2027 SPE Annual Conference: Community in Contrast
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print this pageExploring Grief and Transformation: Personal Experience, Artistic Practice, and Curatorial Work
Michelle Burdine,Tracy Longley-Cook
Friday, October 16 - 10:30AM to 11:30AM
Hopkins 250
Exploring Grief and Transformation: Personal Experience, Artistic Practice, and Curatorial Work, examines the intersections of collaboration, community engagement, fine art, and identity.
Both artists will provide an overview of their individual artistic practice, with particular attention to work created in response to personal loss. Following these individual presentations, each artist will discuss the exhibition they curated. Longley-Cook will present Metamorphosis, which was on view at the Riffe Gallery in Columbus, Ohio, from August 1 through October 9, 2026. Burdine will discuss Spirit & Dust, on view at Urban Arts Space in Columbus, Ohio, from October 13 through November 14, 2026.
Longley-Cook's exhibition was selected through an individual open-call application process, while Burdine's project originated as a collaborative initiative among a collective of six artists and evolved into a co-curatorial project following the exhibition's acceptance and scheduling. Following these individual overviews, Burdine and Longley-Cook will engage in a dialogue through questions directed to one another, followed by an opportunity for audience members to participate in a broader discussion and pose questions.
Burdine and Longley-Cook will lead the audience through the varied processes of curation including applying for exhibitions and supportive grants, collaborating with a collective, booking community engagement events, selecting artists, and managing curatorial logistics. This talk is open to all conference attendees and would appeal to anyone who is dealing with loss, death, or grief; anyone interested in the subject of artmaking in response to trauma or artmaking as a method for healing; and anyone who is interested in curating multi-media group exhibitions.
speakers
Michelle Burdine
Tracy Longley-Cook
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