Exhibition of Environmentally Inspired Contemporary Art to Feature Works by 270 Artists from Every U.S. State and 38 Other Countries

Subsequent National Tour Now Being Promoted

Winchester, Virginia, 04/22/13…In celebration of Earth Day, the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley (MSV), Winchester, Virginia, has today announced that it is organizing and will open a groundbreaking exhibition of environmentally inspired contemporary art in the fall of 2014.

Opening to the public Sunday, September 7, 2014, Second Time Around: The Hubcap as Artwill present objects created by artists from across the globe who responded to an invitation issued by the Pennsylvania-based, nonprofit Landfillart Project (www.landfillart.org) to turn a discarded hubcap into art. Second Time Around, which marks the first time these objects will be on public exhibition, will be at the MSV through March 1, 2015.

Following the opening exhibition and assuming sufficient interest is displayed by prospective museum venues, an abbreviated version of Second Time Around will tour 35 objects across the United States beginning in November of 2015. This three-year national tour, representing 22 U.S. states and six other countries, is taking place under the auspices of Exhibits USA, a traveling exhibition program managed by Mid-America Arts Alliance, a nonprofit regional arts organization based in Kansas City, Missouri. Museums and other public venues that are interested in presentingSecond Time Around in their communities may learn more, beginning today, by visiting http://www.eusa.org/exhibit/secondtimearound.

History and Scope of the Project

The Landfillart Project was launched in Pennsylvania in 2008 by arts entrepreneur and environmental advocate Kenneth Marquis, owner of galleries and art-supply and frame stores in Scranton and Wilkes-Barre, PA. Its message resonated with artists and quickly spread; to date more than 1,000 artists, from every U.S. state and 52 other countries, have responded.

According to Executive Director Dana Hand Evans, the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley got involved in the project when she became aware of the effort and journeyed with a Museum team to Wilkes-Barre to view the collection. “Once I saw the objects,” says Evans, “I immediately knew they would appeal not only to Shenandoah Valley residents and MSV visitors but also to an audience nationwide.”

While a few hubcap-art exhibitions have taken place in this country and abroad, Evans says, none have had the environmental focus and scope of Second Time Around, which will present the work of 270 professional artists from every U.S. state and 38 countries in its opening.

Officials from Mid-America Arts Alliance, whose mission is to strengthen communities and improve lives through extraordinary cultural experiences, predict that the touring Second Time Around will have widespread appeal. “People of all ages and levels of education will enjoy and learn from this exhibition, which truly supports the M-AAA goal of providing more art for more people,” says Mary Kennedy, M-AAA Chief Executive Officer. 

In the opening exhibition, designed by The 1717 Design Group, Inc., Richmond, Virginia, Second Time Around will represent the wide range of styles, sizes, and mediums used by artists who responded to the Landfillart Project invitation. Objects range in size from a single hubcap footprint to a sculpture that is nearly eight feet tall and half a ton. Some objects are kinetic, incorporate sound, and illuminate; many directly reference specific environmental issues.

In support of the opening of Second Time Around, the MSV will concurrently present WASTE NOT, a version of the exhibition Green Revolution which is made available by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service based on an exhibition originally created by the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, and its Black Creativity Council. Completely customizable by hosting museums, WASTE NOT uses family-friendly, interactive activities and reused or repurposed materials to focus on the environmental need to rethink, reuse, recycle, and reduce.

Participating Artists of Second Time Around

The full list of 270 artists in the opening exhibition in the MSV will include the 35 artists whose works have been selected for the touring exhibition. That list of 270 artists is now being finalized; selected artists will be contacted over the next two months, and the list will be publicly announced one year from now, on Earth Day (April 22), 2014. Object selection for the touring version of Second Time Around has been completed in order to provide prospective museum venues with ample time to schedule the tour. See http://www.eusa.org/exhibit/secondtimearound

The 35 artists whose works have been selected for inclusion in the touring Second Time Aroundinclude: Cetin Ates, Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Boris Bally, Providence, Rhode Island; Robert Beck, Lambertville, New Jersey; Sarah Thee Campagna (CyberCraft Robots), St. Petersburg, Florida; Tim Campbell, Keene, New Hampshire; Kevin Caron, Phoenix, Arizona; Larry Carroll, Hermosa Beach, California; Mark Chatterley, Williamston, Michigan; Vera Curnow, Rising Sun, Indiana; Rich Dethlefsen, Esbjerg, Denmark; Pamela Druhen, Northfield, Vermont; Steve Einhorn, Seattle, Washington; Ptolemy Erlington, Brighton, the United Kingdom; Donald Gialanella, formerly Taos, New Mexico, now Los Angeles, California; Jason Blue Lake Hawk, Albany, New York; Paul Hill, Wilmington, North Carolina; Mike Kendall, Benicia, California; Vivienne King, Cape Town, South Africa; Eric Lankford, Burns, Tennessee; Jim Lennox, Shickshinny, Pennsylvania; Keith Lo Bue, Marrickville, Australia; Marla McLean, Silver Spring, Maryland; David Medley, Mariposa, California; Noel Molloy, Roscommon, Ireland; Lynne Oulman, Bellingham, Washington; Jeb Prazak, Dodgeville, Wisconsin; Don Rash, Plains, Pennsylvania; Kathy Rebek, Englewood, New Jersey; Michelle Rial, Serena, Illinois; Jim Rogowski, Hunlock Creek, Pennsylvania; Paul Rowntree, Columbus, Ohio; Alke Schmidt, London, United Kingdom; John Simms, Jackson, Wyoming; Susan van Blanken, Hilversum, the Netherlands; and Linda Mix Yates, St. Paul, Minnesota.

Consulting Scholars and Exhibition Team

A team of senior faculty members representing two different universities is advising the Second Time Around exhibition and authoring essays in an exhibition booklet and, funds allowing, an online catalogue which the MSV also hopes to publish.

From the Department of Art of Marywood University in Scranton, Pennsylvania, four senior faculty members have advised object selection and will advise the art-specific content of the exhibition. They include Steven Alexander, Coordinator of Undergraduate Painting and Art Study Abroad; Robert Griffith, Coordinator of Sculpture and Three-Dimensional Design; Matt Povse, Coordinator of the Ceramics Area and Department Chairman; and Sandra Ward Povse, Director of Marywood University Art Galleries. From Shenandoah University, Winchester, Virginia, Woodward S. Bousquet, PhD, Professor of Environmental Studies and Biology, and Director, Blue Ridge Institute for Environmental Studies (SU-BRIES), is advising the environmentally focused content of the exhibition and directing development of WASTE NOT.

Leading the MSV staff team is Director Evans, who has a BFA in Art History, Painting, and Printmaking from La Salle University, Philadelphia, and an MA in Art History, Historical Studies, from Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond. Longtime MSV consultant Marge Lee, of the New Jersey-based MuseumWord, is serving as Second Time Around project manager.

A number of special events and educational programs are being planned to celebrate Second Time Around, including a program to involve artists in the Shenandoah Valley, and will be announced on a later date.

The Museum of the Shenandoah Valley is located at 901 Amherst Street in Winchester, Virginia. The MSV complex—which includes galleries, the Glen Burnie House, and six acres of gardens—is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. The Museum galleries are open year-round; the Glen Burnie House and surrounding gardens are open seasonally (now through October 31 in 2013). Admission—which includes access to the gardens and the galleries—is $10 or $8 for seniors and youth ages 13 to 18. General Museum admission is always free to youth ages 12 and under and to MSV Members, and it is free to all every Wednesday from 10 a.m. until noon. The Glen Burnie House is now closed until 2014 for a comprehensive preservation project. Additional information is available at www.theMSV.org or by calling 540-662-1473, ext. 235.

Julie B. Armel
540-662-1473, ext. 225
jarmel@theMSV.org