Join artists Ellie Irons and Anne Percoco of the Next Epoch Seed Library (NESL) for a multisensorial experience with the wild, disturbance-oriented plants of the Wheaton Campus. We’ll get to know Wheaton’s local weedy plants by finding, collecting, sorting and processing their seeds for inclusion in NESL’s popup library in the Beard and Weil Galleries. NESL re-imagines the conventional seed bank for a new epoch defined by massive human impact on the global environment. Rather than focusing exclusively on human utility or agricultural heritage, they champion the contributions of weedy plant species most likely to survive and thrive in an unpredictable future.

Meet in the Beard and Weil Galleries at 2pm, 2nd Floor, Watson Fine Arts.

This exhibition brings together six artists, Sara Jimenez, Antonio McAfee, Annu Palakunnathu Matthew, Mendi + Keith Obadike, and Dano Wall, who are reframing historical images and information to encourage a shift in perceptions of race, immigration, and colonialism.

A curated selection of student work from Production I and II, Introduction to Animation and Animation II will be showcased in this end-of-semester screening.

Please note: The location of the screening has been changed from Ellison Lecture to Weber Theatre

Artist Oscar Bedford discusses his sculptural assemblages, which are at once hyper-realistic yet impossible to fathom thanks to his surreal and humorous approach and impeccable workmanship. Bedford will share his new installation, a super-sized “drain” installed temporarily on campus as the first commissioned work in a new partnership with the RISD Sculpture Graduate Program.

Gaignard is a visual artist working across disciplines to address issues of race, class and femininity. Her provocative photographs, sculptures and installations are intended to confront assumptions around beauty and blackness. Gaignard, whose work and career are internationally acclaimed, discusses her work and process.

Did you know that Polaris won’t always be our North Star? Artist George Ferrandi will talk about this lesser-known fact and the future cultural customs she’s been inventing with communities around the world to say goodbye to Polaris and welcome our next North Star through her expansive interdisciplinary initiative, Jump!Star.

Join us for the opening reception of In the Weeds: Art in the Natural World at the Beard and Weil Galleries in Watson Fine Arts.

The exhibition showcases six artists who are tackling issues of the human relationship to our environmental surroundings. Many of these artists bridge art and science bring to life processes that may otherwise elude the general public. Through seed collecting, camouflage, performance, and artists’ books artists Kwang Choi, Rachel Frank, Jenny Kendler, Next Epoch Seed Library (a collaboration between Ellie Irons and Anne Percoco), and Tammy Nguyen consider issues of rewilding and human influence on the natural world.

The exhibition runs October 23—December 12, 2019

Image: Jenny Kendler

This exhibition brings together six artists—Sara Jimenez, Antonio McAfee, Annu Palakunnathu Matthew, Mendi + Keith Obadike, and Dano Wall—who are reframing historical images and information to encourage shifts in perceptions of race, immigration, and colonialism.

The exhibition runs September 3—October 11, 2019.