Exhibition Dates
April 2 - 13, 2013
Public Reception
Friday, April 12, 6:00 - 8:00 pm
Quarter Gallery, Regis Center for Art
Gallery hours are 11 am to 7 pm, Tuesday through Saturday.
The project showcases the collective work of Photography One and Two students at St. Francis High School during the Spring semester, 2012. This conceptual photography assignment required students to engage in historical research about the Holocaust and to create symbolic photographic imagery in response to their research. An exploration of artists employing symbolism, metaphor, and allegory in historical and contemporary art established the foundation of the project. Students then began their work by expanding their knowledge of the Holocaust from 1933 to 1945 through personal and collaborative research and class assignments.
The students' creative challenges began as they refined their research to focus on a single personal narrative from a survivor or someone who had perished in the Holocaust. They were asked to personally assess and symbolize the essence of that single person's story through photographic imagery. Students were limited to a palette of sepia or black and white photography, using only tonal value to describe the depth and breadth of their concept. The final step of the project required students to write an artist's statement about their work, explaining their creative process and its connection to their research.
Illuminated Memory is an outstanding educational model for linking historical study and artistic interpretation in remembrance of the Holocaust. This project demonstrates the vital and expansive role that visual art can play in the education and ethical development of high school students. Writing about her teaching methods, Kathy Carlisle observed, "the Holocaust teaches us indelible lessons about racism that are highly relevant today. Students resonate strongly with core moral choices and social justice lessons that the tragedy of the Holocaust teaches us. Linking art to social justice issues allows students to reciprocally connect their studies in language, history, and ethics to their work in visual media."
Students in the exhibition include: Liz Arikawa, Brinnley Barthels, Theresa Bersin, Maddy Boone, Ryanne Brust, Valerie Calhoun, Carly Carpenter, Sidney Castro, Alexey Chandler, Sara Cherazi, Anna Dahl, Kylee Espena, Alicia Flynt, Eileen Frame, Karly Hammack, Katie Garnett, Chloe Hakim, Jacqueline Holben, Grace Hollingsworth, Sarah Huber, Sameenah Khan, Jordanne Kirschke, Ellie Keenan, Rachel Kornelly, Petie Kuppenbender, Meghan Lawrence, Nhi Le, Mollie Leal, Harkie Mand, Alison Marchi, Rachel Merkle, Macee Moreno, Hibba Munir, Anya Musilli-Olmsted, Bianca Quiroz, Nicole Read, Meghan Rice, Gabriela Riegos, Sophia Rubino, Noelle Santana, Pilar Sbisa, Amanda Schnabel, Jatika Singh, Marcela Sosa, Natalie Vann, Maxi Wilson, A.J. Woo.
Kathy Carlisle, a Visual Arts Instructor at St. Francis High School in Sacramento, California, led this project and organized the exhibition. She died unexpectedly on December 8, 2012 when she was struck by a train while taking photographs. Kathy Carlisle studied at the Parsons School of Design in New York and at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and completed B.A. and M.A. degrees at California State University, Sacramento. In 2012 she received a fellowship to attend the Summer Seminar on Holocaust Education at the Memorial Library in New York. This presentation at the University of Minnesota is dedicated to the life and legacy of Kathy Carlisle.
For more on the project please click here.
Sponsored by: Art, Katherine E. Nash Gallery,Center for Holocaust & Genocide Studies, Central Valley Holocaust Educators Network and St. Francis High School of Sacramento, CA.
