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.

Through monotypes, serigraphs, charcoal drawings and a mural installation we get a glimpse of the melding of histories, traditions, culture and politics of our ever expanding and diversified population. Additionally, Ortega will create murals in collaboration with students from “I Have A Dream” Foundation of Boulder County and The Family Learning Center. Following their display at BMoCA during the exhibition, the murals will be on view at the Boulder Public Library and Denver Public Library. This exhibition is organized in connection with the Denver Biennial of the Americas 2010. Additional support comes from the Boulder Arts Commission and the Kevin Luff Family Fund

The relationship between the Baker family and Andrea Modica came from the artists interest in farming, wishing to socially engage the people who put food on our tables. Focusing on a slaughterhouse, Modica investigated southern Colorado, searching for a community that would be open to her photo explorations. Two hours from Boulder and sandwiched between Fort Carson military base and the Air Force Academy lays the city of Fountain, Colorado. The city, with a population of 15,000, houses a community of families tied together by the realities of war and the business of government. Word of mouth led her to the Bakers, a family that in the end permitted Modica to enter their world and observe the evolution of their slaughterhouse family.

It was clear from the beginning that her interest laid in the four children. What is an everyday existence for these kids? School, work and play in rural America, the young Bakers sustain a contemporary farming life. In this series of 24 photographs Modica captures poignant images of children un-phased by the viewers who will analyze their existence, feel sympathy, and ask questions that cannot be answered.

A Guggenheim fellow, Modica has exhibited her work extensively in the United States and Europe. Modica’s photographs are featured in the permanent collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian Institute, the Museum of Modern Art New York, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, among others. A longtime professor and guest lecturer, Modica has taught at numerous institutions including State University of New York at Oneonta, Princeton University, Parsons School of Design, and Colorado College. Modica is currently an Associate Professor of photography at Drexel University. She currently resides in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Lunenburg, Vermont.

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).

Wanenmacher is widely recognized for her ongoing interest and intrigue in the conflict between nature and culture with a large body of her work derived from New Mexico’s atomic history. As a multi-media artist, Wanenmacher moves seamlessly between her contemporary use of audio and video to woodcarvings, hand-stitched quilts and the re-appropriation of ready-made artifacts. Moved by reports that radioisotopic iodine was given to children to determine sensitivity to radioactive fallout by government doctors (1940-1970), Wanenmacher constructs her exhibit. The intersection between nature, art and science convenes in “The Science Club.” In an eerie all black and white environment, Wanenmacher constructs a 1960′s 10-year-old boy’s bedroom with nostalgic toys, paint by number pictures, ham radio operator ala atomic bomb decor. Juxtaposed to the child’s room, Wanenmacher re-appropriates equipment cases, dials, gages and meters-found objects from the surplus of the Los Alamos National Laboratory-with magical inscriptions. This sense of occult, mystery and experimentation elicits the larger conversation of radioactivity, government promises and secrets kept (or not).

Wanenmacher has been widely exhibited throughout the US. Her two most recent one-person exhibitions were featured in New York at the Claire Oliver Gallery and in New Mexico at Linda Durham Contemporary Art. Another notable exhibition, “Grimoire” was featured at SITE Santa Fe in 2001, curated by Louis Grachos. A 20-year survey of Wanemacher works was shown at the Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Fe in 1996. Her work is in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, Museum of Albuquerque and the Fisher Landau Center, New York.

Erika Wanenmacher is represented by Linda Durham Contemporary Art, Santa Fe.

The Science Club exhibition is generously sponsored by the Boulder Valley Center for Dermatology.

This exhibit shows work “About Us” in a broad range of media. The art dates from the 1970s to now. There are well-known artists and not-so-well-known artists. They come from four continents and from Colorado.

Artists included in this exhibition are:
Laylah Ali
Ricky Armendariz
Tina Barney
Mary Carlson
Enrique Chagoya
Robert Colescott
John Coplans
Roy De Forest
Agnes Denes
Lesley Dill
Kim Dingle
Jeanne Dunning
Tom Friedman
Claudio Gallina
Mark Greenwold
David Hockney
Alfred Leslie
David Maisel
Zwelethu Mthethwa
Vik Muniz
Cornelia Parker
John Schabel
Jeanne Silverthorne
Fred Tomaselli
Floyd Tunson
Carrie Mae Weems
Matthew Weinstein

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.

A graduate of Baghdad Academy of Fine Arts, Halim Al-Karim has exhibited his work internationally in the Netherlands, Dubai, Lebanon, Jordan, and France. His work was awarded the jury prize in the International Cairo Biennale in Egypt and is in numerous museum collections around the world.

Whitehorse attended the University of New Mexico, where in 1980 she attained a B.A. in painting and in 1982 an M.A. in printmaking. After several, self-described “oppressive,” years living on the East Coast, during which she struggled to find her own unique niche as an artist, she returned to her native New Mexico.

Her work is in many public collections, the Denver Art Museum, Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, Tucson Museum of Art, Arizona State University, and the Wheelwright Museum in Santa Fe. Internationally her work has been displayed at museums in Belgium, Germany and Italy and nationally at Site Santa Fe, the Denver Art Museum, the Heard Museum, National Museum of Women in the Arts and the Joslyn Art Museum.