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Northland art exhibit seeks to unsettle patrons with theme inspired by The Untroubled Mind

October 31, 2011

"The Untroubled Mind," a Northland College art exhibit, is inspired by a collection of lecture notesfrom American artist Agnes Martin. The display will feature student artwork that reflects on Martin's writings in a variety of forms, including sculptures, acrylic paintings, charcoal drawings and more. A reception for the exhibit will be held Friday, Nov. 4, at 3:30 p.m. in the Mary Van Evera Visual Arts Center at Northland. The event, another offering in the Northland College Community Connections series, is free and open to the public.

Around 10 juniors and seniors at Northland College organized the art display as part of an art senior seminar designed to prepare students for coordinating public exhibitions.

"Martin's writings are kind of a collection of thoughts on dissatisfaction and why are we so troubled and who is untroubled and where art fits into all of that and expression of self," says Mary Schaubschlager, a senior art major at Northland College. "Martin's writings will be running along the exhibit. Whenever it comes to a line that a student chose, their artwork will be by it."

The art seminar aims to encourage aspiring artists to write their own aesthetic theories about how art should function in people's minds, according to Don Albrecht, Associate Professor of Art at Northland.

"We operate in a world using two sets of language: verbal language and visual language," says Albrecht. "We understand symbols and meanings from visual communication in a different way than verbal communication. With respect to Martin's notes, the writings inspire students to interpret English in a visual way and make them think about operating in these two realms at the same time."

Schaubschlager says she wants those who view the exhibit to leave troubled.

"Everyone is troubled in different ways," says Schaubschlager. "A lot of these questions that Martin raises I feel like people don't purposefully ignore, but we just don't have time to think about these things."

The exhibit received funding from a variety of donors, including the Northland Humanities program, Northland faculty, Chequamegon Bay Arts Council (CBAC) members and Northland College President Michael A. Miller.