For the last 45 years, Savannah College of Art and Design has made itself a creative hub, attracting talented artists from around the globe to its myriad programs. In 2010, the univeristy—which has locations in Savannah and Atlanta, Georgia and Lacoste, France—created the deFINE ART series, bringing contemporary creatives to showcase their work and create a dialogue between working artists, university students, and the community.
So far, it’s been a roaring success. From painters to sculptors to “soundsuit” makers, the program is a testament to SCAD’s commitment to the artistic community the university has fostered. In celebration of deFINE ART's 15th anniverary, SCAD leaders and curators called up CULTURED to reflect on the seven shows that have come to define the ongoing series.
Nick Cave, "Cosmic Couturier," 2009
Paula Wallace, president and founder of Savannah College of Art and Design
"When the time came to select an opening night performance for our inaugural SCAD deFINE ART celebration in 2009, I knew precisely who could wow and woo an eager and curious crowd: the inimitable Nick Cave. Hosting him as our first guest artist for SCAD deFINE ART made the world stand up. Attention was paid! We built a stage in the parking lot of Hamilton Hall, the home of SCAD's School of Film and Acting, a fitting venue, given the wondrous theatricality of Nick's otherworldly designs.
He directed SCAD students who performed with him in his technicolor soundsuits and they formed an instant bond! Joy coursed through the Savannah night air as Nick and our Bees gamboled and enchanted a SCAD audience with his delightfully transcendent performance art. The icing on the cake: during the show, I sat next to Nick's mother, who had never seen one of her son's famous performances. She told me how she'd taught him to sew. A memorable moment, to be sure."
Xu Bing, “Things Are Not What They First Appear,” 2015
Paula Wallace, president and founder of Savannah College of Art and Design
“I was especially eager to recognize Xu Bing as our deFINE ART honoree in 2015, as his work and words eschew opacity with directness and simplicity. Like SCAD, Xu Bing considers art and design a universal, international language that unifies humankind—engendering perfect synchronicity for his SCAD deFINE ART exhibition. That year was epic for [the artist]—exhibiting his mammoth flying dragons at the Venice Biennale while also transporting and reassembling the Tiger Rug at SCAD.
A high point was when we unveiled his evocative 'Tobacco Project' for SCAD students—the gasps and expression of pure awe! This is why deFINE ART exists. This gargantuan installation, which several of our students helped create using thousands of cigarettes, masterfully exemplified the theme of his SCAD MOA installation: ‘Things Are Not What They First Appear.’ Each cigarette of his fabled Tiger Rug was painstakingly assembled in situ. The viewers' experience walking around the floor installation was ethereal, equally enchanting from different vantage points in the vast gallery. Xu Bing’s work encourages us to transform the vicissitudes of our own experience into power. That's how fear and hurt become courage and love.”
Chase Hall, “The Close of Day,” 2023
Daniel S. Palmer, chief curator at SCAD Museum of Art
"‘Chase Hall: The Close of Day’ was a truly memorable exhibition for us at the SCAD Museum of Art during our 2023 deFINE season, not just because of the way that his paintings resonated with our students, [but] because his powerful installation of a century-old, self-playing Wurlitzer organ literally echoed throughout the building.
The communal nature of the installation and Hall’s welcoming posture toward sharing his work also led to meaningful local involvement, with community members of all backgrounds responding to the works on view through written texts on the artwork labels. It was a special honor for us to host Chase’s first solo museum exhibition, and to share his brilliance and superb talent with the world."
Fred Wilson, “Life’s Link: A Fred Wilson Installation,” 2012
Ben Tollefson, curator at SCAD Museum of Art
“2012 deFINE ART honoree Fred Wilson created a truly powerful installation with ‘Life’s Link: A Fred Wilson Installation.’ In it, Wilson characteristically remixed permanent collection objects from the Walter and Linda Evans collection of African American Art, creating surprising associations, and incorporating discarded Savannah Gray Brick, a historic brick made by the hands of enslaved people from the Hermitage Plantation of Savannah. Wilson’s brilliant research and imaginative methods of display manifested as a poetic installation that spoke to the lives erased by the horrors of slavery, and the power of artists to reveal narratives that have been rewritten.”
Kenturah Davis, “Everything that Cannot Be Known,” 2020
Kari Herrin, senior vice president for brand experience at Savannah College of Art and Design
“It is always a true pleasure meeting and hosting artists for their first solo museum exhibitions and Kenturah Davis’s was an especially meaningful honor. Our programming at the SCAD Museum of Art prides itself on amplifying artists during the most transformational moments in their careers. Discovering the work of Kenturah Davis was such a joy and remains a highlight for me as I look back at the last 15 years of deFINE ART.
Kenturah’s work reveals intense and careful thoughtfulness. I was mesmerized by her multilayered processes and how her figures often intersect with words and appear in movement. Her work represents exhaustive research on penmanship and mark-making in relation to the representation of Black bodies. SCAD was honored to share this generous survey of Kenturah’s prolific practice at a pivotal moment for the artist’s career.”
Igshaan Adams, “Getuie,” 2020
Kari Herrin, senior vice president for brand experience at Savannah College of Art and Design
“Since Igshaan Adams’s exhibition at the SCAD Museum of Art, we have watched his career soar. Igshaan’s work is even more stunning and breathtaking in person than a camera can capture. To sit with his work was extremely powerful, as he has the distinct ability to mix patterns and reuse material in extraordinary ways.
The history of place, families, struggles, and happy times are all there in his work, indelibly inscribed into the worn linoleum. I was in awe of his weaving technique, choice of pattern, and color and felt enveloped by his sculptural installation. It was an honor to host Igshaan’s first solo museum exhibition in the U.S. I continue to admire the direction his work has taken.”
Jorge Pardo, “JP@SCAD,” 2023
Ben Tollefson, curator at SCAD Museum of Art
“Jorge Pardo’s exhibition 'JP@SCAD' beautifully juxtaposed the radiant color of his signature pendant lamps and a massive textile work with the historic brick of the museum’s Pamela Elaine Poetter gallery. Pardo seamlessly incorporates many fields of creation, from industrial fabrication, to textile design, to ceramics, to architecture.
In doing so, he asks us to reconsider the implications of site, context, and the artist’s hand as prerequisites for what we constitute artwork, breaking barriers of high and low, fine art and functional object. I see so much of Jorge’s practice embodied in the students at SCAD, who are constantly applying disparate fields and new technologies to solve creative problems.”
