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October 3, 2023


‘Glimmers of Grace’ Art Exhibition showcases talent of Mesa College Alum, Grace Gray-Adams

Grace reveals the female experience through interactive installations at Mesa College

By Saisha Banks, Jennifer Kearns, Alessandra Moctezuma

Grace Gray Adams, Hildegard, 2003, video insallation. Photo credit: Annie Laurie

San Diego, CA. – Thursday, October 5 at 4:00 p.m., the San Diego Mesa College Art Gallery presents an illuminating art exhibition that is inspired by the desire to find the ‘glimmers of grace’ in life. This exhibit gives everyone the opportunity to experience the work of, alumna Grace Gray- Adams, someone who has been curating her legacy since studying art in the 1960’s at Mesa College.

 

Gray- Adams featured artwork focuses on issues that connect to the roles of women and that question the gendered and patriarchal norms of institutions such as marriage, motherhood, and the Catholic church from a feminist perspective. Grace Gray-Adams received a B.A and M.F.A in Sculpture from SDSU and taught Art and Computer Graphics at Mira Costa, Grossmont, Southwestern and San Diego Mesa college for almost 20 years. She’s a member of the San Diego based FIG (Feminist Image Group). She’s shown her work at Fallen Trees Hotels/Motels (Unofficial Art Fair), Biola University, SDSU Gallery, Women’s Museum of California, Creative Arts Workshop, New York, among others.

A discussion by Grace Gray- Adams will take place on Thursday, October 26, 6:00 p.m. in the gallery. The full exhibition will run October 2 – October 26, 2023.

Date/Time: Reception: Thursday, October 5, 4:00 – 7:00 p.m.

 

Location:  Art Gallery FA-103

                   Event Parking in Lot # 1. Park in staff spaces only

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Visuals:   1:1’s with Mesa College faculty, staff, students and administrators

Gallery Hours: M, T, W, TH 12 - 5 p.m. (Or by appointment.) Closed Fridays, Weekends & Holidays. For additional information, please call (619)818-3446 or visit www.sdmesa.edu/art-gallery

About the Artist:

One of the recognizable elements of Graces artwork is her ability to transform every day domestic elements, such as dryer lint, to imbuing them with personal meaning.  The exhibition presents Proof: The Forensic Evidence of My Existence which is made up of hand-sized lint sculptures that she made while taking care of her mother-in law. These mini sculptures allow the audience to have an interactive approach to her art as they are displayed in a laboratory-like setting, and viewers can look at them through a microscope.

The women experience is further explored through her piece The Wedding Sheet which invites the audience into a bedroom setting where video clips of women share their stories hidden between the sheets, shining light on the truth of their wedding night.

Darker topics are also explored through a soft sculpture entitled Entrails which is dedicated to “the little girls” of Holy Spirit Parish who were abused by a priest. Black chiffon is braided into a rhizomatic structure that drapes from the ceiling; a Victorian Requiem that represents the girls’ crushed childhoods and embodies the emotional trauma that these victims are forced to navigate to prepare their depositions. The organic root-like shape bulges out into nodes filled with shredded photographs of the children and relics of their religious paraphernalia.

                    

 

 

 

 

About the Mesa College Gallery: Galleries & Attractions (sdmesa.edu)

Gallery Hours: M, T, W, TH 12 - 5 p.m. (Or by appointment.) Closed Fridays, Weekends & Holidays.

For additional information, please visit: https://www.sdmesa.edu/art-gallery or call (619) 818-3446

 

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Tags: San Diego Mesa College Art Gallery, Mesa College Alumni, Art Exhibit