The Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn, New York, held its annual Member Show for artists who are expressing societal issues through their art.
Transcript
Davana Robedee: You know every, every place has a story and every, every artist is working to generate, you know deep meaning.
Ireland Walker: With reports of hate crimes, robberies, and high numbers of mental illness, reported from the city of Auburn, one art show gives a way to give these issues a good hard look.
Walker: At the Schweinfurth Art center, program director Davana Robedee incorporates several art pieces depicting these crises.
Robedee: So this is all contemporary work, always provides sort of a zeitgeist or a snapshot of what’s going on within the year of, you know, its political or its can be socio-economical it could be feminism or racism.
Walker: The creations from nearly 100 artists ranges from photographs, sculptures, fiber and quilt work. Robedee also says the messages within the art clearly describe that it’s not impossible to be influenced by what’s going on in society or in the country.
Rodedee: We’ve seen a lot of work about police brutality, racism, microaggressions.
Walker: As you can see I’m standing here in front of all these paintings, which is exactly what Davana was talking about, she was describing that struggles and stresses people face every day that artists are expressing through their art.
Walker: The show began in 2017 and has grown so popular that several topics specific to Auburn are getting addressed.Topic even globally such as lack of representation, discrimination all of this reported by national research organizations like Pew.The art show reflects how all of the country can take hold of issues and spread the message that change is needed.
Walker: Ireland Walker, N-C-C NEWS
AUBURN, N.Y. (NCC News)- With reports of hate crimes, robberies, and high numbers of mental illness recorded happening in the city of Auburn, the annual Member Show at the Schweinfurth Art Center, created a way to reflect on these issues through an art show.
The show began in 2017 and features work from 100 artists who are part of the member program, and worked together to create the show using various mediums of art.
Art pieces range from photographs, sculptures, fiber and wood work as well as quilted designs, and some have an artist statement posted beside it that describes the artwork. Artists also tackled topics of racism, politics, feminism, disabilities as well as a various amount of other health and mental issues.
Program director, Davana Robedee recognizes artists from both international and national realms. These artists highlight self grievances and societal breakdowns that impact the country. Many of these artists know these topics can be hard to talk about, so by creating displays that feature these topics, they created a way to get the conversations started.
Auburn, N.Y.-Front gallery of the Member Show at the Schweinfurth Art Center.
Several reports from national research organizations like the Pew Research Center have confirmed that topics of racism, discrimination, microaggressions and police brutality, and are also happening outside of Auburn, and are present worldwide.
Robedee said that the art can spread these messages to the Auburn and greater community, through keeping the Member Show an important part of the city.
“You know every, every place has a story and every, every artist is working to generate, you know deep meaning,” Robedee said.
The artists attended the show the following night to describe the ideas behind their work, how they created their work and what message they hope to share with everyone.