Tears: Installation by Michele Leavitt

October 22–December 1
Patio Gallery, second floor

Exhibition Reception (ticketed event)
Virginia Film Festival Opening Night Gala
Thursday, October 24
In the Museum

Artist’s Gallery Talk
Friday, October 25, 11:00 a.m.
In the Museum

Focusing on ecological issues, the installation Tears by Rhode Island-based artist Michele Leavitt creates a living room atmosphere with a variety of objects commenting on our culture of consumption and environmental destruction. Through window treatments, painted furniture, quilts, collages, paintings, and a limited-edition rug designed by the artist, Tears uses both traditional fine art materials and everyday objects to create an aesthetically attractive and seemingly familiar and comfortable atmosphere.

Upon closer analysis, each work in the installation encourages viewers to question their own complicity in environmental waste and the necessity of a global consciousness for the protection of the earth. The exhibition was organized to complement the theme of this year’s Virginia Film Festival, "Wet," and is supported by the Arts Enhancement Fund and the Arts$ Program.

Michele Leavitt received her B.F.A. from the Rochester Institute of Technology and her M.F.A. from Cornell University. She has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions and received an award from the America the Beautiful Fund ’76 for quilt making; a Council for the Creative and Performing Arts Award, Cornell University (1985); and a Rhode Island Foundation Individual Arts Award for New Works in 2001. The latter award resulted in the creation of a similar installation, entitled "Too Close for Comfort," at the Newport Art Museum in 2001.

Michele Leavitt, American, born 1950
Woods View (detail), 2001
Cut plastic bags on plexi panels, mounted on doors, 48 1/2 x 26"