Nirmal Raja and I have 3 pieces on view from Reaching through 5 1/2 yards, 8497 miles as a part of The Golden Door exhibit at Silvermine Galleries in New Canaan, CT. Curated by Robin Jaffee Frank, Roger Mudre, and Barbara O'Brien the show "seeks to illuminate personal and collective experience while also exploring the concept of displacement, the deep divides of our history as a nation, and the enduring idea of the American dream." The show is up through January 16th.
More info: https://www.silvermineart.org/online-exhibition/the-golden-door/
May 29: When Lois doesn't have a pocket, she uses her waistband to hold tissues. When Jackie doesn't have a napkin, she wipes her fingers on her sock. from “House, Hold” is currently on view in the de Young Open in San Francisco until early January.
See the show remotely: https://deyoung.famsf.org/exhibitions/de-young-open
Cartography of Desire
Curated by Katayoun Amjadi & John Schuerman
Featured artists: Katayoun Amjadi, Lois Bielefeld, Xavier Tavera, Nina Ghanbarzadeh, Guillermo Guardia, Wing Young Huie, Essma Imady, Yevgeniya Kaganovich, Mika Negishi Laidlaw, Nirmal Raja, Kazua Melissa Vang, Rina Yoon
Cartography of Desire features 12 artists from 10 different geo-political locations. Taken together, they render visible a landscape where centers of power shift from controlled, illusory borders and the flattening effect of normative map-making, to a realm where the contours and profiles of place are shaped by each artist’s personal area of concern. These areas of concern range from issues of social justice, environmental activism and food to bearing witness at the border and bearing witness at home. The artists explore the threat of ambiguous objects and the tension between staying or going; they ponder the undeciphered body of text and the body as container, defined by its own written history. For these artists, the epicenter of significance could as easily be inside a refrigerator as alongside a refugee. In this world, structures of power give way to expressions of desire, the fusion of histories and dreams, where the false certainty of the map dot becomes an existential topography of wayfinding and place-making.
If maps structure, and at times constrain our knowledge, the work of these artists proposes alternate landscapes; the textured contours of a vibrant, and at times troubled world.
February 8–March 20, 2020
Opening Reception Saturday, February 8, 5–7 pm
RELATED EVENTS
March 7, 2020
10 am: Fifth Annual Art Historians of the Twin Cities Symposium – Object Lessons
1 pm: Conversation with the Curators – Katayoun Amjadi and John Schuerman discuss Cartography of Desire
St. Catherine University
Visual Arts Building
2004 Randolph Ave., St. Paul, MN 55105
Gallery Hours, September–May: M–Th 8 am–8 pm, F 8 am–6 pm, S–S noon–6 pm
Free and open to the public.
Event parking available in all Guest and Faculty/Staff lots on campus.
Please join me this week to see my new work, “Broom Studies” for it’s first installation.
California Institute of the Arts
Main Building: A402
1.26.20- 2.1.20
Reception: 1.30.20 7PM
Exhibition photo courtesy of Saint Kate Arts Hotel
Check out New Domesticity which is currently on view in “Playing House: Lois Bielefeld & Michelle Grabner” curated by Maureen Ragalie.
More Info: https://www.saintkatearts.com/exhibitions/playing-house-by-lois-bielefeld-michelle-grabner
Exhibition Dates: November 15 2019- March 16, 2020
Artist Talk with Michelle Grabner, Lois Bielefeld, and curator Maureen Ragalie
December 21st 5:30PM
Saint Kate Arts Hotel
The Gallery
139 East Kilbourn
Milwaukee, WI
Nirmal Raja and I were thrilled to be interviewed by Bonnie North for Lake Effect which aired on March 26. Please listen to the thoughtful and comprehensive interview here:
Picturing Identity
March 6 - March 27, 2019
A group photography show featuring: Elizabeth Bernstein, Lois Bielefeld, Jess T. Dugan, Jamil Hellu, Jenny Sampson, Liz Steketee, Anita White, Nicole White
Gallery hours and Location:
Diablo Valley College Art Gallery
Monday-Thursday, 11:00 am - 4:00 pm
Friday, 11:00 am - 3:00 pm
The Art Gallery is located in the art quad, room A305.
Opening reception artists present from left to right: Jamil Hellu, Jess T. Dugan, Nicole White, Jenny Sampson, Anita White, and Lois Bielefeld
On Belonging Art Collaboration Exploring Place and History in Milwaukee to Run at The Warehouse Museum From March 8 to May 31
Milwaukee (Feb. 15, 2019) – The Warehouse exhibition space in the Menomonee Valley’s Design District announced On Belonging, an exhibition exploring themes of identity, race, and history will run March 8 through May 31.
On Belonging is the culmination of collaborations started in June of 2017 between two nationally recognized artists – photographer Lois Bielefeld and interdisciplinary artist Nirmal Raja. Bielefeld is a Milwaukee native, and Chennai-born Raja has lived in Milwaukee for 27 years. Products of their two collaborations, which will both be exhibited at The Warehouse, explore different perspectives on the city they live in.
A public opening reception for On Belonging takes place from 5 p.m. – 8 p.m. Friday March 8. The related performance installation, Moving Archive – What is Remembered, is set for 7 p.m. Saturday March 9. Both events are free and open to the public. Attending the performance requires a reservation, which can be made at Eventbrite.com.
One body of work explores the visual understanding of race and place. They examine Milwaukee’s complex historical, economic, ethnic, racial, and religious spaces. The result is a creative, complex portrait of Milwaukee.
In their second body of work, history is visualized as a membrane that connects, divides, filters and binds through the use of performance-based photography, and video installation along with an ongoing audio archive. Throughout they ask: what is our relationship to history? What does it mean to belong? What does it mean to be American?
In conjunction with this exhibition, the performance installation The Moving Archive – What is Remembered will take place at 7 p.m. March 9. Choreographed and co-directed by Maria Gillespie, the performance will intersect with the On Belonging installation and feature composer and cellist Janet Schiff with performers Maria Gillespie, Chanteé Kelly, and Joelle Worm.
Information on making appointments to view the On Belonging exhibit can be found at www.thewarehousemke.org/visit. There is no charge to visit The Warehouse.
Reservations for the performance Moving Archive – What Is Remembered can be made here:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/on-belonging-the-moving-archive-what-is-remembered-tickets-56343785780
More information can be found at the artists’ websites:
https://www.loisbielefeld.com/
http://www.nirmalraja.com/
The ongoing audio archive can be accessed here:
https://soundcloud.com/user-839451300
Install image, my photograph (Wednesday: Siena, Brian, Alivia and Leah. 2013 from Weeknight Dinners) on right monitor
I have 3 photographs in Showing (work x family) installation at the University Art Gallery at California State University: Stanislaus in Turlock. The exhibition will be open until Dec 14. Come see this show that visually discusses this important intersection of work and family.
Tuesday: Alden and Alan. 2014
Weeknight Dinners will be on view at the Joyce Paddock Bliss Art Gallery at Carroll University from Oct 26- Nov. 21, 2018.
More info: https://www.carrollu.edu/events/event-details?eventid=10883
I’m thrilled to be featured in this month’s Documentary Special in Huck Magazine London. Here’s a link to the article:
https://www.huckmag.com/art-and-culture/photography-2/lois-bielefeld-intimate-spaces-usa/
Mary Louise Schumacher, from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, wrote and in-depth and thoughtful article about Nirmal Raja and my collaboration Reaching Through 5 1/2 yards | 8497 miles. Article Link:
https://www.jsonline.com/story/entertainment/arts/2018/09/19/sari-nirmal-raja-lois-bielefeld/939814002/
Opening reception photo courtesy of Mowa
Family photographs number among our most cherished possessions. These mementos preserve the past, acquainting us with long-gone forebears and providing ballast for the narratives on which we hang our identity. Photographing family uniquely illuminates its subjects’ essential selves, which, after all, are first fired in the forge of family life. Family Albums presents distinct takes on the genre—as captured by photographers Tom Bamberger, Lois Bielefeld, Dick Blau, Kevin Miyazaki and filmmaker Emir Cakaroz—documenting relationships, investigating origins and creating striking images along the way.
Exhibition Runs: August 18–November 11, 2018
Opening Party: Saturday, August 18, 2:00–5:00
Museum of Wisconsin Art
205 Veterans Ave, West Bend, WI 53095
Photo courtesy of Mowa
As Colm Toibin observes in the introduction to What Would Lynne Tillman Do?, “Creating space for your own work involves creating space for the work that made a difference to you. This is why artists write essays; they do so to reposition the way we read or the way we respond so that the work they do can be read or seen more clearly. It is the same reason, if there is a reason, plants grow toward light” (14). In The Book Club: What Would We Do with Lynne Tillman?, Peter Beck, Lois Bielefeld, Melissa Dorn, Jaymee Harvey Willms, and Kate E. Schaffer make space for Tillman and each other, just as Tillman creates a rich space of discussion within the context of her book.
This wholistic installation is an experiment in group dynamics and addresses complexity in a made and experienced world. Viewers will experience paintings, drawings, sculpture, photographs, furniture, and interactive installation. Accompanying the installation will be 5 artist-annotated essays from What Would Lynne Tillman Do? that give the viewer additional insight into the artists’ interactions with the text.
Exhibition runs July 20-September 1
Frank Juarez Gallery
207 E Buffalo St, Ste 600
Milwaukee, WI 53202
Upword Bound students looking at Celebration series
I'm thrilled to have my new series, Celebration, that I've developed for the Greater Milwaukee Foundation’s Mary L. Nohl Fund Fellowships for Individual Artists 2017 at The Haggerty Museum of Art. I'm showing Celebration, a new series of work. The show will run until August 5th.
Please come and participate in my ancillary event by making a new Celebration photo of artist and Nohl fellow, Ariana Vaeth's birthday celebration at Haggerty. This will be be a two part event as I'll be documenting the actual event on Thurs. the 19th at 6PM. This is open to the public and participants are highly encouraged. The re-staging of the event for the photograph will be Sat. the 21st at 2PM. If you participated in Thursday evening's celebration please return for the photoshoot re-staging. You will receive an 8x12 print if you are in the photograph.
https://www.facebook.com/events/108506939989681/
Emry's Tea Party. 2018
Between There and Now features the overlapping subjects from three bodies of work: The Bedroom (2008-2012), Weeknight Dinners (2013-2015, 2017), and Neighborhood (2015-current). Bielefeld's solo show at the Marian Art Gallery is on view from Feb 19- March 21, 2018.
Marian Art Gallery
Mount Mary University
2900 North Menomonee River Parkway
Milwaukee, WI 53222
I am excited to have three Neighborhood portraits in the Wisconsin Artists Biennial at the Museum of Wisconsin Art until April 8th.
(left to right) Kat. 2014; kQween. 2014; Sean. 2014; Stall. 2018 (audio installation, 6 hours, 4 minutes)
Androgyny is in the group show "Humanly Possible: The Empathy Exhibit" curated by John Schuerman and co-curator Mark Lawson.
In our current divisive social and political landscape, the newest exhibit at the Milwaukee
Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) asks viewers to do what lately seems rather difficult: feel empathy. “Humanly Possible: The Empathy Exhibition” is on view in MIAD's Frederick Layton Gallery January 12 – March 3. MIAD's galleries are free and open to the public, Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Free gallery tours are available at miad.edu/gallerytours.
Artists exhibiting: Juliane Shibata, Tina Blondell, Inna Valin, Chase Boston, Christopher E.
Harrison, Nooshin Hakim, Peter B. Nelson, Liza Sylvestre, Gudrun Lock, Sue Coe, Lois Bielefeld and Raoul Deal.
Additional Programming:
• Thursday, February 15, 7 p.m. – Empathy, Connections and Borders: An Evening of Poetry and
Storytelling
A night of visual and oral storytelling between artists and writers from Milwaukee and Minneapolis exploring empathy, creating human connections and crossing borders. Performers include Michael Kleber-Diggs, Anais Deal-Marquez, Kavon Cortez-Jones, Dinorah Marquez, Isela Xitlali Gómez and Eli Avalos.
• Thursday, March 1, 7 p.m. – 100 Lullabies (Lullaby Songs for Syrian Refugees)
An experiential platform for listening to stories of war, face to face with artists who grew up during war in the Middle East. Audience members will be invited to sing and record a song of comfort or lullaby in their own language for children who are affected or displaced from their motherland by war. Participants include: Nooshin Hakim Javadi, Pedram Baldari and Katayoun Amjadi.
Wednesday: Willie Mae. 2013
Weeknight Dinners will be a part of ICP's Projected series from October 9- October 15, 2017. During the day, the work is presented on monitors and during evening hours, images are literally “projected” onto the windows of the ICP Museum; they can be viewed from the sidewalk outside the museum and are most visible after sunset.
International Center of Photography Museum
250 Bowery
New York, New York 10012
https://www.icp.org/events/icp-projected-weeknight-dinners
Interview: https://www.icp.org/interviews/icp-projected-lois-bielefeld
October 9- October 15 2017