Hearing loss provides subject matter for visiting artist
Sept. 18, 2003
KALAMAZOO--A Chicago artist whose hearing impairment provides subject matter for his creations will visit the Western Michigan University campus later this month through the Visiting Scholars and Artists Program.
Joseph Grigley, a professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, will come to campus as a featured lecturer for the WMU School of Art. He will present a slide lecture about his work at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 25, in Room 2304 of Sangren Hall. His art was featured this year at the 2003 Venice Biennial; at Cohan Leslie and Browne of New York City; and at Galerie Francesca Pia in Bern, Switzerland.
Grigley's artwork derives from conversations he has had through notes he collected on scraps of paper as a consequence of his hearing loss in childhood. He attended the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, New England College and Oxford University. He currently serves as professor of visual and critical studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He previously taught at the University of Michigan's School of Art and Design and at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. He was an Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in English at Stanford University and has had numerous international and national solo exhibits, including shows at Air de Paris in Paris; the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and the Foundation Joan Miro in Barcelona, Spain.
Grigley's presentation is free and open to the public.
The Visiting Scholars and Artists Program at WMU was established in 1960 and has supported more than 500 visits by scholars and artists representing some 65 academic disciplines. The chairperson of the committee that oversees the program is Carol Bennett, instructor in the Department of Business Information Systems.
For additional information, contact the WMU School of Art Exhibitions Office at (269) 387-2455.
Media contact: Matt Gerard, 269 387-8400, matthew.gerard@wmich.edu