5/5/20
NORTH ADAMS, MASS.—MCLA’s Berkshire Cultural Resource Center (BCRC) is pleased to
announce that Genevieve Gaignard, the inaugural artist-in-residence at MCLA Artist’s
Laboratory, will offer virtual programming to the public beginning on May 13, 2020.
Gaignard, a Los Angeles-based photographer, sculptor, and installation artist, will
be in residence at the College through August 2020. Community members can view this
and all other spring/summer programming on the BCRC website.
Gaignard will kick off her collaborative programming with a three-part workshop series to be held from 5-6:30 p.m. on Wednesdays, May 13, 20, and 27. In each session, Gaignard will cover a different topic, including her origin story, her practice, and how to navigate the Los Angeles art scene. “These interactive conversations are primarily meant to provide insight for young artists who wish to better understand a career in the art world,” said BCRC Director Erica Wall. The conversations will be uploaded to MCLA’s YouTube channel, with links available on the Gallery 51 website.
After this initial series, Gaignard will lead an interactive session every Wednesday for the next three months. During the Wednesday, June 3, session, the artist will introduce and kick off a countdown to the Misfit Parade and Prom, to be held in downtown North Adams on Saturday, August 22, 2020. Gaignard will encourage individuals and families to think about how they can participate in the events, whether that means creating a costume for the prom, a float for the parade, or a unique project to share with the community.
Gaignard, whose work explores race, femininity, class, and their various intersections, has held similar events over the years in nearby Wendell, Mass. “All of her work deals with identity, race, and perception,” said Wall, which includes those considered “other,” who feel they don’t have a place in society, aka “misfits.”
Other community events led by the artist will include a lip-sync video collaboration, which she will discuss during her June 24 session, and a virtual photography exhibition, for which submissions will open on July 1.
Gaignard’s residency will culminate in an exhibition of new work by the artist, which will open on August 27 at Gallery 51.
Gaignard received her MFA in Photography at Yale University and her BFA in Photography at Massachusetts College of Art. She has exhibited throughout the United States, including shows at Studio Museum in Harlem, the California African American Museum in Los Angeles, and the Houston Center for Photography. In 2017, her work was included in the Prospect.4 Triennial in New Orleans. Gaignard's work has been reviewed in The New York Times, The New Yorker, W Magazine, The LA Times, Artforum, and on Vice News Tonight, among others. Her work is in the permanent collections of the Studio Museum in Harlem, California African American Museum, LA, Pérez Art Museum Miami, the Nasher Museum of Art, Durham, the FLAG Art Foundation, New York, the Seattle Museum of Art, and the San Jose Museum of Art. Read her full artist biography and learn more about her at genevievegaignard.com.
