In Conversation: Allison Smith and Jessica Ingram

Allison Smith with her work Untitled (blunt instruments) (2018) on view in Gallery 2. Photo: Israel Valencia

In conjunction with Be Not Still: Living in Uncertain Times, exhibition artist Allison Smith and California College of the Arts professor Jessica Ingram will discuss the relationship of social practice, reenactment culture, and materiality in Smith’s work.
The talk will highlight the evolution of Smith’s new sculptural installation for Be Not Still investigating the rise of white nationalism. The project is anchored by the newly commissioned work Untitled (blunt instruments) (2018), an assembly of cast-iron tiki torches recalling those used by white supremacists protesting the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville, Virginia, and takes current debates on the removal of confederate monuments as a point of departure for discussions on the potent materiality of sculpture.
$10 general / $5 members

 
Please plan to arrive at least 15 minutes in advance to allot for shuttle service from admissions to Gallery 2.

About the Speakers

Allison Smith has participated in solo exhibitions, installations, performances, and artist-led participatory projects at such institutions as the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Public Art Fund, Governors Island, New York; and the Arts Club of Chicago. She is currently an associate professor of art in the area of sculpture, installation, and site work at Carnegie Mellon University School of Art in Pittsburgh, and has just been appointed the dean of fine arts at San Francisco’s California College of the Arts.
Jessica Ingram works with multi-media to explore the ethos of communities, and notions of progress and resistance in American culture. Raised in Nashville, TN, Ingram is an associate professor of photography, fine arts, and interdisciplinary studies at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco and has been a recurring visiting artist and scholar at Columbus State University in Georgia since 2013. Her work has been featured in California Sunday Magazine, The New York Times, and the Oxford American.