THE MUSEUMS AND GALLERIES CLASS PROUDLY PRESENTS:

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1 THANK YOU! SPECIAL THANKS TO SGA FOR THEIR GENEROUS DONATIONS THAT MADE THIS EXHIBITION POSSIBLE DEC. 4 TH, 2013 THE MUSEUMS AND GALLERIES CLASS PROUDLY PRESENTS:

2 2 3 WHO IS THE FRANKLIN BODY? Through an exhibition the AHT 350 students would like to explore the meaning of the diverse Franklin Body. How do we interact with our surrounding community, with each other, and the world at large? With interaction and participation of students, faculty, and staff we curated a gallery of interpretations of the Franklin Body through all its various facets. The Body can be explored on an individual or collective level. With this in mind the AHT 350 students requested the Franklin Body for their works and interpretation of the theme that may portray identity, diversity, intercultural interaction, and community life. The Body has been represented countless ways throughout art history. Through the exhibit we wanted to contribute to the artistic conversation in our own unique situation that is Franklin. As students studying the theories and practices of museums and galleries, this experience gave us a chance to engage and apply the technical and practical functions that are an integral part of museums. Simulating our own exhibit has furthered our understanding of the readings and case studies we have analyzed in accordance with Franklin s experiential learning style. With a greater understanding of the historical discourse of museums and galleries around the world, this course has helped us students appreciate the significance of art and its role in culture. We have situated our exhibit in the commonly frequented space of Ben s Den in order to reach the maximum amount of the Franklin body. Where art is displayed can be just as important as the art itself. We hope the Franklin Body exhibit has helped you re-visualize our community in new and imaginative ways.

3 4 Artist: Cecilia Crucco Artist: Mira Peterson, Series Title: What Would You Say? 5 Artist: Samuel Miller Title: Fall Colors at Franklin Artist: Pierre Garcia Title: Show Me You Artist: Madison Stevens Title: A sunrise hike up Monte Boglia on a Tuesday night, back in time for classes Wednesday morning. Artist: Marina Lorenzini Title: Armadale Castle on the Isle of Skye Artist: Abigail Simons Artist: Samuel Miller Artist: Kimberly Gordon Medium: Mixed Media Title: The Social Self

4 6 Artist: Jessica Howard Artist: Chelsea Glidden 7 Medium: Drawing Medium: Collage Artist: Natalia Rakhno Artist: Kimberly Gordon Medium: Watercolor Medium: Collage Title: Abstract Woman Title: Unearth Artist: Gabriella Sanderson Medium: Watercolor Artist: Tyler Sadutto Medium: Mixed media Artist: Natalia Rakhno Artist: Abigail Alston Medium: Watercolor and masking fluid Title: Woman Blue Medium: Collage Artist: Mariana Gibaldi Medium: Oil paint Title: Sirs Benjamin and Jaköb Artist: Medium: Mixed media Title: zu einem späteren zeitpunkt bestimmt werden

5 8 Artist: Nahyun Kim Medium: Collage Title: Full Man and Hollow Man Flowering in the Profundity of Existence Artist: Nick Witte Medium: Mixed Media Title: Self-Service Artist: Fabio Ferrari Medium: Mixed Media Title: just cause Cecilia Crucco, Untitled Dieses Foto zeigt eine Statue, die dem italienischen Schriftsteller und Pädagogen Edmondo De Amicis gewidmet wurde. Es stellt die Verbindung zwischen Natur und Kunst dar. Die Statue verschmelxt in dem Hintergrund, als ob ein Kontinuum zwischen den beiden ware. Kunst ist ein Ausdruck unserer Menschlichkeit im Alltag. Kunst als Natur darunter wird nicht nur die Umwelt gemeint, sondern vielmehr die menschliche Natur und ihr alltägliches Dasein. (Translation:) This photograph represents a statue that was built in honor of Edmondo de Amicis, a famous Italian writer and pedagogic leader. This photo represents the connection between nature and art. It is very pertinent because of how the statue seems to mix with the background as if one was the continuation of the other. It shows how art is a human value that represents our everyday life. Art as nature does not only refer to the natural landscapes characterizing our surroundings, but to the human nature and its everyday values. 9 Artist: Ivey Balderson Medium: Mixed Media Marina Lorenzini, Armadale Castle on the Isle of Skye - This grouping of photos truly embodies the Franklin communityplayful, trans-cultural, and blending into any foreign landscape. Swiss, Emirati, and Californian are all factors that contribute to their identity, just as their Franklin one.

6 10 11 Mira Peterson, What Would You Say? - In spring 2012 I created a photo identity project centered around the question "what would you say to mainstream media? People s responses included a variety of topics, ranging from beauty to race to gender. This photo collection shows the range of values that are seen throughout Franklin s student body. I really like the idea of using the body as a tool for activism, taking what you think and feel on the inside and displaying it in writing on the outside of your body. It is hard to ignore a message that is displayed on the human body. Kimberly Gordon, The Social Self The Social Self reflects on the reliance of technology and social media in modern society. Using the layout of Facebook, one can access unlimited amounts of information about people from their photos to their favorite movies, yet this is merely the performance of the self. This piece acts as a commentary on how we as a younger generation interact and present ourselves in this modern age. Jessica Howard, Untitled The Franklin Body, in my eyes, represents a profound longing for wisdom and perspective. Each individual at Franklin possesses the unique ability to see life and the world through another s eyes. Our goal in obtaining wisdom hides in the wrinkles of the women's face and in her eyes a glimmer of hope for a better future. Gabriella Sanderson, Untitled - This is a watercolor/ink/acrylic of rain in the Alice in Wonderland surrealist theme from Salvador Dali's illustrations of the story by Lewis Carrol. This represents the colors that shine through the rain in Lugano. Walking to class is always a beautiful sight with something new. Mariana Gibaldi, Sirs Benjamin and Jaköb - These distinguished gentlemen, painted in oils, are men of action and consequence, pomp and circumstance, wit and happenstance. With diverse influences from Sir Thomas Lawrence to Miles Davis, my new insights are crafted from both traditional and modern dialogues in an attempt to capture two of Franklin s own personalities. Chelsea Glidden, Untitled - This is piece is a study of perspective. It embodies the idea of looking into the private peoples lives when they are in their private home. What do people do in their spare time? Many of us know each other very well, but what does our own Franklin Body do behind closed doors? Kimberly Gordon, Unearth - In this collage the bodies are placed in a galactic setting where they are discovering the world around them and themselves. Each body is attempting to make a connection with the others around them. Some are more successful than the rest. Overall, the piece illustrates the chaos and confusion of life.

7 12 13 Tyler Sadutto, Anerkennung (Recognition) - Die Gesellschaft hat im Bereich sozialer Gleichstellung große Fortschritte gemacht, jedoch werden Homosexuelle heutzutage immernoch diskriminiert. Homosexuelle müssen als Menschen anerkannt werden, um die gleichen universellen Rechte wie Heterosexuelle zu bekommen. Eine Einladung zu einer homosexuellen Hochzeit sollte genauso alltäglich wie eine Einladung zu einer heterosexuellen Hochzeit sein. (Translation:) Society has made great progress in terms of social equality, but homosexuals continue to face discrimination even to this day. Homosexuals need to be recognized as human beings in order to receive the same universal rights as heterosexuals. An invitation to a homosexual wedding should be just as commonplace as an invitation to a heterosexual wedding. Nahyun Kim, Full Man and Hollow Man Flowering in the Profundity of Existence - This collage centers on growth. The figures that are interacting with others and those that are participating in an activity have more flowers on them to symbolize their personal growth. The Franklin body can be seen as a garden in which individuals are growing at their own pace in the community , zu einem späteren zeitpunkt bestimmt werden - Du kennst mich nicht mal. Ich bin keine Ansammlung von Google-Einträge über mich oder von Webseiten, die ich besucht habe. Dadurch will ich nicht weniger echt als durch eine persönliche Einführung wirken. Heute bestehen wir aus zwei Selbst: unserem Online- Selbst zusätzlich zu unserem eigentlichen Selbst. Das Problem dieser doppelten Identität ist mit dem Schicksal des Liberalismus eng verbunden. Wir sind auf die Durchsichtigkeit der Regierungshandlungen berechtigt, wenn sie uns persönlich oder als Volk beeinflussen. Vor allem aber sind wir berechtigt, die gleichen Rechte sowohl online als auch als Person zu haben. Der Verlust unserer virtuellen Freiheit gilt letztlich als Vorstufe zum Verlust unserer Freiheit in der Realität. (Translation:) You don't even know me. I am not a collection of my Google searches, or the websites I have read. And I don't want to be perceived by any factor less genuine than a personal introduction. Today we are comprised of two selves: our self online in addition to our self in person. The issue with the presence of these dual identities is with the fate of the liberalism we hold dear. We are entitled to the transparency of government actions if they affect us personally or as a people. Most importantly, we are entitled the same rights online, as we have in person. The loss of our freedom online will ultimately serve as precursor to the loss of our freedoms in reality.

8 14 15 The Franklin Body: A theoretical approach Following a semester of examining the processes and implications surrounding exhibitions, we, the AHT 350 class curators, aim to address our public with the self-reflective journey into curating an exhibition of the Franklin Body. Thanks to the cooperation of the Franklin community, this exhibit hopes to provide a meaningful representation of our identity as a body or as bodies. The Franklin Body as defined by the contributing artists of the exhibit place themselves in several greater art historical discourses that inform their use of the body in their artwork. The prompt for submission for the exhibition, intentionally left open ended, necessitated that contributors define the body for themselves and thus create or choose works that represented their definition of the body with regards to Franklin. The body as shown in the exhibit, treated within a context, as an individual or community, or as a canvas and object, provides a text for analysis of the construct students and professors utilize in approaching the body at Franklin. From a contextual perspective, Franklin s campus and its geographical surroundings are the spaces in or through which the Franklin Body necessarily moves and operates. Therefore, photography of Samuel Miller and Madison Stevens demonstrate the Franklin Body as a function of its physical habitat, here depicted by images of Monte Boglia and Franklin s campus. Beyond the physical, the overarching presence of the identity of the Franklin Body as represented by the digital or cyborg constructed self is explored in the work of and Kimberly Gordon s The Social Self. These pieces consciously assemble the body through digital mediums or language and thus both recreate and question the Franklin Body as a cyborg entity. Finally, we find this contextual analysis of the body in the work of Chelsea Glidden among others whose collage work juxtaposes the private and public body. Interpreted as a social context of the body on Franklin s campus, the balance between the private and public depicted in the building, a metaphor for the small size of the university, captures the intimate culture of the Franklin Body as a context in which we operate. Just as this last work of Glidden s shows, the Franklin Body exists both as individual and as community. Gordon s work The Social Self portrays this interaction between the individual and the community as she depicts herself in a realistic encounter with the Facebook community; to what extent can the majority of the members of the Franklin Body s self-image, as a function of the social network, be summarized by this very piece? The exhibit s profile artworks, the style used by the majority of contributing artists including Natalia Rakhno, Jessica Howard, Mariana Gibaldi, Pierre Garcia, and Abigail Simons, place great emphasis on the individual members of the Franklin Body. Whether through the use of actual Franklin community members or in depicting the Franklin Body metaphorically through their aspirations as Howard does, the exhibit suggests that our definition of the identity of the Franklin Body relies heavily on individual members and their presence within the community. However, several works including the photographs of Marina Lorenzini and Madison Stevens as well as the Nahyun Kim s collage depict Franklin members in their interaction with each other and emphasize this role of community. Finally, the Franklin Body acts uniquely as a canvas in the photographic work of Mira Peterson. Peterson, exploring media messages, inscribes the physical body with individual expression, creating a double representation of the Franklin Body through her work. Here the Franklin Body becomes a critical and vocal entity that actively conveys its societal concerns to the viewer. The resulting exhibit of the Franklin Body engages an exciting range of perspectives to inform us as the audience and subject of our own identity. This Franklin Body is an individual and a community, a self and a cyborg, a private and public being, and a participant in the space of Franklin and Lugano. The sculpture of Ivey Balderson, a Franklin alumni, lives in the art studio bathroom and seems an integral part of the Franklin campus for some students; his body, while an outdated addition, portrays the Franklin Body as much as any other artist does in the exhibit. Here our exhibit analyzes who we are as a Franklin Body. Going forward, what does this indicate for who will we be? How will the Franklin Body continue to exemplify the same values or evolve over time?