Press release from Asheville Art Museum:
In partnership with the Asheville Art Museum and Amplifier, Asheville School presents Marking a Movement: Selections From Hear Our Voice, an exhibition of posters by contemporary artists. The exhibition is on view through March 13, 2018 at the John M. Crawford Gallery in the Walker Arts Center at Asheville School, with an opening night celebration on January 18 at 5:00 p.m.
Art empowers people, artists and communities and promotes dialogue. Last year, Amplifier, an art machine for social change, started a Kickstarter campaign asking for $60,000 to commission art in support of the Women’s March. Within eight days, Amplifier broke a fundraising record — raising $1.3M from 22,000 backers. Graphic artists Shepard Fairey, Jessica Sabogal and Ernesto Yerena created posters as free, digital downloads available on Amplifier’s website. The organization also put out an open call for the Women’s March, and artists submitted over 5,000 posters. While a few of those works were made available online, the overwhelming artistic talent in the submissions motivated Amplifier to organize an exhibition of the posters, the majority of which were created by female-identifying artists. Amplifier continues to commission and connect artists with grassroots movements.
Historically artists, businesses, governments and individuals have employed posters for a variety of purposes such as art, advertising, propaganda and social critique. Downloadable designs represent the latest development in the history of posters. Today, anyone with access to a computer and printer can see, print and engage in dialogue with graphic art. The internet has also made it possible to bring groups of people and their ideas together and to share art across the globe.
This exhibition contains 33 posters from the Museum’s Collection, all expressing individual messages. Certain themes emerge from these selections: connecting women to nature, celebrating strength in diversity and honoring both historic leaders and the potential of every person. Consisting of a slogan and an image, posters have been and continue to be a powerful means of communication.
Program Director of Amplifier and curator of Hear Our Voice Cleo Barnett said, “Functioning as the consciousness of society and testifying to the power of the human imagination, art holds the ability to crack open cemented opinions, look at the world with critical eyes and challenge the accepted and the known.”
The Asheville Art Museum and Asheville School thank Amplifier for the original Hear Our Voice exhibition and Asheville Color & Imaging for originally sponsoring high-quality prints for Hear Our Voice.
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