Artpace Collaborates with Local Organizations to Work with Displaced Families Who Now Call San Antonio Home

06.09.11

San Antonio, TX - Artpace San Antonio, Borderland Collective, and the San Antonio Public Library are pleased to present Wurzbach Manor, an exhibition of photography, film, drawing, and poetry reflecting the lives and stories of three exceptional families who now call San Antonio home. The exhibition will open with a reception on June 23, 2011, at 5:30pm at the Central Public Library and runs through July 31, 2011.

Reflecting San Antonio’s diversity and growing multiculturalism, Wurzbach Manor tells the story of three families living in the Wurzbach Manor apartments in North San Antonio, Texas. The exhibition is the result of the participatory art collaboration between the Niyonkuru, Day, and Paw Moo families, and artist Joey Fauerso, writer Jenny Browne, educator Ryan Sprott, and photographer Jason Reed. For more than two years, this diverse group of individuals has worked together as a community using art to bridge sociocultural borders and provide space for these largely unheard voices. This project uses participatory methods of art creation so that these families can tell of their journeys to and experiences in San Antonio after being displaced from their homes in Burma, Tanzania, and New Orleans. Wurzbach Manor brings forward important stories and insider narratives about life as an American in all of its complexity, while also speaking to art's ability to function not simply as an end-product but also as a practice in self-realization, cultural exchange, and community building.

RELATED EVENTS
Opening Reception
Thursday, June 23, 2011
5:30-7:30pm
Central Library Gallery, 600 Soledad, San Antonio, TX, 78205

¿Cómo Vives?
In conjunction with the exhibition, Artpace will facilitate art-making workshops through its ¿Cómo Vives? program with San Antonio area youth. The workshops will be held at the Central Library throughout the month of July. Contact Artpace for more information about participating in this program at 210.212.4900 or education@artpace.org.

ABOUT ARTPACE
Artpace is a contemporary art center located in San Antonio, Texas, with residencies, exhibitions, and education programs that nurture the creative expression of emerging and established artists, while actively engaging youth and adult audiences. Renowned for its International Artist-in-Residence program (IAIR), Artpace annually hosts three eight-week residencies, each of which features one Texas artist, one national artist, and one international artist, each selected by a notable guest curator, and culminates into an (adjective) exhibition. The mission of this program is to provide artists with unparalleled resources that allow them to take provocative risks and unveil new ideas. Dan Cameron, Founder and Director of Prospect New Orleans, says, “Artpace is really head and shoulders above any other organization of its kind right now.” The work created at Artpace goes on to show at some of the world’s most distinguished venues, often presenting a pivotal moment in an artist’s career. Jeffrey Deitch, Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles explains, “Projects that began at Artpace that are still exhibited all over the world, Artpace really makes art happen.”

Artpace is located downtown at 445 North Main Avenue, between Savings and Martin streets, in San Antonio, Texas. Free parking is available at 513 North Flores Street. Artpace is open to the public Wednesday through Sunday, 12-5pm, and by appointment. Admission is always free.

ABOUT BORDERLAND COLLECTIVE
Borderland Collective is a social art project that facilitates the participatory exploration and documentation of geographic and sociocultural borders. Fueled by collaborations between artists, teachers, youth, and families we use art as a means to trouble notions of who holds knowledge and what stories are told, providing an inclusive representation of the contemporary American experience. Borderland Collective is currently housed at Texas State University in San Marcos, TX and co-directed by Jason Reed, Assistant Professor of Photography and Ryan Sprott, Public School Teacher at Mead Elementary in San Antonio, TX. But it is the families, schools, youth participants, and collaborating artists that lead the project.

More information: www.borderlandcollective.org

445 North Main Avenue San Antonio TX 78205 t 210 212 4900 f 210 212 4990 www.artpace.org