READING, PA – GoggleWorks Center for the Arts (GoggleWorks) has announced a partnership with Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, The Center for Art in Wood, and The Clay Studio to mount an ambitious exhibition of work entitled Permanent Residency. The exhibition will feature work curated from these organizations’ permanent collections and made by national or international artists who have participated in each of their artist-in-residence programs.
“Any work of art is made arguably more beautiful by the stories that surround it,” said GoggleWorks Executive Director Levi Landis. “We continuously seek to create experiences that allow our visitors to discover high quality art and connect to the broader story of its making, its maker, or its context.” To this end, Permanent Residency will be a celebration of the history of the participating organizations’ respective residency programs. “The exhibition highlights each collection as a unique history, a singular achievement,” Landis said. “Yet the broader exhibition of work also collectively explores the efficacy and outcomes of resident artist programs within and among intersecting fields of fine craft.”
With support from the John and Robyn Horn Foundation, GoggleWorks selected these three organizations because they have developed residency programs of widespread acclaim. Each organization curated work of exceptional quality that demonstrates the unique and collective values of their program-collaboration, experimentation, cross-disciplinary making, and academic research are among the key concepts.
Landis said he began brainstorming a project that could highlight the importance of residencies in the development of artists and their fields after he relocated from Philadelphia to Reading in 2016. While in Philadelphia, he was Director of Operations at The Center for Art in Wood, home to the Windgate ITE International Residency program. “I saw how Albert LeCoff, who just this month stepped down from decades at the helm of the Center, impacted the field of art in wood using a preeminent residency program,” said Landis. He believes the Center is in good company and added, “Jennifer Zwilling from The Clay Studio and Bill May from Arrowmont curated stunning collections to reflect the ongoing work of their institutions. All told, the participating partners represent nearly 200 years of residency programming. These are simply three of the most esteemed arts organizations in the country.”
Permanent Residency, which runs from June 8 to August 26, also contextualizes the launch of GoggleWorks’ own inaugural international residency program during that same time period, which will offer housing, studio space, materials, and a capstone exhibition to artists Bartosz Beda, Joseph Cavalieri, and Karina Mago.
The entire Permanent Residency project will culminate in a symposium on August 10, which will gather a summit of national artists and organizational leaders who have developed renowned residency programs nationwide.
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