“The World of Wrestling” is a recent collaboration between visual artist Erin Miller and dance/performance artist Lucy Kerr. Miller and Kerr applied to SUMMERSCOOL separately and were introduced to one another by the Co-Lab committee. They became interested in working together and combining their different mediums and conceptual approaches to art. Miller works mostly in two dimensional mediums, creating abstract shapes and colors to embody her unfamiliar feelings when being in various familiar environments. Kerr works primarily with the body and avant-garde dance, and her content is inspired by the wonder, tragedy, and difficulty of being a human in the world. "The World of Wrestling" blends both artists' styles and perspectives in a beautiful and haunting installation that immerses the audience and suspends familiar perceptions of time. In a repainting of the natural world, Miller's large scale drawings of an abstract sky are overlapped with time-lapse sky videos, while the gallery ground is transformed by an all encompassing floor sculpture. On opening night, a slow, solo performance will fill the space, juxtaposing what we consider "nature" with the existence of human consciousness and the social symbols ingrained in the everyday. Miller will also take up the outside mural space with abstract drawing, blurring the lines between the indoor gallery art space and the outside world that serves as direct inspiration for the gallery space. "The World of Wrestling" is ultimately an epic and honest reflection upon the absurd; upon the act of navigating the every day and the sudden moments of anxiety, nausea, sadness, amazement, and confusion that may strike at any moment, perhaps when we look above at the sky.

Lucy Kerr received a B.A. in Theater and Dance and a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Texas at Austin. In addition to being an emerging scholar of Philosophy and Dance Studies, Lucy is a creator of avant-garde and post-modern dance and video as well as being a choreographer of contemporary dance for social change. Lucy was the most recent grand prize winner of the George H. Mitchell/Co-op Awards for her work with her thesis, Recognizing Possibility: Intersections of Disability, Contemporary Dance, and Social Philosophy and her mixed-ability dance-theater project, The Way You Move Your Body, which was presented as part of the 2013 Cohen New Works Festival. Lucy’s work has also been presented at the 2014 Frontera Festival, the 2014 Lab Series at UT, and the 2011 Cohen New Works Festival. Lucy is looking forward to training and performing with world renowned Butoh artist Ko Murobushi at Impulstanz in Vienna this coming August. She is very excited to be able to present her first gallery exhibition as part of Co-Lab’s SUMMERSCOOL and for the new possibilities this opportunity has opened up for her. 

Erin Miller is a senior at the University of Texas pursuing a BFA in Visual Art Studies. Mainly working in two dimensional mediums, her work can often be identified through her repeated use of abstract colors and shapes to reimagine the environment around her. Erin’s work has previously been shown at Richmond University’s Art Space in Florence, Italy and has also been published in Analecta 40 Literary and Arts Journal. Participation in Co-Lab’s SUMMERSCOOL program has given Erin the opportunity to work on a larger scale for the first time.

SUMMERSCOOL is a bridge between studio practice and exhibition production for young artists between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five. This mentorship based program provides training and insight as artists prepare for their exhibitions coupled with a hands on experience of managing an art space. Selected artists receive two months of personal access to Co-Lab Project's administrators, curators, artists and assistants to learn practical professional development skills required in the visual arts industry.