Between You and Me

installation view of an art exhibit with semaphore flags above, cases with ephmera displays, and drawings and prints on the walls.

installation view of an art exhibit with cases with zines.

Garments hanging on the wall. They are sewn from cotton duck canvas, with a light blue and green pattern.

letterpress prints bound in pads, housed in canvas tool apronts mounted on a wall above a case with more ephemera and objects.

A series of drawings: 4 large drawings with venn diagrams drawn in pencil, and 8 smaller drawings with quotes in calligraphy in black ink. Parts of the various drawings are connected with thin yellow tape behind the slightly transparent vellum.

6 colorful bandanas with lettering with quotes about belonging screenprinted on them.

Between You and Me is an exhibition curated by Shannon R. Stratton at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, WI.

Between You and Me assembles a group of contemporary artists whose work engages in acts of connection and care. Whether working in their immediate communities or extending themselves to strangers, these artists employ practices that might model ways for fuller participation in the places we call home.

Featuring everyday objects including furniture, toolkits, books, menus, letters, signs, and other articles designed and made by artists, Between You and Me tackles a range of subjects—from hospitality to belonging—that intersect with ideas of making and sustaining community.

The exhibition invites looking beyond the specific work of art to appreciate the less material, though impactful, outcomes of the artists’ processes. Each of these acts of making and connecting, or connecting through making, confirms that artists are environment builders when they cultivate networks, nurture the growth of skills and knowledge, and care for or minister to the needs of others.

Works on view included Character Strengths Signal Flags, Ways and Means, Inter/dependence, Co-laboration, Positive Signs (United Theories), and Belonging projects in the San Francisco Bay Area and Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Experience a 360º tour of the Between You and Me on JMKAC.org.

Catalogue available: Care Is Like a Forest is an artist-produced exhibition catalogue coauthored by the Harriet Tubman Middle School Center for Expanded Curatorial Practice (HTC) in Portland, Oregon. Download the PDF, or order from JMKAC.

Caption: Between You and Me, curated by Shannon R. Stratton, is on view at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, WI from August 5, 2020–February 28, 2021. Photos courtesy of the John Michael Kohler Arts Center.