Celebrating 30 years of Women's and Gender Studies at Teaching Museum of Art
This fall, the Augustana Teaching Museum of Art exhibitions celebrate the 30th anniversary of the women's and gender studies program at Augustana College. From August 26-October 28, the museum will feature two distinctly different exhibitions, beginning with works by the anonymous female artist collective, Guerrilla Girls, in "A Woman's Place is in the Gallery: Guerrilla Girls, 1985-2015."
The Guerrilla Girls have been exposing sexism, racism and corruption in politics, art, film and pop culture for more than 30 years. With facts, humor and outrageous visuals, they reveal the understory, the subtext, the overlooked, and the downright unfair. On January 18, 2017, two members of the Guerrilla Girls will be on campus for a free public event at 7 p.m. in Centennial Hall. The second fall exhibition is "Battle/Dress Camouflage as a Metaphor for Passing and Other Works," a work of performance art in multiple acts by Kiam Marcelo Junio. A Chicago-based visual and performance artist, Junio's work focuses on the intersections of their identities as Asian American, Filipino immigrant, U.S. Navy veteran, gender-fluid and decidedly queer.
Junio will perform "Sacred Skin" at Rozz-Tox (2108 3rd Ave., Rock Island) on Thursday, Sept. 1 at 8 p.m. The performance will be followed by a Q&A moderated by Dr. Claire Kovacs, director of the Augustana Teaching Museum of Art. The event is free and open to the public.
"This is an important pairing of events at the museum," Dr. Kovacs noted. "We celebrate 30 years of women's and gender studies at Augustana through the activist art of an anonymous collective of women artists who have been at work rattling cages for the same period, and we pair that with an artist whose work on identity speaks to many of the contemporary engagements in women and gender studies."
An opening reception for both exhibitions will be held in the Centennial Hall gallery (3703 7th Ave., Rock Island) on Friday, Sept. 2 from 5-7 p.m. The reception will feature an artist talk by Junio.
Go to augustana.edu/artmuseum for exhibitions and events throughout the remainder of the 2016-17 season at the Augustana Teaching Museum of Art.
The Augustana Teaching Museum of Art is open when classes are in session from noon-4 p.m., Friday and Saturday, and by appointment.
For more information, please contact Dr. Claire Kovacs, director of the Augustana Teaching Museum of Art, at 309-794-7400 or clairekovacs@augustana.edu.