Project Grant Awarded
Kendal Messick: The Projectionist Project

In June 2009 Tree of Life received a cash donation making it possible to fund the continuation of Kendall Messick’s Projectionist project. This support will be used by the artist to finalize the production of a Projectionist book to be published by Princeton Architectural Press.

Since the completion of The Projectionist film documentary, Messick has prepared a traveling exhibition that includes much of the original theatre as well as large format photographs of Gordon Brinkle and his hand created theatre environment. Also included is a selection of early drawings charting the design of the Shalimar Theatre and photographs documenting the life of Gordon Brinkle. All of this will be visually represented in the publication.

The Projectionist film and exhibition continues to be exhibited nationally. To date, the exhibition has been shown in its entirety by two fine arts institutions (Wake Forest University’s Charlotte and Philip Hanes Art Gallery, Winston-Salem, NC and the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, Charleston, SC) and in edited form by three commercial galleries (G+ Galleries, Toronto, Ontario, Gallery 50, Rehoboth, DE and Hemphill Fine Arts, Washington, DC).  Two additional museums are scheduled for 2009 (University of Virginia Art Museum, Charlottesville, VA and the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI) and at least five additional venues are currently considering the exhibition for 2011 and 2012 (The Light Factory, Charlotte, NC, Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, American Folk Art Museum, New York, NY and Savannah College of Art and Design, Atlanta, GA).

Kendall Messick received the first project grant awarded by Tree of Life in 2003. We are pleased to be able to contribute to a continuation of this successful and worthy visual art project.