{"id":5587,"date":"2020-11-10T14:02:47","date_gmt":"2020-11-10T20:02:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin-new\/?post_type=campus_story&p=5587"},"modified":"2020-11-10T14:02:47","modified_gmt":"2020-11-10T20:02:47","slug":"uw-eau-claire-senior-is-first-known-student-to-curate-outside-exhibition-at-foster-gallery","status":"publish","type":"campus_story","link":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/story\/uw-eau-claire-senior-is-first-known-student-to-curate-outside-exhibition-at-foster-gallery\/","title":{"rendered":"UW-Eau Claire senior is first-known student to curate outside exhibition at Foster Gallery"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>
UW-Eau Claire senior Caleb Carr is passionate about art and feels a social responsibility to speak up about sustainability and the future of our planet.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Caleb Carr grew up on a southwest Wisconsin farm and, from a young age, understood the importance of natural resources and the environment in his family\u2019s rural lifestyle.<\/p>\n

The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire senior from Hollandale says his country upbringing helped instill in him a belief that people need to respond to the Earth\u2019s climate crisis and make sustainability a part of their everyday lives before it\u2019s too late.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe future does not look bright without changes,\u201d Carr says. \u201cIt\u2019s easy to give up. But there is a fight to be had and changes to be made. We\u2019ve got to be the ones to make them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carr, an art major with an emphasis in illustration, isn\u2019t afraid to jump into that fight and is conveying that sustainability message through an exhibition he proposed and curated at the Ruth Foster Art Gallery in the Haas Fine Arts Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Nature of Our Disposition,\u201d open through Nov. 11, is the first outside exhibition \u2014 an exhibit of professional artists from outside the community \u2014 known to be curated by a UW-Eau Claire student in the 50-year history of the Foster Gallery, established in 1970 when the Haas Fine Arts Center opened.<\/p>\n

This semester, the Foster Gallery is open only to UW-Eau Claire students, faculty and staff because of COVID-19.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel so satisfied and so proud of the work that was done,\u201d Carr says. \u201cI feel particularly proud of being able to investigate and find the intersection between sustainability and art.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m passionate about art but I feel sustainability is more of a social responsibility. It\u2019s a way of being responsible and coping with the anxiety of an uncertain and unsafe future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carr, who has been involved with sustainability initiatives through the UW-Eau Claire Student Office of Sustainability, worked as a Foster Gallery attendant and often wondered how gallery officials chose the artwork that is on display. Amanda Bulger, interim director of the Foster Gallery, explained to him that a committee looks at proposals and considers a variety of factors that include the exhibition\u2019s uniqueness, impact and connection to the university and community.<\/p>\n

Bulger worked with Carr on his proposal to combine sustainability and art to ensure it illustrated his goals and direction for the exhibition.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Foster Gallery committee was excited about his proposal and endorsed it but was concerned the workload could be overwhelming for a student,\u201d Bulger says.<\/p>\n

At Bulger\u2019s suggestion, Carr sought out mentors Ned Gannon, professor of art\u00a0& design, and Dr. David Tschida, associate professor of communication and journalism, for guidance on the project. The mentors advised Carr on startup aspects of the exhibition such as theme, title, promotion, budgeting and other tasks.<\/p>\n

Carr took care of most of the exhibition tasks, including contacting the artists and finding creative ways to make the exhibit more sustainable. For example, Carr created handmade seed paper from recycled gallery materials to create signs to introduce the exhibit and its artists on the east end of the gallery. Rather than mounting some photos on aluminum sheets, he used a technique to hang them with screws and magnets that could be reused in future exhibits.<\/p>\n

\u201cCaleb excelled throughout the entire process,\u201d Bulger says. \u201cHe was professional, excited and creative in all aspects of planning, communicating, designing and installing the exhibition.\u201d<\/p>\n

COVID-19 presented many challenges to the exhibition planning, but Carr worked through the in-person limitations to bring the exhibition to fruition.<\/p>\n

\u201cPersonally, I never questioned that the exhibition could happen in one form or another, but I did not expect Caleb to so gracefully and creatively roll with punch after punch,\u201d says Gannon, calling Carr an \u201ceternal optimist.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carr considers himself an optimist out of necessity.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have to be optimistic or it\u2019s so easy to slip into anxiety and dread,\u201d Carr says matter-of-factly. \u201cThe climate crisis is basically about the world ending and humanity ending. It\u2019s so easy to shut down out of self-preservation. It\u2019s important to be optimistic and to be positive to deal with such a serious and heavy issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carr researched other exhibitions, looking at the approaches of other galleries and which artists were highlighted.<\/p>\n

The exhibit has a variety of mediums \u2014 photography, sculpture, prints and video projections \u2014 and Carr found it challenging to select the right artists for the exhibition because \u201csustainability intersects with everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Artists in the exhibition are from Wisconsin, Minnesota and the United Kingdom so there is a blend of regional, national and international works.<\/p>\n

Carr found that curating an exhibit was a different perspective for an artist like himself who hadn\u2019t ever thought about that aspect of the profession before.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really enjoyed doing the curatorial side of things,\u201d Carr says. \u201cArt can sometimes be kind of a lonely endeavor. You\u2019re sitting at the canvas painting for hours and hours before you get to interact with anybody. I love being able to work with artists and the community and to connect artists with the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eventually he\u2019d like to be an art educator, but sustainability remains at the forefront of his mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cCareer goals seem so unimportant in this conversation of the future of the planet and the future of humanity,\u201d Carr says. \u201cThere are solutions; we just have to be brave and address them head-on.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Caleb Carr grew up on a southwest Wisconsin farm and, from a young age, understood the importance of natural resources and the environment in his family\u2019s rural lifestyle. The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire senior from Hollandale says his country upbringing helped instill in him a belief that people need to respond to the Earth\u2019s climate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":5590,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","institution":[96],"story_category":[],"class_list":["post-5587","campus_story","type-campus_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","institution-uw-eau-claire"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story\/5587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/campus_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5587"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"institution","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/institution?post=5587"},{"taxonomy":"story_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story_category?post=5587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}