A BCA ACTIVITY GUIDE February 21 - June 7, 2020 - Burlington City Arts
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A BCA ACTIVITY GUIDE
February 21 – June 7, 2020
Suzanne Anker, Astroculture (Eternal Return), 2015
Welcome to
Apocalypse Diet: What Will We Eat?
Guest curated by Vermont artist Stella Marrs, Apocalypse
the BCA Center
Diet investigates food systems—how we grow and produce
food for a population—as we face environmental challenges.
The exhibition shows creative ways to think about our
relationship to food as we move toward the future.
February 21 – June 7, 2020 Brigitta Varadi: Exploring the Invisible
Brigitta Varadi explores the invisible, everyday rituals of
working life. Labor is an important part of her creative
Use this guide to explore the exhibitions on three floors of
process with each project, including research, experimentation,
the BCA Center. You will SEE many different works of art,
and community participation. Exploring the Invisible examines
THINK about how the exhibition themes and ideas connect
themes of sustainability, craft, and rediscovered traditions as
to our contemporary lives, and DO your own recording and
they relate to the artist’s 2019 residency at Shelburne Farms.
sketching of your ideas.
Estefania Puerta: Sore Mouth Swore
Estefania Puerta uses a variety of media, including video,
beeswax, synthetic hair, mirrors, and coffee to create works
Exhibiting artists featured in this guide: of art that go beyond boundaries and defy definition. Her
Jane Adams, Suzanne Anker, Andrea Haenggi, Ellie Irons and installation begins in the Lower Level Gallery and travels
Anne Percoco, Estefania Puerta, Li Sumpter, Candace Thompson, through the BCA Center’s stairwell, playing with notions of
and Brigitta Varadi. materials, media, and transformation.
(please explore exhibition on your own)
Exhibition Themes and Vocabulary
Food Security Environment Labor
Research Survival Tradition
Sustainable Resilience Craft
Forage Climate Change Experiment
Wild Edibles Community Materials
First Floor Gallery Many wild edible plants grow in Vermont. The dandelion, usually thought
of as a pesky weed, grows almost anywhere: fields, sidewalks, backyards.
Apocalypse Diet: It’s leaves, flowers, and roots are edible. Fiddleheads from Ostrich ferns,
What Will We Eat? can be found in the woods in early spring. The curled tops of the young
ferns can be cooked. Imagine how you could use these local wild edibles
to make a meal. Write and draw your recipes here:
DANDELION FIDDLEHEAD
Candace Thompson, The Collaborative Urban Resilience Banquet, video still, 2019
Apocalypse Diet explores new ways to think about food and survival as we
face environmental challenges. The artists in the exhibition investigate
questions such as: What will we eat in the future? What will we grow?
What do we think of as food?
For her project Collaborative Urban Resilience Banquet (C.U.R.B.), Candace
Thompson explores the wild plants we might think of as “weeds” that grow
in her urban Brooklyn neighborhood. The artist researches the wild plants
to learn if they are edible, tests for toxins, and processes them into different
kinds of food. Candace shares her research and process through films, web
projects, and community meals with food foraged from the city streets. Her
work reveals how humans affect the environment and what weedy plants
can teach us about resilience and survival in the face of climate change.
What is the difference between a plant and a weed?
Where does your food come from?
How does the artist’s C.U.R.B. project help us to think differently
Please note: Some wild plants are poisonous. Only forage with an expert adult who
about food? can properly identify a wild plant or mushroom.
First Floor Gallery Inspired by Jane Adams’ installation Aquaponic Diorama, imagine a way
that you would want to live in harmony with plants and animals for the
Apocalypse Diet: benefit of all. Draw your ideas.
What Will We Eat?
Jane Adams, Aquaponic Diorama, 2020
The artists in Apocalypse Diet combine scientific tools, techniques, and
research with artistic materials and processes to create their work. They
use a variety of media, including installation, performance, video, and
social events, to explore ideas about the environment and food security.
Jane Adams, for example, collaborates with fellow researchers to explore
data and complex ideas in visual ways. She built a small aquaponic system—
raising aquatic animals with plants—to grow her own vegetables in her
apartment. The artist’s installation Aquaponic Diorama presents her idea of
how to create a sustainable food supply for a larger society, where aquatic
animals, plants, and humans support each other in a balanced ecosystem.
What materials did Jane use to create her installation Aquaponic Diorama?
How did she use scientific research to make her art?
What does “sustainable” mean when we think about food?
Second Floor Gallery
Brigitta Varadi:
Exploring the Invisible
Design your own tile inspired by the hexagon-shaped handmade tiles
in Brigitta’s installation. What images, colors, patterns, or designs would
you use?
Brigitta Varadi (Process image), 2019
Brigitta Varadi explores the disappearing crafts, traditions, and daily activities
that are a part of working life in different communities. Research is an
important part of her creative process, including taking pictures, recording
videos of people and places, sourcing local materials, and experimenting
with new crafts or fine art techniques.
In 2019, Brigitta visited Shelburne Farms as a BCA artist-in-residence to
create her work for Exploring the Invisible. She researched the land, people,
traditions, and way of life on the farm. Inspired by a tile restoration project
at the farm’s historic inn, the artist decided to make similar tiles by hand
using traditional methods and craftsmanship. She learned to harvest and
process clay found on the farm, and with the help of community members,
created over 2000 ceramic tiles. She also processed wool from the farm’s
sheep to create her wall panels, and recorded her work with farmers, laborers,
and community members. The exhibition reminds us of the importance of
working together to maintain and honor our traditions while caring for the land.
What labor and step-by-step processes do you think Brigitta used to
transform local raw materials into art?
Is there a daily ritual or family tradition that is an important part of
your life? Who taught this tradition to you?
How did Brigitta work with people from Shelburne Farms and the
local community to create her art?
Keep on drawing!
Conduct a treasure hunt in Apocalypse Diet: What Will We Eat? to search
for different kinds of plants in the exhibition. Create an outline drawing of
your favorite plant and record your findings.
GET CREATIVE AND MAKE ART TOGETHER!
Families are invited to drop-in to the FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
BCA Center on each scheduled Saturday
of the month to make their own artworks MARCH 28, 2020
inspired by our current exhibitions.
APRIL 25, 2020
Each Family Art Saturday offers a different MAY 23, 2020
art making project that will ignite the
imaginations of your family members!
11-1 PM
135 CHURCH STREET, DOWNTOWN BURLINGTON
BURLINGTONCITYARTS.ORGBurlington City Arts 135 Church St Burlington VT 05401 BURLINGTONCITYARTS.ORG See.Think.Do! invites youth and adults to the BCA Center for an interactive arts experience. Visits last approximately 1-2 hours and begin in the gallery with inquiry-based exploration, lively discussion, and active multidisciplinary learning. Programs conclude in the studio classroom, where students create works of art inspired by exhibition themes, materials, and artistic processes. Youth and adults may also arrange for a guided gallery tour led by the BCA Center’s curator and gallery staff. To schedule your visit, please contact: Melinda Johns, Gallery Education and Programs Coordinator, at mjohns@burlingtoncityarts.org, or call 802-865-7551. Visit burlingtoncityarts.org/gallery-education for more information.
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