The Women's Room at HVCCA

Since early October, my video Casual Encounters: A Month of Sundays has been playing at the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art in Peekskill, NY, as part of the show The Women's Room: Female Perspectives on Men, Women, Family and Nation" curated by Marcy B. Freedman and Livia Straus. This weekend, though, brought a good reminder to go see the show before it closes in December: the New York Times ran a piece about the show, "Personal Ways of Untangling the Political" by Susan Hodara. The show runs through December 7, and will feature a panel discussion on December 6. Works include videos by eight internationally-based artists, many of whom I met at the opening. Here's an install shot of the video (you can watch it here).

Casual Encounters installed at the HVCCA

Winter in Appalachia Part II

This January I spent a week in Tennessee, after being invited to join the Tactility Forum at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. Thirteen North American artists working across the spectrum of fiber and related materials met in the Smoky Mountains to make work, talk shop, and eat wintry soups. I was incredibly happy to be part of this group and to see so much great work develop around me in our shared workspace.

I arrived without a specific plan, and began a search for materials, which in Gatlinburg could lead one astray. The local yarn shop/bait and tackle shop (The Smoky Mountain Spinnery) fortunately had an interesting selection–the giant cone of rug cotton, which I bought, and the rabbit fur fishing lures, which I wish I had. Here's a sample of some of the new developments:

Winter in Appalachia Part I

This winter is full of reasons to go south, and to the hills. Last week found me in Charleston, West Virginia, working with long-time friends on an exhibition called Predictions. Memory, and the fluidity between past and future, was a big part of the curatorial statement written by Jenny Hudson and Craig Mason. For many of my installations lately it's been important to use local materials. There's nothing more site-specific, or site-relevant, than earth dug up from near the gallery. West Virginia, though, has even more going for it in the lumps of coal that tumble from freight trains throughout the state. More than dirt, and more than the glitter I've enjoyed working with so much, coal is gorgeous and awful all at once. More sparkle than I would have imagined, and I turned into something of a hypochondriac while using it, thinking the worst every time I coughed.

The piece was an evolution of earlier work, that really fit the show's theme of overlapping pasts and futures. Re futures, a bucket of coal made the trip home with me--I think it'll be interesting to use it in Chicago where it will be viewed more for its aesthetic qualities and not quite so politically charged.

trying to look cute bc the abyss

Friday [last] at Co-Prosperity Sphere // ACRE show trying to look cute bc the abyss // artists Alicia Chester, [me], Ellen Nielsen, Oli Rodriguez, and Aiden Simon ChiCritics chose us as a weekly pick---hope you were there! >>http://chicritics.com/2013/05/24/weekly-picks-26/

See the show: Casual Encounters up for three more weeks

ADA Gallery is open during the afternoon, Thursdays to Saturdays, and my show will be up for another three weeks if you haven't seen it so far. Last week's First Friday opening was busy--here are some shots of the space:

Casual Encounters install and opening

This week I'll be installing work for my upcoming show in Richmond, Casual Encounters, which is the cherry on top of a year of working here at VCU. I'll be showing with my fellow Fellow, Ben Stout, at ADA Gallery at 228 W Broad St. Come by for the official First Friday opening on May 3 from 7-9. Here's a sneak peek of what's been happening behind the curtains:

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/65270991 w=500&h=375]

Image File Press

Been cramming lately putting together some work for an exciting new publication, Image File Press, the brainchild/lovechild of Ivan Lozano (more of his brilliant brain/love children here). It'll be a PDF zine/chapbook featuring different artists each month, and I'm honoured that Ivan asked me to inaugurate the first edition. Mourning Arpad, featuring 20 different artists, is the preview edition and you can check it out at imagefilepress.net. The premise of the regular monthly edition is image response, so I went with this image:

I've been looking at/thinking about this picture for a long time and I loved having to get into it a little deeper. Here's a teaser of the work that will appear in the full issue.

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/63690279]

Archetype Drift: opening photos

November news

This month I've been busy--the changing weather in Richmond means I have to judge every day's biking gear by the colour of the sky through the skylight, and I've been figuring out what to do with all the squash that my CSA has given me. Also though, I've been working on shows in both Chicago and Richmond. As an ACRE summer resident, I was given the opportunity to participate in this fall's MDW fair in Chicago, located at Mana Contemporary. ACRE curator Alicia Eler put together a booth of artists that she'll be working with for a show in the spring, and helped co-ordinate my participation at a distance, and luckily I have an amazing studio/life partner who could shuttle work and large bags of rock salt around the city! (thanks JMPK!) I am so glad this all came together, and it was really great to see my work featured in Newcity's review of the event. (Jason Foumberg named my piece best in show, you can read his whole review here).

This weekend I was setting up another show, this time in Richmond. Derecho opened last night at VCU and featured the work of the visiting faculty members in each area of the Craft/Material Studies department. The show looks great, and will be up until December 6th in the Fine Art Building at 1000 W. Broad St.

Coozie Project

In the spirit of experimentation that a residency is meant to support, artist pal Christina McClelland and I have embarked on a new collaborative practice. Site-specific beer coozies have been a big part of our stay at ACRE, and also happen to be a perfect fusion of our skills.