Learning Curves | Arts + Literature Laboratory | Madison Contemporary Arts Center

Learning Curves

Arts + Literature Laboratory presents Learning Curves, an exhibition by Madison artist Jeremy Nuttall, from April 8 to April 29, 2017. An opening reception will be held on Saturday, April 8, 7-9pm (FREE).

About the Exhibition

The nervous feeling I get when I use a tool for the first time is similar to the feelings I get when I have to read out loud. Thoughts begin running through my head, “man I hope I don’t screw this up.” I weigh the potential dangers of losing a finger, destroying the tool, or totally botching the thing I’m working on. The use of tools and the possible outcomes made possible by tools provides me a transcontinental highway for communicating my thoughts and feelings. 

How do we communicate with ourselves, our teachers, our friends, the people we work with, the people we meet, or the objects around us? When I recall moments of my childhood, I remember how my mode of communication was interpreted by others. Once, when sitting in a  psychologist’s office being asked to draw a series of pictures, and I drew someone giving a “thumbs up”, the psychologist asked, “Is this someone hitchhiking?.” On another occasion, sitting in a room with my teachers and parents during a monthly IEP (Individual Education Plan meeting, a requirement of being in special education), the meeting ended with my team of  teachers stating, “It looks like Jeremy can stay in special ED, that’s great”.  My response, after sitting silent for the duration of the meeting was, “It is?.”

I have always found it interesting that the way I do or don’t communicate information at certain times to certain people or objects may be considered non‐traditional.  My work explores the universal standard forms of communication versus idiosyncratic dynamic forms of communication.

Jeremy Nuttall

Jeremy Nuttall is from San Diego, California, and is currently an MFA candidate in Metalsmithing and Jewelry at the University of Wisconsin­ Madison.

PLAN YOUR VISIT

Arts + Literature Laboratory is located at 111 S. Livingston Street #100, Madison, Wisconsin, 53703.

Our galleries are open Tuesday through Friday 10am-5pm and Saturday noon to 5pm, and other programs take place throughout the week. Please check the events calendar and education section for details.

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