Works by Carris Adams, Laura Bernstein, Elisabeth Blair and Catron Booker

Curated by Ann Meisinger

Opening night performance by Elisabeth Blair, 7:30pm

The full phrase of this idiom ‘A word to the wise’ is ‘A word to the wise is sufficient.’ When used in conversation, the phrase indicates the presence of a hint, an implication of embedded information that can be accessed if one is wise enough.The phrase, while it connotes secrecy, also points to a framework for the passage of information and critical thinking. Each of the artists in this show thinks critically about nuances that are prompted by language but extend to deeper levels of systems of ecology, value and power. The works on view in this exhibition give ‘sufficient’ information to the viewer, inviting them to into their systems of information. In some instances it is through a word or two and in others, the words have yet to be written.

Carris Adams is a visual artist whose practice consists of drawings and paintings that reference signs and signifiers in the landscape pointing to systemic inequality and resilience. The conceptually multi-layered works seek to inform and position viewers to recognize their reactions concerning class, and othered bodies. Adams received her BFA from the University of Texas at Austin (2013) and her MFA from the University of Chicago (2015).

More information about Carris Adams can be found at http://www.carrisadams.com/

Laura Bernstein is a multidisciplinary artist who constructs scenarios and vignettes through immersive installation, performance, and video. In these works fictional characters and creatures engage with their environment, exploring the relationship between human and animal, exemplary and freakish, public ritual and private behavior. She received her BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and her MFA from the University of Pennsylvania. Bernstein currently has work in The Bronx Museum of the Arts exhibition, Bronx Calling: Fourth AIM Biennial. In Spring 2018, she will have a solo exhibition, Becoming Beast at NURTUREart, in Brooklyn, NY. Bernstein was a resident at ACRE in summer 2015.

More information about Laura Bernstein can be found at http://www.rarabernstein.com/

Elisabeth Blair is a composer, poet, podcaster and multidisciplinary artist. After earning a BA in photography in 2004, she spent many years on the singer/songwriter circuit in Chicago before moving into both free improvisation and formal composition. Poetry forms an important part of her creative practice and a chapbook of her poems, We He She/It, was published in 2016 by Dancing Girl Press. An active feminist, she is on the board of the International Alliance for Women in Music and is the founder and director of Listening to Ladies, a podcast featuring interviews with women composers, and Compass New Music, a concert series showcasing the music of all those whose gender identities mean they do not benefit from the patriarchy.

More information about Elisabeth Blair can be found at https://www.elisabethblair.net/

Catron Booker is a video and performance artist originally from Chicago, IL and currently living in Oaxaca, Mexico. Her works have previously screened at Anthology Film Archives (NYC), Seattle Local Sightings Film Fest and Cologne International Videoart Festival. She holds an MFA in Acting from UCLA and an MFA in Film/Video from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.

More information about Catron Booker can be found at http://freeandfunky.tumblr.com/

Ann Meisinger is a Chicago based curator and writer who works as the Assistant Curator of Public Programs at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. She is a member of the curatorial collective Third Object and currently serves as a curatorial fellow for ACRE.

ACRE Projects welcomes all gender expressions and features gender neutral bathrooms. ACRE’s space is ADA Accessible. Please contact Kate Bowen (exhibitions@acreresidency.org) if you require additional accessibility information.

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Tags: ACRE Projects, Ann Meisinger, Carris Adams, Catron Booker, Chicago, Elisabeth Blair, Laura Bernstein, Lower West Side, Word to the Wise