Jan. 7 – Feb. 16, 2013
Selby Gallery, Sarasota, FL

Carol Mickett and Robert Stackhouse have been working collaboratively as Mickett/Stackhouse for over twelve years. They make paintings, prints and large-scale, site-specific sculpture. Mickett comes to the collaboration from a background in philosophy, film, radio, poetry, and theater. Stackhouse has followed a traditional visual arts path, and his individual work can be found in museum collections around the world including the Museum of Modern Art, The National Gallery of Australia, and the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. They both hold PhDs: Mickett in philosophy and Stackhouse has an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, the University of South Florida.

Mickett and Stackhouse make site-specific sculpture with the intention of incorporating their work into a specified environment both physically and metaphorically. Each site in which they work commands its own set of parameters. The sculpture Mickett and Stackhouse make must make sense within these parameters or the sculpture will just be some arbitrary structure introduced into the site. To achieve their ends, Mickett and Stackhouse take into account the physical attributes and the use of the site together with their on-going aesthetic interests. Their goal is to make sculpture that enhances the environment, and, hence, excites and draws people to interact with their work and to look again at the importance of their surroundings.
Artists Talk and Preview: Thurs., Jan. 10, 7 p.m.
Opening Reception: Fri., Jan. 11 5-7 p.m.
Director’s Tour: Mon., Jan. 14, 11:30 a.m.
Mickett and Stackhouse’s most recent work includes Breath of Water (2012), a 38’ x 18’ x 8’ installation, at the Lab Gallery in New York City, On Board (2011), a series of five paintings, located on the USFSP campus and commissioned by the Florida’s Art in State Building Program and Place In The Woods, (2010), a bronze and brass walk-through sculpture, 14’H, 28’L, 14’W, commissioned by the Hunter Museum of American Art, the Benwood Foundation, and the Art in Public Places Project in Chattanooga, TN.

In a recent review by Jonathan Goodman in the November 2012 issue of Sculpture, he describes their “Breath of Water” at The Lab Gallery in New York: “The sculpture impressively combined philosophical notions with subtle, experimental representations of the idea of water……Their partnership was especially effective in this work with its conflation of idea and image, concept and structure.” (source)

Robert Stackhouse is best known for his large-scale architectural sculpture and large-scale paintings. His works are included in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art, The National Gallery of Australia, The Walker Art Center, and The Art Institute of Chicago among many others. He has held endowed chairs at Hartford University, the University of Denver, and the Lamar Dodd School of Art at the University of Georgia. He holds an Honorary Doctorate from the University of South Florida, is Professor Emeritus from the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, D.C., and is the recipient of three NEA individual artist grants. Stackhouse is in the Polk County Hall of Fame and his alma mater, Auburndale High School, in Auburndale, FL, named their art building “The Robert Stackhouse Art Center.”
Carol Mickett, in addition to her work in the visual arts, has worked as a free-lance producer, director, writer, and host. Dr. Mickett is currently host of the Dalí Museum’s series Our Town, a conversation with people who have shaped the identity of St. Petersburg, FL. She sits on the Arts Advisory Committee for the city of St. Petersburg. Dr. Mickett’s past work includes director of History Speaks, a video archive of the history of Kansas City, guest editor/writer for a special issue on the history of the arts in Kansas City for Kawsmouth, a journal of history from the University of Missouri-Kansas City; a producer/writer for Uniquely Kansas City, a 5-part documentary on the arts in Kansas City for Kansas City Public Television; and director/speech writer for the American Business Women’s Association’s annual conferences. Mickett is the recipient of numerous grants and has published essays, poems, and interviews in Canadian Philosophical Review, Hypatia, Prairie Schooner, and New Letters among others. Dr. Mickett, who worked for over a decade in academia, holds her Ph.D. in philosophy.
Selby Gallery Mon. – Sat., 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.; Tues.,10 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Phone: 941.359.7563 or 941.351.5100
Email: selby@ringling.edu
Web: www.ringling.edu/selbygallery
Selby Gallery is located on the Ringling College of Art and Design campus, one-half block east of 2700 N. Tamiami Trail on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Way in Sarasota.
View Larger Map