VIVIANE LE COURTOIS: EDIBLE?
Twenty-two Years of Working With Food
Featuring the new interactive installation The Garden of Earthy Delights

West Gallery and East Gallery

Although Viviane Le Courtois has been working with food as a medium or source of inspiration since 1990, Edible? at Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art presents the first opportunity to experience a large selection from this body of work in context. In addition to the newly commissioned interactive installation The Garden of Earthy Delights, the exhibition comprises a mid-career retrospective of food-related work of the past twenty-two years by this Denver-based artist. Through sculptures, performances, videos, photos, prints, and interactive installations, Le Courtois explores the processes of consumption, focusing on the repetitive aspects of food preparation, ceremonial food offerings, and the social implications of eating.

The earliest works in the exhibition, executed in France in the 1990s before her move to the US, include an installation of chewed licorice sticks as well as photos and video documentations of performances and sculptural work made from foraged foods, fruit peelings, and nut shells. For a series of Pickles from the early 2000s, Le Courtois filled over 200 jars with liquid and all kinds of objects in memory of her then recently-deceased mother, who had a tendency to keep pickle jars long after the contents had been consumed.

A series of etchings employing the naturally occurring acids of the kombucha mushroom continues to fascinate Le Courtois, who has created over forty different plates since first developing the process in 1995. A number of these prints, as well as the mushrooms used to create them, will be on view alongside large-scale sculptures from a series of works created from junk food such as chips, candy, and marshmallows. These include the Cheetovore, Shane The Obese Marshmallow Teenager, a group of Little Fat Kids – small figurines made from melted and cast candy, and the Venus of Consumption, a crocheted sculpture of an obese, reclining woman.

Since 2010, Le Courtois has become more interested in aspects of interaction and participation and has organized a number of events for which she prepared and served meals for a large number of guests, including How to Eat An Artichoke, held at RedLine Denver in 2010, and a curry dinner for the exhibition Do It! at Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design in 2011.

The Garden of Earthy Delights, a living interactive installation created for BMoCA, is envisioned as a space for people to relax, think, and interact. Herbs such as mint, verbena, thyme, sage, and rosemary will be arranged throughout the gallery in vertical gardens for consumption in tea, in reference to the ancient process of growing, collecting, and consuming plants. During weekly performances, the artist will tend to the plants, serve tea, and offer food samples.

Viviane Le Courtois was born in France in 1969. She moved to the US in 1994 and currently lives in Denver, Colorado. She received her Diplôme National Supérieur d’Expression Plastique (MFA) in Sculpture/Installations from the International School of Art and Research in Nice, France in 1992 and an MA in Art History from the University of Denver in 2000. In 2009 Westword presented Le Courtois with the Mastermind Award in Visual Arts. She was a resident artist at RedLine Denver from 2008 to 2011. She regularly exhibits in the US and Europe and has shown her work at the Passerelle Art Center in France, Mobius in Boston, and at many venues in Colorado, including Rocky Mountain School of Art + Design, Regis University, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver during the 2010 Biennial of the Americas.

For many years artists and architects have explored the multiple dimensions of urban and rural environments. Two University of Colorado professors-Richard Saxton in the Art and Art History department and Rob Pyatt in the College of Architecture and Urban Planning have challenged their students to revisit the age old debate; can urban exist in the rural and can the rural exist in the urban. Two different and sophisticated projects ensued with the goal of functionality and community participation.

The BASELINE GROUP is a special topics course at CU-Boulder that engages fine art students-both graduate and undergraduate-in the processes of designing and implementing tangible large-scale projects. This class encourages students to develop work that is community-based, site-specific, and to incorporate non-traditional media and ideas. This first installation, titled the “Chicken Shack Village” explores rural aesthetics, farming, and “intuitive building.” The project was created through 2-semesters of experiential activities and hands-on workshops that involved visiting artists Haiko Meijer from the Dutch design team Onix, and Marjetica Potrc, an award-winning artist from Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Urban Hens, a Boulder-based organization, captures that idea and adds an educational perspective about healthy living and environmental responsibility with its goal of implementing a citywide backyard chicken coop movement. The Children, Youth and Environment Center at the University of Colorado, Boulder Going Local, and the Institute for Intentionally Sustainable Neighborhoods engaged University of Colorado, College of Architecture and Urban Planning instructor Rob Pyatt’s design and build class to complete the first model for the easy-to-build chicken coop kit for homeowners. This first structure explores ideas about “urban aesthetics” including; art, architecture, design and approaching theories about city, social space and public space.

June 5-September 6, 2009
Opening Reception, Fri. June 5 from 6:30-8pm
Members preview from 5:30-6:30pm

After our five month closure due to building renovations, “Pure Pleasure” will highlight the rich and varied talents of a renowned group of artists well- known in the region. In diverse media, including photography, painting, ceramics, and installation, these artists explore the boundaries of varied definitions of pleasure. Bucking recent trends in contemporary art, in which work often seems incomprehensibly esoteric, shockingly grotesque, even intentionally offensive, this exhibition has been conceived to delight the senses. Through pleasures derived from beauty, spectacle, wonder, and nostalgia, while not expecting to redeem a world in pain, we can hopefully allow art to provide a counterbalance or salve to the uncertain times in which we live.

Artists in this exhibition include; Phil Bender (installation), Julie Blackmon (photographs), Deborah Dell (ceramics), Rebecca DiDomenico (installation), Ana Maria Hernando (installation), Tsehai Johnson (installation), Mark Sink and Kristin Hatgi (ambrotypes), and Stacey Steers (film).

Johnson was born in 1969 and grew up in the Colorado Rockies. He obtained his BFA from The University of Colorado at Boulder and his MFA from Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia. His work as an artist has been informed by such as experiences as herding cows on the Navajo Reservation, traveling upon the Silk Road and living in Venice, Italy. He presently teaches at The Colorado College in Colorado Springs.

SEPTEMBER 14 – DECEMBER 21, 2007 — “Weather Report: Art and Climate Change” is an exhibition curated by internationally renowned critic, art historian, and writer Lucy R. Lippard. It is presented in collaboration with EcoArts.

This exhibit partners the art and scientific communities to create a visual dialogue surrounding climate change. Historically, visual arts play a central role in attracting, inspiring, educating and motivating audiences. “Weather Report: Art and Climate Change” will exhibit artwork, in the museum and our partnering venues, and in outdoor site specific locations throughout Boulder, that will activate personal and public change.

Our collaborating partner EcoArts is a new effort bringing together scientists, environmentalists, and performing and visual artists – along with producers, presenters, scholars, spiritual leaders, policy makers, educators, businesses, and people from all walks of life – to use the arts to inspire new awareness of, discussion about, and action on environmental issues, with new possibilities for envisioning a sustainable future. Its programming principles are artistic excellence, scientific accuracy, environmental effectiveness, ethical practice, and whenever possible, presenting activities that strive to follow “the middle way” of being either non-partisan or bi-partisan to reach the widest audience possible.

Participating Artists:
Kim Abeles, Lillian Ball, Subhankar Banerjee, Iain Baxter&, Bobbe Besold, Cape Farewell, Mary Ellen Carroll (Precipice Alliance), CLUI (Center for Land Use Interpretation), Brian Collier, Xavier Cortada, Gayle Crites, Agnes Denes, Steven Deo, Rebecca DiDomenico, Future Farmers (Amy Franceschini and Michael Swaine), Bill Gilbert, Isabella Gonzales, Green Fabrication (via Rick Sommerfeld, University of Colorado, College of Architecture and Planning), Newton & Helen Harrison, Judit Hersko, Lynne Hull, Pierre Huyghe, Basia Irland, Patricia Johanson, Chris Jordan, Marguerite Kahrl, Janet Koenig & Greg Sholette, Eve Andree Laramee, Learning Site (Cecilia Wendt and Rikke Luther), Ellen Levy, Inigo Manglano-Ovalle, Patrick Marold, Natasha Mayers, Jane McMahan, Mary Miss, Joan Myers, Beverly Naidus, Chrissie Orr, Melanie Walker & George Peters, Andrea Polli, Marjetica Potrc, Aviva Rahmani, Rapid Response, Buster Simpson, Kristine Smock, Joel Sternfeld, Mierle Laderman Ukeles, Ruth Wallen, Sherry Wiggins, The Yes Men, Shai Zakai

PRIMARY EXHIBITION SITE:
Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art
1750 13th Street, Boulder, 80302
bmoca.org
Tuesday?Friday, 11am to 5pm
Saturday during the Boulder County Farmers’ Market (through October), 9am to 4pm
Saturday (beginning November), 11am to 5pm
Sunday, 12noon to 3pm

ADDITIONAL INDOOR GALLERY SITES:
Boulder Public Library, 1000 Canyon Blvd.
University of Colorado, Norlin Library Galleries, 1720 Pleasant St.
University of Colorado, ATLAS (exhibit Sept. 13 Oct. 6, 10am to 2pm), 125 Regents Dr.
National Center for Atmospheric Research, (NCAR) Mesa Lab, 1850 Table Mesa Dr.

OUTDOOR SITES:
Boulder Municipal Campus (Along the Boulder Creek to Boulder Public Library)
Boulder Public Library, 1000 Canyon Blvd.
Central Park (park directly west from the museum)
Dairy Center for the Arts, 2590 Walnut St.
Eben G. Fine Park, 101 Arapahoe Ave.
National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Mesa Lab, 1850 Table Mesa Dr.
Twenty Ninth Street (Canyon St. and Broadway)
17th and the Boulder Creek Path

To view a schedule of related exhibition programs please click here

To view a schedule of EcoArts events please visit their website
www.ecoartsonline.org

Exhibiting partners: ATLAS (Alliance for Technology, Learning and Society) Center at the University of Colorado, Boulder; Boulder Public Library; National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR); City of Boulder; University of Colorado, Fiske Planetarium; University of Colorado, Norlin Library Galleries.

The Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art is grateful to the following for their support of our current exhibition “Weather Report: Art and Climate Change.”

“Weather Report” is funded in part by:
Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Art & Soul Gallery, Amy Batchelor and Brad Feld, Robert and Cynthia Baxt, Boulder Arts Commission, Boulder Convention & Visitor’s Bureau, Boulder Outlook Hotel & Suites, CHASE,Clean & Green, Colorado Council on the Arts, Compton Foundation, Daily Camera, Rebecca DiDomenico and Stephen Perry, EcoArts/Marda Kirn, Andy and Audrey Franklin, Felicia Furman, Mary Hey, Ann Holz, Ranae Kofford, Liquor Mart,Louis P. Singer Foundation, Lannan Foundation, Joan and Paul Lavell, McGuckin Hardware & Design Center, Lori Mitchell, Robert Morehouse/Vermilion, Madeleine Morrison & Chuck Bellock, Jim Palmer, Jared Polis Foundation, Karen Ripley and Tom Dugan, Roche Colorado Corporation, David and Janet Robertson, Dismas Rotta and Stefka Trusz, Harriet Silverman, SCFD, Twenty Ninth Street Mall, Marsha and Jack Walker.

Special thanks to the volunteers who helped
make this exhibition a reality:
Barry Barnow, Peter Birkeland, Meaghan Burrit, Jane Butcher, Parker Calkin, Jason Carey-Shepard, Sandy Ceas, Will Clift, Cathy Collins, Mary Pat Cullen, Ranee Marie Donia, Kim Dorazewski-Smouse, Jonathan Fierer, Megan Firestone, Jonna Fleming, Shemin Ge, Connie Ge, Blaise Goldman, Cheryl Griffen, Theresa Hartmann, Spence Havlick, Sara Holladay, Tracy Jennings, Sarah Kinn, Paul Kucharyson, Robin Lowry, Steve Markowitz, Elise Martin, Andrew & Gayle McArthur, Martin Mosko & Alxe Noden, Beth Osnes, Amber Patterson, Steve Priem, Cathy Regan, Diane Rehnberg, Chris Rich, Peter Richards, Andy Rising, Richard Solis, Yuka Takeda, Becky Thomas, Greg Tucker, Cam Wobis

Image by Agnes Denes, “Grand Unification Theory”, 2002

These exhibitions have been made possible by a generous donation from Faegre & Benson LLP.

Shark’s Ink is a notable contemporary American print publisher. Since 1976, Shark’s has printed and published an extensive and eclectic body of prints, often challenging the assumptions and limitations of printmaking while collaborating with many of the most distinguished and innovative contemporary American artists working today.

Shark’s is one of only a handful of publishers where the Director and Master printer is the same person. On the spot decisions are made by Master printer/Director Bud Shark and the artists during every aspect of the collaborative printmaking process- from how a plate can be made to the appropriate paper to be used for a particular image.

Prints published by Shark’s Ink. are included in numerous private and public collections including MoMA, NY; The Whitney Museum of American Art, NY; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY; Yale University Art Gallery, CT; The New York Public Library, NY; The Library of Congress, DC; The Art Institute of Chicago, IL; The Hirshhorn Museum, Smithsonian Institution, DC, The Philadelphia Museum of Art and many others.

My work is partly about my imaginings of where and how my body processes and stores responses to moments that truly matter to me. All of the moments that I give form to are times when I am knocked off balance; when instinct and bodily reactions are automatic and unannounced.
Sometimes, I refer to actual organs – their forms, physiology, and developmental stages. I am most intrigued with the stomach, gall bladder, esophagus, pelvic area, skin, intestines, and ears. Through frenetic periods of unrestrained making with clay and, most recently, with fruit and pig intestine, the forms become abstracted and hybridized. Other times, I start with a more abstracted notion of the feeling and conjure up an imagined form, color, texture, or gravity. Only through the making do I find an ease with the materials and a form that resonates with a particular moment.

In the most basic sense, my intention is to make visible what lays concealed. “