Kate Bonansinga
nat rosasco • Apr 07, 2020
Director, School of Art:
University of Cincinnati
Cincinnati, OH
Bio:
Professor Bonansinga was founding director of Stanlee and Gerald Rubin Center for Visual Art at The University of Texas, El Paso where she curated many exhibitions and established an undergraduate minor in museum studies and taught courses in curatorial practice. She is in interested in museums as dynamic sites for learning, in the impact of art in gallery and non-gallery settings, and in the current methods that artists employ to make a difference in society and culture. Bonansinga is the author of "Curating at the Edge: Artists Respond to the U.S./Mexico Border" (University of Texas Press, 2014), of a chapter in "Born of Resistance," edited by Scott Baugh and Victor Sorell (University of ArizonaPress, 2015), and of dozens of articles about contemporary art. She curated "Staged Stories: 2009 Renwick Craft Invitational" at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and since 2002 has served as a national art peer for the General Services Administration’s Art-in-Architecture program.
Art Against Racism is a virtual arts exhibition which aims to lift up the tremendous array of creative works made in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. In doing so, project organizers hope that the exhibition will serve as an archive of the national artistic response to this historic moment.
La Raza Youth Leadership Institute hosted an art contest for youth ages 12-19 with the goal of motivating Latinx youth to get vaccinated. Three winners were chosen, and the first place winner's artwork was displayed on buses and in bus stop shelters near a number of schools. A phone number is included with the artwork for youth to call to receive more information about vaccines.
Saint Louis Story Stitchers Artists Collective's Perception Isn't Always Reality engages BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) teen and young adult artists to reevaluate messages they may have received about Covid-19 and vaccinations and to reevaluate the sources of the information. Through their own brand of urban storytelling that involves collaborative work in hip hop music and krump dance, spoken word, videography, photography, and podcasting, the artists will produce a challenging body of work for the public to experience on urban canvases such as the sides of city buses and on air waves.
Based in St. Louis, Missouri and incorporated in 2014, the Story Stitchers Artists Collective uses a collaborative model to create social justice art. The mission of Story Stitchers is to document St. Louis through art and word and to promote understanding, civic pride, intergenerational relationships, and literacy. Story Stitchers works to promote a better educated, more peaceful, and caring region through the creation and dissemination of original art.
The product of a collaboration the Potters' Guild of Las Cruces and Mesilla artist Josh Switzer, The Healing Wings project was developed to gave people in Las Cruces who were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic a chance to honor those lost during to COVID-19. Las Cruces community members were invited to paint clay-sculpted wings to hang on a metal tree. The wings gave the community members an artistic outlet to share their griefs or honor loved ones. The project also included a sculpture comprised of metal boxes, where people could write their experiences of grief on a paper and then put it in the box. Once the boxes are full, organizers plan to burn the notes as a symbol of letting go.
The Madisonville Community Studio is an ongoing project co-created by Madisonville residents and Design Impact to explore key questions about the inclusiveness of neighborhood changes. The project is supported by the Kresge Foundation. To improve interracial relationships in Madisonville and increase Black residents’ power, influence, and representation in the neighborhood’s development decisions.
CONNECT WITH THE
CENTER FOR ARTS IN MEDICINE
Keep up with the latest news about faculty, alumni, friends and current students.
