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HOUGHTON, MI, Tuesday, September 12, 2017– Who owns the wind? The leaves on the trees? When a paper company cuts down a 75-year-old tree, or a landowner clears brush for a better view of the lake, how is an entire ecosystem affected? What ethical, cultural, and social questions are raised?
Artist Katie Hargrave, a professor of art at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, who holds degrees in Painting, Intermedia, and Cultural Production, explores these questions in her exhibition, It’s nothing personal (space), opening at the Rozsa Center’s gallery A-Space, on Friday, September 22.
“It’s nothing personal (space)” is an exploration of the competing ideas of ownership and stewardship as they relate to public and private land, trees and deserts, and individual and corporate voices. Inspired by a road trip to the Malheur Wildlife Refuge, the site of militia protests during the winter of 2016, the exhibition includes fiber, audio, video, and drawings.
The September 22 opening includes a reception with the artist from 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM. Hargrave will discuss her work at 5:30 PM. The reception and exhibit are free and open to the public, and the show will remain open through November 11. Gallery hours are M – F 8:00 AM – 8:00 PM, and Saturdays from 1:00 PM – 8:00 PM.
Katie Hargrave, who was born in 1985 in Chicago and now resides in Chattanooga, TN, received a BFA from the University of Illinois, an MFA in Intermedia and Drawing from the University of Iowa, and an MA in museum studies and anthropology from Brandeis University. Her work has been shown at DIY spaces, commercial galleries, non-profits, and festivals, including the Manifesta Biennial in Murcia, Spain where she worked with activists to design bilingual tools for direct action; SPACES gallery in Cleveland, where she applied the framework of forest succession to city planning, and the Floating Library, a zine[1] collection on a boat in the Minneapolis lakes. Hargrave is a member of the collaborative groups “The Think Tank that has yet to be named” and “Like Riding a Bicycle.” For more information about Hargrave, please visit her website at http://www.katiehargrave.us/
For more information please contact A-Space gallery director Lisa Gordillo, Assistant Professor, Visual and Performing Arts, 906-487-3096, gordillo@mtu.edu.
[1] According to merriam-webster.com, “zine” refers to “a noncommercial often homemade or online publication usually devoted to specialized and often unconventional subject matter…”
