The Syracuse Symposium 2003: "Journeys" will turn a special focus on the journey at the end of life with an exhibition and talk by artist Deidre Scherer.
"Surrounded by Family and Friends," a selection of Scherer's fabric portraits and drawings, will be on exhibit from Sept. 19 through Oct. 10 in the Genet Gallery, Room 113 of Syracuse University's Slocum Hall. Gallery hours are 1-5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Scherer will speak on "Journeys Toward the End of Life" on Sept. 30 at 7:30 p.m. in Room 114 of the Hall of Languages. Her presentation is co-sponsored by Hospice and Palliative Care Associates; an opening reception will follow.
Both the exhibition and the artist's talk are free and open to the public.
Scherer's fiber work focuses on the universal issues of age and mortality. "By honoring the processes of aging and dying, my figurative images lift the invisibility that surrounds this subject," she says. "This work starts a dialogue about death, and therefore life, that is essential to our times."
Scherer studied painting at the Rhode Island School of Design, and has worked with fabric and thread as her primary medium since the late 1970s. She has addressed the issues of aging and mortality by building a series of images based on elders and mentors in her community.
Her work has been represented in more than 100 shows nationally, including solo exhibitions at the Museum of Fine Arts in Springfield, Mass.; the Everson
Museum of Art in Syracuse; the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center in Brattleboro, Vt.; and the Baltimore Museum of Art in Maryland. Her work has also traveled to exhibitions in Canada, England and Japan.
The Syracuse Symposium is an annual intellectual festival celebrating interdisciplinary thinking, imagining and creating. The 2003 theme is "Journeys:" journeys of exploration and discovery, intellectual journeys, mythical and artistic journeys, migrations of peoples, exiles, liberations, pilgrimages and more. The series continues throughout the Fall 2003 semester and will include lectures, exhibits, performances and other special events.
