The second annual NIU Arts Convocation presented by the College of Visual and Performing Arts will take place Monday, January 22^nd 4:30-6 p.m. at the Boutell Memorial Concert Hall, 1425 Lincoln Hwy, DeKalb, IL. The evening will showcase work from the schools of Art and Design, Music, Theatre, and Dance.

UNPACKED Mobile Gallery has a dynamic communication network directed at multiple audiences, placed in diverse locations, to engage the viewer in a dialogue about art, identity, public space, and the innovative ways artists can curate meaning and a sense of community through installation. Our installation sites vary from the typical museum/gallery context, by traveling to public and institutionalized locations on university campuses, art districts, museums, and public parks.

UNPACKED will be featured for the first time in winter and the second annual NIU College of Visual and Performing Arts Convocation: A Celebration of the Arts.

Co-Founders Lauren Iacoponi and Shane Bowers are keynote speakers for the event. The mobile gallery will be installed directly outside the concert hall at 1425 Lincoln Hwy, DeKalb, IL.

UNPACKED presents "Come As You Are" a group exhibition featuring NIU MFA students Shane Bowers, Elyse Sawka, Zeinab Saab, Millicent Kennedy Nora, Antoinette Viola, and Ana Cortes. "Come As You Are" is a queer and female-centric exhibition which touches base on taboos, desires, control, and tradition.

Below is a sneak peek:

Come As You Are

Millicent Kennedy Nora

Impressions

Rolling pins with artist's parents' hands, impressions left in flour on a table top.

2015

Antoinette Viola

Germ (Diptych)

13” x 20” (x2)

2016

Zeinab Saab

Kilam Al-Awal

Ink on Monotype Accordion Book

Acrylic on Stoneware

10” x 14” closed

10” x 6’ opened

2017

Shane Bowers and Elyse Sawka

Oogle Me This

6" x 9"

Acrylic, archival inkjet prints, wire

2017-2018

Come see the exhibition! January 22nd 4:30-6 p.m. outside the Boutell Memorial Concert Hall in DeKalb.

Hot cocoa with marshmallows will be served at the opening!