Senga Nengudi

Lecture: Monday, May 16
Workshop: May 16 - 20

Senga Nengudi's performance-based sculptures and installations explore aspects of the human body in relation to ritual, philosophy and spirituality. In the 1960s and 1970s, Nengudi's avant-garde work helped bring traditional African forms into the mix of Western modernism. Nengudi coaxes form out of ordinary nylon stockings by pulling, twisting, and knotting them to create pendulous sacks or tautly outstretched limbs. These bulging, flesh-toned, anthropomorphized abstractions suggest the resilience of the human body. Like molted snakeskins, they retain the "residue" of the body and the “energy” of the wearer, suggesting the fragility and sensuality of flesh itself.

Workshop participants will begin by sharing an item from a family ancestor (photo, pipe, quilt, heirloom, hat, shawl, etc.) as well as sharing their own work with the collective. This will begin a cultural search into body image, inner landscapes and forms of meditative sand mappings, constructions, sketches and paintings.

Installation and performance will be used to expand and deepen the visual experience and connection of body and soul. The ephemeral nature and focus on process that signals Sengaπs work will be emphasized throughout the workshop. Group discussions and studio time will concentrate on permanence and impermanence, attachment to the known and humans as ephemera.

Call for workshop application at 424 5050, or download online
Scholarships available.