SANDBOX Presents Evening of Art Videos From the Collection of Tom and Kitty Stoner

From “Dervish 4” by Jennifer Steinkamp, 2004

The SANDBOX initiative at Washington College will present a special evening of museum-quality art videos from the private collection of Kitty and Tom Stoner. Titled “Luminance,” the event will take place Tuesday, October 14 at 5 p.m. in Decker Theatre, Gibson Center for the Arts and is free and open to the public. The collectors will be on hand to provide commentary and answer questions about the videos and their creators.

The Stoners will show portions of 16 videos, most of them meditations on natural beauty and humanity’s place in the landscape. “These are thought-provoking videos by pioneering artists,” says Alex Castro, the artist and architect who serves as director of SANDBOX. They include Miguel Angel Rios’ On The Edge, 2003, which features black and white tops engaged in a violent dance, and Sigalit Landau’s Mermaids, 2011, in which three women repeatedly emerge from the Mediterranean waves in a futile attempt to draw a line in the sand along the Palestinian and Israeli border. Also set to be screened is David Nash’s Boulder, an extensive project completed between 1978 and 2003 that follows the path of a wooden boulder as it drifts down a Welsh stream and out to sea.

From “Exiles of the Shattered Star” by Kelly Richardson, 2006

In addition to being serious collectors of sculpture, drawings and digital art, Annapolis residents Tom and Kitty Stoner are strong advocates for well-planned urban green spaces and their power to promote physical, emotional and spiritual well being. They founded the TKF Foundation in 1996 to promote the creation of urban oases as sacred places where people can build community and find sanctuary from the pressures and stresses of urban life. Cofounder of American Radio Systems, Tom Stoner is a former chair of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation board of trustees, and a former board member of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. He now serves on the Advisory Board of SANDBOX.

Funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, SANDBOX fosters collaboration between the creative arts and the sciences. The initiative brings Distinguished Visitors to Chestertown for lectures, performances and “Sandstorm” events, which are experimental interdisciplinary interactions with students, faculty and area residents.