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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Mix saw thousands of dollars go down the drain when water didn't ... Fake grass offers real water savings ... Hosler Dam siren test due Monday ... Mix saw thousands of dollars go down the drain when water didn't ... Fake grass offers real water savings ... Hosler Dam siren test due Monday ... QUILLS & QUEUES Schneider Art Museum installation re-imagines Rivera Comment By Angela Decker For the Tidings DailyTidings.com By Angela Decker For the Tidings Posted Mar. 27, 2015 at 6:51 PM By Angela Decker For the Tidings Posted Mar. 27, 2015 at 6:51 PM » Social News The Schneider Art Museum's upcoming installations include a big, bold three-dimensional spectacle by Garrick Imatani. The project re-imagines artist Diego Rivera's mural, “The Making of a Fresco Showing the Building of a City,” now at the San Francisco Art Institute. “The way the laborers are working in Rivera's mural is indicative of a much more internationalized solidarity around ideas of labor,” said Imatani, an interdisciplinary artist and professor at Lewis & Clark College. “I was thinking of what labor looks like today. It's certainly more itinerant and more precarious,” he said. Imatani's project is in collaboration with the Southern Oregon SITE project, funded by the Ford Foundation. His work draws on his interest in the history of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), one of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal programs that employed millions of people to carry out public works projects. During his research, Imatani discovered that the WPA contributed to the development of Ashland and parts of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and that the Roosevelt administration was influenced by Rivera's mural. SOU senior art students are assisting Imatani, helping to paint sections of the mural and build the structure. Their work reminds visitors that artists are also a vital part of the American workforce. “These students are a part of the art project, they are painting, building and having their own impact on how this piece comes together. It's a great experience for me, and their work is an important component to this project,” said Imatani.  The students are happy to play a part in the grand exhibition, and like that they have creative input. “It is pretty refreshing to be able to be directly involved with the artist and this whole process. It will be a great when it is all done to see our part in it,” said student Evan Short. Student Holly Kilpatrick agrees. “It's been a wonderful experience. We get to see exactly the sort of equipment and labor involved in pulling off a full exhibition. All of us art students hope one day to be on the other side of this equation, directing our own exhibitions, and this experience is invaluable.”  Imatani echoes Rivera's tromp l'oeil style and labor themes through a large-scale installation complete with stairs, scaffolding and plywood cutouts for figures. “Today, the labor force is more technical. This piece updates the imagery, with figures working on computer servers and cell-phone towers that look like trees,” he said. “There's definitely a theatrical aspect to this, it's similar to a theater set; the students are the production crew,” Imatani said. “I wanted it also to be more three-dimensional. There will be cutouts where people can interact with the space, place their faces or arms into it and become a part of it,” he said.  As part of the project, on Sunday, May 10, Portland-based dance troupe Physical Education will present a performance piece informed by Imatani's installation. Imatani created their costumes as well, and the group will incorporate their performance with the art piece. “The dancers and the cutouts are a way of taking ideas about labor and change and pushing it through the lens of magical realism, where fantastical events are viewed as everyday,” said Imatani.  Student assistant Rebecca Hanley says the theatricality of the piece is compelling for the whole group. “There's a carnival aspect to some of this and it is fun. It's more of a group collaboration rather than a singular artist putting a painting on the wall,” she said.  Imatani's work will open along with an installation entitled “Silent Movies,” by SOU professor emerita Marlene Alt, work by Sang-ah Choi and silkscreens by activist and artist Sister Corita Kent.  The work will be on view from April 3 through June 13, and an opening reception will be held from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m, on Thursday, April 2. Angela Decker is a freelance writer in Ashland and can be reached at [email protected].   By Angela Decker For the Tidings DailyTidings.com By Angela Decker For the Tidings Posted Mar. 27, 2015 at 6:51 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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