Visions for our Future,
Echoes of our Past.
Dianne Smith, Nyugen E. Smith, and Carl Joe Williams
Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design | April 21 – May 6, 2023
In our inaugural Artist-In-Residence Alumni exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design (ICA at MECA&D), we invited three previous residents; Dianne Smith (Spring: April-May 2021); Nyugen E. Smith (Spring: May-June 2020) and Carl Joe Williams (Summer: June-July 2021) to continue their exploration of material, media, and community which emerged throughout their residencies. This exhibition offered a perspective into the lives, histories and experience of Black/Brown culture and communities that are historically siloed, suppressed, and traditionally removed from the canon of art history.
These artists are examining, deconstructing, and re-inventing new ways of making in order to accurately reflect global communities. It is our hope that our Black/Brown audiences continue to see themselves; their community and stories as valid, honored and valued. Exemplified by the works of Dianne, Nyugen and Carl is our belief that art, along with active community engagement is imperative to manifest change.
Visions for our Future; Echoes of our Past (ICA gallery, Portland, ME, March 26th-May 6th 2022). Co-curated by Indigo Arts Alliance Deputy Director, Jordia Benjamin and our Studio and Program Coordinator, Ashley Page, Dianne Smith, Nyugen E. Smith, and Carl Joe Williams.
PAST EXHIBITION
Visions for our Future; Echoes of our Past Artist Talk
Watch Dianne Smith, Nyugen E. Smith, and Carl Joe Williams in conversation with Dr. Myron Beasly. Hosted by Indigo Arts Alliance and The Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design in Maine, April 2022.
Visions for our Future; Echoes of our Past Artist Talk
Indigo Arts Alliance and The Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design hosted a panel discussion with the three IAA alumni Artists-In-Residence featured in the exhibition “Visions for our Future; Echoes of our Past: Dianne Smith, Nyugen E. Smith, and Carl Joe Williams.” Moderated by Dr. Myron Beasly; IAA’s Board member and Associate Professor of American Studies at Bates College, this panel wove the various threads of these interdisciplinary artists’ work into one unified picture. Together they dove deep into how the exhibition examines, deconstructs, and re-invents new ways of making in order to accurately reflect global communities.
Photography courtesy of Indigo Arts Alliance and the ICA at MECA&D
Indigo Arts residents put on community-minded multimedia exhibition
“Though Indigo’s focus is the expression of Black and Brown artists, it’s immediately clear that the themes Dianne Smith, Nyugen E. Smith and Carl Joe Williams are tackling – migration, environmental disaster, political discord, war, as well as community and identity – transcend narrow categorizations. The universality of the messages in “Visions/Echoes” urgently begs all of us to consider their implications.” – The Portland Press Herald
