MCLA Benedetti Teaching Artist-in-Residence Conrad Egyir’s Solo Show, ‘Travelogue,’ Opens June 10 with Support from Massachusetts Cultural Council Grant
NORTH ADAMS, MA—Conrad Egyir, MCLA’s inaugural Benedetti Teaching Artist in Residence, will unveil a solo exhibition, “Travelogue,” on Friday, June 10, at MCLA Gallery 51 on Main Street in North Adams, with an event to mark the opening from 5-7 p.m. on June 10. This event is free and open to the public; “Travelogue” runs until September 2022.
The exhibition is supported by a $2,500 grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council’s Cultural Investment Portfolio program, awarded recently to MCLA Arts and Culture (MAC), which hosts several artist residencies each year. The grant supplements the exhibition costs of the exhibit.
“Travelogue” is a culmination of Eygir’s work throughout his nine-month stay at MCLA as Benedetti Artist-in-Residence. The work on display is primarily painting and portraiture, drawing influences from pop art, history painting, Biblical culture, and Ashanti iconography from Eygir’s native Ghana. According to the exhibition text, “He is both an Artist and a Black artist, a Ghanaian and a naturalized American citizen and multiple other categories and identities which muddy the waters of living in America as both an immigrant and a person of color. Navigating as an American, but also…”
The scale of Egyir’s work is typically monumental, spanning as much as twenty-two feet in length and up to seven feet high. His painted stories reference what he has witnessed, learned, and questioned as he continues his journey. In “Travelogue,” there is no beginning, and there will be no end. What we are offered is a summary of an entry that Egyir creates to combine portraits of those he sees, that look like him, and an intention to share their stories, as complex and diverse as his own, but very different.
About MCLA Arts and Culture:
MCLA Arts and Culture (MAC) is MCLA’s newly expanded arts programming arm. MAC (formerly known as BCRC, the Berkshire Cultural Resource Center) functions as a hub that supports interdisciplinary approaches to education, social justice, and academic research across MCLA’s campus. Its programs include the operation of Gallery 51, the Jessica Park Project, and the annual public art series Downstreet Art. MAC is also committed to arts access and most of its programming is free and available to the general public. Learn more at https://www.mcla.edu/mcla-in-the-community/bcrc/mcla-gallery-51.
About MCLA:
At MCLA, we’re here for all — and focused on each — of our students. Classes are taught by educators who care deeply about teaching, and about seeing their students thrive on every level of their lives. In nearly every way possible, the experience at MCLA is designed to elevate our students as individuals, as leaders, communicators, fully empowered to make their impressions on the world. In addition to our 127-year commitment to public education, we have fortified our commitment to equitable academic excellence. For nine of the last 11 years, MCLA has been named a Top Ten College by U.S. News and World Report. MCLA also appears on the organization’s list of top National Public Liberal Arts Colleges. Since the list was created, MCLA has risen to #21 as a Top Performer on Social Mobility and ranks first among all Massachusetts schools, which measures how well schools graduate students who receive Federal Pell Grants.
Learn more at www.mcla.edu.