South African beaders to assemble large-scale tapestries at Rice

MEDIA ADVISORY

David Ruth
713-348-6327
david@rice.edu

Jeff Falk
713-348-6775
jfalk@rice.edu

South African beaders to assemble large-scale tapestries at Rice

HOUSTON – (July 22, 2014) – As part of a collaboration with Houston-based artist Selven O’Keef Jarmon and Art League Houston (ALH), Rice Public Art will host highly skilled South African beaders through Aug. 29. The beaders will use X-Lab in Rice’s BioScience Research Collaborative as their studio to help assemble Jarmon’s temporary art installation, “360 Degrees Vanishing,” consisting of four large-scale beaded tapestries made of approximately 350,000 acrylic beads.

Image courtesy of Art League Houston.

Who:               Houston-based artist Selven O’Keef Jarmon and South African artisan beaders, sponsored by ALH.

What:             Assembly of “360 Degrees Vanishing” temporary public art installation.

When:             Through Aug. 29.

Where:           X-Lab, Suite 202, BioScience Research Collaborative, 6500 Main St. Parking is available in the BRC garage located on Dryden Road between Main Street and Travis Street. X-Lab is a space used for collaborative and interdisciplinary projects that connect the Rice campus with broader Houston communities.

Upon completion, the beaded tapestries will be mounted on the exterior walls of ALH’s building on Montrose Boulevard to form “360 Degrees Vanishing.” The unveiling is planned for late October.

The installation addresses the gradual disappearance of the beading culture within South Africa in particular, as well as the vanishing parts of various cultures that are taken for granted but have been disappearing from everyday life. “360 Degrees Vanishing” reimagines the possibilities of how a traditional medium, such as beading, can be revisioned and reactivated by placing it in a new context and landscape.

Spearheaded by ALH, the project is an international cultural exchange with South Africa, and ALH is working with the South African government, as well as the Craft and Cultural Hub of the Eastern Cape and the South African Cultural Minister’s Office. The project has received major support from Rice University, Louisa Stude Sarofim, the Morgan Family Foundation and the city of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance. Other partners include Texas Southern University, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft and Workshop Houston.

The Rice community is being invited to help with the assembly process; demonstrations and workshops will be held to illustrate the historical and contemporary relevance of beadwork in South Africa.

“We’re excited to support Jarmon’s vision and this unique cross-cultural endeavor,” said  Molly Hubbard, director of Rice Public Art. “It will be an amazing opportunity for the Rice community to engage with the beaders and learn about their craft.”

Media interested in covering the assembly process should contact Jeff Falk, associate director of national media relations at Rice, at jfalk@rice.edu or 713-348-6775.

Media interested in learning more about the project should contact Jennifer Ash, visual arts director at ALH, at jennie@artleaguehouston.org or 713-523-9530.

For more information about “360 Degrees Vanishing,” visit www.artleaguehouston.org/publicart.

For more information about Rice Public Art, visit http://publicart.rice.edu.

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