Misterios Crafts Exhibition

On the heels of fall’s Tesoros: The Arts in Latin America, 1492–1820 at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, over 60 UArts crafts students took centuries old Colonial Mexican artifacts and transformed them into personal creations of mystery and beauty for the exhibition Misterios. The University hosted a two-day public exhibition of this work in April 2007 in Solmssen Court of Hamilton Hall, which was decorated like a serenity temple, and a two-week exhibition at Philadelphia Cathedral in West Philadelphia.

UArts President and native of Mexico Miguel Angel Corzo donated the artifacts, ranging from keys to glassworks, from porcelain and wooden religious figurines to coins and cups. Under the guidance of Crafts Professors Sharon Church and Rod McCormick, students studied the Tesoros pieces at the Museum, pored through books and catalogues and examined the history of the colonization of Mexico. Many students used a 3-D laser scanner and printer to create digital replicas of the artifacts in acrylic plastic. Others integrated the original artifacts into their crafts. The results varied to include:
• Sculptures
• Vases
• Urns
• Picture frames
• Altars
• Candles
• Brooches
• Jewelry
• Cabinetry

View the work at www.uarts.edu/news/misterios.

 




Professional decorators transformed Hamilton Hall's Solmssen Court into a surreal serenity temple for the Misterios crafts exhibition at UArts in spring 2007.


Whatever methodology a student chose, the challenge was to develop a work of art that offered his or her unique interpretation of a specific colonial artifact.  Students studied the works at the Museum, pored through books and catalogues, examined the history of the colonization of South America and were enthralled with Miguel Angel’s lecture on Mexico Barocquo." - Sharon Church, Crafts professor