FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Cindy Deppe, media relations, 641-269-4834

February 7, 2008

PORTUGUESE ART EXHIBITION OUTREACH ACTIVITIES PLANNED AT GRINNELL’S FAULCONER GALLERY

GRINNELL, IA.-The Portuguese exhibition at Grinnell College’s Faulconer Gallery, open through Apr. 20, will be the backdrop for outreach activities to engage the public with the European artists in residence and their multimedia works.

Curator of Academic and Community Outreach Tilly Woodward, who coordinates the gallery programming, said the multimedia exhibition titled "Where are you from? Contemporary Portuguese Art," especially lends itself well to community interaction because of its size and scope. "With 21 artists, 24 works, and materials ranging from wheat to photographs and to architecture and videoclips, there are unexpected insights surrounding every installation," Woodward said. "We invite the public to enjoy these varied identities of a country best known for its cork and port wine."

Faulconer Gallery will host the following events related to the exhibition:

Feb. 14, 4:15 p.m.: New media artist Jose Carlos Teixeira, trained in Portugal, Spain, and at UCLA, will discuss "Geographies and other ethnographies: between context and identity," the work in the exhibition and other related projects on identity, language, displacement, and exile, in Lawson Lecture Hall, Bucksbaum Center for the Arts.

Feb. 20, 7:45 p.m.: An open mic poetry, fiction, and music session, sponsored by the Grinnell College Libraries and Faulconer Gallery, invites participants to read from favorite authors and perform their own music.

Feb. 25, 4:15 p.m.: Miguel Amado, curator at the PLMJ Foundation in Lisbon, Portugal, will discuss "The Nature of Contemporary Portuguese Art."

Mar. 2, 2 p.m.: A concert by the New Prairie Camarata will feature "Music from the Portuguese Empire" by Claudia Anderson, Jeanmarie Kern Chenette, and Nancy Gaub.

Mar. 8, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.: The Gallery will serve as a performance venue during the Iowa Flute Festival.

Mar. 29, 1 to 3 p.m.: "Salt, Sardines, and Fairy Tales," Community Day in the Bucksbaum Center Rotunda, provides hands-on art activities for people of all ages. Participants can create their own fairy tale using an exceptional selection of collage materials, including sardine tins. Meet artists Teresa Furtado, Paula Reaes Pinto, and Antonio Pinto and learn how fishing and fairy tales are important to their art. Refreshments will be served.

All events will be held in Faulconer Gallery unless otherwise noted. The exhibition activities are made possible with support from the Portugal Ministry of Culture--Directorate-General for the Arts, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Luso-American Development Foundation, and Instituto Camoes.

The Portuguese exhibition will be on display through Apr. 20 in the Faulconer Gallery of the Bucksbaum Center for the Arts at 1108 Park St. on the Grinnell College campus. Gallery hours for the exhibition are Sunday-Wednesday, noon to 5 p.m., and Thursday-Saturday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. For more information or directions, call 641-269-4660 or visit www.grinnell.edu/faulconergallery. Additional works by Portuguese artists are featured in related exhibitions at Mount Mercy College and the University of Northern Iowa.

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