Calculated Risks, an exhibition celebrating the inventive diversity among the faculty studio artists at Wellesley College, will fill the special exhibition galleries of the Davis Museum from Sept. 15 – Dec. 12.  Featuring 12 artists who range from emerging to internationally acclaimed, the exhibition displays a broad array of approaches to different media, including painting, sculpture, drawing, animation, collage, photography, video, film and interactive digital media.

The opening reception will be held Wednesday, Sept. 15, from 5:30 – 7:30 pm. This will be followed by an outdoor performance at 7:30 pm by Zili Misik and the Cercie Miller Quartet, sponsored by the Music Department.   Artists include Judith Black, Carlos Dorrien, Bunny Harvey, Clara Lieu, Phyllis McGibbon, Salem Mekuria, C. Meng (Qing-Min Meng), Andrew Mowbray, David Teng Olsen, Daniela Rivera, Christine Rogers and Jeffrey Skoller.  

From Rivera's and Rogers’ collaborative “Walls” installation of painting and photographs of walls in European museums (including the Louvre, Tate Modern and the Prado) investigating notions of architectural and institutional support; to Mekuria’s film about her native Ethiopia evoking a personal and universal history; to Teng Olsen’s five-channel animation, “Dreamcatcher Harpoon,” filling a black box gallery with moving images that evoke childhood, literature and the environment; to Black’s unconventional portraits of her evolving family and self; the artists featured in Calculated Risks offer a wide-ranging view of the art being created in the Boston area today.
“Some of the artists represented in Calculated Risks work alone in the studio; for others, the process is fundamentally collaborative. All of them interact either directly or indirectly with local and global communities,” says Wellesley’s Assistant Director for CuratorialAffairs and Education and Curator of Prints and Drawings Elizabeth Wyckoff.  “Many of the works are presented as installations rather than discrete objects, reflecting a trend in contemporaryart to create works that function with interrelating parts that together form a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.”

According to Lisa Fischman, Ruth Gordon Shapiro ’37 Director of the Davis Museum, “This exhibition showcases work by artists whose roles as educators extends the reach of their practice beyond gallery and museum presentation into teaching, and recognizes the unique accomplishments of each individual while celebrating the richness of the community they build together.”  Calculated Risks will be accompanied by a catalogue, with texts by Wellesley College art historians and other faculty in dialogue with the artists.

EXHIBITION EVENTS  - All events are free and open to the public.
OPENING CELEBRATION WEDNESDAY| Sept. 15 | 5:30-7:30 pm | DAVIS MUSEUM & JEWETT PLAZA Reception in the Davis Museum lobby and galleries followed by a 7:30 pm outdoor performance by Zili Misik and the Cercie Miller Quartet.

TEACHER WORKSHOP: VIRTUAL WORLDS WITH DAVID TENG OLSEN TUESDAY| Sept. 21| 4:15-6:15pm | DAVIS MUSEUM LOBBY AND GALLERIES Educators of all levels are invited for a new media workshopwith faculty artist David Teng Olsen. Experience Teng Olsen's installation onview in Calculated Risks, then meetin Wellesley's Media Lab for a hands-on demonstration and workshop on basic 3Danimation. Learn simple 3D modeling and animation techniques you can use in theclassroom. Space is limited. RSVP (required) to ktialiou@wellesley.edu.

PANEL DISCUSSION: THE ART SCENE IN CHINA WEDNESDAY | Sept. 22 | 5pm | COLLINS CINEMA Faculty artists will discuss their work and varied experiences in China in light of recent developments in China’s artistic communities and the global art market. The panel will include Shanghai native Qing-Min Meng, who recently spent a sabbatical year in Beijing creating a new body of work on view in Calculated Risks, Carlos Dorrien, HepingLiu, Phyllis McGibbon, David Teng Olsen and others.  

LUNCHTIME “CONVERSATIONS IN THE GALLERIES” TUESDAY | Sept. 28  | 12:30–2 pm THURSDAY | Oct. 7 | 12:30–2 pm TUESDAY| Oct. 19 | 12:30–2 pm Hour-long conversations among artists and scholars in the galleries, echoing the pairings of artists and scholars in the exhibition catalogue.  Light lunch served in the Davis lobby beforehand.

PANEL DISCUSSION:“WALLS” IN AND OUT OF THE MUSEUM WEDNESDAY | Oct. 13 | 12:30–2 pm | COLLINS CINEMA  “Walls” is the theme of this year’s cultural events and lectures at Wellesley College. This panel will take as its starting point a literal interpretation of the theme in Daniela Rivera and Christine Rogers’ installation, whose collaboration consists of paintings and photographs of the walls of European museums.  Not only a portrayal of physical walls ,the piece is also a philosophical rumination on relationships, support, desire and the role of museums. The discussion will extend to walls and boundaries relevant to works by other artists in the exhibition: family and the museum; urban and rural spaces; the viewer and the work of art.

FILM SCREENING: JEFFREY SKOLLER, THE MALADY OF DEATH (1994) WEDNESDAY | Oct. 20 | 6:30 pm | COLLINS CINEMA The Malady of Death is Skoller’s adaptation of Marguerite Duras’ story of the same name, a particular reading of the story in which word and image explore male sexuality. The processes of reading are revealed to be complicated, poetic and political, as an unspecified narrator names and describes “the malady” and tells of a man and woman’s sexual encounters. The male “you” is multiplied, depicted by many men, each photographed nude, variously fragmented and abstracted, studied and distanced. The “she,” the “difference,” is literally absent from the image but present metaphorically, “possessed” but not known.

FAMILY DAY @ THE DAVIS: LIGHT AND SHADOW SUNDAY | Oct. 24 | 1-3 pm | DAVIS MUSEUM LOBBY AND GALLERIES Children of all ages and their adult friends are invited to join faculty artists Judith Black and Christine Rogers for an interactive afternoon in the galleries. Make portraits and explore lensless photographytechniques with Wellesley College student photographers. 

Film Program: Daniel Eisenberg's Persistence (1997) Wednesday | Nov. 10 | 6–9 pm An award-winning documentary, Persistence is a feature-length experimental portrait of Berlin in the years following the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the cold war. A meditation on the time just after a great historical event, the film explores what is common to such moments, the continuous and discontinuous threads of history. The screening will coincide with the publication of Postwar: The Films of Daniel Eisenberg (Blackdog Press), edited by Jeffrey Skoller.
All events are free and open to the public. This exhibition, along with its catalog and programs are generously supported by Wellesley College Friends of Art, the Elizabeth Bein Keto ‘48 Endowed Memorial Art Fund, the Office of the President, the Office of the Provost and Dean of the College, the Art Department and the Committee on Lectures and Cultural Events, Wellesley College.

DAVIS MUSEUM AND CULTURAL CENTER HOURS AND INFORMATION
Fall Semester Museum Hours:  Tuesday–Saturday, 11 am-5 pm, Wednesday until 8 pm, and Sunday, noon-4 pm.  Closed Mondays and holidays.  Admission is free and open to the public. Telephone: 781-283-2051 Website: www.davismuseum.wellesley.edu  Location: Wellesley College, 106 Central Street in Wellesley, Mass.  Parking: Free and available in the lot behind the museum. Additional parking is available in the Davis Parking Facility.  Tours: Led by student museum mentors and curators. Free. Call 781-283-3382 Accessible: The museum, Collins Café and Collins Cinema are wheelchair accessible and wheelchairs are available for use in the Museum without charge. Special needs may be accommodated by contacting Director of Disability Services Jim Wice at 781-283-2434 or jwice@wellesley.edu.

ABOUT THE DAVIS MUSEUM One of the oldest and most acclaimed academic fine arts museums in the United States, the Davis Museum and Cultural Center is a vital force in the intellectual, pedagogical, and social life of Wellesley College.  It seeks to create an environment that cultivates visual literacy, inspires new ideas and fosters involvement with the arts both within the College and the larger community.

ABOUT WELLESLEY COLLEGE & THE ARTS Wellesley College has been collecting and exhibiting visual art since 1889 — making the College one of the first liberal arts institutions to establish a teaching collection.  The Wellesley arts curriculum and its highly acclaimed Davis Museum are integral and irreplaceable components of the College’s liberal arts education.  Wellesley also offers many outstanding exhibitions, performances, concerts and lectures, most of which are free of charge and open to the public.
Since 1875, Wellesley College has been a leader in providing an excellent liberal arts education for women who will make a difference in the world.  Its 500-acre campus near Boston is home to 2,300 undergraduate students from all 50 states and 75 countries.