WCMA to Host Symposium Inspired by Mary Ann Unger

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Williams College Museum of Art is pleased to announce the symposium Women Shaping Space: Feminism and Materiality, held in conjunction with the exhibition Mary Ann Unger: To Shape a Moon from Bone. 

This series of talks and discussions on Oct. 6 and 7 looks outward from the work of pioneering artist Mary Ann Unger (1945–1998) to the contemporary landscape of curators and femme artists working at the intersections of large-scale sculpture, public art, material experimentation, and feminist practice.

The symposium opens with a keynote address by interdisciplinary artist Heather Hart on Thursday, Oct. 6, at 5:30 p.m. at the Williams College Museum of Art. A reception follows the talk and the galleries will remain open until 8 p.m. 

"I focus on the translation between space and the public, the public and my work, and the slippage, construction and communication that happens in between these. I want my interdisciplinary work to act as a translator in a language between architectures and the public eye."

On Friday, Oct. 7, Women Shaping Space continues at the ’62 Center for Theatre and Dance, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. A morning panel moderated by Horace D. Ballard, curator of Mary Ann Unger: To Shape a Moon from Bone, invites noted contemporary curators of sculpture and multidisciplinary practice to reflect on where they see alignment between feminist practices and ambitious forms; how the enduring legacy of Mary Ann Unger and other artists of her generation are inspiring a range of artists working today; and what questions and imperatives remain for the field.

An afternoon session facilitated by Unger’s daughter Eve Biddle, artist and Founding Co-Director of Wassaic Project, brings together artists Heather Hart and Lisa Iglesias with Nora Lawrence, Artistic Director and Chief Curator of Storm King Art Center, for a conversation about materials that artists use in public art; why material choices matter for meaning, context, ephemerality, and longevity; and how we make curatorial and artistic choices around material and public art.

A full schedule for the symposium is available at artmuseum.williams.edu. All events are free and open to the public. Registration is not required.

Williams Grads Reminded of Community that Got Them to Graduation

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
05:14PM / Sunday, June 02, 2024

The graduates heard from two speakers — Phi Betta Kappa speaker Milo Chang and class speaker Jahnavi Nayar Kirtane. The keynote speaker, Lonnie Bunch, the secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, was unable to attend and recorded his speech for playback. See more photos here.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Williams College said goodbye Sunday to its graduating seniors.

 

And a representative of the class of 2024 took the time to say goodbye to everyone in the community who made students' journey possible.

 

Milo Chang, the Phi Beta Kappa speaker for the class and one of two students to speak at Sunday's 235th commencement exercises, explained that the term "Williams community" applies to more than those who get to list the school on their resumes.

 

"It includes everyone who has shaped our experiences here, from loved ones back home to the dedicated staff members who make campus their second home," Chang told his classmates. "During my time at Williams, we've seen this community step up in remarkable ways to support us."

 

Chang talked about the faculty and staff who gave their time to operate the COVID-19 testing centers and who greeted students before they could take their first classroom tests in the fall of 2020, and the dining services personnel who kept the students fed and somehow understood their orders through the masks everyone was wearing when this class arrived on campus.

 

And he shared a personal story that brought the message home.

 

"We often underestimate the power of community until we experience a taste of its absence," Chang said. "I remember staying on campus after our first Thanksgiving at Williams, after most students went home to finish the semester remotely. I remember the long hours sitting in empty common rooms. I remember the days you could walk through campus without seeing another student.