Neddy at Cornish Annual Lecture

A Conversation with Oliver Herring and Susan Robb
Moderated by art historian Ken D. Allan

The work of Oliver Herring has been the subject of solo exhibitions at the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston; the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia; the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC; MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Frye Art Museum, Seattle; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland; and the Museum of Modern Art, New York, among many others. In 2009, the Tang Museum at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York featured Me Us Them, a 15-year survey of Herring's work curated by Ian Berry. His TASK performances and parties have been held at museums, universities, and other spaces all over the world. In 2005 Herring was featured on the nationally-broadcast PBS program Art 21.

Susan Robb's work is an ongoing investigation of people, place, and our search for utopia. It often takes its form as temporary, site-responsive, and socially-engaged projects. These projects include ONN/OF "a light festival", Sleeper Cell Training Camp, and Warmth Giant Black Toobs as well as public commissions such as The Long Walk, Parking Squid, and Water Lab. Robb's work has been funded by a Pollack Krasner Foundation Grant, two Artist Trust Fellowships, a Stranger Genius Award, a 4Culture Special Projects Grant, and the City of Seattle. She has exhibited nationally and internationally including shows at Family Business, NYC, Discovery Greens, Houston TX, Hui No'eau Visual Arts Center, Maui HI, Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma WA, Lawrimore Project, Seattle WA, The Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, WA, Swing Space, NYC, Blindside Gallery, Melbourne Australia, Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley CA; and Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis MN. Robb was an adjunct professor at the University of Washington, Gage Academy of Art, and Frye Art Museum. In January 2013, Susan received a Creative Capital grant for her project Wild Times, a work of land art that will take its form as a thru-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail in 2014 and will include elements of performance and social engagement.

Ken D. Allan is an Assistant Professor of Art History at Seattle University. He received his MA and PhD from University of Chicago and recent publications include essays for the book, Pacific Standard Time: Los Angeles Art 1945-1980 (Getty Publications, 2011).

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