AEIVA celebrates 10 years at UAB with “Material Resonance” exhibition

The Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts (AEIVA) has made a major, positive impact on the UAB campus and on the Birmingham art scene since it opened in 2014.

Located on 10th Avenue South, AEIVA is housed in a stunning, 26,000-square-foot building of red brick, glass and zinc designed by the late, world-famous architect Randall Stout. The structure serves as a major, memorable landmark for the southern part of the UAB campus and is a sign that the university is a place that welcomes fresh ideas and new visions.

AEIVA has also provided art lovers in Birmingham with a much wider menu of cutting-edge, contemporary art than they ever had access to before.

AEIVA is now marking its 10th anniversary in style with a major survey show, “Material Resonance,” on view through August 10. The show was curated by AEIVA Director John Fields.

The exhibition, which includes work from more than 60 artists, is drawn from the museum’s permanent collection and required two years of preparation, Fields told UAB News.

The show harkens back to the very first exhibition at AEIVA in 2014, “Material Evidence,” which drew on the private collections of local art collectors and was curated by Gail Andrews, Director Emerita of the Birmingham Museum of Art.

“I really see this exhibition as a bookend to our inaugural exhibition,” Fields said.

Many of the artists whose work is included on “Material Resonance” were part of large, successful exhibitions at AEIVA over the last decade, Fields said.

The artists in the show include acclaimed American artist Willie Cole, whio transforms everyday objects, ready-mades and throwaways into sculptures, compositions and installations.

Titus Kaphar, a multimedia artist and painter, mixes styles and techniques from different periods in art history to make striking statements about the impact of race throughout history.

Philadelphia-based multimedia artist Quentin Morris has explored such issues as identity, race, spirituality and cultural mythologies for nearly 50 years, in part through a long series of black monochrome paintings.

New York artist Leslie Wayne, whose work combines both painting and sculpture, was the fourth artist ever to exhibit at AEIVA in 2014. Her show at that time was the first solo exhibition of paintings at the museum.

Erin LeAnn Mitchell, a textile artist from Birmingham, is one of many Alabama artists represented in “Material Resonance.” According to Mitchell’s website, her work blends textiles and collage in “an expansion” of the Southern tradition of quilting.

There are numerous other Alabama artists in the exhibition, including Thornton Dial, Lonnie Holley, Amy Pleasant, Catherine Cabaniss, Tameca Cole, Delrico Gibson, David Sandlin and John Lytle Wilson.

There are a bunch of nationally celebrated names, as well, including pop-art giants Andy Warhol and James Rosenquist, filmmaker John Waters, photographer and filmmaker Gordon Parks and even the late Leonard Nimoy of “Star Trek” fame, who was also a noted photographer.

The other artists whose works are included in “Material Resonance” are Kathryn Andrews, Jessica Angel, Luis Cruz Azaceta, Lucas Blalock, Mike Bouchet, Amanda Browder, María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Enrique Martínez Celaya, Enrique Chagoya, Michael Dixon, Jordan Eagles, Nora Ezell, Mark Flood, Milton Glaser, Irene Grau, Roscoe Hall, Donté K. Hayes, Sam Jablon, Alex Jackson, Folkert de Jong, Wyatt Kahn, Jon Key, David Levinthal, Ligorano/Reese, Kadir López, Luba Lukova, Charles Lutz, David Maisel, James Marshall (Dalek), Kate Meissner, Jiha Moon, George Rickey, Chiharu Takahashi Roach, Carlos Rolón, Amanda Ross-Ho, Paul Rusconi, Christopher Saucedo, Pete Schulte, Carolyn Sherer, Jacqueline Surdell, Hank Willis Thomas, Melissa Trochez, Vadis Turner, Melissa Vandenberg, Michael Velliquette, Peter Voulkos, Fred Webster, Christina A. West and Mary Frances Whitfield.

For more information about AEIVA and “Material Resonance,” call 205-975-6436 or go to uab.edu/aeiva.