Queer|Art’s summer in Provincetown culminated on Sunday, August 19 with the closing of our third exhibition in the "After Mentorship" series.
It’s been a glorious and busy summer—our first in Ptown—and we could not have achieved it without the dedicated collaboration of our partner HBO, who made this venture possible. Each exhibition has been a unique celebration of a different Mentor/Fellow relationship facilitated through our cornerstone Mentorship program over the past seven years. The "After Mentorship" exhibition series, with its focus on past Mentors and Fellows who continue to draw insight and inspiration from each other's life and work, is testament to many ways in which our community remains supportive of one another long after an artist's structured participation in QAM is complete.
For those of you who made it to The Studio in Ptown over the past two months to witness encounters with Liz Collins, Anna Campbell, Pamela Sneed, Heather Lynn Johnson, Geoffrey Chadsey, and Troy Michie - we thank you!
We’ve made so many fabulous new friends in Ptown and are delighted by the potential for more Queer|Art engagements on the shores of Cape Cod, and beyond. Below are a few highlights from our adventures on Commercial Street!
LIZ COLLINS & ANNA CAMPBELL
We kicked off our summer in PTown on July 6th with the opening of Liz Collins & Anna Campbell’s exhibition. Liz and Anna worked together last year during the QAM 2017-18 cycle, and it was clear from their interactions then and since that they would be the perfect Mentor/Fellow pair to help us introduce Queer|Art to Ptown.
Our opening night event has been one of the most successfully attended programs at The Studio and set the tone for the rest of the summer. During our public conversation, with its focus on their mutual appreciation of one another's work and what they've learned from each other, we explored the exciting and unanticipated dialogue between Liz's fiber-based works -- with their cacophonic play of optics, texture, color, and scale -- and Anna’s rigorous assemblages of lightbulbs, mirrors, scaffold, and other materials referencing archival sources from marginalized queer histories. Texture, color, warmth, and friendship were the overarching themes of this ambitious and intimate exhibition!
PAMELA SNEED & HEATHER LYNN JOHNSON
Our residency in PTown continued with the opening of Pamela Sneed & Heather Lynn Johnson on July 20. Pamela and Heather were Mentor & Fellow last year, as well—but in Literature, not Visual Art. We were thrilled to be able to showcase another aspect of their practices and work together through this very special exhibition.
Both Pamela and Heather share a commitment to an exploration of the complex intersections of race, gender, sexual orientation, and class and employ a variety of strategies towards this end with electrifying results. Heather's large-format photographs of digitally manipulated archival images of plantations and museums were a stunning and natural juxtaposition to Pamela's delicate abstract collages assembled from cut-ups of old National Geographic magazines and other sources. During our opening night discussion, both Pamela and Heather honored us with readings of their poetry as well. We were breathless!
This was also Pamela's first dedicated show as a visual artist -- which was a thrill for everyone involved!
GEOFFREY CHADSEY & TROY MICHIE
The "After Mentorship" Ptown series culminated with the opening of Geoffrey Chadsey& Troy Michie on August 10th. Geoff and Troy were Mentor & Fellow during the 2013-14 program cycle, the oldest mentorship pair in the series. Their exhibition, more than any other, speaks to the lasting impact of the program and reveals ways in which they have remained an important influence on one another over the years.
Both Geoff and Troy have some roots in Ptown—as former residents at the Fine Arts Work Center, where they each spent a number of months working out many of the ideas and techniques that were on display in the work that comprise the present exhibition. Central to the work on view is each artist's working through of their reactions to the present political moment. Geoff's recent preoccupation jamming on the signifiers of MAGA culture evoked a haunting parody of thoughtless white American appropriation, while Troy's bold collages of deconstructed Zoot suits and black bodies conjured the risk that now threatens the ethnically diverse borderland culture of Troy's hometown in El Paso, Texas.
The audience for the opening night conversation was deeply and critically engaged with the content and ideas in the show. It was a thought-provoking chat that continued well into the night as we all went out to celebrate the great success of Queer|Art's first season in Ptown!
Above: Florrie Burke, Barbara Hammer, and Laura Teodosio by The Gathery
Thank you to all our artists and supporters who came out to celebrate with us this summer! "After Mentorship" in Provincetown could not have been possible without the generous support of HBO and the brilliant event design and production by our friends at The Gathery. Check out our website soon for more photos and updates!
