Stephanie Garon: Gold Rush
About
Hamiltonian Artists is pleased to present Stephanie Garon’s solo show Gold Rush, on view from October 15 through November 26, 2022. Working with core samples extracted from a mine on unceded Passamaquoddy land in Maine, Stephanie Garon explores notions of labor, permanence, and land claim. Hamiltonian Artists is located closest to the Potomac River and Anacostia River corridors, which contain historical sites of gold mining, panning, and prospecting.
Through sculpture, installation, video, sound, and photography, Garon reflects on our relationship to the land. The exhibition includes an interactive component that invites viewers to use a metal detector mobile app to detect the gold, silver, and copper components in the core samples, as precious metal spot prices scroll across an LED sign overhead. Also on view is a video that features interviews with activist and art critic Lucy Lippard and Sipayik Museum director and curator Dwayne Tomah, who explore the overlaps between cultural history and geological damage. Garon’s large-scale drawings and crushed-core-sample paintings incorporate DC tap water and chemicals used in mining, situating the work locally.
About the artist
Stephanie Garon earned dual science degrees from Cornell University and attended the Maryland Institute College of Art. Her environmental art has been exhibited internationally in London, Colombia, South Korea, as well as across the United States. Her writing, a critical aspect of her artistic process, has been published in international literary journals, and her poetry book ACREAGE was published by Akinoga Press in December 2021 and is available at Politics & Prose. She is a Hamiltonian Artists Fellow, a National Park Service Artist-in-Residence in the Everglades, and recipient of a Puffin Foundation Environmental Art grant.
Visit
October 15–November 26, 2022
Thursday–Saturday, 11–6pm
Hamiltonian Artists
1353 U Street NW
Washington, DC 20009
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Programs
Artist talk
Thursday, November 3, 6–7pm
Musical performance
Saturday, November 12, 6–7pm
Mali Obomsawin, with Taylor Ho Bynum, Noah Campbell, and Olivia Shortt
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