Archive: Arts & Entertainment

Aurora, NY - The Wells College Book Arts Center and String Room Gallery are pleased to announce a solo exhibition by artist Marianne Dages that culminates her two-week residency on Wells College Campus. The public is invited to join the artist for a public reception to mark the opening of her exhibition from 6 to 8 p.m. on September 14. The exhibition is on view from September 14 to October 20, 2017.

Marianne Dages is a Philadelphia-based artist who works in text, print, and installation. She describes her work as "investigating the crossroads between image, language and thought." Her exhibition at Wells entitled "Objects of Unknown Use" expands ideas found in her recent artist's book of the same name. This book features Dages' post-apocalyptic epic poem created through layered and purposefully mistranslated source texts. Her work frequently revels in the fluidity of language, both as a means of communication and a system of visual form. At times she employs chance-based strategies in her work, highlighting the slippages and generative potential of partially releasing control. Dages's interest in symbols and hieroglyphs informs her highly-nuanced deployment of materials and visual elements. H.R. Buechler, Wells College Victor Hammer Fellow in the Book Arts, summarizes Dages's work as "sophisticated, interdisciplinary and always poetic."

During her time on campus Dages has shared her practice with Wells College students, leading them in a collaborative zine project that will be included in her exhibition. Dages' residency is co-hosted by the Wells College Book Arts Center and the String Room Gallery, with support from the Wells College Scholar In Residence Program.

Dages' work is held in public collections including the MOMA Library, Yale University Library, and SAIC Chicago. She is an artist member of NAPOLEON gallery and a winner of the Fleisher Wind Challenge. Marianne was awarded the two-year Core Fellowship at Penland School of Crafts, where she studied bookbinding and letterpress printing. She was a recent artist in residence at Herhusid in Iceland and the Beisinghoff Printmaking Residency in Germany, run by Women's Studio Workshop. In 2015, she had a solo exhibition at Print Gallery Tokyo. She teaches letterpress and bookbinding and publishes artists' books under the name Huldra Press.

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