Opening: February 07, 2020 | 5 - 7 pm

Duration: February 07 - Sept. 13, 2020

Exhibition at Hawn Gallery at Hamon Art Library - SMU

Dallas, TX

“There are three ways to measure a body of water: by surface area, volume, or depth. Sounding is the term used to describe this last method. Unlike assessing a visible surface area, sounding is an act of remote sensing. It allows you to gather information on something you can’t make physical contact with. The contents in a library are like a body of water. It holds a volume of material within a clearly defined space, while also possessing a kind of impalpable depth.

In Sounding, Packer uses text and sculptural interventions to explore the relationship between the library’s known and unknowable qualities. Through this artwork, the Hawn Gallery and Hamon Arts Library’s tangible architectural spaces become a framework to plumb the immeasurable depths of knowledge the building contains.

Allyson Packer makes artwork that engages viewers in examining the myths and values embedded in the built environment. Her installations and performances have been shown at Nahmad Projects (London), Hyde Park Art Center (Chicago), and Birds + Richard (Berlin), among other venues. Her upcoming solo exhibition, Inland Sea, will open at the Las Cruces Museum’s Brannigan Cultural Center in July 2020. Packer earned her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and her BFA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She lives in Denton, Texas, where she is a faculty member in the College of Visual Arts and Design at the University of North Texas.”