COLORADO SPRINGS, CO — Thursday, September 12, 2024 — The Galleries of Contemporary Art are pleased to present The Butterfly Effect: Experimenting with Expression Lectures and Performance. Join us for this exciting live experience, exploring intellectual conversations between the arts and sciences; combining music composition, physics, storytelling, poetry, dance, and painting. This live performance is in conjunction with the exhibit We Are the Sky. 

The Butterfly Effect: Experimenting with Expression Lectures and Performance will happen on Thursday, September 12th from 7-8:30pm at the Chapman Recital Hall in the Ent Center for the Arts. The Butterfly Effect: Experimenting with Expression presents a Collaboratory performance that features local artists who routinely grapple with global artistic ideas, human nature, and concepts. This performance strengthens the bond among various art disciplines through cross-disciplinary planning and collaboration. Exploring intellectual conversations between the arts and sciences, while inviting the local public to partake in this exploration. 

The Butterfly Effect: Experimenting with Expression will feature lectures, performances, and collaborations by Karen Mosbacher, Susan Grace, Shane Burns, Robert Bruce, Zach Ben-Amots, Jane McDougall, Sage Behr, Ofer Ben-Amots, Janet Johnson, Jordan McHenry, AJ Winkler, Claire Zavislan, Mary Ripper Baker, Britt Ford, and Sue Lauther. 

We Are the Sky features more than 40 artists from throughout the Pikes Peak region, and is inspired by the work of late Colorado Springs artist Starr Kempf, whose monumental kinetic sculptures punctuate our local landscape. More than 80 artists responded to a call for entries, challenging them to respond not to Kempf’s forms or subjects, but instead to powerful themes present in the artist’s life and oeuvre. Mental health and wellness, community identity and interpersonal connection, and a spirit of innovation are central to each offering, inclusive of 2D and 3D gallery works to performances and ephemeral experiences. 

Over the course of three months, We Are the Sky will create space for poignant narratives around our unique and shared human experiences, a testament to the power of art in fostering dialogue, understanding, and healing. Within the gallery exhibition and related events, artists illuminate the interconnectedness of individual struggles and collective resilience, inviting viewers to engage in discourse and introspection. These 19 artworks address complexities of mental health, inclusion, and invention with empathy and solidarity, and all are new creations, born out of creative experimentation and collaboration. 

We Are the Sky is a transformative embrace of Pikes Peak region creatives at the intersection of artistry and advocacy, a celebration of unconventional convergence, and an illumination of interdisciplinary pathways toward healing and growth, greater sense of belonging, community empowerment, and a more compassionate and resilient future.

Media Contact:

Elyce Gronseth
Assistant Director of Marketing & Communications
Ent Center for the Arts at UCCS
egronset@uccs.edu

About the Galleries of Contemporary Art (GOCA): A regional hub for contemporary art, culture, and conversation, GOCA produces dynamic exhibitions and programs that connect national, international, and regional artists with the community. GOCA operate two galleries within the Ent Center for the Arts including an incubator for emerging artists. Visit entarts.org/gallery

About the Ent Center for the Arts: Located on the UCCS campus, the Ent Center for the Arts is a first-class facility fostering creativity and collaboration. It serves as a central space for the arts, bringing together diverse ideas and people. Visit entarts.org