VISUAL ART Routes of Dislocation: Joan Carlon Joan Carlon's desire to create ink drawings based on stories of forced emigration was first motivated by the power of the stories themselves. Impacted by personal experiences, Carlon reveals: "It seemed natural for me to become interested in history and in the stories of civilians whose lives are irrevocably changed by war; the Vietnamese, Cubans, Bosnians and now Africans from Sudan, Somalia and Liberia. It is the stories of these people that I have collected and that have inspired this group of drawings." The stories come from a collection of tales from newspapers and personal narratives told directly to Carlon. The drawings themselves balance the raw subject matter with Carlon's interest in space, rhythm and strong contrast. As she writes, "The drawings string silhouetted black images, areas of grey wash and graphite pencil across the picture plane and empty spaces. The most recent drawings incorporate pieces of stories, clothing, and bodies moving in clusters that simultaneously hold together and fly apart, echoing the disharmony of the refugee experience.” Students will be in creative contact with our growing immigrant population through the exhibition of Carlon’s ink drawings exhibited at the Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees in Utica. The sequence of silhouetted forms incorporate bold red letters and separate wall labels that memorialize personal experiences with war, adaptation to new cultures and hopes for the future. Carlon studied painting and art history at Manhattanville College and earned her Master in Fine Arts from Syracuse University. Her work has been exhibited at the Scala Gallery in New Woodstock and at the Society for New Music show in Cazenovia. In 2004, Carlon and her son, Paul, presented a performance piece, Where is Home, based on immigration stories, combining a jazz suite, tap dance, and visual/verbal immigration stories at the Delavan Center in Syracuse. She presented a similar work at E1 Taller in New York in May of 2003 that included the tap dancer, Max Pollak. Carlon instructed studio art courses at Cazenovia College for nine years, and has worked as a teaching artist for the Arts in Education Institute for 16 years. She now resides in Cazenovia, NY. Top