The Syracuse University Art Galleries is pleased to announce “Not A Metric Matters,” an exhibition featuring new and recent contemporary artwork created by 16 faculty members from the College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA). The exhibition highlights artists working in a wide variety of media including painting, photography, drawing, ceramics, video and site-specific installations. Curated by DJ Hellerman, curator of art and programs at the Everson Museum of Art, this exhibition brings together the eclectic and powerful work of design, illustration, studio arts and transmedia faculty at Syracuse University.
Emily Dittman, SUArt Galleries associate director states, “We are thrilled to exhibit the work of our faculty here at the university. Continuing in the tradition of the annual presentation of masters of fine arts students each spring, this exhibition showcases the diverse interests and unique talent of our colleagues in the schools of art, design, and department of transmedia.” A complimentary exhibition, “Teaching Methods: The Legacy of Art and Design Faculty” will also be on display in the galleries. Curated by David Prince, this exhibition presents a sampling of work by former VPA faculty in the permanent collection. 
The exhibitions will run Thursday, Aug. 15 through Sunday, Nov. 24 in the Shaffer Art Building. Gallery hours are Tuesday-Sunday, 11 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.; and Thursdays 11 a.m. – 8 p.m. Closed University holidays and Mondays. The SUArt Galleries will host an opening reception, co-sponsored by the College of Visual and Performing Arts, from 5-7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 12. Patrons are welcome to view the exhibition until the gallery closes at 8 p.m. The reception is free and open to the public.
Exhibition Overview
“Not A Metric Matters” features new and recent artwork from 16 faculty members from VPA: Yasser Aggour, Cooper Battersby and Emily Vey Duke, Don Carr, Ann Clarke, Deborah Dohne, Holly Greenberg, Heath Hanlin, Margie Hughto, Seyeon Lee, Sarah McCoubrey, Su Hyun Nam, Vasilios Papaioannu, James Ransome, Tom Sherman and Chris Wildrick.
In their most basic form, exhibitions provide occasions for art and ideas to be presented to an audience for public conversation, critique and evaluation. At academic institutions such as SUArt Galleries, these presentations are intended to be educational and emphasize knowledge, skills and research while putting the interest of students first.
Faculty exhibitions like “Not A Metric Matters” are tricky; a large group show where the organizing principle doesn’t consider the formal or conceptual concerns of the artists’ practices. Simply, each exhibiting artist is currently teaching at the same university. At the same time, faculty exhibitions are interesting opportunities to rearrange the traditional student-teacher power dynamic by presenting the work of professors for critique and evaluation by their students.
“Not A Metric Matters” is an opportunity for us to think deeply about the institutionalized and socialized ways we evaluate, judge and critique one another. It is a moment to ask meaningful questions about why and to what end we do participate in this structure, who benefits and whether or not these are evaluation metrics that actually matter.
About the Curator
DJ Hellerman is curator of art and programs at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse. A native of Ohio, Hellerman began curating and educating people about art while helping Progressive Insurance build a collection of contemporary art designed to encourage innovation and change. He received an M.A. in art history from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and a B.A. in English and philosophy from Lake Erie College in Painesville, Ohio.
A few of Hellerman’s recent curatorial productions include solo exhibitions “Edie Fake: Structures Shift,” “Jeff Donaldson: Dig,” “T.R. Ericsson: I Was Born To Bring You Into This World,” “Bjorn Schulke: Traveling Spy” and “Mildred Beltré: DreamWork.”
Recent theme-based group exhibitions include :Civic Virtue: all over the floor,” “Seen & Heard: An Active Commemoration of Suffrage In New York,” “Of Land & Local, an annual place-based exhibition about art and the environment” and “Taking Pictures,” an exhibition exploring how artists associated with the Pictures Generation anticipated and recently turned their critical attention to digital networks used in the dissemination and consumption of images.
Hellerman is a part-time professor at Syracuse University, has spoken at conferences across the country and has written extensively on American art, popular culture and the post-war American City. Prior to his position in Syracuse, Hellerman served as curator and director of cxhibitions at Burlington City Arts in Burlington, Vermont.
Related Programs
All programs are free and open to the public. For parking information, visit parking.syr.edu.
Gallery Reception
Thursday, Sept. 12, 5 – 7 p.m.
Artist Talk: Yasser Aggour
Wednesday, Sept. 4 at 12:15 p.m.
Artist Talk: Margie Hughto
Wednesday, Sept. 18 at 12:15 p.m.
Artist Talk: Holly Greenberg
Thursday, Nov. 7, 6:30 p.m.
Shemin Auditorium, Shaffer Art Building
Presented in collaboration with the Visiting Artist Lecture Series
“Grief, Healing and Creative Possibilities”
Friday, Nov. 8, 10 a.m.–noon
Maxwell Auditorium
Join artist Holly Greenberg, curator DJ Hellerman, Hendricks Chapel Dean Brian Konkol, and art historian Mary Murray for a moderated panel discussing the isolating and often silent aspects of death, grief and remembrance. Presented in collaboration with the Syracuse University Humanities Center in the College of Arts and Sciences, organizer of the 2019 Syracuse Symposium on Silence.