20 Degrees North, 50 Degrees East             October at the Winds Cafe in YSO


ABOUT THE WORK      The works in this exhibition are digital prints, diptychs and triptychs composed from photographs taken while in Russia, the Czech Republic, Germany and France during the summer of 2004. The companion texts derive primarily from conversations with artists, politicians and educators encountered on this trip. Each image's word is integrated through altering the color as it passes over the photograph's various color passages, offering the illusion of transparency. The attached image is from a journal series of diptychs charting St Petersburg's "white nights".

ABOUT THE ARTIST     Nevin Mercede earned the Master of Fine Arts in Painting from the University of Montana and the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Printmaking from the art school formerly known as the California College of Arts and Crafts. After teaching at numerous other schools, among them Maryland Institute College of Art, Washington University in St. Louis, and the University of South Florida, she joined the Antioch College faculty in 1998, attracted by its holistic educational practices. In response to the college closure, Nevin became a founding faculty member of the Nonstop Liberal Arts Institute where an undergraduate teaching mission that includes the principles of shared governance and experiential learning is carried forward while embracing the contributions of life long learners from the regional community.  

ABOUT THOSE QUOTED Evgeny Orlov studied art outside of the Soviet art schools and practices within what Russians call the Nonconformist Art movement. He is a founding member of the Pushkin 10 Art Center which houses studios, galleries, a recording studio, bookstore and café that promote the work and lives of those who would not compromise their values in order to gain state sanctions. • Painter Yuli Rybakov endured 6 years of forced-labor for protesting censorship imposed after the 1970s Office of Cultural Control had initially relaxed its prohibition of art exhibition’s by those without official status. When released, Rybakov served 12 years as Duma member, which he now calls “12 years of wasted life” because the restructuring that the glasnost supporting Gorbachev era Duma imagined was subsequently perverted, worsening the lives of most Russians. •  Galina Korneva serves as Saint Petersburg historian and guide to visiting international artists and dignitaries. Co-authoring books with her sister, Tatyana Chebaksarova,  in 2003 they published Saint Petersburg: by the World Created, by Its Beauty Preserved, and in 2006, Empress Maria Feodorovna’s Favorite Residences in Russia and Denmark  • Valery Lednev, the realist artist quoted in Realist Nonconfromist, has directed the Hertzen University art department since the 1970s. • Socialogist Oxanna Vyacheslavovna teaches in Moscow where she specializes in Post WWII American culture.  •  Composer Vladamir Tarnopolsky works in Moscow.