By Derek Hawkins
As fall semester begins and students pour back into the city, several new art exhibits are slated to open on and around campus.
As part of Hispanic Heritage Month’s Art Week in October, the Latin American Student Organization (LASO) will host “An Exhibition of Latinos in Literature and Art: Presenting Junot Diaz.”
Following a reception in the Curry Student Center’s (CSC) Inner Quad from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Oct. 1, Latino/a students and community members will showcase a variety of artwork in the CSC Art Gallery, where it will be on display until Oct. 12.
On Oct. 4 at 6 p.m., also in the CSC Inner Quad, Puerto Rican painter Jose Rios will speak about his life as an artist and discuss how Latino culture has impacted his work.
“We [wanted to expose] our peers to certain aspects of Latino culture, such as art and its many definitions,” said Victor Morales, student chair of LASO’s Hispanic Heritage Month events. “This will be one of a few gems offered to the NU community to further our mission of educating and celebrating diversity.”
Northeastern will also host a faculty and staff art exhibit from Sept. 10 to Nov. 2 in the CSC Art Gallery.
The exhibit will feature original artwork of various Northeastern employees.
“There are a lot of closeted artists, so to speak, who have never had the opportunity to show their work,” said Pat Neblett, spokesperson from the Provost’s Office who helped organize the event. “This is a chance for people to have perhaps a hidden interest in art rekindled.”
This will be Northeastern’s fourth consecutive faculty and staff exhibit. Twenty-five faculty and staff members will display their work this year, including Helen Broderick, a faculty senate executive assistant, whose work was recently featured in a South Shore art competition.
The Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), located at 465 Huntington Ave., will replace its immensely popular Edward Hopper exhibit with two new collections.
The first, titled “Drama and Desire,” is the MFA’s own assembly of 83 ukiyo-e paintings from Japan.
Ukiyo-e paintings, which translated means “floating world,” depict scenes from the so-called Edo Period in Japan during which brothel and theatre entertainment became a staple of wealthy men’s lives.
Most ukiyo-e artwork, created between 1690 and 1850, combines erotic images with detailed landscapes. The collection will be on display until Dec. 16.
The second exhibit, “Shy Boy, She Devil, and Isis: The Art of Conceptual Craft,” opens Sept. 11 and will feature 120 works of sculpture, ceramics, metals, glass and wood from the world-famous Wornick Collection.
The collection explores how contemporary three-dimensional works – from wood carvings to furniture to pottery – stand alone as art.
The work of more than 100 artists from 20 countries will be on display until Jan. 6.
General admission to the MFA is free seven days a week to students with a Husky ID.
From Sept. 28 through Jan. 6, the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum will host “Design Life Now: National Design Triennial,” at the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), located at 100 Northern Ave.
“Design Life Now” is an ongoing exhibition of the most innovative work in a range of categories, including technology, fashion and product design, from the past three years. The exhibition will feature more than 80 designers and firms, including Nike, Apple and renowned architect and Harvard University professor Michael Meredith.
The ICA’s ninth exhibit in its “Momentum” series will highlight the life and work of French artist Kader Attia.
During a six-week stay in Boston this fall, Attia will work with students at Massachusetts College of Art and create a new piece in the ICA’s “Momentum” gallery. His exhibit, “Momentum 9: Kader Attia,” will be displayed from Nov. 14 to March 2.
Also beginning Nov. 14, Dave Muller, a Los Angeles-based artist, DJ and musician, will illustrate what he calls “the collective experience of music” in the second-ever presentation of the ICA’s Sandra and Gerald Fineberg Art Wall.
The ICA Art Wall is commissioned annually and features the site-specific works of contemporary artists.
Muller’s exhibit will present a multimedia timeline of rock ‘n’ roll history and will include a continuous, non-repeating soundtrack that will play until the exhibit closes Oct. 12.
General admission to the ICA is $12 for $10 for students with a Husky ID. Student admission is free 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thursdays.
