The Julian Scott Memorial Gallery at Vermont State University, Johnson, Vermont presents, the color of the sky is pink an exhibition of new work by visiting artist Samantha M. Eckert. Samantha M. Eckert is a conceptual artist, her practice is sourced through personal narrative and lexicon expanding in non-linear explorations. Materials are selected to articulate process and labor, form, and implication. Eckert is deeply influenced by her Italian heritage and handcrafted objects made by her mother and grandmother. Through their legacy, she explores memory myth, ancestry, loss, and longing, weaving between personal and political themes.
During the months leading up to the exhibition, she returned to a memory that was the catalyst and fueled her practice. She describes memories as myths because they are never certain and are based on emotional responses and impressions– or screened, as Freud once wrote about. The exhibition thematically suggests queries of female empowerment; however, her desire is for an animated, playful, and mysterious viewer experience, permitting multiple meanings and readings rather than as one narrative.
“Over a telephone line, while describing her view outside the window, once upon a time, my mother told me– the color of the sky is pink. Whether my mom was commenting on nature’s beauty discovered at sunset or inspiring me with a clever metaphor, I’ve never been sure.” –Samantha M. Eckert
Samantha M. Eckert was born in Glen Cove, NY and raised in Brownsville, VT. She lived in New Mexico for many years and returned to Vermont in 2012. Eckert earned her MFA in Visual Art in 2015 from Vermont College of Fine Arts, Montpelier, VT; a bachelor’s from Vermont College of Norwich University, Montpelier, VT; and a Certificate in Museum Studies from the Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe, NM. She has attended several artist residencies including, Anderson Ranch Art Center, Snowmass, CO; Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT; La Macina di San Cresci, Greve, Chianti, Italy; and was a two-time artist in residence at The Studios at MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA. Eckert has exhibited in MA, NH, NM, VT, and Italy. She is a Vermont-based emerging artist.
The exhibition will be on view August 22-September 28, with a closing reception and artist talk on Thursday, September 28, 3-5PM. The Julian Scott Memorial Gallery is located in Dibden Center for the Arts at Vermont State University, 337 College Hill, Johnson, VT. The gallery is free and open to the public, Tuesday-Friday, 10-6PM, Saturday, 10-4PM as well as during theater performances.