GVSU presents Franklin Sirmans at UICA

The Stuart B. and Barbara H. Padnos Student Art Gallery at Grand Valley State University will present Franklin Sirmans as this year's visiting curator. Sirmans is curator of modern and contemporary art at The Menil Collection in Houston. His visit includes a public lecture on Monday, January 12, 7 p.m. at the Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts, 41 Sheldon Blvd. SE, Grand Rapids, as well as meetings with Grand Valley classes and individual students.

Sirmans has taught at Maryland Institute College of Art, Princeton University and the School of the Visual Arts. In 2007 the High Museum of Art in Atlanta awarded him the David C. Driskell Prize, the first national award to honor and celebrate contributions to the field of African-American art and art history. A former editor of Flash Art and Art Asia Pacific magazines, Sirmans has also written for The New York Times, Essence and Grand Street, and contributed essays to numerous art catalogues.

Sirmans' most recent work was organizing "NeoHooDoo: Art for a Forgotten Faith," which began at the Menil this past summer and recently opened at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center in New York (co-organizer). Drawing on century-old traditions of magic and ritualism, NeoHooDoo presents the work of artists from across the Americas who bring spiritual and ritualistic practice to contemporary art.

For more information, visit [email protected], or call the Department of Art & Design at (616) 331-3486.