Featured image: “Tucker at Night” by Christina Kerns
From Lyon College
BATESVILLE, Arkansas — Lyon College’s Kresge Gallery is kicking off the academic year with an exhibit by Christina Kerns, an innovative artist and associate professor of visual art at Lincoln University, Pennsylvania.
Kerns, a photographer who works with alternative printed materials, GIFs, net art, and artist books, explores themes of individuality, the influence of the internet on the physical world, and archiving personal and cultural history.
Kerns received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in photography with a minor in art history from Pratt Institute and a Master of Fine Arts in interdisciplinary art from the University of Pennsylvania’s PennDesign. Her artistic practice is deeply influenced by concepts of ephemerality, permanence and decay, using a contemporary American photographic vernacular to investigate regional histories and the ways individuals archive personal identity and culture. Her work has been exhibited in New York, Philadelphia, London, Berlin, Australia and San Francisco.
“Travelling across the U.S. is a pivotal part of my practice,” Kerns explains. “I am fascinated by the aesthetic and social norms of small towns, particularly their local history and cultural centers operated by everyday people. The organizational systems used to present material culture in these institutions parallel the way familiar images are cataloged on social media.”
In “Beyond Violet,” open now through Sept. 20, Kerns employs lenticular technology (also known as moving pictures, wiggle pictures or tilt cards) to echo the duplexity of IRL or real life and an online experience.
A special artist reception and talk will take place on Thursday, Sept. 19, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. in the Kresge Gallery, offering an opportunity to meet the artist and gain insight into her creative process.
The exhibition is free and open to the public. Kresge Gallery hours are Monday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Tuesday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Image provided by Lyon College
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