Opening Reception: Saturday, January 24 from 6-9pm

Closing Reception: Friday, February 20 from 6-9pm

The Dreams That I Gave Her is a collaborative gallery exhibition that entails original writing, music, and visual art created specifically for this event. In conjunction with NARS Foundation, curators Kelli Burton and Yulia Topchiy have organized a creative project that involves 30 New York-based artists. The participants will consist of 10 writers, 10 musicians, and 10 visual artists. The opening will be held on Saturday, January 24, 2015, at 6pm at the NARS Foundation Gallery in Brooklyn. The show will conclude with a closing reception on February 20, 2015.

The curators selected 10 New York-based writers to craft a new poem or short story. The writing pieces were then distributed anonymously to 10 New York-based musicians and 10 New York-based visual artists. They had one month to use their designated writing piece as inspiration for an original song recording and an original visual artwork in the medium of their choice. The opening will reveal the collaborators to each other as well as display the 10 visual artworks. There will be printed books available which contain the 10 writing pieces with an attached sound card containing the 10 digital recordings of the inspired songs.

In addition to the 30 collaborators, the writing pieces were also distributed to 10 bakers. They will use the poems and stories for inspiration to sculpt an artistic cake that will be displayed and enjoyed at the exhibit opening. Throughout the run of the exhibit, there will be weekly live readings and performances by the writers and bands held at Entwine’s and Beverly’s in New York City.

The Dreams That I Gave Her was modeled after a similar exhibition Burton curated in Kentucky in 2008 titled Pet Milk. After attending a NYC art opening of her friend, artist and musician Bill Santen (a participant in Pet Milk), she was introduced to Topchiy. Together they decided to collaborate on a similar NYC-based project. The title is taken from a song lyric from one of Santen’s previously recorded songs. Burton and Topchiy felt it appropriate to pay homage to Santen’s work, since he, after all, was responsible for their introduction. Santen is one of the 30 artists participating in The Dreams That I Gave Her.

Participating Artists: Chris Bors, Eric Brown, Anelise Chen, Michael Crowe, Matt Duncan, Alaina Ferris & Matt Schlatter, Alan and Michael Fleming, Catherine Foulkrod, Riitta Ikonen, Invisible Things, Melissa Godoy Nieto, Alison Kuo, Cate Marvin, Noveller, Cate Peebles, Walter Robinson, Bill Santen, Adam Sipe, Amanda Stern, Christopher Swetala, The Tablets, Tarwuk, JD Walsh, The Westerlies, Whale Belly, Woodsy Pride, Writer, Jessica Wynne, and James Yeh