[Bcma-l] FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 24, 2008 - The House That Herman Built

[bcma-l@museumsassn.bc.ca]

MediaRelease

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 24, 2008
ATTENTION ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT EDITORS

*The House That Herman Built*

KELOWNA, BC – An exhibition by artist Jackie Sumell and prison inmate 
Herman Wallace, */The House That Herman Built,/ *opens Friday, April 11 
at the Alternator Gallery for Contemporary Art.

Sumell’s five-year collaboration and correspondence with Herman Wallace, 
a Louisiana State Penitentiary inmate, tried to answer the question: 
What kind of house does a man who has lived in a six-by-nine-foot cell 
dream of after 30 years of solitary confinement? Herman Wallace has been 
in solitary confinement at Angola Prison in Louisiana for 36 years. 
Solitary confinement consists of a minimum of 23 hours a day in a cell.

Herman’s case is currently set to come before a federal court, which 
will face the question of how long a sentence in solitary confinement is 
too long and at what point it becomes cruel and unusual punishment. 
Herman is one of two inmates at Angola who may have been held in 
solitary confinement longer than anyone else in US history.

In the darkest moments of his confinement Wallace turned to designing 
his house as a means to survive. Plans are now underway to build this 
house in his hometown of New Orleans LA. The exhibition at the 
Alternator includes an actual size replica of Herman’s cell, a computer 
aided design video of Wallace's dream house as well as dozens of 
letters, drawings and diagrams.

Sumell was born in Brooklyn, NY, and currently lives in Dublin. She 
holds a Master of Fine Arts from Stanford University. Her 
interdisciplinary work transcends the boundaries of art and activism in 
its attempt to connect people in provocative and meaningful ways. Sumell 
has exhibited in New York, San Francisco, Cuba, Ireland and Germany.

The opening reception is on April 11 at 7pm and all are welcome. The 
evening includes a panel discussion, */Imagination of Resistance/*, 
beginning at 7:30pm with Jackie Sumell (MFA Stanford), Dr. E. Wilma van 
der Veen (Ph.D Sociology), Shelley Cook (E.D. John Howard Society), Jim 
Meiklejohn (Architect), Edmund Lee (B.Arch) and moderated by Jake 
Kennedy. The exhibition continues to May 16.

Also opening Friday in the Alternator lounge is */a sense of my Self/*, 
an exhibition organized by Amanda Scandrett working with the Ranch Ehrlo 
Society youth in Regina. This project presents the voices of youth at risk.

Also new work by Mia Rushton, */festooned!/*, will be exhibited in the 
Alternator Community Window in April. With plush acorns, florescent pink 
birds, dark clouds, printed patterns galore and all connected by a fine 
sewn thread, Rushton has opened the vault to a surreal study of the 
everyday. Work by artist-in-residence for April, Jennifer Pickering, 
will be featured in the window in May.

The Alternator, an artist-run centre located on the main floor of the 
Rotary Centre for the Arts at 421 Cawston Avenue in Kelowna, BC, is open 
from 11 to 5 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday. Admission is by donation. All are 
welcome.

For information, contact the Alternator at (250) 868-2298, visit 
www.alternatorgallery.com or e-mail info@alternatorgallery.com


*For a recent msnbc newscast on Herman Wallace please go to:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#23661740.*


-- 


Jennifer Pickering
Director

Alternator Gallery for Contemporary Art
#103-421 Cawston Ave.
Kelowna, BC
V1Y 6Z1
250-868-2298

www.alternatorgallery.com
info@alternatorgallery.com


The Alternator Gallery is proud to present ON COMMON GROUND National 
Media Arts Festival & Conference, June 10-14 2008.

Exploring common visions while showcasing the history of Indigenous 
media art in the traditional territory of the Syilx Nation in beautiful 
Kelowna BC.
www.imaa.ca or www.alternatorgallery.com