The Commission 2015 Artists Brice Brown and Alan Shockley


Although The Commission 2015 will remain
under wraps until May 9, we are delighted to announce the winning artists. They are visual artist Brice Brown and composer Alan Shockley. For those of you who don’t know Brice and Alan, here is some biographical information.

Brice was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and currently lives in New York City. He received his BA from Dartmouth College and an MFA from Pratt Institute, and he also studied at the Chautauqua School of Art. 

Brice works across a broad range of media. In his work, he explores the instability of the objects and environments we encounter by focusing on moments of transformation between states of being. He
has exhibited nationally and internationally. His work has been reviewed in The New York Times, Artforum, Art in America, Artnews, artcritical and The Village Voice, among others. He has held residencies at Yaddo, VCCA and the Vermont Studio Center, and has been a visiting artist/lecturer at Dartmouth College, Carnegie Mellon University, Williams College and Drew University. 

Brice’s work is in public collections include the International Collage Center at Mount Holyoke College, Speed Art Museum, the Baltimore Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Swope Art Museum, and Yale University. Recent and upcoming solo exhibitions include installations at Margaret Thatcher Projects, New York, and Air Circulation Gallery in Brooklyn, and works on view in the Chautuaqua Institute Sculpture Garden.

From 2006-2010 Brice founded and edited, with Trevor Winkfield, The Sienese Shredder, an annual arts journal bringing together visual arts, poetry and fiction. He is currently co-editing another arts journal with Trevor Winkfield, titled Tether, which will be launched May 2015. 

Raised in tiny Warm Springs, Georgia (population 475), Alan Shockley holds degrees in
composition and theory from the University of Georgia, Ohio State and Princeton University (MFA, PhD). 

In addition to VCCA, Alan has held residencies at the MacDowell Colony, the Atlantic Center for the Arts, Italy’s Centro Studi Ligure, and France’s CAMAC, among others.  

Recent commissions include I feel open to… for the California E.A.R. Unit, a virtuosic solo work for flutist John Barcellona, and an as-yet-untitled work for violin, cello, and piano for Trio Terroir.  Alan’s electronic works have been installed in Jack Straw Studio’s New Media Gallery (Seattle), Minneapolis’ Weisman Art Museum, in VertexList Gallery (Brooklyn), the Electronic Music Foundation (Manhattan) and played all over the world as part of Vox Novus’ 60x60 Project.  

These days Alan’s works are often experiments in musical form—attempts at tailoring the form to the material, resulting in a unique shape for each piece, and one that the composer hopes “works” in a strange and individual way.  He’s currently Director of Composition/Theory and an associate professor in the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at California State University, Long Beach. 

The winning The Commission team is awarded residencies at VCCA to help them with the project. Brice and Alan will be in residence in May to prepare the piece ahead of its installation: Brice: April 20–May 11; Alan: May 5-10.

We are very excited to see their piece: Glass and Bridle, Pomegranate and Pears: On the Viability and Transience of a Free and Perfect Union installed at Adventure Farm! For information and tickets for the event: kstiffler@vcca.com




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