Art Museum Presents Reality Tales and Artists' Books

Written by John Finn 330-263-2145 Email Story | Print Story

March 10, 2005

"The Guardian" from Bridget Milligan's Reality Tales Exhibition on display at The College of Wooster Art Museum.

WOOSTER, Ohio - Bridget Milligan, assistant professor of art at The College of Wooster, will present Reality Tales, a mixed-media photography exhibition at The College of Wooster Art Museum March 29 through May 15. The event, presented in conjunction with Artists' Books, a display from Wooster's permanent collection, will be held in the Burton D. Morgan Gallery and the Sussel Gallery of Ebert Art Center (1220 Beall Ave.). The opening reception is scheduled for Friday, April 1, from 6-8 p.m. There will also be a "Conversation in the Gallery" with the artist on Thursday, April 21, from noon-1 p.m.

Reality Tales explores the cultural complexities and psychological influences of traditional fairy tales and their modern-day equivalents. Incorporating aspects of painting, sculpture, and theatre, the resulting photographic images re-imagine the make-believe world of fairy tales into visual narratives of real-life experiences.

"The lessons we initially learned from these familiar stories, which once fueled our imaginations as children, continue to serve as valuable role models later in our lives," says Milligan, who teaches photography and drawing at Wooster, and completed her work on Reality Tales while on a research leave during the fall semester. "Yet, do they actually provide us the moral guidance we seek?

"Fairy tales revolve around the quest for true love, happiness, and wealth and, most importantly, provide a path for us to find our way back home," adds Milligan. "But beyond the world of fantasy, these stories embody notions of deceit, murder, greed, vanity, and hate. Fairy tales are as much constructs of these real-world experiences as they are about happily-ever-after endings. So is the relationship between reality and the fairy tale closer than one might imagine? Who is the modern-day prince charming, and how do the children find their way home amidst obstacles more concrete than make-believe? Questions like these continue to surface in the images I create."

Artists' Books features an assortment of unique books, including William C. Gannet and Frank Lloyd Wright's The House Beautiful (1896), as well as works by British Pop artists Sir Eduardo Paolozzi and Patrick Caulfield. Also in the exhibition are works by five Ohio-based artists and writers: Holly Morrison and Carolyn Fraser, Kat Hartman, Kate Kern, and Ellen Sheffield.

According to noted art critic Lucy Lippard, "an Artists' book is a project in book form, and the structure of the book is an integrated aspect of the overall concept." Some of the structural considerations may include, but are not limited to, the binding or lack of binding; the way the pages fold or may be kept loose in a portfolio box or slipcover; the use of a scroll in lieu of pages; a lack of text or a manipulation of text into imagery; or the use of traditional or non-traditional materials and formats. They are usually produced, printed, and published in limited editions, and artists frequently collaborate with poets or authors to create unique book-shaped objects.

The College of Wooster Art Museum is open Tuesday through Friday from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 1-5 p.m. All receptions, lectures, exhibitions, and performances are free and open to the public. Group tours are also available. This exhibition and related events are supported, in part, by the Ohio Arts Council with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, educational excellence, and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans.

For more information, call 330-263-2388 or visit www.wooster.edu/artmuseum.