PROJECT 8: EMOTIONAL BAGGAGE
April 20- May 5, 2022 in-person, through August 10 online only
Opening Reception: Wednesday, April 20, 2022 from 5-7pm
New Image Gallery, James Madison University
131 Grace Street, Harrisonburg, VA
WED & THU: 2-4PM
FRI & SAT: 12-2PM
but, also is pleased to present our eighth project, emotional baggage. We carry it around with us everyday, it’s invisible to the naked eye, but central to how we move through the world, you guessed it, it’s emotional baggage. but, also’s next project brings our mission on the road to Harrisonburg, VA and into the classroom at James Madison University ( JMU). In partnership with New Image Gallery and the School of Art, Design, and Art History students and faculty across multiple disciplines joined together to produce tote bags for exhibition and sale in emotional baggage. This project will be on view and on sale from April 20- May 5, 2022 at New Image Gallery, and online at but-also.com till August 10, 2022.
In keeping with but, also’s vision to explore the intersection of artwork and product, to support all aspects surrounding the making of artwork, encourage creative business-making, and help artists find creative solutions for a sustainable practice, emotional baggage asked artists to consider the intersection of design, art object, promotional merch and fashion. Tote bags and the arts have a history together, as do tote bags and but, also! We bring you a new take on the tote bag as a vehicle for creative exploration and a direct method to support artists. In this iteration of a tote bag show, students and faculty were asked to use any means necessary to transform a blank tote bag into a functional art object with a niche user in mind. They considered audience, function, tote bag as sculpture, tote bag as fashion, tote bag as extension of an artistic practice,and the interior and exterior nature of the object itself.
Tote bags will be sold off the wall in an ever-transforming installation. Like walking right into a department store window display, the room will be brightly lit and brightly colored. Perhaps this is to distract you from your literal emotional baggage as you are lured into a capitalist-driven tote bag paradise. We all know you’re going to get another tote bag someday, probably soon, so why not get a one of a kind artisanal bag for your next journey? A summer vacation or weekend getaway! A picnic alone with a book and a La Croix! Perhaps a gift for the Tauruses’, Geminis, Cancers, Leos and Virgos in the coming months! We think you get the point. Or maybe, you just want to be the first person to purchase the work of a rising art star.
All of these bags are unique, so don’t hesitate, there is no knowing how long the bag of your dreams will be available.
Tote bags will be sold off the wall in an ever-transforming installation. Like walking right into a department store window display, the room will be brightly lit and brightly colored. Perhaps this is to distract you from your literal emotional baggage as you are lured into a capitalist-driven tote bag paradise. We all know you’re going to get another tote bag someday, probably soon, so why not get a one of a kind artisanal bag for your next journey? A summer vacation or weekend getaway! A picnic alone with a book and a La Croix! Perhaps a gift for the Tauruses’, Geminis, Cancers, Leos and Virgos in the coming months! We think you get the point. Or maybe, you just want to be the first person to purchase the work of a rising art star.
All of these bags are unique, so don’t hesitate, there is no knowing how long the bag of your dreams will be available.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW AND BUY THE BAGS!
