Hickory Sticks: Jonathan Brilliant Installation

Exhibition Website

Apr 27 2017 - Sep 9 2017

HMA invites North Carolina artist Jonathan Brilliant for a week-long residency to create a site-specific installation in the Museum’s Coe Gallery using to-go coffee accoutrements as his art materials. The artist will laboriously weave 50,000+ wood coffee stirrers to create a site-responsive, colossal sculpture influenced by the gallery’s 25 foot ceiling and unique architectural features – spiral staircases and Palladian windows. Visitors will be able to walk under, in and around the undulating walls of this structure. The woven stirrers are held in place without the use of adhesives; tension and compression are what gives the structure strength and stability. Complementary smaller installations comprised of coffee cup sleeves, disposable lids and coffee stain wall drawings will also be included in the exhibition.

Visitors will have the rare opportunity to see an artist create an art piece from start to finish; a process which is typically done behind-the-scenes. Jonathan Brilliant will work live in the gallery, greeting and interacting with visitors. After his residency is complete, a time lapse video of the project’s making will be projected on a gallery wall through the remainder of the exhibition. Interactive stations will allow visitors to practice the stir stick weaving technique and add to a community sculpture built started by the artist.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.

  • Sculpture
  • American
  • Contemporary
  • Jonathan Brilliant

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