Our annual exhibition of studio artist work assembled by Curatorial Resident Justin Canja

Play

Playing is essential to life. As kids, we played with sports equipment, dolls, costumes, action figures, video games, and some of us built forts out of rocks and branches. Our imaginations made us believe in the time capsules buried under swing sets, the magical potions we brewed in the flower pots on our front porches, and the armor we made out of cereal boxes that protected us from the monsters we assumed lived in the azalea bushes. Some of us played with instruments as musicians, stethoscopes as doctors and vets and even the traffic cone used to block off parking spaces out front made a fantastic magician's hat or megaphone.

Now we’ve aged out of child's play and grown into a whole new world of play as adults (technically) and artists. We use our imaginations to bend other people's perception of the world through our art materials, paints and other odds and ends. Now, playing may mean our art practices, it may be our subject matters or a new medium or material we've yet to explore or revisit. It could also mean playing and experimenting with other artists. What does the word “Play” mean to you?