How can we bring our own memories and experiences to our interpretation of art? How can queerness be a creative tool for observing and connecting with the world?
Join us for a night of exploring queerness in art in the Colby Museum galleries with Lunder Institute fellow Brian Smith, Mirken Coordinator of Campus Collaborations Jillian Impastato, and Colby student Char Butler ’26. Participants will engage in facilitated discussions in the exhibition Alex Katz: Repetitions before continuing the conversation and sharing a meal in the museum lobby. This event is free and open to all.
Alex Katz, Summer Flowers, 2018. Enamel based silkscreen inks on gessoed canvas, 42× 111 in. (107 × 282 cm). Gift of the artist, 2023.018.
Brian Smith is a Maine-based sculptor and painter whose artistic practice centers on exploring the relationship between humanity and the environment through the lens of queer ecology. He holds a bachelor of fine arts in sculpture from Massachusetts College of Art and Design and a master of fine arts in studio arts from Maine College of Art & Design, where he has also served as an adjunct professor.
Smith’s work has been showcased in numerous exhibitions throughout Maine, Antwerp, Texas, Massachusetts, and New York. His contributions to the field have been featured in various publications, including Boston Art Review, the Portland Press Herald, Maine Magazine, The Chart, Floorr, Divide, and Working Artists Magazine.
Smith is currently a fellow at the Lunder Institute for American Art at Colby College, and has completed artist residencies at Hewnoaks Artist Colony, where he currently serves as a residency manager, and at Monson Arts Residency. Notably, Smith is the recipient of the American Rescue Plan Maine Project Grant via SPACE Gallery and the Maine Arts Commission Springboard Grant and Project Grant. Smith recently completed a solo exhibition this past year that took place at Parsonage Gallery in Searsport, ME.
The Art & series brings together visiting artists, scholars, museum staff, and community experts for conversations about exhibitions, collections, and projects at the Colby College Museum of Art and its Lunder Institute for American Art. A mix of in-person, virtual, and hybrid programs, this series is designed for those interested in learning more about art and engaging with the key issues of our time.