The University of Alabama at Birmingham
Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts
Material Resonance
1221 10th Avenue South
Birmingham, AL 35205
May 21 – August 10, 2024

Opening Reception:
Friday, May 31, 5:30-7:30pm

In 2014, UAB’s Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts opened its doors to the public and forever changed the landscape of contemporary art in Birmingham, Alabama. AEIVA’s inaugural exhibition Material Evidence, curated by Gail Andrews, Director Emerita of the Birmingham Museum of Art culled from the impressive private collections of some of Birmingham’s most dedicated art collectors and enthusiasts.

10 years later, AEIVA is proud to present Material Resonance, curated by John Fields, The Lydia Cheney and Jim Sokol Endowed Director of AEIVA. The large-scale survey of more than 60 artists represents many of its most iconic exhibitions from the past decade and offers a glimpse into future exhibitions.

The May 31 opening reception will feature a gallery walkthrough with Fields, AEIVA Curator Hannah Spears, and select artists featured in the exhibition.

Featured artists include Kathryn Andrews, Jessica Angel, Luis Cruz Azaceta, Lucas Blalock, Mike Bouchet, Amanda Browder, Catherine Cabaniss, María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Enrique Martínez Celaya, Enrique Chagoya, Tameca Cole, Willie Cole, Thornton Dial, Michael Dixon, Jordan Eagles, Nora Ezell, George Ferrandi, Mark Flood, Delrico Gibson, Milton Glaser, Irene Grau, Roscoe Hall, Donté K. Hayes, Lonnie Holley, Sam Jablon, Alex Jackson, Folkert de Jong, Wyatt Kahn, Titus Kaphar, Jon Key, David Levinthal, Ligorano/Reese, Kadir López, Luba Lukova, Charles Lutz, David Maisel, James Marshall (Dalek), Kate Meissner, Erin LeAnn Mitchell, Jiha Moon, Quentin Morris, Leonard Nimoy, Gordon Parks, Amy Pleasant, George Rickey, Chiharu Takahashi Roach, Carlos Rolón, James Rosenquist, Amanda Ross-Ho, Paul Rusconi, David Sandlin, Christopher Saucedo, Pete Schulte, Carolyn Sherer, Jacqueline Surdell, Hank Willis Thomas, Melissa Trochez, Vadis Turner, Melissa Vandenberg, Michael Velliquette, Peter Voulkos, Andy Warhol, John Waters, Leslie Wayne, Fred Webster, Christina A. West, Mary Frances Whitfield, and John Lytle Wilson.

Press:
AEIVA celebrates 10 years at UAB with “Material Resonance” exhibition
UAB’s AEIVA marks first 10 years with largest-ever survey of its permanent collection, “Material Resonance,” from May 31-Aug. 10

Kigali Genocide Memorial
Cultivating Peace
Kigali, Rwanda
August 9-16, 2024

Opening Reception:
Friday, August 9, 6-8pm

The term "cultivate" finds its origins in the Latin root colere, signifying protection and cultivation. The dictionary defines cultivation as:

•the preparation of land for raising crops
•fostering growth
•improving through labor, care, or study, and seeking the society of, making friends with

These ideas resonate with the core values of the Kigali Genocide Memorial, emphasizing remembrance, understanding, and learning. The exhibition underscores the need for compassion to cultivate peace and understanding. Just as nurturing the earth requires love and care, so also does creating relationships among people to set aside
differences and work towards reconciliation. Peace is not passive; it engages individuals, bringing about transformative changes in thought and action.

Press:
'Cultivating Peace' exhibition: Art that fosters reconciliation, unity

UV Arts
Thus Far
The Playhouse
5-7 Artillery Street
Londonderry BT48 6RG
United Kingdom
May 22-June 2, 2024

Closing:
Friday, May 31 and Saturday, June 1, 2024

-AND-

Platform Arts Belfast
Thus Far
Connswater Shopping Centre
17-18 Bloomfield Avenue
Belfast BT5 5LP
June 5-22, 2024

Opening Reception:
Thursday, June 6, 2024

Panel Discussion:
Friday, June 7 - “Providing A Voice”

Lead Curator: Rian Kerrane
Assistant Curator: Rebecca Vaughan

The curatorial theme "Thus Far" refers to this moment in time, and all that has led up to the present. It is a moment for reflection, and the present point in a story, or the pause between one breath and the next. It is the time for consideration of a future that starts now.

Kellogg Community College
DeVries Gallery
Miscegenation Nation
450 North Ave.
Battle Creek, MI 49017
January 16 – February 15, 2024

Closing Reception:
Thursday, February 15, 4-6pm

Ethan Cohen Gallery
the Kobe Art Center
Back to School
211 Fishkill Avenue
Beacon, NY 12508
November 3 - May 18, 2024

Opening Weekend:
November 4 & 5, 12-8pm

Homecoming:
November 3, 7-10 pm

Artists’ takeover the Old Beacon High School’s KuBe Art Center

Imagine the high school experience you wished you’d had. No homework, no grades, no bullies, just art. Acclaimed curator Ethan Cohen and renowned pop artist Ron English have co-curated Back to School at the KuBe Art Center. Explore subjects like “Irrational Experiments in Physics”, “Hip Hop 101”, “Sex Ed”, “Art History Reimagined,” Ron English’s take on the Warhol classic “Silver Fame Factory” and more! The exhibition runs from Nov 3, 2023 - May 18, 2024 starting with Homecoming and ending with Prom.

Back to School Visitor Info

The University of Alabama at Birmingham
Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts
The Undeniable Blackness Between Us
1221 10th Avenue South
Birmingham, AL 35205
August 25 - December 9, 2023

Opening Reception:
Friday, August 25, 12-5pm

Michael Dixon’s paintings and performances explore the personal, societal, and aesthetic struggles of belonging to both “white” and “black” racial and cultural identities, yet simultaneously belonging fully to neither. For his 2023 AEIVA exhibit, titled The Undeniable Blackness Between Us, Dixon will explore his cultural duality through the lens of his childhood, familial relationships, and his search for a father he’s never known.

Michael Dixon lives in Albion, Michigan and is a full professor of art at Albion College. He received his MFA from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Dixon is a recipient of the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, Joan Mitchell Foundation Emergency Grant, Puffin Foundation Grant, and the Blanchard Fellowship. Recent exhibitions include the Slocumb Galleries, Eastern Tennessee State; Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art; and international exhibitions in Palestine, the Sarajevo Winter Festival 2022 and traveling exhibitions in Japan and Michigan.

Press:
AEIVA Inside the Arts LIVE featuring Michael Dixon

PlatteForum
Annex Gallery
"Once Lost Now Found: One Drop of Blood Between Us"
3575 Ringsby Ct.
#103
Denver, CO 80216

July 28 – August 19, 2023

Opening Reception:
Friday, July 28, 6-8pm

Michael Dixon is PlatteForum’s visiting resident artist this summer. Hailing from Albion, Mich., Dixon is an oil painter and full professor of art at Albion College. Dixon was born in 1976 to a white mother and Black father in San Diego, Calif. After participating in genetic testing, Dixon found a sister, and subsequently learned he was one of eleven children. This discovery also provided his biological father’s name and identity. Having never met his biological father, “Once Lost Now Found: One-Drop of Blood Between Us” is a new body of work about his missing biological father and his new-found family members. After 47-years of wondering, Dixon is at the beginning of a new chapter of discovery both personally and artistically.

Press:
Michael Dixon on Display

PlatteForum’s Resident Artist program is one of the first of its kind in Colorado. Our competitive international program provides artists the time, space and support to create new work, explore new mediums, and share their work with the community. Each resident artist’s practice and work created during their residency must address a social justice issue and may be created through any creative discipline.

Platteforum
2700 Arapahoe St #102
Denver, CO 80205

8-weeks, June & July, 2023

University of Iowa
Drewelowe Gallery
Miscegenation Nation
Visual Arts Building, E100
107 River Street
Iowa City, IA 52242

April 19 - 29, 2023

Closing Reception:
Friday, April 28, 5-7pm

Grant Wood Fellows Johanna Winters and Michael Dixon will present their work during a two-person show at the Drewelowe Gallery, located on the ground floor of the University of Iowa’s Visual Arts Building.

Dixon’s paintings, collectively displayed under the title, “Miscegenation Nation,” explores the story of his white mother Peggy amidst the fear of racial mixing in America. Anti-Miscegenation laws were in place across the country for 276-years. June 12th, 2022, marked the 55th anniversary of the landmark case, Loving v. Virginia, which made interracial marriage legal across the United States. Dixon is interested in how his mother navigated a cultural landscape that intentionally and legally promoted separation.

Winters will present a combination of videos, sculptural props, and collagraph prints titled “HOWW TO WAYT.” This work considers the condition of a puppet-protagonist who performs her sensuality for the camera. In a two-channel video at the center of the work, Winters manifests as the protagonist’s embodied chaperone as she readies for an encounter with an imagined romantic interest in a rehearsal for being desired.

The exhibition is free and open to the public, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.

The Grant Wood Art Colony seeks to provide a creative home for the next generation of artists and continue Grant Wood’s creative advocacy in the School of Art & Art History and the Division of Performing Arts at The University of Iowa through artist residencies, teaching fellowships, symposia, and community programs.

The vision of the Colony is to nurture creative work and teaching in disciplines relevant to the art and life of Grant Wood—studio art, art history, the performing arts, and eventually expanding to a variety of disciplines. The program exemplifies The University of Iowa’s historic commitment to creative work and pioneering of the MFA degree. The Grant Wood Art Colony will further embody the “Iowa Idea” of bringing artists and scholars together in an academic context, as first formulated in the 1920s by President Walter Jessup and Graduate Dean Carl Seashore. The long-term goal is to create a vibrant colony and cultural center, woven together by gardens and studio space.

Grant Wood Colony

Grant Wood Fellow Talk

The Horseman Foundation

OUR MISSION

The John and Susan Horseman Foundation for American Art is committed to advancing interest in and appreciation of the art of the United States. The Horseman Foundation firmly believes that an American art history without the contributions of women, Black, and Native/First Nations artists is not just incomplete, but incomprehensible. Since its inception in 2012, the Foundation has championed artists working outside the narrow parameters of the art historical canon due to their race, gender, or geographic locale. Through its Art Answers initiative, the Foundation facilitates access to, lends, and donates works of art; organizes and sponsors exhibitions and programing; and provides financial support for artists and scholars seeking to expand the dialogue of 20th and 21st century American art.

Kalamazoo Institute of Arts
"West Michigan Area Show"
314 S. Park Street
Kalamazoo, MI 49007

May 21 - September 4, 2022

Since the 1960s, this annual juried exhibition has showcased exceptional work in all media, drawing hundreds of entries from a 14-county region. Each year, an experienced juror chooses the artists from more than 300 submitted entries, ranging from paintings, prints and photos to mosaics, ceramics, jewelry, sculpture and mixed-media works.

The 2022 juror is artist Ed Fraga. Fraga is a Detroit area artist who received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Wayne State University. Ed often blurs the line between painting and construction as image and object merge as one. As a painter he explores the human condition, touching on themes of loss and the cycles of birth and death. His distinguished awards and Fellowships include an Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Fellowship, Kresge Artist Fellowship, Bellagio Center Rockefeller Foundation Residency, and an Arts Midwest National Endowment for the Arts.

East Tennessee State University
Slocumb Galleries
"Positive/Negative 37 National Jured Art Exhibition"
Ground level, Ernest C. Ball Hall
PO Box 70708
Johnson City, TN 37614

February 22 - April 1, 2022

Juror's Lecture:
March 30, Wednesday at 6 p.m. via ZOOM ID 710 908 4999.

This year's juror is Kevin W. Tucker, Chief Curator at the High Museum, Atlanta, Georgia. The Positive/Negative 37 National Juried Art Exhibition participating artists are J. Bradley Adams, Jimmie Allen, Jose Santos Ardivilla, Jim Arendt, Daniel Atyim, Mohsen Azar, Lawrence Baker, Gary Beeber, Kelly Boehmer, Rachel Boillot, Michael Borowski, Jan Burleson, Alexander Diaz, Joelle Dietrick, Michael Dixon, William Dooley, Kevin Ford, Kariann Fuqua, Nina Ghanbarzadeh, Jenny Hager, Sharon Harper, Stacey Holloway, Ron Janowich, Paula Kovarik, Jocelyn Lechuga, Riva Nayaju, Whitney Oldenburg, Matthew Patterson, Alayna Pernell, Sophia Sanchez, Hosna Shahramipoor, Julie Shapiro, Catherine Eaton Skinner, Steven Subotnick, Michele Theberge, and Dillon Ward.

University of Michigan
Stamps Gallery
"Envision: The Michigan Artist Initiative"
201 South Division Street
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104
November 12, 2021 - Jan­u­ary 22, 2022

Opening Reception:
Friday, November 12, 6-8pm

Orga­nized by Stamps Gallery, Envi­sion: The Michi­gan Artist Ini­tia­tive is a new awards pro­gram designed to sup­port the devel­op­ment of con­tem­po­rary artists liv­ing and work­ing in Michi­gan. This inau­gural pro­gram rec­og­nizes the cre­ativ­ity, rigor, and inno­va­tion of Michi­gan-based artists and col­lab­o­ra­tives;and hon­ors their role in inspir­ing the next gen­er­a­tions of artists in our state.

The call for work went out to artists across the state in March 2020. In July 2020, Envi­sion jurors Carla Acevedo-Yates, Cura­tor, MCA Chicago; Ken Aptekar (BFA’73), Artist; and Lor­ing Ran­dolph (BFA’04), Direc­tor, Frieze New York gath­ered vir­tu­ally to review the sub­mis­sions. After eval­u­at­ing 259 sub­mis­sions from across the state, the jurors selected five final­ists to receive a group exhi­bi­tion at Stamps Gallery, cur­rently planned for Fall 2021. Once the exhi­bi­tion is on view, one of the final­ists will be awarded a cash prize. The exhi­bi­tion will tour to dif­fer­ent venues in Michi­gan, includ­ing the Crooked Tree Art Cen­ter in Tra­verse City.

Envision Conversations: Michael Dixon

Seidel City
"Artnauts Collective - Uncanny Times: Looking Back, Looking Forward"
3205 Longhorn Road
Boulder, CO 80302
September 25 - November 13, 2021

Opening Reception:
Saturday, September 25, 4-7pm

Artist Talks:
September 26, 11am-1pm | October 2, 2-5pm | November 6, 2-5pm

Virtual Artist Talk:
October 20, 6:30-8:30pm via Zoom

Closing Reception:
November 13, 2-4pm

Uncanny Times: Looking Back, Looking Forward features new work by artists in the Artnauts Collective, along with special guests. Artists ponder these uncanny times we are in and consider, though our current times seem unrecognizable, whether there are recognizable patterns from the past. What has remained the same or cycled back? What new paradigms will we forge? These reflections span global history and the past 25 years of the Artnauts’ mission of social change, lessons learned, and dreams for the future.

This exhibition focuses on how our present time in the history of the United States has become a crisis of contention dividing our country. The familiar has become unfamiliar. Hate dominates life as we are inundated with media reports that bring this into consciousness on a daily basis. The Artnauts seek to create images that counter the present zeitgeist in hopes of healing our society with alternative visions. The Artnauts Collective has had exhibitions in places of contention throughout the world. We are exhibiting in our home country because the United States has become a place of contention. The coronavirus and the present situation in race relations make it imperative for the Artnauts to exhibit work that helps us address these issues.
- Dr. George Rivera, Artnauts founder and chief curator

Uncanny Times is curated by Cecily Cullen, director and curator of the Center for Visual Art, Metropolitan State University of Denver. The exhibition is organized by the Center for Visual Art in cooperation with the Artnauts Collective.

Eastend Studio & Gallery
"The Art Department"
143 W Michigan Avenue
Marshall, MI, 49068
September 18 – October 29, 2021

Opening Reception:
Thursday, October 14, 5-8pm

Katie Bullock
Michael Dixon
Ashley Feagin
Shauna Merriman
Emmeline Solomon

The Art Department contains work by Katie Bullock, Michael Dixon, Ashley Feagin, Shauna Merriman, and Emmeline Solomon. Work in the show includes large works with charged subject matter, as well as smaller, contemplative pieces to lose yourself in.

This group show is comprised of professors from the Albion College Art Department. Each educator is an accomplished artist in their own right. Artists in the show keep up their studio practice and exhibition schedule all while nurturing the next generation of fine artists. This exhibition pays homage to them.

Redline Contemporary Art Center
"My City: Life During the Coronavirus and/or Black Lives Matter in the USA"
2350 Arapahoe Street
Denver, CO 80205

Virtual Showcase

Artists in the United States organized to contribute representation from the United States to the online exhibition on the theme of “MY CITY.” This exhibition consists of photographs and digital images created by the ARTNAUTS Collective in the United States. Artists created photographs of something in their home, neighborhood or city, etc. that referenced the coronavirus or Black Lives Matter or created a digital image that references the coronavirus or Black Lives Matter.

The Artnauts is an artist collective that uses the visual arts as a tool for addressing global issues while connecting with artists from around the world.

The name derives from combining the words “art” and “astronaut” as a way to describe the process of exploring uncharted territory in the world at large. The name also denotes the practice that is “not” art as usual, going beyond the confines of the traditional or conventional art world and blurring the boundaries between art, activism, and social practice. The Artnauts have worked at the intersection of critical consciousness and contemporary artistic practice to impact change for almost 25 years. More than 350 artists have been in the collective, participating in over 270 exhibitions on 5 continents.

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS - Patricia Aaron // Valerie Albicker // Lourdes Archundia // Barbara Arnold // Trine Bumiller // Dennis Dalton // Rebecca DiDomenico // Michael Dixon // Melissa Furness // Quintin Gonzalez // Andrea Gordon // Kari Greenberg // Kathryn Hart // Todd Edward Herman // Ben Jackel // Mary-Ann Kokoska // Beth Krensky // V. Kim Martinez // Arturo Miranda Videgaray // Faten Nastas Mitwasi // Pamela Beverly-Quigley // George Rivera // Laura Phelps Rogers // Yumi Roth // Martha Russo // Virginia Schick // Tina Suszynski // Luis Valdovino // Summer Ventis // Luz del Carmen Vilchis

GUEST ARTISTS - Joanna Bugajska // Chelsea Taylor

elysium gallery
"Without Borders"
210 High Street,
Swansea, Wales
SA1 1PE
July 17 – August 28, 2021

Opening Reception:
Saturday, July 17, 3-10pm

Without Borders is an evolving digital project and physical exhibition that brings together 22 communities and nearly 300 artists from around the world.

Without Borders seeks to remove barriers, create alliances, and connect with neighbours. It aims to bring creative people together, to collaborate in an international touring exhibition of works on paper – a collection of artists pages.

At the end of the elysium exhibition, the pages will be bound together to make a book and taken to another venue to be taken apart, displayed, and then reassembled before moving again to its next location.

The exhibition will travel to Japan, Norway, USA, Venice, Canada, and back to Wales. The project will also be globally accessible via an e-catalogue.

At the end of the tour, the artworks will permanently be bound together to create one unique artist book, to be housed in a special collection’s library which will be announced at a later date.

Curated by Jonathan Powell, elysium gallery Director and Heather Parnell, co-editor of 1SSUE artist books. The project salutes the diversity of creativity, showcasing the work of all participating artists democratically, in a format that is portable and accessible. The ‘Artists Book’ serves as the vessel and sets the parameters into the exploration of the notion of Borders.

The term Border describes literal or invisible lines: edges that separate and divide, that contain and limit. Without Borders is particularly evocative and redolent in these current times. Ever-quickening, reactive politics results in some borders hardening, whilst others dissolve. The divide between rich and poor appears to be widening. Physical, geographical, and social borders, together with the fragile, permeable border between life and death have also been highlighted by the recent pandemic.

RedLine Contemporary Art Center
"A Survey of Shame, Emotion, and Oblivion"
2350 Arapahoe Street
Denver, CO 80205
March 9 – April 24, 2021

Part of Month of Photography (MOP), Curated by Mark Sink

Opening Reception:
Saturday, March 6, 6-9pm

VISIT: TIMED ENTRY, RESERVATION IS REQUIRED

In collaboration with Todd Edward Herman, Denver College Club, Alto Gallery and the Unperson Project, Three Acts braids three unique collaborations into one exhibit at RedLine for the Month of Photography. Todd Edward Herman offers Shame Radiant, a photography collective that explores themes of shame and privilege. Denver Collage Club and Alto Gallery join forces for the second act that dives into the phenomenon of cancel culture and the existential crisis spurred by the pandemic.The final act features the Unperson Project, an archive of oblivion from the Mexico City-based curatorial duo, Andrea Tejeda and Susana Moyaho. Together, Three Acts carries the sentiment, crisis and response to these times.

Shame Radiant
Todd Edward Herman

2021
Facilitating a survey-exhibit about our experiences with shame began by asking the questions: What can we learn about how we regulate, uphold or challenge social norms, hierarchies or transgressions when shame is activated? How can this powerful moral emotion turn inward, to ourselves, to our bodies, often catalyzing self-harm, self-negation, self-reflection, self-evaluation as well as healing?

A forum for such queries seems particularly relevant at a time when our respective relationships to a climate of amplified national and global conservatism, xenophobia, racism, transphobia, homophobia, and ableism have been significantly challenged.

I invited photographers, writers, visual artists, and non-artists from around the world to make work that collectively addressed their experiences with shame. The nearly 300 photographs, collages, drawings, and texts that were submitted in response look at deeply intimate, broadly political, emotional, physical, social, sexual, interpersonal, intergenerational, and institutional aspects of shame.

"Shame Radiant" hopes to offer an opportunity for participants as well as viewers to explore more of the personhood and less of the pathology of our collective as well as our outlying experiences of shame.

Play + Inspire Art Gallery
Catharsis
January 22 - March 19, 2021

The prompt for this juried exhibition was "How are you seeing change, coping with change, and being a change-maker?" Artists responded to this prompt and our juror, Chloe Alexander, used it as a starting point for selection of work. Below is her statement about the exhibition.

2020 was a tumultuous year, and while every new year brings about hope for change and progress, time remains relative. The world remains in the throes of a global pandemic, and many of us will continue to encounter unexpected challenges, setbacks, and general life-related happenstances as the new year progresses.

However, how do we, as artists, perceive and respond to change? The answer manifests itself in a variety of ways, be it through exploration of self, the environment, a more empathetic perception of others, or process- all of which often arise during moments of catharsis. This body of selected work explores the idea of change through the lens of individuals who work in a variety of media to realize not only what is, but what was, what is yet to come, and what is possible.

– Guest Curator, Chloe Alexander

About
This is a curatorial collaboration between Rebecca Potts, host of Teaching Artist Podcast and a teaching artist currently teaching TK-5th grades, and Maria Coit, creator of Curated for Kids and a middle school art teacher.

This exhibition space shares contemporary art to both highlight emerging and mid-career artists and inspire teachers and young people. We pair work with videos and lesson plans, making exhibits accessible as teaching tools.

Podcast
Teaching Artist Podcast

Video
Michael Dixon

Metropolitan State University of Denver
Center for Visual Art
The Walls Between Us
965 Santa Fe Drive
Denver, CO 80204
August 14 - October 17, 2020

Featuring work by the artist collective known as Artnauts, The Walls Between Us will examine different types of borders – politically charged, contested, invisible and those clearly delineated, as well as socioeconomic, emotional and other intangible barriers.

The Artnauts is an artist collective that uses the visual arts as a tool for addressing global issues while connecting with artists from around the world. The name denotes the practice that is “not” art as usual, going beyond the confines of the traditional or conventional art world and blurring the boundaries between art, activism, and social practice. This social justice focus is in great alignment with CVA’s mission to promote dialogue and engagement with global, urban issues through the lens of contemporary art.

Press:
The Walls Between Us Review

Foothills Art Center
"False Choice"
809 15th Street
Golden, CO 80401
August 28 - November 1, 2020

Ambivalently Yours, Michael Dixon, and Katherine Payge explore trials with false binary in their own lives through artistic creation.

Press:
Coversation with the Curator

Naropa University
Naropa University Art Galleries
"The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same"
2130 Arapahoe Avenue
Boulder, CO 80302
July 17 - December 24, 2020

MEET THE ARTIST: MICHAEL DIXON
Online Event: Friday, August 28, 2020, 6-7:30pm
https://naropa.zoom.us/j/94076148020

Naropa University Art Galleries presents:
The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same
by Michael Dixon

Virtual Exhibition

Michael Dixon is an artist working primarily with oil paint and was born in San Diego, California. He received his MFA from the University of Colorado at Boulder in painting, and a BFA from Arizona State University in painting and drawing. Dixon is currently a Full Professor of Art at Albion College. He has been the recipient of numerous awards and grants including a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, Joan Mitchell Foundation Emergency Grant, Puffin Foundation Grant, Blanchard Fellowship, and Phi Beta Kappa Scholar of the Year Award. Dixon has received numerous artist residencies including the Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program, Yaddo, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the Joan Mitchell Center. His work has been shown both nationally and internationally at museums, universities, art centers, alternative spaces, and galleries. Dixon explores the personal, societal, and aesthetic struggles of belonging to both "white" and "black" racial and cultural identities, yet simultaneously belonging fully to neither. The works of artists such as Robert Colescott, Beverly McIver, Michael Ray Charles, Glenn Ligon, and Kerry James Marshall have informed his work.

KickstART Farmington
"Unraveling Racism: Seeing White"
33304 Grand River Ave
Farmington, MI 48336
August 1 - August 30, 2020

Press:
KickstART exhibit explores racism, privilege through art

Morris Graves Museum of Art
"Artnauts: Globalocation II"
636 F Street
Eureka, CA 95501
July 8 - August 23, 2020

Join us for our next Inside the Arts LIVE event featuring a virtual gallery talk led by artist, Michael Dixon. Attendees will have a chance to participate in the Q&A following Michael’s talk.

Inside the Arts LIVE featuring Michael Dixon @ 5p CMT, Thursday, Jul 16, 2020

ABOUT THE ARTIST
“As a bi-racial American, I have often felt out of place, excluded, and alone in majority-white spaces. In black spaces, I have also felt different. What I have experienced is that I do not neatly fit into the white culture or black culture but rather rest in the middle. I have conceptualized this unique “in-between” space-based upon my experiences and the conversations I have had with other bi-racial people over the years. Exploring this “in-between” space has been the major focus of my creative work.” – Michael Dixon

RECKONING

“Reckoning: Deconstructing and Transforming Race in America – Now” is the third conversation in our Shuga & Wata series. This week, we have invited Alfred Conteh, LaToya Hobbs, and Michael Dixon to discuss the different ways in which they grapple with representation in their work.

July 3, 2020, 2pm EST

SHUGA & WATA

‘Shuga & Wata’ is the patois pronunciation of Sugar & Water. We selected this as the title of our PFF-sponsored online artists’ discussion Salons, because shuga & wata is a shared constant; a drink that exists in all post-Diaspora, New World cultures. Shuga & Wata alludes to the most basic kind of drink for those who are thirsty. It arcs back to sugar plantations in the Americas. We are invoking sugar itself, water itself, and what’s creatively nourishing about our presence, struggles, and contributions.

Shuga & Wata will be a bi-monthly forum. It is a sustaining mixture of relevant ideas and topics and is also a welcoming digital space in the era of social distancing. It is our mission to feature important artists, collectors and scholars. We will address important cultural topics in Contemporary African American and Afro-global art. Our mission is to create an ongoing communion of ideas and quench our collective thirst with new scholarship and relevant conversations.

Foothills Art Center, Golden, MI
Conversation with the Curator - Michael Dixon

Norwest Gallery
"Unraveling Racism: Seeing White"
19556 Grand River Ave.
Detroit, Michigan
January 11 - February 2, 2020

20 Michigan artists tug at the hidden strands of systemic racism woven into the fabric of American society – focusing on whiteness.

"Where did this idea of a white race come from? For what purpose? How has the meaning of white changed? How does it function now?"

Cultivating thoughtful and informed perspectives, small groups gathered regularly across urban, rural and suburban settings to respond to the podcast, share personal experiences and create an artistic dialog around these vital issues. Inclusive, inter-disciplinary + collaborative, this lively body of work is the result.

Artists include:
Hannah Burr • Justin Cox • Phil Dewey • Michael Dixon • Autumn-Grace Dougherty • Laura Earle • lisa eddy • Miki Graznak • Donna Jackson • Rita Lee • Melanie Manos • Azya Moore • Nora Myers • Margaret Parker • Mia Risberg • Trisha Schultz • Will See • Laurie Wechter • Margi Wier • Lizzie Wilson

Saturday, January 11
Opening Reception 6-9pm
Performance by Melanie Manos

Sunday, January 19
Artist Talks by Justin Cox, Michael Dixon, and Laura Earle at 2pm
Performance by lisa eddy at 3pm

Monday, January 20, MLK Day
Artist Talk by Rita Lee, Margaret Parker, and Azya Moore at 1pm
Musical Performance by Will See at 2pm

Gallery Hours:
Sat 12-7pm
Sun 12-4pm
Wed-Fri by appointment

Gallery Talk

Press:
Deadline Detroit
The Neighborhoods

Art Kettle at 22 North Gallery
"Unraveling Racism: Seeing White"
22 North Huron Street
Ypsilanti, MI 48197
October 4-6, and 18-20, 2019

Open at 22 North Gallery for just two weekends:

The voice of a unique art-making experience with a powerful podcast as its map, 20 Michigan artists tug at the hidden strands of systemic racism woven into the fabric of American society – focusing on whiteness.

"Where did this idea of a white race come from? For what purpose? How has the meaning of white changed? How does it function now?"

Cultivating thoughtful and informed perspectives, small groups gathered regularly across urban, rural and suburban settings to respond to the podcast, share personal experiences and create an artistic dialog around these vital issues. Inclusive, inter-disciplinary + collaborative, this lively body of work is the result.

Friday, October 4
Opening Reception 7-10pm
Interactive Performance by Melanie Manos

Saturday, October 5
Artist Talks by Miki Graznak, Azya Moore, Margaret Parker 1pm
Performance by lisa eddy 2pm
Open 1-5pm

Sunday, October 6
Artist Talk by Michael Dixon and Laura Earle 2pm
Guided Meditation by Hannah Burr 3pm
Open 1-5pm

Friday, October 18
Open 7-10pm

Saturday, October 19
Closing Reception 6-10pm
Performance by Will See 7pm
Interactive Performance by Melanie Manos

Sunday, October 20
Artist Talks by Justin Cox and Mia Risberg 1pm
Performance by lisa eddy, 2pm
Open 1-5pm

Hannah Burr • Justin Cox • Phil Dewey • Michael Dixon • Autumn-Grace Dougherty • Laura Earle • lisa eddy • Miki Graznak • Donna Jackson • Rita Lee • Melanie Manos • Azya Moore • Nora Myers • Margaret Parker • Mia Risberg • Trisha Schultz • Will See • Laurie Wechter • Margi Wier • Lizzie Wilson

Joan Mitchell Center
The Joan Mitchell Center in New Orleans
New Orleans, LA

May 13 - June 7, 2019

Press:
ART News
Joan Mitchell Foundation

David Richard Gallery
"I, too, sing America"
211 East 121st Street
New York, NY 10035
April 7 - May 5, 2019

Opening Reception:
Sunday, April 7, 2019, 3-7pm

Gallery Hours:
10am-6pm on Wednesday through Saturday
12-6pm on Sunday
or
By Appointment

Gallery Talk

Allegheny College
Allegheny Art Gallery
"Challenging Borders"
520 N. Main Street
Meadville, PA 16335
January 29 - March 15, 2019

Opening Reception:
Tuesday, January 29, 2019, 7-9pm

Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts
"Figurative Association Symposium 2018"
Gatlinburg, TN

Symposium
November 7-10, 2018

The symposium will be an event with many parts. At the core, 2018 will feature ten presenters – Jessica Calderwood, Michael Dixon, Judy Fox, Richard W. James, Curt LaCross, Stephanie Metz, LJ Roberts, Claire Stigliani, Kensuke Yamada, and Sunkoo Yuh. These ten artists, working from ceramics to embroidery, painting to enamels, will provide lectures and demonstrations across two full days. Before those days, however, the event kicks off on Wednesday with an opening reception to the 2018 Figurative Association Exhibition featuring work from all of the presenters, plus selected invited artists as well as our New Forms: Juried Student Exhibition. We are also excited to have sculptor Beth Cavener give the keynote opening address after the reception! In addition to the demonstrations and exhibitions, the event will also have panel discussions, additional lectures from guest speakers and rapid fire Quick Sketch presentations which allow for artists and makers to present their work and research.

REGISTRATION OPENS MAY 1ST

2018 Figurative Association Exhibition
October 20, 2018 - January 12, 2019 - Sandra Blain Gallery

Opening Reception:
November 7, 2018 for Figurative Association Symposium attendees only

Framingham State University
Mazmanian Gallery
"The More Things Change the More They Stay the Same"
100 State Street, PO Box 9101
Framingham, MA 01701
October 1 - 26, 2018

Opening Reception:
Tuesday, October 2, 2018, 4:30-6:30pm

Press:
Michael Dixon: African American Art after the Civil Rights Movement

St. Louis Community College - Florissant Valley
Florissant Valley Art Galleries
"Can You Hear Me Now"
3400 Pershall Road
St. Louis, MO 63135
August 20 - September 20, 2018

Opening Reception:
Thursday, August 30, 2018, 6-8pm

Muskegon Museum of Art
"Muskegon Museum of Art 90th Regional Exhibition"
296 W Webster Ave
Muskegon, MI 49440
August 30 – November 7, 2018

Opening Reception:
Thursday, August 30, 2018, 5:30pm

Juror: This year’s juror is artist and curator Marc Mitchell. He is an Assistant Professor in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts & Sciences at the University of Arkansas, where he also serves as Curator & Director of Exhibitions and Co-Director of Graduate Studies. His paintings incorporate geometric abstraction, graphic patterns, and found objects in an aesthetic that addresses nostalgia and cycles within contemporary popular culture. Mitchell has been featured in New American Paintings and The Boston Globe, and has exhibited around the U.S. and internationally. As a curator, he has developed exhibitions featuring artists such as Josef Albers, Philip Guston, Louise Bourgeois, and Carrie Mae Weems.

Madelife Gallery
"The Makings of a Man"
Boulder, CO
June 30 - September 1, 2018

Opening Reception:
Saturday, June 30, 7-10pm

Interview:
20 Questions with Michael Dixon

The Makings of a Man investigates ways in which the 21st Century male painter portrays himself and others given our current time. There is both a raw vulnerability and a defiant pride expressed in the works of the three artists highlighted. Through these paintings – a mix of self-portraits, images of friends, mentors, local personalities – we experience a shifting sense of identity and the need to highlight the humanity, individuality and power of the men featured here.

Opening: 7 pm to 10 pm @ madelife

Featuring:
Michael Dixon
Steve Morrell
Neil Yarnal

GoggleWorks Center for the Arts
"12th Annual Juried Exhibition"
Reading, PA
May 5 - June 3, 2018

Opening Reception:
Friday, May 4, 5:30-7:30pm

GoggleWorks Center for the Arts is a place to develop skills, ask questions, experiment freely, and investigate the human spirit. Here we create a dialogue between the established and experimental, the contemporary and the traditional. Through exceptional arts education and engaging community programming, we inspire people to expand the boundaries of art making, personal growth, and appreciation for material culture.

Juried by Thora Jacobson, Executive Director of the Philadelphia Art Alliance, the 12th Annual Juried Exhibition aims to present a selection of exemplary contemporary work from artists around the country.

Lowell Arts
"West Michigan Art Competition"
Lowell, MI
March 10 - April 14, 2018

Opening Reception:
Thursday, March 15, 6-8pm

The 32nd Annual LowellArts West Michigan Art Competition highlights outstanding artwork by West Michigan artists who reside in a 25 county region. This year’s distinguished juror is Ryan Kaltenbach who currently serves as Exhibits Director at the Northville Art House near Detroit.

the Dairy Arts Center
"Divided: Race and Identity in Modern America"
Boulder, CO
January 26 - March 4, 2018

Opening Reception:
Friday, January 26

The artists in this group exhibition explore the themes of race, identity, power, and division and the links between them in modern America. Through painting, photography, video, and sculpture each artist brings a diverse perspective and elicits a unique discussion on these important but often hard to address topics. Featuring works by Tya Alisa Anthony, Michael Brohman, Michael Dixon, and Françoise Soulé Duressé.

Press:
Just Give a Damn
Dairy Arts Center shows mark Black History Month

I was a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant recipient for the fiscal year of July 2016 through June 2017. Through the generous funding of the PKF, I was able to execute two exhibitions in Turkey (Izmir and Istanbul) and set up my new studio space in Albion, MI.

Link:
Michael Dixon

Broward College
Rosemary Duffy Larson Gallery
"Globalocation II"
Davie, Florida
November 16, 2017 - January 17, 2018

Opening Reception:
Thursday, November 16, 2017, 6-9pm with Lecture at 7:30pm

The exhibition will feature work by the Artnauts, an international collective of artists who use art as a medium to express global issues and connect people across the world. Globalocation II is a compilation of the finest works from previous shows which share a common theme: each piece addresses some of the biggest political, social, and personal issues affecting our current existence.

Press Release:
Globalocation II

'I'm Just Michael': Issues of Identity Drive Dixon's Art

Yaddo
Saratoga Springs, NY

May 18 - June 8, 2017

Galeri Eksen
Ortak Tarihler: Afro-Turk Portreler
(Shared Histories: Afro-Turkish Portraits)
Istanbul, Turkey
May 15 - 17, 2017

Opening Reception:
Monday, May 15, 2017, 6pm

Press:
Ortak Tarihler: Afro-Turk Portreleri Sergisi
Ortak Tarihler: “Afro-Türk Portreleri”

Konak Belediyesi
Ortak Tarihler: Afro-Turk Portreler
(Shared Histories: Afro-Turkish Portraits)
Izmir, Turkey
May 13, 2017

Press:
Dana Bayrami Coskuyla Kutlandi
The Turks Who Lost Thier Language

The University of Texas at Austin
The Benson Library
Globalocation: Celebrating 20 Years of Artnauts
Austin, TX
March 28 - August 31, 2017

Globalocation is a selection of works created by Artnauts, the Colorado-based artists' collective founded by Dr. Rivera, art professor at the University of Colorado–Boulder. The collective counts some 40 current members, all of them artists with graduate-level training, and some with illustrious international careers. The Benson Collection is the repository for Rivera’s papers, and will become the home of the original work featured in this exhibition.

Press:
GLOBALOCATION: The Urgent Mission of Artnauts Collective

The Historical Museum of Bosnia & Herzegovina
(Gradska Galerija Bihac)
"Meta Journey"
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
February 13 - 17, 2017

Press:
ABC.ba
Gradska Galerija Bihac Facebook Page
Damir Cumurovic, “Meta Travel 40 Artists,” Oslobodenje, February 10, 2017, p.6 (newspaper in Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovnia).

J. Willard Marriott Library
"Globalocation: Celebrating 20 Years of Artnauts"
The University of Utah
Salt Lake City, UT
January 20 - March 3, 2017

Press:
Exhibit at the U features artists who fight for international human rights

Zygote Press Gallery
"Let's Talk About Love, Baby!"
Cleveland, OH
January 13 - February 25, 2017

Opening Reception:
Friday, January 13, 2017
6:00 - 8:00 PM

Press:
Let's Talk About Love, Baby!: Zygote Press brings traveling 'Love Library' to Cleveland
Love-Themed Benefit for Zygote Press This Thursday Night

Greatmore Studios
"Zeitgeist: Social, Political, Cultural"
Capetown, South Africa
July 13 - 25, 2016

Opening Reception:
Wednesday, July 13, 2016, 6pm

Press:
Artnauts: Zeitgeist
Zeitgeist: Social, Political, Cultural
Zeitgeist: Social, Political,Cultural by Artnauts collective

Anacostia Arts Center
"Unapologetic Negritude"
Washington, DC
May 17 - June 19, 2016

Opening Reception
Sunday, May 22, 2016, 4-6:30pm

DMV ARTs is pleased to announce an exhibition entitled “Unapologetic Negritude” curated by artist Michael Hyman. The show is dedicated to creating a visual experience that is as much a homage to a black aesthetic as it is a stark critique on social matters in the world today. Hyman has selected artists from around the world to take part in this special exhibition celebrating the New Negritude movement.

Anacostia Arts Center
1231 Good Hope Road, SE
Washington, DC 20020

Press:
Anacostia Art Center Presents Unapologetic Négritude Group Exhibition
'Unapologetic Negritude' free art show at Anacostia Arts Center

Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program Spring Open Studios
20 Jay St, #720
Brooklyn, NY

The Artists of the Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program are pleased to announce the program’s annual open studio event with a reception for the artists on Friday, May 20 from 6-9pm and continuing through the weekend, Saturday and Sunday, May 21-22 from 2-6pm each day.

Press:
Highlights From the Sharpe-Walentas Open Studios
Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program Celebrates 25 Years with Spring Open Studios
Picks: Sharpe-Walentas Open Studios
Weekend Edition: 7 Things To Do in New York’s Art World Before May 23
Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program - Open Studios

David Richard Gallery
"The Narrative Figure"
Featuring Esteban Cabeza de Baca, Michael Dixon, Jeffrey Hargrave, Michael Hilsman, Daisy Quezada, Tshabalala Self
Sante Fe, NM
May 14 - June 25, 2016

Opening Reception:
Friday, May 13, 2016, 5-7pm

The advent of modernism in the early 20th century is often presented as a linear progression towards abstraction, with figuration giving way to more conceptual and theoretical visual imagery, as exemplified by artists such as Mondrian, Kandinsky and Pollock. A cursory look, however, demonstrates that even artists considered markers of abstraction, moved in and out between conceptual and representational imagery. Picasso, Braque, Malevich, De Kooning and Philip Guston are artists who often blurred these lines of demarcation and provided points of reference for later artists.

“The mash-up of abstract and figurative imagery has allowed for a richer, broader visual tapestry, where compositional concerns intermingle with personal narratives, sometimes direct; other times implied”, says gallery co-director David Eichholtz.

Each of the artists included in The Narrative Figure approach this composition differently. Cabeza de Baca, Hilsman and Self begin with a formalist context, leaving the narrative or ‘story’ to subtly and slowly emerge. For Dixon, Hargrave and Quezada, the methods and materials are a vehicle for presenting urgent, personal and social agendas.

David Richard Gallery
1570 Pacheco Street, Suite A1
Santa Fe, NM 87505

Press:
Abstraction and realism at David Richard
Jordan Eddy, "The Narrative Figure," Art Ltd, July/August 2016, 36.
Susan Wider, "The Narrative Figure," THE Magazine, July 2016.
Santa Fe Reporter, exhibition announcement with photograph, May 25-31, 2016, 63.

Dar Al-Kalima University College of Arts and Culture
Art and Resistance
Art and Resistance Conference
Bethlehem, Palestine
May 12-16, 2016

Art and Resistance: Art Exhibition from the United States

Michael Dixon: A Discussion About Race, Representation, and Biracial Identity

Historijski muzej (History Museum Bosnia and Herzegovina)
"Soul Drift: Visualizations of a Cultural Phenomenon"
The 32nd International Festival “Sarajevo Winter”
Sarajevo
Bosnia/Herzegovina
February 7-21, 2016

The International Festival Sarajevo “Sarajevo Winter” is a traditional meeting place for artists and citizens from all over the world. The first “Sarajevo Winter” Festival was held in 1985. In the course of twenty nine years of its existence, the Festival has become an inseparable part of the city life. The “Sarajevo Winter” Festival was not prevented from taking place even in the times of war, and has become a symbol of freedom of creativity and a place for familiarizing with diverse cultures and civilizations. The organizer of the “Sarajevo Winter” Festival is the International Peace Center Sarajevo. International Peace Center is a member of the International Society for the performing Arts (ISPA), the European Festival Association (EFA) and Association of Biennials of Young Artists of Europe and Mediterranean (BJCEM).

International Festival Sarajevo
32nd International Festival in Sarajevo “Sarajevo Winter 2016”
Current exhibitions
the Opening of the International Festival Sarajevo

I will be working in New York for the year at the Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program. I was awarded a studio space from September 2015 to August 2016.

20 Jay Street, #720
Brooklyn, NY 11201

"The Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program awards rent-free non-living studio space to 17 visual artists for year-long residencies. Artists are selected annually based on merit from a competitive pool of applicants by a professional jury."

thestudioprogram.com/artists/

Press:
Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program Announces 17 New Residents
Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program

In the Loop: Q&A with Visiting Artist Michael Dixon

Outdoor painting is a treat for Albion College art class

2010, Midwest, Issue #89

Phoenix New Times

David Richard Gallery
Artnauts
Requiem for 10,000 Souls
Art Slant
Professional Artist Magazine
Patrick S. DeWalt
Smack Mellon - Hot Picks Artists 2007