A Month of Interactions at FAR

Michael Rees with experimental sculpture

In November, the Facility for Arts Research (FAR) welcomed its inaugural formLab Project Fellow, Michael Rees, Associate Professor of Sculpture and Digital Media and Director of the Center for New Art at William Paterson University. Rees utilized many of FAR’s resources, including the MMAP 3D printer, to produce sculptural work with an augmented reality component. During his visit, Rees gave a well-attended lecture about his body of work and experience at FAR.

FAR also celebrated the opening of its exhibit, FAR Exchanges: Interactions with SCAP and formLab, featuring the creative output of FAR in 2013. Over the past year, FAR’s internal units—Small Craft Advisory Press (SCAP) and formLab—have hosted several local and national visiting artists, held numerous class interactions led by FAR Faculty in Residence, and organized a Listening Post sound art installation. The artistic products of these interactions are currently on display at the FAR Gallery.

This month, FAR’s Small Craft Advisory Press (SCAP) is hosting book and letterpress artist, Jessica Peterson. Peterson is pairing regional visual artists and poets to create a collaborative artists’ book. This work is a response to the Federal Writers’ Project of the Works Project Administration (WPA) in Florida and is the third in a series of Florida-inspired pieces produced by SCAP. In conjunction with Peterson’s visit, SCAP is hosting a book release event for the artists’ book, Cropwork Orange, SCAP’s recently completed Florida-themed edition. Created by Denise Bookwalter (SCAP Director), Robert Fichter and Bea Nettles, this project explores the artists’ relationship to place, family, memory and information through the lens of Florida and its signature orange crop.

Upcoming Events

• Cropwork Orange Book Release & Artist Talk
  presented by Small Craft Advisory Press (SCAP)
  December 12, 2013 5-6PM
  Strozier Library (downstairs), Scholars Commons Graduate Reading Room