UIU hosts Chicago artist’s work in “Renovating My Framework” exhibit Nov. 11-Dec. 16
The works of Colleen Toledano, Chicago, will be on exhibit at Upper Iowa University Nov. 11-Dec. 16, including this piece, entitled “Skin Core,” using slipcast porcelain, foam, paint and flocking.
FAYETTE, Iowa (October 29, 2010) — The Bing-Davis Memorial Galley at Upper Iowa University will host the exhibit, “Renovating My Framework,” featuring the artwork by Colleen Toledano, from November 11-December 16.
Colleen Toledano is a studio artist and a professor at Chicago State University. Toledano manipulates and transforms clay along with many other materials into sculptures and installations that “recognize our society’s yearning for building revitalization and our need to improve the human body,” said Ellisa Cox, UIU assistant professor of art and gallery coordinator. “The artist juxtaposes images of the building structures in which we live and compares those structures to the human body.”
“When walking through the city, I often pass construction sites where I’m repeatedly drawn to the exposed internal framing of buildings. The skeletal structure is erected from shoddy 2x4s above a poured concrete foundation, In viewing the existing outline, I can imagine the layers of material that will work together to provide strength and a system of support for the building…but it’s the integrity of the raw ground that really interests me -- this substructure that I feel is necessary for the existence of a foundation,” Toledano says of the inspiration for her art. “I have come to think of the human body as a sub-foundation, a base upon which modifications and alterations may be performed to the benefit of one’s physical and mental well being. My work reflects the ongoing interest in the relationship we have with our bodies and how we choose to make improvements.”
“Renovating My Framework, Works by Colleen Toledano” will open at UIU with a reception from 3:30 to 5 p.m. November 11. Toledano will give an artist’s lecture from 2:30-3:30 p.m. November 11 in Room 310 of Edgar Fine Arts Hall on the UIU campus.
The Bing-Davis Memorial Gallery, located in Edgar Fine Arts Hall, is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday.
For more information about the exhibit, contact Cox at coxe@uiu.edu or 563-425-5850.
Contact:
Monica Bayer Heaton
Executive Director of Communications and Marketing
Phone: 563-425-5773
Cell: 515-291-2070
heatonm@uiu.edu
About Upper Iowa University
Founded in 1857, Upper Iowa University is a private, not-for-profit university providing undergraduate and graduate degree programs and leadership development opportunities to over 6,600 students—nationally and internationally—at its Fayette campus and learning centers worldwide. Upper Iowa University is a recognized innovator in offering accredited, quality programs through flexible, multiple delivery systems, including online and independent study. For more information, visit www.uiu.edu.