The UCCS Galleries of Contemporary Art will present two new exhibitions: “Linda Fleming: Confluence,” opening Sept. 6, at the Ent Center for the Arts and “Radical: 50 Years of Libre Intentional Artist Community,” opening Sept. 7 at GOCA’s downtown gallery.
Linda Fleming is an artist whose work makes physical such impermanent elements as wind, air, light and shadow. Fleming is best known for her large-scale outdoor sculptures, which draw from the desert and mountain environments surrounding her three studios (located in the Bay Area, Nevada’s desert and southern Colorado’s Huerfano Valley). “Linda Fleming: Confluence” is a major solo exhibition featuring works in steel, wood, rubber, felt and paper, and includes two monumental works on the Ent Center for the Arts sculpture green. A catalog publication accompanies the exhibition.
Fleming is a founding member of the artists’ community Libre in Gardner, Colorado, where she maintains a studio in a geodesic dome that she constructed. Libre was founded in 1968 on southern Colorado’s beautiful and rugged high mountain plains. It exists today as a place apart for artists and countercultural thinkers, one of the longest-running intentional communities manifesting out of the surge of communes in the Southwestern United States in the late 1960s and 1970s. It is known for its hand-built domes and “zomes,” inspired by Drop City and Buckminster Fuller. Libre was built by the artists who founded it—many of whom still live and work there.
“Radical: 50 Years of Libre Intentional Artist Community” features work from first and second generation Libre artists as well as additional artists connected to the history of the community. Exhibition artists include Dean Fleming, Linda Fleming, Luz Fleming, Christine Howard Sandoval, Bill Haynes, Jim Fowler, Electra Fowler Johnson, Scott Johnson, Michael Moore and Roberta Price. The exhibition highlights the historical and contemporary impact of this long-running creative experiment through the art of those who created it.
Beyond the geodesic domes, alternative architecture and sculptural explorations, Libre itself was a pioneering artistic invention. As part of a larger countercultural art movement, Libre and the artists working there were involved in the beginnings of conceptual art and the dematerialization of art. Contemporary art practices such as relational aesthetics, social practice, performance art and conceptual experiments which merge art, life and politics owe a great debt to Libre and the artists who manifested this intentional community in a spirit of boundless experimentation.
“Linda Fleming: Confluence” is on view through Dec. 9, at the Ent Center for the Arts and “Radical: 50 Years of Libre Intentional Artist Community” is on view through Nov. 3 at GOCA’s downtown gallery.
ABOUT GOCA
GOCA is a regional hub of contemporary art, culture, and conversation. By featuring world-class artists, hosting artist and expert talks, and offering meaningful events, GOCA engages UCCS students, faculty, staff and Pikes Peak region community members in contemporary culture and life.
ABOUT UCCS PRESENTS
UCCS Presents supports arts, culture, and community for UCCS and the Pikes Peak region. Its professional arts programs are the Artist Series, UCCS Galleries of Contemporary Art, and Theatreworks. The University Center and Events Services provide support for these programs, as well as events across campus, while cultivating a welcoming environment for students to engage in diverse activities.
–by Michelle Winchell, UCCS Presents
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