EXHIBITION DATES
October 4 – October 27, 2007

Denver: Substance: Diverse Practices from the Periphery is an international exhibition that spans across the disciplinary boundaries of design demonstrating how designers integrate research, process, and practice beyond the traditional confines of the studio environment to develop meaningful and often life altering solutions. Implicit to the processes held by these designers is a responsibility to design, research and problem solve while showing a commitment to working directly with audiences, participants, and communities. While these “projects to learn from” are often located at the periphery of a discipline, they demonstrate the rich possibilities that result from embracing the community as a client, where working across socio-economic borders, cultural divides, and in the margins reveal the depth of the design discipline. In a consumer culture so oriented towards design today, the exhibition places specific emphasis on the projects that focus on the needs of under served people, places and problems.

Lisa M. Abendroth, Associate Professor and Communication Design Coordinator at Metropolitan State College of Denver, is the guest curator for Substance. She has brought together a critical collection of this timely work making selections based on how the projects can or could change lives rather than their aesthetic or formal value. Substance is presented at two venues in order to feature the breadth of design thinking in this genre. Works from the profession are featured at the Center for Visual Arts (September 6 – November 9, 2007). Emmanuel Gallery highlights works from junior and senior level undergraduate students and postgraduate students.

Participating Institutions in this exhibition at Emmanuel Gallery are: Archeworks; Bielenberg Institute at the Edge of the Earth; Central Connecticut State University; Metropolitan State College of Denver; Montana State University; Syracuse University; University of Florida; University of Michigan; and University of Technology, Sydney, Australia.

Both Emmanuel Gallery and CVA will host a Gala Reception the evening of Friday, October 12 from 7:00-10:00pm in conjunction with the American Institute of Graphic Art’s (AIGA) national design conference in Denver. For further information on the CVA exhibition go to www.mscd.edu/news/cva.edu.

Emmanuel Gallery is open 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Saturday. We are always free and open to the public. For any further questions please contact Emmanuel Gallery at (303) 556-8337.

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