Show runs from Oct. 19 to Nov. 22
Friday, October 6, 2017
“Design/Connection,” opening Oct. 19 with a reception in the University of Maryland Eastern Shore’s Mosely Gallery from 4-6 p.m., is an invitational show featuring the works of four contemporary artists and educators who use visual communication as a means to “connect, elevate and inspire.”
The artists, Aldrena Corder, Adison Landers, Fred Pellum and Tasheka Arceneaux-Sutton, Mosely Gallery director Susan Holt said “highlight the potential of graphic design and illustration as a tool for social progress.”
“They strive to apply their skills to higher values,” Holt said. “Building community through teaching and addressing pressing societal ills such as violence and discrimination, their work transcends the aesthetic and commercial realms and delves more deeply into the human.”
A graphic designer and educator at Southeastern Louisiana University, Tasheka Arceneaux Sutton will give an 11 a.m. presentation on opening day of the exhibit in Hazel Hall, Room 2040. Her projects, Holt said, “reflect her interest in social concerns such as deconstructing the visual representation of black victims of violence as portrayed by media.”
Corder’s project, “The Skin I Am In,” resulted from her research into the history and effects of colorism; prejudice or discrimination based on social meanings attached to skin color. She is a freelance designer and instructor from South Carolina who works with legal services, non-profit industries and community service-oriented businesses.
Landers of Hanover, Md, says in his artist statement “designers and artists are purveyors of cultural change. At its best, visual work empathizes with its audience, brings people together and breaks down barriers. Creating benevolent work is necessary in our digital age as it serves to remind us of the inter-connectedness of all life.”
Interactive, public art projects with the theme, “Love as a response to violence, police brutality and the negative effects of incarceration,” is the focus of Pellum’s works. With over a decade of commercial design and marketing, the professor of digital media at Alabama State University lists his goal as an artist is “to focus on those individuals or events largely unknown to the masses that aspire to bring about positive change in their communities.”
“Bringing these artists and their works to UMES provides examples to our students of successful professionals whose busy lives incorporate care for community, society and the world,” Holt said. At a point in their lives where students are working toward academic and personal goals to launch their careers, she said, it is also a time to “plant the seeds of social awareness that in the years following graduation will continue to grow and enrich us all,”
“Design/Connection” will be on exhibit in UMES’ Mosely Gallery through Nov. 22. Call 410-651-7770 or visit www.moselygallery.com for more information.
Gail Stephens, assistant director, UMES Office of Public Relations, 410-651-7580.
