Alice Aycock, one of the major sculptors and conceptual artists of the past two decades, will give a free public lecture at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 1, at The University of Akron’s Goodyear Polymer Science Center, 170 University Ave., across from E.J. Thomas Hall. Professor Judit E. Pushkas of the Department of Polymer Science and Professor Matthew Kolodziej of the Mary Schiller Myers School of Art at The University of Akron are hosting the lecture as part of UA’s Synapse [art+science] series that aims to foster insights and interactions among scientists and artists. A reception will follow the lecture. Parking available in all university lots designated C.
Aycock’s large, semi-architectural projects deal with the interaction of structure, site, materials, and the psychophysical responses of the viewer, such as claustrophobia and vertigo. Many of her early site-specific sculptures focus on the relationship of art and the environment. Her work is in major collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Los Angeles County Museum. Her site-specific works are in cities across the United States. Currently, her work is included in two significant group shows: Here Is Every: Four Decades of Contemporary Art at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (closing March 23) and Sites at the Whitney Museum of American Art (closing May 3). In addition to lecturing while she is on the UA campus, Aycock will critique student works, talk with doctoral students in polymer and integrative biological science labs, and take students to the factory in Dover, Ohio, that fabricates her large-scale, site-specific sculptures. Support for the lecture has come from the National Science Foundation as part of a program connecting science and art to broaden horizons for students of both disciplines.
