Joyce Cutler-Shaw
(USA, 1932-2018)
Process
Dealing with our common humanity, as well as the qualities that define our diversity and individuality, artist Joyce Cutler-Shaw’s installation took its visual cues from research work done by the artist at two area hospitals. Working with the public at the Hospital General de Tijuana and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in La Jolla, Cutler-Shaw explored the borderless aspects of the human condition. The installation at each hospital site contained portraits, interviews, and journal entries identifying the individuals that the artist worked with and the commonalities that unite them.
Organizer: School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego
Venues: Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, La Jolla, and General Hospital of Tijuana
Acknowledgments
Additional project sponsors
Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center of San Diego; El Colegio de la Frontera Norte; H G Daniels; Hospital General de Tijuana, BC; Rosco Products; Tiger Reprographics, San Diego; Individual contributors.
The Anatomy Lesson incorporates an investigation of the human life cycle from birth and the newborn through aging, dying and death. It combines new electronic imagery with the traditional discipline of pen and ink drawing. Drawing is at the heart of Cutler Shaw's work, as a mode of inquiry, as a way of knowing, and as an act of empathy.
The Anatomy Lesson is part of a larger body of work in process since 1975 which includes installations, reading/performances, texts, collages, artist’s books and The Alphabet of Bones. The Alphabet of Bones is an original calligraphy of 26 characters based on the hollow bones of birds and conceived as a visual dance.
Curator: Larry Urrutia
Venue: Southwestern College Art Gallery, Chula Vista
Organizer: Southwestern College Art Gallery, Chula Vista