At The Table, is inspired by Western Carolina University’s 2023-24 campus theme of Community and Belongingness and ties in with recent conversations in our community about the importance of having one’s voice heard and being given a seat at the table. Featuring numerous nationally known artists, the exhibition brings together contemporary works of art from the 1980s to the present that explore ideas of community, power, and representation through their depiction or use of a “table.” Everything from the kitchen table and conference room table to the concept of having “a seat at the table” is offered as food for thought in this exhibition. Tying the artists together is how they use this idea of the “table” to signify a place where people come together in connection, endure and overcome injustice, and make decisions that can change an individual life or the course of humanity.

Much of the artwork in At The Table is on loan from museums and galleries across the country, including artwork by Donna Ferrato, Jacqueline Hassink, Beth Lipman, Narsiso Martinez, Elizabeth Murray, Charles F. Quest, Cara Romero, and Sandy Skoglund. Other works are drawn from private collections or the WCU Fine Art Museum’s own permanent collection, including significant works by Heather Mae Erickson, Roger Shimomura, Hollis Sigler, and Bob Trotman. In addition to visual artists, the exhibition incorporates verse by poet laureate Joy Harjo and a project celebrating Black history by Danielle Daniels and Amanda Ballard.

The artists represented in the exhibition use the recurring motif of the table to open up a dialogue on a range of contemporary issues, including the disenfranchisement of agricultural laborers, the need for amplifying underrepresented voices in history, the struggle for power over one’s body, and the threat of nuclear holocaust, among many other topics

ReGift is a sculptural installation created specifically for the Toledo Museum of Art. It will go on view in Gallery 18, August 12, 2023.

Motivated by histories Lipman discovered in the archives at the TMA, the project features a three-quarter life-sized recreation of the parlor in Edward and Florence Libbey’s Old West End house. Using the Libbey’s bookplate as a visual guide (the only known image of their home interior) Lipman filled this architectural space with objects found in the image that she fabricated in transparent and opaque white glass.

Some of these original household objects, including furniture, were gifted to the Museum by Florence Scott Libbey upon her death in 1938 and later sold in the 1990s. Lipman’s project symbolically gifts these objects, along with their stories, to the entire Toledo community. By looking closely at an internal aspect of Florence’s life, the project aims to emphasize her deeply personal commitment to the Museum. It emphasizes her involvement in building the Museum’s legacy and, importantly, the impact of the Libbey’s on Toledo.

Glass elements for ReGift were made in the TMA’s hotshop at the Glass Pavilion during a 2022 GAPP residency. A glass press, donated to TMA by Libbey company was also utilized to create components, conceptually triangulating the founder’s business with the Museum and the Libbey’s personal life. Through the GAPP residency, the project fulfills an institutional goal to continue to promote experimentation in the glass studio, connecting past history to present creative practice.

For artist Beth Lipman, the project’s intent is to accentuate the impact of Toledo Museum of Art founders and reaffirm the Museum’s position as a catalyst within community. Lipman states, “Today, our trust in institutions has been undermined; ReGift is an opportunity to strengthen and reinvigorate the Museum’s critical role in our culture.”

A short film will accompany the installation. Commissioned for the project, filmmaker Atesh Atici found inspiration in Florence Scott Libbey’s approach to her community in the early days of the Toledo Museum of Art. Considering current polarization within our society and a growing separation from public spaces, Florence’s desire to, “encourage attendance on the part of all people irrespective of condition of life” is key to refocusing attention on the Museum’s ethos of creating a space for serving the community of Toledo and beyond. The film evokes Florence’s ideas through a dramatization of these ideas.