Down Home Celebrates Joy and Togetherness at a Summer Camp for Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

A few miles east of Austin, Texas, just outside of the small city of Elgin, a trailblazing initiative has provided an educational experience for adults with intellectual disabilities since 1989. Founded by parents of a daughter with Down’s Syndrome who noticed a lack of resources available to adults with disabilities, Down Home Ranch provides vocational opportunities and a summertime sleep-away camp. Over time, it has become a place of refuge that encourages personal expression and a home away from home for many of its attendees.

Austin-based director and cinematographer Riley Engemoen and photographer Liz Moskowitz captured magical moments and intimate insights into camp residents’ activities, relationships, and emotions in a short documentary, “Down Home.” Through poignant narration and stunning imagery, the filmmakers evoke a distinctly American nostalgia and celebrate how a safe space and togetherness “gives adults with developmental disabilities the opportunity to escape societal barriers and have a good ol’ time dancing, loving, and feeling free.”

See more from Riley Engemoen on Vimeo and his website, and you can see more work by Liz Moskowitz on her website and Instagram.

 

All images © Riley Engemoen and Liz Moskowitz

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Claudia Bueno Transforms the Hermitage Museum Into an Electrifying Interactive Heart

Claudia Bueno, “Metaphors of the Heart” (2023). All photos by Lindsay Collette unless otherwise specified

Claudia Bueno’s new exhibition spills from the façade of the Hermitage Museum & Gardens in Norfolk, Virginia. “Metaphors of the Heart,” a massive sculpture of wire mesh and colorful light, appears to effortlessly take over the mansion in a whirlwind of arteries, tentacles, twisting vines, and blooms. It is the dynamic showpiece of Claudia Bueno: Echoes of the Heart, which guests first encounter as they walk up the driveway of the 1908 estate.

Bueno’s first museum exhibition explores the heart-brain connection to promote togetherness and a sense of belonging. The artist’s commitment to healing and inner growth is reflected in her mystical, immersive environments and in her collaboration with world music healer and musician Poranguí, who helped to create original soundscapes for each space.

 

Claudia Bueno, “The Mother Heart” (2023)

Visitors continue their journey into Bueno’s “heart” by entering “Snake Tunnel,” a covered ramp of glowing sculptural scales that Bueno likens to an artery, where they metaphorically shed and prepare for the transition into the museum’s interior. As viewers step inside, “The Mother Heart” appears with its suspended, undulating arms that colorfully alight in choreography to one of Poranguí’s sonic, ancestral tracks.

Upstairs, guests are invited to participate in an intimate, sacred experience as they explore “The Heart Temple,” a collection of eight handmade altars inspired by interviews with 50 volunteers ranging from ages five to 80. Each altar contains a dreamlike, storybook diorama sparked by these discussions and devoted to themes of opening, closing, longing, belonging, innocence, challenges, seasons, and the somatic.

 

Claudia Bueno, “Pulsating Heart Portal” (detail) (2023). Photo by Adolfo Bueno

In a second gallery, “Pulsating Heart Portal” builds on the artist’s Meow Wolf Omega Mart series with a new portal created for the Hermitage. The piece features 10 layers of intricate line drawings on glass that appear to contract and expand in concert with exhilarating sound and light. Rooted by the heart at its center, the design recalls symbols found throughout the exhibition including blooms, snakes, and arteries.

In the final space, guests are invited to pause for reflection and connect with their own hearts. A letter-writing station invites them to freely compose and add their offering to a “collective heart” on the gallery walls. The result of this unexpected journey is a much-needed pause from the noise of the outside world and a return to our most essential, emotional selves.

Claudia Bueno: Echoes of the Heart runs through October 8 at the Hermitage Museum & Gardens in Norfolk, Virginia, and is free to the public.

Exhibition collaborators include Natalie Connell, Ben Timby, Mads Christensen, Adolfo Bueno, Patricia Bueno, Brittany Mattrella, Celia Lopez, Porangui, Beau Turner, Cristina Fletcher, Jon Brashears, and Tabatha Anger.

For more information, visit thehermitagemuseum.org.

Find more of Bueno’s work on her website and Instagram.

 

Claudia Bueno, “Metaphors of the Heart” (2023)

Claudia Bueno, “The Mother Heart” (2023)

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Claudia Bueno Transforms the Hermitage Museum Into an Electrifying, Interactive Heart appeared first on Colossal.

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Overly Grand Manners: Volker Hermes Exaggerates Historical Portraits with Ostentatious Absurdity

“Hidden Pickenoy II” (2023). All images © Volker Hermes, shared with permission

Throughout 17th and 18th centuries, Europe’s upper classes entered an era of unprecedented prosperity due to exploding commerce and trade. The wealthy sought to express their status, and portraiture, which had previously been exclusive to royalty, became the perfect indicator of social rank. In England, these paintings became known as Grand Manner works, and the Dutch school counted well-known names like Rembrandt van Rijn, Johannes Vermeer, and Frans Hals among its cohort, still captivating us today at sellout exhibitions. For German artist Volker Hermes, this era of art history provides an endless source of inspiration.

Digital photocollages (previously) playfully reimagine the original sitters in Hermes’ ongoing Hidden Portraits series. Originally depicted by the likes of Dutch painter Nicolaes Pickenoy or French baroque artist Georges de La Tour, the subjects in Hermes’ iterations are overwhelmed by their own garments to the point of absurdity. Brocade masks cover one Elizabethan subject’s eyes, luxuriant robes extend all the way up to foreheads, and lace ruffs engulf the wearers’ faces.

Hermes is drawn to specific characteristics in the original paintings, such as ribbons, which “bring historical images into motion,” he tells Colossal. “At the moment, I’m dealing a lot with Rococo, which is currently getting a lot of attention, after being considered kitsch for a long time.” Depictions of masculinity throughout history have also emerged as a new theme. “I would like to draw attention once again to antiquated forms of masculinity, which actually seemed to be outdated, but are currently becoming—unfortunately—attractive again for many men,” he says.

Through July 8, you can visit Hermes’ solo exhibition Ruff Hood at James Freeman Gallery in London. He will also have work in the group exhibition Rococo Madness! at the National Museum in Wroclaw, Poland, from July 14 through January 14, 2024. Find more on the artist’s website and Instagram.

 

“Hidden English School” (2023)

“Hidden Catena” (2021)

“Hidden Anonymous (Pourbus IV)” (2021)

“Hidden de la Tour VIII” (2022)

“Hidden Nattier VI” (2023)

“Hidden Anglo-Dutch School” (2023)

“Hidden Pickenoy II” (2023)

“Hidden Singleton Copley VII” (2023)

“Hidden Siriès Cerroti” (2022)

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Page Through a 19th-Century Embossed U.S. Atlas Designed with Touchable Cartography for Blind Students

Maine, Atlas of the United States, Printed for the Use of the Blind (1837). All images via David Rumsey Map Associates

About a decade after French educator Louis Braille invented the eponymous system for blind and sight-impaired readers, the New England Institution for Education of the Blind released its own embossed designs allowing those with low or no vision access to important information. Under the leadership of Samuel Gridley Howe, the school, which is now the Perkins School for the Blind, acquired a printing press in 1835 and began to create a variety of learning materials with raised writing for its students. One of those books was an atlas of the United States, which held touchable cartography within its pages.

Paired with descriptions written in standard Latin script—this proved much more difficult to read than braille and never gained the popularity of its counterpart—the maps contain typical information like longitude and latitude, along with the area’s population, climate, and commerce. Solid lines denote rivers, a singular raised shoreline buttressed by parallel lines represents oceans, and clustered triangles are mountains. Printed in 1837 in an edition of 50, this version of the atlas contains just 24 states. Only four copies are known to remain.

Flip through digital scans of the book at David Rumsey Map Associates. (via Kottke)

 

New Hampshire

Rhode Island

Ohio

Illinois

Pennsylvania

New Jersey

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Interview: Sophie de Oliveira Barata on The Alternative Limb Project and the Nexus of Art and Medicine

Model Kelly Knox wearing “Synchronised.” Photos by Omkaar Kotedia, all images © The Alternative Limb Project, shared with permission

For more than a decade, Sophie de Oliveira Barata has been at the helm of The Alternative Limb Project, a Lewes-based studio that makes custom prosthetics for people with amputated or missing appendages. The designs range from uncannily realistic to fantastic, fairytale-like creations that fall at the intersection of art and medicine, a unique meeting point she discusses in a new interview with Colossal.

Some people have an idea that it will just be exactly the same all the time, and your body is a living organism, which is impossible to replicate. In some ways, it’s easier to go for an alternative because you haven’t got to match something that’s just changing all the time.

In this conversation, de Oliveira Barata speaks about the young girl who helped inspire the project, how cultural conceptions of physical disability have evolved, and the imaginative, empowering possibilities of alternative limbs.

Read the interview.

 

“Anatomical Leg”

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Channeling African Heritage and Fairytales CreativeSoul Photography Empowers Black Children in Captivating Portraits

All images © Creative Soul Photography, shared with permission

Ten years ago, Atlanta-based photographers Kahran and Regis Bethencourt of CreativeSoul Photography noticed a lack of diversity in the industry, and they seized the opportunity to represent and celebrate the myriad styles and stories of African heritage. In their ongoing AfroArt series, the Bethencourts embrace the versatility of Black hair by sweeping it into towering updos and beaded braids. Young models are bedecked in sequins, ruffles, and shells that are often paired with elaborate garments made of vibrant Dutch wax fabric.

As the series evolved, CreativeSoul dug deeper into fairytales and folklore—some traditional and some of their own imagining—inspiring a collaboration with Disney for a collection of dolls that reframes classic princesses as African royalty. Replete with gowns made of brightly patterned textiles, iconic characters like Snow White and Cinderella wear colorful bows in their long braids and afros.

 

Elaborate hairstyles, embellished costumes, and bold backgrounds characterize CreativeSoul’s portraits. “When it comes to sourcing outfits and generating ideas for each image, we work closely with parents and kids themselves in the creative decision-making,” they tell Colossal. “We typically ask each child, if they could have the shoot of their dreams, what would it be? We believe in giving them a voice and allowing their personalities to shine through in the final results.” From the initial idea, they brainstorm themes and source inspiration from literature, culture, and the children’s individual interests.

The Bethencourts also just released Crowned, published by St. Martins Press, as a followup to their first title Glory in 2020. The books are “a celebration of black beauty, featuring stunning imagery that showcases the diversity and uniqueness of black children,” the pair says, sharing that “we aim to inspire young readers and instill in them a sense of pride and self-love.”

Upcoming projects include two new books, one celebrating Black history and another focusing on Christmas. You can snag a copy of Crowned on Bookshop, and find more on CreativeSoul’s website and Instagram.

 

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13 Artists Rewild the City Streets for the 2023 Nuart Aberdeen Festival

Swoon. Photo by Brian Tallman. All images courtesy of Nuart Aberdeen, shared with permission

Rewilding is an approach to conservation that allows nature to reclaim its space and form a self-sustaining ecosystem. The restoration practice has become one favored solution to remedy environmental degradation and part of the lexicon for climate activism. In Scotland, the increasingly popular approach also brings discussions of land use and access to the fore, paralleling the way people move through cities.

Using rewilding as a way to reimagine what it means to cultivate street art culture, the 2023 Nuart Aberdeen Festival brought together 13 artists earlier this month. Held June 8 to 11, the annual festival commissioned works that explore the tension between sanctioned murals and the unauthorized tags synonymous with street art. Projects include Thiago Mazza’s vivid rendering of native plants, Nespoon’s reference to craft traditions of the area’s Bon Accord Bobbins Lace Group, and Murmure’s imprisoned goldfish that explicates the proliferation of plastic and inaction as it relates to the climate crisis. Swoon, known for her intimate wheat pastes, even came out of retirement to create a series of portraits spread across walls and tucked in doorways and alcoves.

Nuart organizers said this year’s goal was to “provoke reflections on what a city where art is truly free might look, sound, smell, and feel like.” See more from the festival on Instagram.

 

Swoon. Photo by Brian Tallman

Murmure, “Anarchy.” Photo by Brian Tallman

Nespoon. Photo by Brian Tallman

Thiago Mazza. Photo by Brian Tallman

Escif, “Pollution forest.” Photo by Brian Tallman

Eloise Gillow. Photo by Brian Tallman

Eloise Gillow. Photo by Brian Tallman

Tamara Alves. Photo by Clarke Joss

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