The Creative Life Series: Jean Shin

Jean Shin, sculptor and public installation artist, will visit the University at Albany for a conversation with WAMC�s Joe Donahue as part of The Creative Life: Conversation Series 7 p.m. Thursday, November 1, at the University at Albany Performing Arts Center, on the Uptown Campus. A pre-event reception will be held 5:30 p.m. at University Art Museum, also on the Uptown Campus.

The events are free and open to the public.

The Creative Life series is a major arts initiative of the New York State Writers Institute, UAlbany Performing Arts Center and University Art Museum in conjunction with regional public radio station WAMC Northeast Public Radio produced with major support from the University at Albany Foundation..

Jean Shin is nationally recognized for her monumental installations that transform everyday objects into elegant expressions of identity and community. For each project, she amasses vast collections of a particular object—prescription pill bottles, sports trophies, sweaters—which are often sourced through donations from individuals in a participating community.

These intimate objects then become the materials for her conceptually rich sculptures, videos and site-specific installations. Distinguished by her meticulous, labor-intensive process, and her engagement of community, Shin’s arresting installations reflect individuals’ personal lives as well as collective issues that we face as a society. Her work has been widely exhibited in over 150 major museums and cultural institutions.

As an accomplished artist practicing in the public realm, she also realizes large-scale, permanent installations commissioned by major public agencies on the federal level as well as city and arts for transit programs.

Shin recently completed a landmark commission for the MTA’s Second Ave Subway at the 63rd Street Station in New York City.

The Creative Life series, a major arts initiative of the New York State Writers Institute, UAlbany Performing Arts Center and University Art Museum in conjunction with regional public radio station WAMC, brings leading figures from writing, music, dance, choreography, visual arts, architecture, theatre, and filmmaking to the University for conversation with Donahue about their creative inspiration, craft, and careers.

UAlbany’s Creative Life series continues with author, social activist, and documentary film writer Esmeralda Santiago at 7 p.m. Thursday, November 8, in at the Campus Center Ballroom.

Previous guests in The Creative Life Series have included fiction writer Joyce Carol Oates, Broadway musical legend Patti LuPone, tap dancer-choreographer Savion Glover, jazz violinist Regina Carter, painter David Salle, author Lois Lowry, choreographer Garth Fagan, and performance artist Bibbe Hansen..

For more information, call (518) 442-5620.

Major support for The Creative Life is provided by The University at Albany Foundation with additional support from the UAlbany Alumni Association, College of Arts and Sciences, Office of the Provost, and University Auxiliary Services.The Creative Life series brings leading figures from writing, music, dance, choreography, visual arts, architecture, theatre, and filmmaking to the University for conversation with Donahue about their creative inspiration, craft, and careers.