WELLESLEY, Mass. – The Davis Peace Project honors the life-long commitment of Wellesley College graduate Kathryn Wasserman Davis ’28 to world peace, justice, and art.
Two installations on view at the Davis Museum this spring and summer—a 20×20 foot banner featuring The Davis Peace Dove designed by Jenny Schmid, and Charming, by Kathryn Sjursen— celebrate the museum namesake’s spirit, tenacity, and dedication to change.
According to Lisa Fischman, Ruth Gordon Shapiro ’37 Director of the Davis, “The Davis Peace Dove, designed by Minneapolis-based printmaker Jenny Schmid, updates ancient symbols with contemporary graphic flair. Bold and brightly colored, the Davis Peace Dove will beckon from the exterior wall of the museum. And, inside the museum’s lobby, Charming, an installation created by New York-based artist Kathryn Sjursen, organizes origami hummingbirds into a luminous testament to the cumulative promise of small gestures and individual actions.”
The Davis Peace Project has been generously supported by the Shelby Cullom Davis Charitable Fund.
THE DAVIS PEACE DOVE
The Davis commissioned printmaker Jenny Schmid to design a stylized peace dove with an olive branch that will be reproduced first on a colorful oversized — 20×20 foot— banner for installation on the north-facing exterior wall of the Davis Museum. The olive branch is an ancient symbol of peace, and the dove’s iconography dates to early Christianity. The symbol still resonates in the modern world, with the graphic version created by Pablo Picasso in 1949 being the most universally recognized symbol of peace and peace activism.
THE DAVIS HUMMINGBIRDS
Charming, A Davis Peace Project Installation
Realized through the sculptural form of origami, the traditional Japanese art of paper folding, artist Kathryn Sjursen’s installation Charming suggests the transformational power of small gestures towards change and healing. This spring, Sjursen led an origami workshop with Wellesley students in learning how to fold the elegant hummingbirds. Not only did they learn, but they will pass it on: they will teach friends and family, so that we can, little by little, share the power of transformation in small steps.
The Davis Hummingbirds invite the community to celebrate peace and to pass it on. A potent symbol across cultures and epochs, the dazzling little hummingbird epitomizes surprising strength, energy, and determination. The luminous “charm” of hummingbirds—delightful, magical, and possessed of power belied by their size—suggests the transformational promise of small gestures and individual actions to effect larger collective change.
DAVIS MUSEUM GENERAL INFORMATION
Location: Wellesley College, 106 Central St., Wellesley, Mass.
Museum Hours: Tuesday–Saturday, 11:00 am–5:00 pm, Wednesday until 8:00 pm, and Sunday, noon–4:00 pm. Closed Mondays, holidays, and Wellesley College recesses.
Admission is free and open to the public.
Telephone: 781-283-2051
Website: www.davismuseum.wellesley.edu
Parking: Free and available in the lot behind the museum. Additional parking is available in the Davis Parking Facility.
Tours: Led by student tour guides and curators. Free. Call 781-283-3382
Accessible: The Davis, Collins Café and Collins Cinema are wheelchair accessible and wheelchairs are available for use in the Museum without charge. Special needs may be accommodated by contacting Director of Disability Services Jim Wice at 781-283-2434 or [email protected].
ABOUT THE DAVIS MUSEUM
One of the oldest and most acclaimed academic fine arts museums in the United States, the Davis Museum is a vital force in the intellectual, pedagogical and social life of Wellesley College. It seeks to create an environment that encourages visual literacy, inspires new ideas, and fosters involvement with the arts both within the College and the larger community.
ABOUT WELLESLEY COLLEGE & THE ARTS
The Wellesley College arts curriculum and the highly acclaimed Davis Museum are integral components of the College’s liberal arts education. Departments and programs from across the campus enliven the community with world-class programming– classical and popular music, visual arts, theatre, dance, author readings, symposia, and lectures by some of today’s leading artists and creative thinkers–most of which are free and open to the public.
Since 1875, Wellesley College has been the preeminent liberal arts college for women. Known for its intellectual rigor and its remarkable track record for the cultivation of women leaders in every arena, Wellesley—only 12 miles from Boston—is home to some 2300 undergraduates from every state and 75 countries.
Media Contacts: Nina J. Berger, 781-283-2034, [email protected]
Sofiya Cabalquinto,781-283-3321, [email protected]
Website: www.davismuseum.wellesley.edu