Emma Pryde, Noël Ash

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An untitled mixed media work by Emma Pryde.

The new A + L Lab at 111 S. Livingston St. (across East Main Street from The Sylvee and adjacent to the new city parking ramp) has new galleries that are a perfect blank canvas for visual art. Emma Pryde's Night Births in the Laboratory is a multimedia installation utilizing ceramics and acrylics. Noël Ash's Things Pile Up features oil paintings from everyday life and especially the junk we manage to accumulate in our living spaces — something we can all relate to after six-plus months sheltered in place. The galleries are open from noon-5 pm Thursdays through Saturdays, or by appointment. Virtual artist talks and other events will be announced on artlitlab.org and its Facebook page.

media release: Arts + Literature Laboratory is proud to announce the opening of two exhibitions in its new Livingston Street building. The exhibitions are displays of work by the winners of the 2020 ALL Prize, awarded each year to outstanding graduating MFA students from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. This year’s prize winners are Noël Ash, MFA Painting and Emma Pryde, MFA Ceramics.

ALL Prize Artist Talks with Emma Pryde and Noël Ash Online Thursday, October 29, 5pm: Watch the artist talks and ask questions via Facebook - no account necessary. 

Emma Pryde: Night Births in the Laboratory is a multimedia installation-based exhibition that utilizes a variety of materials such as slip-cast porcelain and laser-cut acrylics to create a world inhabited by the iconography of childhood, the digital age, and newer, fantastical forms of Pryde’s conception. Pryde mixes the visuals of religion, consumerism, fantasy, and aesthetics of cotton-candy hued nostalgia, belying an examination of the sinister side of the feminine.

Noël Ash: Things Pile Up is an exhibition of oil paintings focusing on scenes of everyday life and parenthood—sinks piled with dirty dishes, kitchens crowded with the aftermath of quotidian chores. In setting her eye on the banality of the kitchen, Ash consciously elevates it to the level of consideration that oil painting has historically insisted on. Ash’s muted jewel toned palette and loose brushstrokes reveal the beauty that resides mostly unseen within the mundane, even when it threatens to overwhelm.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this presentation of artwork in ALL’s new galleries will be available to view during limited hours from 12-5pm Thursday through Saturday or by appointment. Visitors inside the building will be required to wear masks and practice social distancing, and the number of visitors will be limited according to current public health guidelines. Both exhibitions will be on display through October 31, 2020. Exhibition admission is free. Please visit ALL’s website (artlitlab.org) or Facebook page (facebook.com/artlitlab) to learn about other upcoming programs and events, including virtual artists talks with the ALL Prize recipients.