BETH LIPMAN’S “MILES LAW” in: At The Table | Western Carolina University
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
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
More on the Exhibition HERE
Beth Lipman • Bob Trotman • Charles F. Quest • Cara Romero • Danielle Daniels & Amanda Ballard • Donna Ferrato • Elizabeth Murray • Faith Ringgold • Heather Mae Erickson • Hollis Sigler • Jacqueline Hassink • Joy Harjo • Narsiso Martinez • Faith Ringgold • Roger Shimomura • Sandy Skoglund • Shari Urquhart
ABOUT MILES LAW
Miles’ Law is a large-scale work designed to investigate Marjorie Merriweather Post’s use of diplomacy to bridge political, cultural, and societal divides. The sculpture is a rumination on Rufus Miles’s phrase, ‘Where you stand depends on where you sit,’ and explores how one’s view of a situation is shaped by one’s relationship to it. Post deftly employed domestic rituals that literally “brought people to the table” such as dinner parties and other social functions to subtly persuade disparate individuals to empathize with another point of view.
Visually split down the center, half of the work will be composed of clear glass and the other half, black glass, with each composition mirroring the other. The duality will be disrupted by biomorphic forms that will protrude and grow through the composition, mimicking natural growth and entropic forces. This liberation illustrates how we are all susceptible to external forces and are subject to cycles of change. The still life tableau capitalizes on the genre’s capacity to illuminate the ways that one understands the world through visual metaphors.
Miles’ Law reflects on the current polarization that seems extraordinary, yet is an inherent aspect of the human condition. The twinning effect of the sculpture embodies the duality at the core of every individual. The marriage of transparent and opaque glass illustrates continuity with difference, embracing the inevitable variation of the hand made.
— Beth Lipman, 2023
