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 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:

Archetype Drift: opening photos

Fleeting to open (and close) in February

"Every artist wants his work to be permanent. But what is? The Aswan Dam covered some of the greatest art in the world. Venice is sinking. Great book and pictures were lost in the Florence floods. In the meantime we still enjoy butterflies." --Romare Beardon

In Fleeting, curated by Christina McClelland, 14 artists based throughout the United States and abroad explore the idea of impermanence through a diverse array of media, artistic practices, and methods of working. The works displayed take the form of site-specific installation, performance, painting, photography, video, sculpture, and participatory work. Particularly examining impermanence in the context of nature and biological phenomena, as well as through non-traditional and non-archival materials, Fleeting addresses the temporary and ephemeral nature of art and its subjects.

I'll be showing new work in this exhibition, made even more exciting by the fact that it's a collaborative piece that has been in the works for quite a while and finally came to fruition across distance and disciplines. James Pepper Kelly and I will be showing a video piece, called March 30, 2012 - $656 million, which was shot in Chicago this winter. The exhibition opens February 1 at 7:00pm at Indi Go Gallery in Champaign, IL.

Check out more of Christina's work on her website, and also on the Make Space blog, where she talks about her recent work, upcoming exhibition, and our coozie collab this summer!

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.

In residence: the Vermont Studio Center

Two weeks in a new studio

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Cold and dreary weather

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No need to go outside

This program partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.

Going west...

...super excited about my first show in LA! Momentum is being held in conjunction with the 40th anniversary of the Women's Caucus for Art, and an updated version of Self-Portrait: Lying will be there. Go visit if you can: 825 Gallery, 825 N. La Cienega Blvd. Opening reception Feb. 24, 6:00-9:00 pm. Meanwhile, I'll be at Woman Made Gallery this week installing work for Twenty in their Twenties.

Kim Jong-Il: In Memoriam, or maybe more like Lest We Forget

Kim: Lying... Is it too late or was it too soon? The Dear Leader's been in storage but would be willing to make appearances for his cortège.