Emerging Visions Educator Guide 2021-2022 - Buoyant Force by Sue Wrbican - Tephra ...

Emerging Visions Educator Guide 2021-2022

Buoyant Force by Sue Wrbican

About Sue Wrbican

In 2014, Sue Wrbican presented her installation and lecture Continue
the Temporary and It Becomes Forever at the Zizek Studies
conference at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Art,
Architecture, and Planning. In 2015, her work The Eventual Outcome
of an Instant was constructed at the Seligmann Center in Sugar
Loaf, NY. She has held residencies at the Robert Rauschenberg
Residency in Captiva, Florida; Kala Art Institute in Berkeley California;
The Atlantic Center for the Arts in New Smyrna Beach, Florida; and
STUD Residency in Catlett, Virginia. She is a founding member of the
Floating Lab Collective whose projects have been exhibited widely in
venues such as ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany and the Nathan Cummings
Foundation, NYC, NY. Her video Back Roof is part of Miranda July’s
Joanie 4 Jackie Archive at the Getty Research Institute in Los
Angeles, CA.

Wrbican is an Associate Professor and Director of Photography at
the School of Art at George Mason University, and her education
includes an MFA in Photography from the Rhode Island School of
Design and a BA in English Writing with a concentration in Poetry
from the University of Pittsburgh.

                                                                            Sue Wrbican, The Eventual Outcome of an Instant, 2015
                                                                            Seligmann Center, Sugar Loaf, NY.

Artist Quotes

“Since 1989 I have created photographs, videos, sculptures and
installations grounded in personal narrative examining labor, culture,
time, place, and weather. My continued practice has shifted from
its beginnings of photographic, large-format portraiture to a multi-
layered, poetic experience in dialogue between documentary and the
musings of imagination. Regarding present political circumstances, I
have also collaborated with individuals and communities to address
issues such as empowerment, the environment, and economics.

The recent work on this site is inspired by the landscapes of
surrealist painter Kay Sage. I’ve created collage and maquettes
for site-specific sculpture and installations. The constructions also
function as props in photographic narratives that present open-
ended outcomes. While my sculptural interpretations draw Sage’s
charged landscapes into a third dimension, the photographs provide
a fourth dimension implied through the interstitial lens of time and
history.”

Sue Wrbican, Maquette for Hyphen (4 Views) (detail), 2015

About the Sculpture

Buoyant Force is a 50-foot steel sculpture by Sue Wrbican inspired
by the painting of American Surrealist Kay Sage (b. 1898, Albany
Ney York; d. 1963, Woodbury, Connecticut). Sage is recognized for
her paintings of scaffolded structures and furled fabric in desolate
landscapes. Tephra ICA organized the first comprehensive exhibition
of Wrbican’ s work, entitled Well Past the Echo, in Fall 2017. The
exhibition featured photography, maquettes of Sage- inspired
structures, and a site-specific installation. It was featured in The
Washington Post and East City Art. Based on the success of the
exhibition, Tephra ICA commission Wrbican to realize one of her
structures at full-size in Reston Town Square Park.

The structure also hosts an interactive component called the
Buoyant Oracle which provides the opportunity to chat with the
Buoyant Force. Created by the Playful City Lab at American
University led by Benjamin Stokes, Hazel Arroyo, Chris Karr, and
Mitchell Loewen in collaboration with Sue Wrbican and Tephra
ICA, the installation features an evolving cast of guest oracles and
narratives. This feature is activated by using your phone to scan the
on-site QR code which sends participants annotated photographs
similar to polaroids that reveal the layered history, artist philosophy,
and production process behind the monumental artwork. Connected
to the surrealist tradition of the sculpture, the participant may
encounter an Oracle when engaging with the feature that will pull
different “readings” of paired poetry and remixed images of the
sculpture.

                                                                           Sue Wrbican, Buoyant Force, 2020

Keywords & Themes

• Surrealism
• Environmentalism
• Salvaged materials
• Urbanism
• Female and female-identifying artists
• Poetry
• Digital interaction
• Public sculpture/art
• Experiencing art during the COVID-19 pandemic

See Lesson Plans for grade-specific keywords and themes.

Discussion Questions

• What is surrealist art?
• What qualities of surrealism can you draw from Wrbican’s work and
her inspiration, Kay Sage?
• How do size and proportions of the sculpture influence how
viewers interact with it?
• How might the digital interactive component enhance or detract
from the sculpture? Consider the purpose of this component for
experiencing art during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• What effect does the use of salvaged materials have on the
sculpture?
• How does the use of these materials connect with Wrbican’s ideas
of environmentalism and urbanism?

                                                                      Sue Wrbican, Dali Tree (detail), 2013/2015

Other Artists to Consider and Reference

• Kay Sage
• Yves Tanguy
• Giorgio de Chirico
• Filip Dujardin
• Wolfgang Tillmans

Articles and Websites

Greater Reston Arts Center Launches The Buoyant Oracle, a
Sculpture That Talks Back East City Art, October 5, 2020

Buoyant Oracle Invites Community to Interact With Reston Sculpture,
Reston Now, Scott Fields, September 15, 2020

Buoyant Oracle: A sculpture that talks back, THE PLAYFUL CITY
LAB, based in Washington DC at American University

In Conversation: Lily Siegel and Sue Wrbican on Buoyant Force

WETA (DC PBS) reviews sculpture Buoyant Force in About Town with
Janis Goodman and Peter Winant, June 2020

https://www.tephraica.org/exhibitions/buoyant-force

                                                                      Sue Wrbican, Three Trees, 2013/2017

Timeline

Summer 2021

In collaboration with Tephra ICA, select teachers develop grade
level appropriate activities and content that connect to the FCPS art
curriculum and Standards of Learning.

September 2021–Spring 2022

Students and teachers visit the Buoyant Force sculpture where
possible.

Teachers at participating schools present content in the classroom
and students create their artworks

Spring 2022

Tephra ICA staff selects work for Emerging Visions exhibition.

June 11– July 10, 2022

Exhibition on view at Tephra ICA. Opening reception date TBA.

To learn more, please contact Tephra ICA’s Education and Public Programs
Manager, Jordan Solet at jsolet@tephraica.org.

Tephra Institute of Contemporary Art
12001 Market Street, Suite 103 | Reston, VA 20190
703.471.9242 | tephraica.org

©2021 Tephra Institute of Contemporary Art. All images courtesy of Sue Wrbican.

                                                                                  Fabrication of Buoyant Force