Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Chronicle 2003

Chronicle
2003
Plastic bags, gaffers tape, mason jar rings, thread, wood, wire.
7' x 11'
.


Chronicle started as a collection of plastic newspaper bags from daily delivery of the San Francisco Chronicle.  My 70 year old cousin, Leta had noticed my love of sewing plastic bags and gave me over a years worth of the bright yellow bags. After quickly realizing that the bags contained a bit too much of the Oakland streets to work with comfortably, we washed and dried them and brought them to Creative Growth in Oakland, a dynamic art center for developmentally disabled adults.

Some of my favorite art of all time was made by artists there and it's virtually impossible for me to leave that gallery without buying something. In 2003, I was honored to have the opportunity to work there for the first time by collaborating with three artists on this piece; Dinah Schapiro, Vera Hollins and Judith Scott. We each wrapped the bags in gaffer's tape, yarn and shock-cording, with Judith focusing solely on the shapes that go horizontally across the top, Vera integrating the mason jar rings and Dinah making the soft forms out of plastics. I combined all the elements and installed the piece in Creative Growth's gallery for a show called "Insider/Outsider", highlighting collaborations. Later the work was chosen for the Northern California Biennial at The Crocker Museum in Sacramento and awarded an Honorable Mention.

Creative Growth is celebrating their 35th anniversary this month and has a show opening October 2 that features the early work that came out of that groundbreaking studio.

Creative Growth Art Center
355 24th Street
Oakland, CA
510-836-2340
creativegrowth.org

Chronicle 2003


Monday, September 28, 2009

"In the Absence of Words"

 In the Absence of Words
2007
Magnetic recording tape, thread.
5' x 7'


One of the many wonderful donations to my archives of discarded wonders.
These magnetic recording tape edits were turned into Mobius strips with thread and a lot of delicate sewing. My husband came home with miles of it after recording the phenomenal Neurosis record"Given to the Rising" at Electrical Audio. Most recordings are done digitally now, so tape like this is becoming harder and harder to come by. What didn't make it on to the album was marked on, cut and coiled and put in a box for me to investigate. Jason has been wooing me with tape, shock cord and oddities since 2000. Give me a tool or a box of junk over flowers any day.

Each one of these forms is like a letter to me. Spelling out a paragraph dealing with what happens when conversations stop, communication is severed and only the imagination is generating the dialogue.

Shown at Rock Paper Scissors Salon and Gallery, Durham North Carolina.

In the Absence of Words


How much can I really accomplish when my son is sleeping 15 feet from my squeaky computer chair?


First

Complete necessity has prompted this first post. My old website was impossible for
techno-challenged me to update and therefore absent of my drawings, sculpture and photos for the last 4 years...really pathethic. Sorry folks. But now I have been converted to blurting all the details so... I'll slowly be adding old and new images a little at a time.