On view now at Ohio Dominican University

Great opening on Sunday, March 17th of "THIS IS | on the subject of art," curated by CCAD's own Julie Abijanac. What a fantastic turnout! We even had three intrepid students bike from CCAD--a good 45 minute ride each way--on that chilly day. The show will be up until April 12th, and the hours are 10:00am-4:00pm Monday through Friday. If you visit, you'll get to see great work by fellow CCAD faculty Shannon Benine, Matt Flegle, Michael Goodson, Danielle Julian-Norton, Kelly Malec-Kosak, Andrea Myers, Susan Li O'Connor, Tim Rietenbach, Mariana Smith, and Melissa Vogley-Woods. Click here for more information.

I was pleased to install my 2012-2013 piece Divided Attention again; I last exhibited it at Oregon College of Art & Craft in a fantastic space that was a thoroughfare for college visitors. It was difficult to photograph it in that setting, so I relished the chance to get better images. The soft light of the gallery and Julie's generous placement helped it look its best. (Thanks Julie!) The new images, as well as an artist statement about the series, are on my website here under "works > studio works > pennant collages." 

right after finishing the installation - it's up!

look at that crowd

New Blog

The stirrings of spring have drawn me into garden preparations, and once again, I have been thinking a great deal about the intersection of art and gardening. I find that being in the garden influences my outlook on just about everything, including art. The palimpsest of this earth I work is layered: those settlers who first cultivated the wild land, those generations since that have coaxed food and flower from the ground, the previous owners of our house who so cared for the garden plot that their tomatoes in a wet year convinced us to buy the house, and us last year and our embarrassingly rich harvest. There are patterns here, layered upon one another; perhaps they will translate to drawings, ceramics, etc. I know there is a wealth of creative work here, and I want to see what my life looks like when I let these two generative actions intertwine. I have started a separate blog that is a repository for this ongoing questioning, as well as the progress in the garden. I am transforming this patch of earth, and somehow that feels terribly close to sculpture or performance art or something. Just a feeling so far; hopefully the blog will help me really sort it out. It feels like a major turning point, although I'm the first to admit that spring itself lures us into inviting change wantonly. I love that it does that...

http://c-o-m-p-o-s-t.blogspot.com/

A guiding quote from poet Stanley Kunitz, a fellow gardener:

I associate the garden with the whole experience of being alive, 

and so, there is nothing in the range of human experience 

that is separate from what the garden can signify 

in its eagerness and its insistence, 

and in its driving energy to live--to grow, to bear fruit.

It is the first day of spring.

Fall Update: Japan residency, Ann's exhibition at the Park Avenue Armory

It has been an exciting fall! 

Japan Residency Next Summer

I learned a while ago that I was selected for a one-month residency at Artist in Residence Yamanashi (AIRY) in Kofu-city, Japan! I will be traveling there from mid-June to late July, and will be studying shibori dyeing techniques at their relationship to my slip drawings. I am hoping to travel to Arimatsu, a small village that has collectively made shibori for 400 years. (Interestingly, I had not studied shibori patterns at all before making my slip drawings.) For comparison:

late 19th / early 20th centure Itajime shibori

my slip drawings on rice paper

This is such a dream come true - I have long felt a resonance with Japanese aesthetics and sensibilities, and feel so lucky to experience them in person. 

Here are a few pictures from the residency website:

AIRY is in the foothills of Mt. Fuji

Working on the rooftop

After the residency, I will travel to Kyoto and Tokyo with the US-Japan Leadership Program. I am so looking forward to seeing all the delegates from last year, and meeting the new delegates. It promises to be as fantastic as (if not more than) this year's conference in Seattle!

Ann Hamilton's the event of a thread

After months of intense preparation, we finally launched Ann's massive new project at the Park Avenue Armory title the event of a thread. (Fun fact: if you click this link, those are my hands!) Sometimes I stop and marvel that I get to help make things like this happen.

Here's a great slide show of images from the Armory, and there was a fantastic review in the New York Times. For those if you who didn't get to experience it in person, the NYT also put together a video.

The show has come down now, but I was lucky to spend a few days with it in New York. Several friends from USJLP come to see it (thanks guys!), and I feel privileged to have been there before the huge crowds starting coming in. It was a profoundly fluid piece that directly reflects the energy of the room, so quiet mornings on the swings were a treat - a lovely contrast to the fervent spirit of the bustling afternoons. Such an amazing experience to see from the inside how something of this scale happens! I am so fortunate.