Kniznick Gallery to hold 'Floors & Ceilings' closing reception

The Kniznick Gallery at the Women’s Studies Research Center (WSRS) will host a closing reception for its juried student art exhibit, “Floors & Ceilings,” on Thursday, Sept. 15, from 5 to 7:30 p.m.

The art, which is part of the gallery’s first student art exhibit, has been on display since May. It was juried by a panel comprised of Brandeis arts faculty and staff, a WSRC scholar, WSRC curator Michele L’Heureux and assistant curator for the exhibition, Nera Lerner ’14.

It features the work of Brandeis students working in a range of media who are exploring the gendered implications of floors and ceilings. Floors and ceilings can represent structure or confinement, homes or prisons. Society still refers to the “glass ceiling” and also “getting in on the ground floor” as obstacles for women and marginalized populations. Moreover, people often speak of “sharing common ground” as a key to understanding one another and alleviating social ills.

The art work in this exhibition explores such themes as how floors and ceilings define domestic space and the gender roles therein; represent price controls in economics and the impact of those controls on women, families and workers; signify wage caps that prevent women and other marginalized people from attaining equal status; and serve as a metaphorical binary that reinforces and either/or philosophy, among others.
The exhibition and reception are free and open to the public.

The WSRC is a place where research, art and activism converge. The Kniznick Gallery is committed to feminist exhibitions of artistic excellence that reflect the activities of the WSRC and engage communities within and beyond Brandeis University.

For more details, visit the WSRC website.