“Mining the Collection” Thermoplastic Junk Exhibit | Berkeley

Submitted by the Event Organizer

About the Exhibition:

The “Mining the Collection” series represents a joint venture between the Badè Museum of Biblical Archaeology and CARE’s Doug Adams Gallery, making use of our shared exhibition space. Working with Badè curators, a CARE guest artist explores the Museum’s Iron Age Tell en-Nasbeh collection for inspiration. The artist creates artwork for exhibition in the Gallery, while the inspirational artifacts go on display in the Museum.

This year, CARE is honored to present guest artists Judith Selby Lang and Richard Lang. Since 1999, the Langs have been visiting 1000 yards of Kehoe Beach in the Point Reyes National Seashore, gathering plastic debris as it washes out of the Pacific Ocean. After carefully collecting and curating the plastic fragments, they fashion them into works of art—art that matter-of-factly shows, with mininal artifice, the material as it is. The viewer is often surprised that this colorful stuff is the thermoplastic junk of our throwaway culture. Like archaeologists, the Langs’ discoveries provide a glimpse into human culture. Each bit of plastic has a story to tell.

“Mining the Collection” is inspired by Fred Wilson’s transformative “Mining the Museum” project at the Maryland Historical Society (1992), which involved presenting traditional museum collections in an alternative light, engendering new understandings.

Opens: June 9, 2015

Closes: August 28, 2015

About the Artist:

Judith Selby Lang and Richard Lang collaborate in an ongoing project to collect plastic on Kehoe Beach in the Point Reyes National Seashore. Their work was recently exhibited at the California Academy of Sciences, Sausalito’s Marine Mammal Center, The Oakland Museum of California, and Hong Kong’s Ocean Film Festival. When not at the beach or in the studio, Richard is President of Electric Works, a fine art printmaking studio located in San Francisco’s SOMA discrict. He has a BA from George Washington University and an MFA from the University of Wisconsin. Judith Selby Lang is Communications and Financial Director for Electric Works. She has a BA in art from Pitzer College and MA in Interdiscipinary Arts from San Francisco State University.

About the Doug Adams Gallery:

The Doug Adams Gallery, part of the Center for the Arts, Religion, and Education (CARE), presents exhibitions that examine themes of religion and spirituality, broadly defined. Three exhibitions each year and related public programming offer opportunities for learning, reflection, and enjoyment for the students, faculty, and staff of the Graduate Theological Union, and for the wider community.

For more information visit: http://care-gtu.org

Mining the Collection: Finding Meaning in the Mess

June 9, 2015 – August 28 2015

Doug Adams Gallery, Center for the Arts, Religion, and Education

Hours: Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, 10am-3pm

Location: 1798 Scenic Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94709

Opening Reception for Mining the Collection: Finding Meaning in the Mess

Doug Adams Gallery, Tuesday, June 9, 2015 | 5-7pm

Disclaimer: Please double check event information with the event organizer as events can be canceled, details can change after they are added to our calendar, and errors do occur.