Kathy Desmond: Contemporary Antiquities
Endicott College is proud to announce the solo exhibition, Kathy Desmond: Contemporary Antiquities which runs from Monday, February 2 - Saturday, May 16, 2015 in the Spencer Presentation Gallery, Manninen Center for the Arts, Endicott College, 376 Hale Street, Beverly. Gallery hours are Monday – Thursday, 9:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.; Friday, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. A public artist talk will take place on Wednesday, March 4 from 12:00 noon until 12:30 PM in the Spencer Gallery followed by a reception. The exhibition, artist talk, and reception are free and open to the public.
A Professor at Endicott College, Kathy Desmond exhibits her work internationally and nationally in venues such as: the Lönnström Art Museum in Finland and the Art Gallery of Hamilton, Ontario, the Alternative Museum (New York), The Creative Arts Workshop (New Haven), Tufts University, The Nave Gallery and The Windows Art Project/Somerville Arts Council (Somerville, MA) among others. In addition, her video portraits have been screened at the DoubleTake/Full Frame Film Festival, Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center, and CineWomen NY. Her work is in the collections of The Lönnström Art Museum (Finland) and Electronic Arts Intermix. She has been an artist-in-residence at organizations including the American Academy in Rome and the Vermont Studio Center. Desmond holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy, Aesthetics and Art Theory from the Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts; an M.F.A. in Studio for Interrelated Media from Massachusetts College of Art and Design; a B.F.A. in Sculpture from Kansas City Art Institute. She also studied at the Rhode Island School of Design. At Endicott College Professor Desmond teaches graphic design, computer animation, drawing, and theory classes.
About her exhibition, Dr. Desmond states, "Contemporary Antiquities is an ongoing project that consists of projected light drawings in spaces of classical architecture, such as the Villa Aurelia and the Dell'Acqua Paola Fountain. The placement of these images in the architectural settings of historic Rome addresses concepts of ideology and notions of presence over centuries. The scaled depiction of women, metaphorically in command of these spaces of antiquity, serve to question the traditional visualizations of women in past eras and in the present. In some cases, the women are both monumentalized, as in historic portraiture, but the artwork also serves to monumentalize the beauty of the everyday. This project includes icons in the symbolic and metaphorical representations of presence. The dialogues that take place in this work includes the projections with institutions of ideology, as well as with the viewer as participant". The exhibition consists of 18 large digital prints and one installation created by the artist with wire. Her elegant handmade chandelier structures cast shadows on the gallery walls drawing the viewer into an intimate space, while her images of people, hands, and feet, projected onto architectural spaces in Rome appear and make themselves known.
Dr. Kathy Desmond will be giving a public artist talk on Wednesday, March 4 from 12 noon to 12:30 p.m. in the Spencer Gallery, questions and answers will follow. A light reception will take place following from 12:30 - 1:30 p.m. and is free and open to the public. Housed within Endicott’s School of Visual and Performing Arts, the exhibit complements the degree programs that help artists secure creative careers; Art Therapy, Arts Education, Interior Design, Graphic Design, Photography and Studio Art. If you have any questions regarding this exhibition or programming, please contact Kathleen Moore, Coordinator of Visual Arts at Endicott College at 978-232-2655 or kmoore@endicott.edu.