Monday-Friday 12-4pm
Tuesday evening 7-9pm
Saturday & Sunday 1-4pm
Ames School of Art
Illinois Wesleyan University
6 Ames Plaza West
Bloomington, Illinois 61701-2900
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — Illinois Wesleyan University’s School of Art will its exhibitions of 2019 with the installation Extinguishing the Fire by Tom Rice
Rice’s Extinguishing the Fire is one of several pieces concerned with capturing the beauty of nature as well as the harmful effects of human activity on the environment. A multimedia artist experienced in painting, drawing and video performance, Rice often uses thin plastic as a primary material in his artwork to highlight how environmentally harmful practices are present in all corners of everyday life.
“Extinguishing the Fire focuses primarily on the effects of the desire for profit by one industry, and the effect oil and natural gas extraction and consumption has upon the natural environment,” says Rice, an advocate for environmental protections. “The work questions whether it is possible to retreat from an industry that is woven into every aspect of our existence and is the very foundation of our economy.”
By Rachel McCarthy ’21
Rice will discuss his work at a public reception Tuesday, Feb. 5 at 1:15 p.m. in the Ames School of Art. This event is free and open to the public. Extinguishing the Fire will be on display at the Merwin Gallery until April 3.
Listen to a recent GLT interview with Tom Rice on his exhibition
Dong Kyu Kim calls himself “The Sewing Man” because his primary form of art is sewing and hand-stitch. The Wakeley Gallery will feature his project “American Stitches,” a series of work mainly composed of transactional receipts deriving from the artist’s life in the United States from 2008 to 2018.
Dong Kyu Kim was born and raised in South Korea and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Fashion Design from Kookmin University in Seoul. Since then, he has been working as a fashion designer in Korea, the U.S., China, and Mexico for nearly 20 years.
Dong Kyu Kim’s Asian background plays an integral role in his artwork. He often employs the basic concept of the Korean traditional craft of JoGakBo, a style of patchwork traditionally used to create domestic wrapping cloths from scraps of leftover fabrics.
In this project, rather than use scraps of fabric, Dong Kyu Kim has weaved together thousands of receipts from the past ten years. According to his artist statement, “the initial motivation of this series of work came from the ongoing struggle of artist’s status situation in the U.S.”
Dong Kyu Kim’s work attempts to find the artistic value of everyday life and weave those experiences into the world of art and fashion by reflecting upon his designs and exhibiting his projects. “Creating artwork by quilting together, stitch by stitch, by hand, once useless receipts from past 10 years of life, inherits the idea of unifying daily lifestyle with art,” according to Dong Kyu Kim’s artist statement.
Dong Kyu Kim’s work will be displayed Feb. 25 through April 24, except for March 8-18 when the gallery will close for spring break. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 12 p.m. - 4 p.m., Tuesday evenings 7 p.m. - 9 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday 1 p.m. - 4 p.m. The exhibit is free and open to the public.
By Megan Baker ’21
Tom Rice
Heather Brammeier
Dong Kyu Kim
Lindy Ihrman
All events are free and open to the public
Artists interested in showing at our galleries click the Link below for more information
The Merwin and Wakeley Galleries provide exhibition schedules that support our curriculum, the University community and the general public. These exhibitions mostly consist of contemporary artworks in all media. Each exhibition is meant to suggest the variety of visual approaches one may choose to present an idea. Student exhibitions include the Annual Juried School of Art Student Exhibition, the B.F.A. Candidate Exhibition and the B.F.A. and B.A. Degree Exhibition.
