The Illges Gallery at the Corn Center for the Visual Arts is thrilled to present Trip the Light Fantastic, an exuberant new body of work by renowned artist Didi Dunphy. On view from January 14 through February 22, 2025, evolving from the Milton poem L’Allegro, speaking to Euphrosyne, meaning “Joy”, of the Three Graces, to the popular song, The Sidewalks of New York, Dunphy trips the light fantastic, nimbly moving through dance, travel and art.
Dunphy’s art practice serves as a catalyst for “serious joy” and spirited connection, blending industrial fabrication, time-based media, and intricate handwork to craft an immersive experience. Her work transforms everyday moments and objects into opportunities for invention and curiosity, uncovering imagination in the unlikeliest of places—from a concrete plant to a disco-themed carwash. Central to her practice is a celebration of the female perspective and a call for playful togetherness in a fantastical life.
Rooted in minimalism, yet brimming with color and whimsy, Dunphy’s art bridges the conceptual and the tangible. Drawing inspiration from her graph notepad, iconic Hollywood movie titles, a Hello Kitty color palette, and the quirky joy of driving her Honda Element, Dunphy invites audiences into an art world that is as vibrant as it is inclusive—a space to live, work, and play.
In conjunction with this exhibition, Didi Dunphy will be directing a Maypole Dance Performance on May 3, 2025 for the Friends of Art Family Art Festival.
Exhibition Details:
Trip the Light Fantastic
Illges Gallery, Corn Center for the Visual Arts
January 14 – February 22, 2025
Gallery Hours: Tuesday - Saturday 11 am - 4 pm
Admission: Free and open to the public and convocation for students
Didi Dunphy will be giving an artist talk Monday, January 13 from 12 pm - 1:30 pm Crit Space 1, Corn Center for the Visual Arts.
IG: @didi.dunphy
Website: dididunphy.com
Gallery: Whitespace Gallery
About Didi
Didi Dunphy is a native New Yorker, Los Angeles transplant, living in Athens GA. Ms. Dunphy received an MFA from San Francisco Art Institute in Video and Performance Art. Ms. Dunphy’s work has been exhibited in major venues such as the Atlanta Contemporary, COCA, St. Louis, Telfair Museum in Savannah, the Jacksonville Museum of Modern Art in Florida, the Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, CA and more. A number of features have been written about Ms. Dunphy including Southern Living, Athens Magazine, Craft, CMYK, as well as art and exhibition reviews in the LA Times, SF Chronicle, Atlanta Journal Constitution, burnaway.org and others. Ms. Dunphy’s design works; Recess of Modern Convenience Studios, have been placed in a number of collections and included in design publications such as Elle Décor, Paper, Interior Design, Vogue Living, Cookie, Metropolis as well as design book publications including Downtown Chic by Rizzoli, Toy Design by Braun Publishing and Fun Rooms, Collins Design publishing.
Ms. Dunphy is a former Visiting Scholar and Professor in the contemporary and digital media arts at the Lamar Dodd School of Art, UGA, Ms. Dunphy works as an independent curator, previously as the Gallery Director at the Hotel-Indigo-Athens, Indigo’s GlassCube project space, the Albany Museum of Art and currently for the Highlighting Contemporary Art in Georgia series with the Georgia Museum of Art, She has been the Program Supervisor at the Lyndon House Arts Center in Athens GA for ten years, directing exhibitions, education programs and events.
Ms. Dunphy received the Georgia Governors Award for Arts & Humanities 2022, the Louis Griffith Hospitality Leadership Award, Athens, in 2017. She is a Hambidge Fellow.
Ms. Dunphy is represented by Whitespace Gallery in Atlanta with an upcoming exhibition summer, 2024.
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