Join us in the Visual Arts Gallery for a special reception with visiting guest artists Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison. Their exhibition, "Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison: Excerpts from the Architect's Brother," will run October 20 through November 14, 2009. Gallery hours are Tuesday-Friday, 12:00-8:00pm and Saturday 12:00-5:00pm.
About the Artists
The ParkeHarrisons construct fantasies in the guise of environmental performances for the protagonist of their images - who interacts with the landscape. Tapping into their surreal imaginations, the artists combine elaborate sets within vast landscapes to address issues surrounding man's relationship to the earth and technology while additionally delving into the human condition.
Robert ParkeHarrison studied photography at the Kansas City Art Institute and the University of New Mexico. In 1999 he was the recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship. Shana ParkeHarrison received a degree in painting from William Woods College. She went on to study Dance history and metalsmithing and University of New Mexico. The ParkeHarrisons' collaboration has developed organically over the past sixteen years. In 2000 they began to publicly claim co-authorship of their images. "The Architect's Brother," a museum exhibition of 45 of their images traveled throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Currently their images are included in various group exhibitions including, "The Missing Peace: Artists Consider the Dalai Lama," "Imaging a Shattered Earth: Contemporary Photography and the Environmental Debate" and "Envisioning Change," an exhibition in conjunction with the United Nations Environment Programme's, World Environment Day.
Their works are included in numerous collections including Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Art Institute of Chicago and the International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House. In October 2008 the ParkeHarrisons' new book of color images by Twin Palms Publishers will debut alongside an exhibition at Jack Shainman Gallery in New York and a concurrent exhibition at the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City.
