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Students, faculty and staff from St. Lawrence have contributed works to an exhibition that has been termed "democratic art activity." "Learning To Love You More In The North Country" is at the Creative Spirit Arts Center in Potsdam through April 24.

Assistant Professor of Fine Arts Amy Hauber worked with students in Sculpture I and II courses, and others, to put together the experimental/collaborative show, which includes sculptural installation, photography, video, electronic music and other forms of work.

Inspiration for the exhibition came from an international collaborative project, "Learning to Love You More," an "ever-changing Web site and series of non-Web exhibitions, screenings and radio broadcasts presented all over the world. Presentations are comprised of work made by the general public in response to assignments given by artists Miranda July and Harrell Fletcher and various guests."

The artists further define "democratic art activity": "Democratic art as freedom from the burden, impossibility and supremacy of 'original' thought, market definitions of genius, value and salability. It is democracy as collaboration and shared expression. The political authority in this work is found in the collective, the average-ness and the everyday (though by no means mundane). This experiment and the works that have resulted de-centralize the individual ego and attempt to diminish the collective anxiety and guilt that many Americans seem to feel during this difficult period in our global history."

Those whose work is exhibited at the Creative Spirit Arts Center from St. Lawrence are Nick Alena '07, Lyons, NY; Jenny Angell '05, Metamora, MI; Thomas Black '06, Fort Covington, NY; Ryan Conroy '06, Bantam, CT; Ryan Daniel '06, Bradford, NH; Seth Davis '06, Monkton, VT; Matthew Furney '05, Shelburne, VT; Hauber; Laura Jenks '05, Woodstock, VT; Brendan Levine '06, Brunswick, ME; Jeffrey Campbell Graduate Fellow in Music Tim Mangin; Assistant Director of the Richard F. Brush Art Gallery Carole Mathey; Visiting Assistant Professor of Global Studies Angus Mitchell; Assistant Professor of Fine Arts Melissa Schulenberg; John Sharkey '05, Camillus, NY; Blythe Stoecklein '05, Pittsburgh, PA; Adam Szymkowicz '05, Shoreham, VT; Eliza Tobin '06, Tobin, VT; Kerry Walter '06, Bangor, NY; and Lee Welch '06, Still River, MA.

For more about the international project, visit the Learning to Love You More Web site.

For more about the Creative Spirit Arts Center, visit their Web site.

Posted: March 31, 2005