About:

In her upcoming solo exhibition, artist Kledia Spiro delves into the fascinating interplay of weight, legacy, and the human experience. Over the last decade, Spiro has embarked on a quest to understand the meaning of "weight" in people's lives. Rather than viewing weight as a burden, she redefines it as a celebration of her family's legacy, and as a source of beauty and meaning.

In 2018, Spiro set out on a unique journey to explore the concept of weight with middle school students from the prestigious Groton School. During her Mudge Fellowship, Artist-in-Residence at the school, she integrated Olympic weightlifting into their curriculum, teaching them complex athletic movements that extended beyond the gym into their English, Physics, art, and biology classes. Spiro recorded their lifts and transformed the data into signature light drawings, capturing a unique essence of each student's journey. 

Spiro has collaborated with two diverse musicians, Lianna Sylvan and Kevin Baldwin, to translate her unique light drawings into a captivating music composition. In her upcoming exhibition, she will physically paint these signature light drawings in mid-air. Using sensors placed throughout the exhibition, each drawing triggers a unique sound experience for the visitor. When a visitor interacts with a drawing, they will hear the music created from that student's unique bar path, offering a multisensory exploration of weight. 

In 2023, Spiro extended her project to students from Boston Public School's Bridge to Calculus program. Their perspectives on weight, shaped by underprivileged backgrounds, provide a compelling contrast to the Groton students' experiences.

Spiro's project blurs the lines between information design and art, using drawings to create data for music production. The exhibition will also feature a live performance where Kevin Baldwin translates Spiro's movements into real-time sound, providing an immersive experience for the audience. Attendees will even have the chance to learn Olympic lifts, creating their own unique drawings in air and sound pieces as part of the performance.

Kledia Spiro's "Drawing in Air" promises to be an unforgettable exploration of weight, legacy, and the profound connections between art and human experience. Don't miss this one-of-a-kind exhibition.

Bio:

Spiro received her MFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University. She also received the Museum Studies Certificate from Tufts University in 2015. She has a BA from the College of the Holy Cross in Studio Art and Psychology with an Asian Studies Concentration. In 2018, Spiro was the Keynote Speaker at the Centennial New England Museum Association Conference. In 2017, she was selected as a TEDx speaker and performer for “The Pursuit of Creativity.” In 2016, Spiro was the video director that received the Massachusetts Cultural Council Award for the Mayors Art Challenge. In 2015, Spiro was also selected as one of five artists for the New England Media Symposium on the panel "Gender, Technology and Media: Hypothetical Schematics'' at Emerson College. In 2014, Spiro was appointed as the MFA Graduate representative for Exhibitions at the SMFA. Spiro was a visiting artist and guest lecturer at the College of the Holy Cross in 2014. She is currently a Post Graduate Teaching Fellow at Northeastern University and Assistant Professor of Design at Northeastern University London.

Review of Drawing in Air (Cate McQuaid, Boston Globe, January 10)

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