| Description | This lecture is presented by alum Emily Pothast. It is free and open to all. In 1953, Morris Graves sent out cards reading "You Are Not Invited" to a party at his home to everyone on the Seattle Art Museum's mailing list. When the unsuspecting crowds arrived, they discovered the moldering remnants of a feast that had been held ten days prior. Using this early happening as a point of departure, "You Are Not Invited" investigates the history of visual art in Seattle by analyzing how the phenomenon of the "uninvited guest" has manifested since the city's founding. On the one hand, this designation can be applied to the waves of white settlers, gold rush prospectors, and high-tech newcomers who have flooded the city, displacing those who came before them. On the other, it can represent those who have been denied a seat at the table and thus "uninvited" from popular canons of Northwest art history, such as the Coast Salish, who were driven out by legal statute in 1865, or the Japanese-American artists who were painting the insides of internment camps while the Northwest Mystics waxed philosophical about their East Asian influences. Originally presented as two hour-long lectures, this densely packed survey concludes with an overview of contemporary Seattle artists whose work directly addresses themes of memory, legacy, and the stewardship of living history. |
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