02/02/2023
February 10 – April 2
The Cherry Arts, Ithaca’s innovative multi-arts hub, is thrilled to announce a hypnotic, immersive new video installation from Brooklyn-based artist Corinne Spencer entitled “At the Threshold.”
“At the Threshold” creates a mythologized journey beginning with emptiness and the yearning for love, eventually blossoming into tenderness and homecoming within the self. The work re-envisions the relationship between blackness and the land, moving from a story tangled up in America’s history of enslavement and forced labor, to one supplanting violence with gentleness, romance and mystery.
Corinne Spencer received her BFA from Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2010 and attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 2014. Her work has been performed and exhibited throughout the US. Last year, Spencer was selected as a photo/video Fellow for the Constance Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts residency, during which some of the artwork in this exhibition was created. The Saltonstall Foundation is a partner in presenting this exhibition.
Artist Corinne Spencer says, “I’m looking forward to exhibiting this work in Ithaca, close to the waterfalls and fields that served as the landscape for some of the pieces. Creating this work has been a transformative practice which has reconnected me to a sense of intrinsic belonging to the world, which as a Black woman in America, has often been vacant in my life. I hope in sharing this work, I will also share that transformative energy with viewers of the show.”
“Corinne Spencer’s video and photo work are both gorgeous and deeply moving,” says Cherry Artistic Director Samuel Buggeln. “We’re thrilled to showcase this work in the Cherry Gallery in our first season of exhibiting visual arts. Ithaca audiences will see familiar landscapes elevated to the level of myth in stunning ways. This is a show not to be missed.”
Lesley Williamson, executive director of Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts, says, “We are so excited to be bringing Corinne back to Ithaca to share her work with the community. We’ve always admired the Cherry, so we’re thrilled to be collaborating with the new Cherry Gallery which is such a fabulous addition to Ithaca’s arts ecosystem.”
The opening wine and cheese reception for At The Threshold will take place Friday February 10 from 5 to 9 p.m. The reception is free and open to the public.
The exhibition “At The Threshold” is the third of four 2022-23 Cherry Arts exhibitions and performances to be generously funded by Cornell University’s Migrations Initiative.
For more information, visit thecherry.org.
