MAKING THE EPHEMERAL CONCRETE
Directing for the Stage

David M. Spear, American, born 1937: Irene & Beta Molinero en la Sala, 1998; gelatin silver print. Gift of Caroline G. Maness in memory of her husband, Dr. Kelly Maness. © David Spear.

Making the Ephemeral Concrete explores connections between the performing and visual arts. Professor Julie Fishell of UNC-Chapel Hill's Department of Dramatic Art and the students in her course, Directing for the Stage, collaborated with the Ackland to curate this exhibition.

The prints and photographs in this exhibition were integral elements in two class assignments for the Directing students. Fishell, who regularly includes the visual arts in her teaching, encourages her students to consider images as they craft the characters, emotions, relationships, and environments suggested in a play. As they investigated strategies for transforming the text of a play into a vibrant, engaging theatrical experience for an audience, the students reflected on the effects these artists achieved in staging scenes for their viewers.

More information about the class assignments and the students' creative process is available in wall labels, in the exhibition notebook, and in a DVD of students performances inspired by these works of art.