart

Exhibition Dates: Present to April 27, 2020

Artist Reception: March 19, 2020. 5:30 – 7:30 (Artist talk at 6:30)

(Private student session 4:30 – 5:15)

Free and open to All

Reflection on curating Faith in Solidarity – by Sheryl Schwyhart

Rewind my life twelve years or so and there I am, taking yet another workshop on creativity hoping to unlock my inner artist. At the end of the last day, I was eager to see what comments the facilitator had for me. She wrote, “You would be good at installation art.” What? I was crushed. You see, at that time I was a gallery director and it was my job to install other people’s art. I interpreted her comment as saying I should stick to my day job and forget about creating my own art.

Fast forward to the present…I’ve come to have an expanded understanding of what ‘installation art’ is and how the art form indeed is a conduit for my inner artist. There are many complexities involved with installing art that advance the theme of the exhibition and impact the viewer’s experience. The installer has the opportunity to create an additional layer of imagination that can become an active ‘voice’ in the viewer’s visual conversation, without drowning out the message of the art. The installation should draw the viewer in for a closer experience. This was the goal with “Faith in Solidarity”, an exhibition of the graphic art of Ricardo Levins Morales. While Levins Morales’ art provokes a deeper social awareness on a variety of movement platforms, this exhibition speaks to three that have persisted over his fifty-year career – labor, environment and black liberation. Ricardo’s graphic art is showcased on posters, t-shirts, note cards, buttons, and bumper stickers; most recently, he added large fabric banners to his repertoire.

On this project, I had the pleasure of collaborating with good friend and long-time supporter of the arts at United, Roderic Southall,. We had great fun envisioning the possibilities in the natural pairing of social transformation and theology. With the variety of art pieces to work with and Ricardo’s permission, we were able to advance the theme of solidarity and faith using unexpected fixtures and placement of the art in the space. You’ll find a raised garden bed growing seeds of resistance and resilience with Ricardo’s posters and note cards. You’ll also encounter two activists who have put on ‘the full armor’ created from the myriad of buttons Ricardo has created and a ‘bumper of resilience’ sporting his bumper stickers (along side the one that conveniently came with the bumper from the auto junkyard). Finally, before you experience a traditional hanging exhibit of Ricardo’s art, you’ll see his t-shirts placed in a circle of solidarity with ‘boots on the ground’. When you have finished your conversation with these installations of art, we invite you to visit United’s chapel to see the banner (shown above) and meditate on how faith and solidarity are manifested in your life praxis.

In these continuing turbulent times where unyielding personal agendas work to keep us misdirected and misinformed, may we find a common solidarity in our differing faiths and Faith in Solidarity. Amen

Sincere thanks and acknowledgment to the following who helped and supported us in this installation:

Ricardo Levins Morales and his artistic team

Dr. Jennifer Awes-Freeman Dr. Demian Wheeler Rev. Dr. Cindi Beth Johnson

United Arts Lunch United Staff and Students Paul McKenzie

Mark ASF Accent Store Fixtures Ax Man Surplus

Salvation Army Goodwill ARC Value Village

Wet PaintMichaelsUPullRParts

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