Next City Event: Opening Reception: Jennie Shanker Presents “Shale Play”

Join Next City and artist Jennie Shanker at the Storefront for Urban Innovation for the opening of Shale Play. This Storefront installation invites viewers to consider the complexities of the issues around the practice of fracking by providing an opportunity to see and touch (and even take home) the rock that has sparked such hot debate across sectors and communities.

A professor of sculpture, art and design at Moore College of Art and Tyler School of Art, Shanker started the The Marcellus Clay Experiment blog to chronicle the questions, expeditions and experiments that arose from an initial mission to make clay from Marcellus Shale. Through this project, where she uses the shale material as a medium in her work, she attempts to unpack the social, economic, and health concerns that have affected communities concerned about drilling for natural gas. Her work has included the participation of scientists, farmers, artists and students, and bridges communities in an attempt to contribute to a deeper understanding of contentious issues which need to be addressed.

The exhibition is free and open to the public until May 18, 2013 during Storefront hours: 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays. The Storefront will be open on Saturday, May 18 for the Brewerytown Spring Festival: 12 p.m. – 5 p.m.

For more on the issue, check out Next City’s recent coverage:

Forefront: Can ‘America’s Greenest City’ Also Be a Shale Oil Powerhouse?

Forefront: Unnatural Gas: Will Youngstown Frack Its Way Back?

Daily: Feeding Cities: We May Be Having the Wrong Energy vs. Food Conversation