Overview
BOUNDLESS features six installation artists from around the country: Lillian Blades from Atlanta, Georgia; Ashley V. Blalock from El Cajon, California; Dave Eppley, from New Paltz, New York; Olga Lah from Long Beach, California; Melissa Vandenberg from Richmond, Kentucky; and Jamele Wright, Sr., from Decatur, Georgia. Created specifically for the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, these installations transform the Museum’s galleries. They break free from the constraints of traditional frames and pedestals by spanning across walls into the rooms themselves, projecting into the galleries, or hanging from the ceilings. Each artist combines everyday objects and traditional materials, drawing not on paper but in the space itself. These installations playfully engage us while exploring concepts like memory, identity, consumerism, and notions of home.
Resources
Organizer + Sponsor
Organized by the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, Alabama.
This exhibition is funded, in part, by lead sponsors Mr. and Mrs. Barrie H. Harmon III and a grant from South Arts in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Alabama State Council on the Arts.
“The world of reality has its limits; the world of imagination is boundless.”
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
(Swiss, 1712–1778), Philosopher
Participating Artists
Lillian Blades (Bahamian, born 1973) currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) and a Master of Fine Arts in painting from Georgia State University. In addition, she has studied at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine and Caversham in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. Blades has exhibited in both solo and group exhibitions throughout various galleries in the United States, The Bahamas, Trinidad, Germany, and South Africa. The locations of her public commissions include Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and Jean Childs Young Middle School in Atlanta, Georgia.
California-based artist Ashley V. Blalock (American, born 1978) holds a Bachelor of Arts in painting and printmaking from San Diego State University, a Master in Fine Arts in sculpture from the San Francisco Art Institute, and a Master of Arts in art history from the University of California. She was a resident at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, the Wassaic Project, and the Vermont Studio Center, as well as a visiting teacher at the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. Blalock has exhibited her installations at venues that include Franconia Sculpture Park in Shafer, Minnesota; the Hunter Museum of American Art in Chattanooga, Tennessee; and the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno, Nevada.
Based in New York, Dave Eppley (American, born 1974), holds a Master of Fine Arts from Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt) and has installed site-specific artworks at such institutions as the Des Moines Art Center in Iowa, the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Wisconsin, OBORO in Montreal, Canada, and the Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College in New York. Eppley’s public commissions are located at Bloomberg L.P.’s New York headquarters and Memorial Sloan Kettering Brooklyn Infusion Center New York.
Olga Lah (American, born 1980) lives and works in California. She received a double Bachelor of Arts in studio art and art history from the University of California, Riverside, and went on to receive her Master of Arts in theology from Fuller Theological Seminary. Lah has exhibited extensively at the Orange County Museum of Art in Newport Beach, California; Craft and Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles; Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions; and Los Angeles International Airport. Her awards include an Artist Fellowship with the Arts Council for Long Beach, the Korea Arts Foundation of America Biennial Award, and the Goldman Fellowship for residency at the Djerassi Resident Artist Program.
Melissa Vandenberg (American, born 1977) is a multidisciplinary artist, educator, and curator living in eastern Kentucky, where she is a professor at Eastern Kentucky University. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the College for Creative Studies in Detroit and a Master of Fine Arts from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Vandenberg has exhibited her work internationally and throughout the United States, including at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow, Poland and the Birmingham Museum of Art in Birmingham, Alabama. She is the recipient of numerous grants, including a Kentucky Foundation for Women grant, the Al Smith Fellowship, and a Great Meadows Foundation grant. She was also shortlisted for the Luxembourg Art Prize in 2016.
Originally from Ohio, Jamele Wright, Sr. (American, born 1970) has called Georgia his home for almost 30 years. Wright graduated from Georgia State University with a Bachelor of Arts in art history with a concentration on African and African American contemporary art and a Master of Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, New York. He completed a fellowship at Project for Empty Spaces in Newark, New Jersey. Wright has shown his work at the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston, South Carolina, and the Zuckerman Museum of Art in Kennesaw, Georgia.
Artist Videos
Lillian Blades
Ashley V. Blalock
Dave Eppley
Olga Lah
Melissa Vandenberg
Jamele Wright, Sr.
Related Exhibition
Beyond the Wall
November 26, 2022, through February 26, 2023
Related Programs + Events
Teen/Adult Ceramics Class Series with Sara Crocker
Saturday, February 25, 2023
10 AM–12:30 PM
Teen/Adult Ceramics Class Series with Sara Crocker
Saturday, February 18, 2023
10 AM–12:30 PM
Youth Ceramics Class Series with Sara Crocker
Saturday, February 11, 2023
10 AM–12:30 PM CT
Youth Ceramics Class Series with Sara Crocker
Saturday, February 4, 2023
10 AM–12:30 PM CT
Art Ed Central
Tuesday, January 17, 2022
5:30 PM CT
Art After Five: Boundless Opportunities
Tuesday, January 10, 2023
5:30–7 PM CT
Adult Studio Class: Mixed Media with Sara Wright
Saturday, January 7, 2023
10 AM–1 PM CT
Community Artmaking Program with Jamele Wright, Sr.
Saturday, December 10, 2022
10:30 AM–1 PM CT
Opening Dinner: BOUNDLESS
Thursday, December 8, 2022
7–9:30 PM CT
Opening and Gallery Talk
Thursday, December 8, 2022
5:30–7 PM CT
Related Publication
BOUNDLESS
$34
Exhibition catalogue for BOUNDLESS at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts. This 32-page catalogue features a high-gloss laminated cover, foreword from MMFA Director Angie Dodson, essay by curator Jennifer Jankauskas, Ph.D., high quality full bleed installation images, and artist biographies.
Image Gallery
