Alexandra Radocchia Zealand

A Conspiracy of Fishes - Installation details and slideshow

2011-12-05T18:59:00.002-05:00

Installed Friday at the Urbana Regional Library in Frederick MD, and curated by the Delaplaine.
Materials: Staples; Black and white 16mm films withdrawn from the Gettysburg College Library: a short biology film titled "Cell Division," a 2-reel documentary on Mt Athos, and short film about football, narrated by John Madden.

This is possibly the most-difficult-to-photograph piece I have ever put up - the space is amazing, but also full of architecture, books and uncontrolled lighting.

I had originally planned to hang my pieces close to the walls, using the lip of the wall as the place to anchor them. But when I arrived, I saw that the library staff had hung winter decorations in the open space between the floors - which, of course, got me thinking about installing in the middle of the space. And as it turns out, Urbana is such a recent building that the framing is all aluminum studs, and the lip was impossible to hang from.

So I built a grid out of string, and anchored it to a bit of 1x4 decorative molding - which also happened to be the most solid thing on the walls. And once the Urbana librarians saw where we planned to hang the work, they decided to move the decorations that had been hanging at the first floor level, up to the second floor level.

Overall, I'm quite happy with the installation - there's an alien, flighty, floaty, sea animal sense to the pieces, which I feel is worth pursuing. The title for the piece - A Conspiracy of Fishes - came to me after I was done putting it up, and is definitely a result of those alien, animal shapes.

The two things I'm not happy about are:

The uncontrolled lighting - After everything was hung, we discovered that the lights on the walls can not be adjusted, so I lost the element of shadows.

Hanging apparatus - After I'd hung the whole thing, I realized the string - which disappears when viewed from below - is very obvious when the piece is viewed from above.

I took video as well, but I still have to edit it before I can upload it.

Red film strips

2011-11-27T14:58:00.001-05:00

More work for the show I'm installing on Friday, taken with the camera on my cell phone.

This is b&w film that has turned red with age.

Working towards installation at the Urbana Library

2011-11-22T15:37:00.001-05:00

This is in my kitchen at the moment. I'll be spending much of Thanksgiving creating more of these, for the Urbana Library in Frederick, MD.

Alphabet Blocks and My Work Bench

2011-07-03T11:35:00.006-04:00

I'm taking a bit of hiatus from new work while I focus on Library projects and attend family weddings in Spain.
So it's a good time to simply observe, and to make mental/photographic archives of things that push my subconscious buttons that may eventually evolve in sculptures.

Installation Walkthrough of Wavelengths at Honfleur Gallery

2011-06-06T19:35:00.002-04:00

Morning - in progress photos

2011-06-05T08:30:00.007-04:00

This isn't quite done yet (we open June 10)....

Although I haven't figured out yet how to show it in a photo, one of the big changes between this and the piece at ArtSpace in February is the base - it's not solid or flat, but is coming up off the ground too. The whole thing is floating a lot more.

The finished piece in video:

Wavelengths, June 10 - July 22 at Honfleur Gallery

2011-06-04T10:46:00.001-04:00

I have a new show!

After several months focusing on parenting (soccer, cub scouts, homework...) and work (my web team gave a presentation at Computers In Libraries in March, and then I did a lot of training, followed by Library Legislative Day in May), I'm back to the studio/gallery.

Courtesy of microWave Project, one of my favorite curatorial duos, I'll be showing the latest evolution of my continuing coffee filter series at Honfleur Gallery in Anacostia during June and July.

The opening reception is next Friday, June 10, from 7-9 p.m. Please come!

Honfleur Gallery
1241 Good Hope Rd. SE Washington , D.C. 20020

Cell phone photo of filmstrip sketch

2011-02-27T12:47:00.001-05:00

Created Feb. 21, 2011

ELEMENTS at ArtSpace

2011-02-01T19:22:00.001-05:00

The show is mostly up... Hope to see you at the reception on Saturday!

ELEMENTS preview: Nest

2011-01-24T08:51:00.001-05:00

ELEMENTS: An exhibition featuring Sherill Anne Gross, Sean Hennessy, Sean Lundgren and Alexandra Zealand

2011-01-24T08:35:00.003-05:00

Herndon’s downtown art center, ArtSpace, is pleased to announce the opening of a new exhibition, “The Elements,” featuring the imaginative work of four contemporary artists:
Sherill Anne Gross, Sean Hennessy, Sean Lundgren and Alexandra Zealand.

Anchored in the classic elements of Hellenic physics - Water, Fire, Earth and Air - these artists use the elements as a part of their medium, rather than as the subject of their works.

Paper can not be created without water; ironically too much water can also destroy paper. Early fire pits dug into the sand had the side effect of also causing the first forms of glass, when the extreme heat of the fire melted silica. Dirt is the earth, the source of clay, and the root of life. Air is the space that floats between suspended objects, allowing for movement, light and shadow. Air is also the catalyst for physical transformation.

________________________________________
Sherill Anne Gross is a dc based paper artist. A love of collage and printmaking led to experiments with different techniques while trying to incorporate both passions into her work. Eventually the experiments were made solely using paper, and the challenge of transforming a finite color palette of flat square papers into realistic final images remains an exciting challenge with each new piece. Sherill Anne Gross’ work has been seen in many venues across the country including: Gateway Arts Center (MD), Elroy ArtSpace (OR), Harold Golan Gallery (FL), Foundry Art Center (MO), Allenton Gallery (NC), Ratner Museum (MD), Artomatic (DC).. She is also the owner of the graphic design company sagworks, and a resident artist at the Greenbelt Community Center. sagworks.com

Sean Hennessey is a sculptor, painter, and glass artist. A graduate of Berea College, Sean worked in professional theatre for ten years and has bridged the theatre and fine arts community since moving to DC in 1997. His works have been seen in many contexts and venues including: The Shakespeare Theatre, The Kennedy Center, the Wooly Mammoth Theatre Company, National Geographic, Discovery Channel, HGTV, Arena Stage, Smithsonian Folk Life Festival, Signal 66, The National Institutes of Health, The Ratner Museum and Artomatic. He’s the owner of Scenic Artisans LLC, a decorative paint and sculpture service, and a resident artist at the Washington Glass School and Creative Arts Center. dcsean.com

Sean Lundgren moved to the DC area in 2007, shortly after receiving his BFA from Alfred University with a concentration in ceramics. A process driven artist, Lundgren has been a member of Red Dirt Studio for 3 years and works as an artist's assistant to DC based sculptor Margaret Boozer. Lundgren's other mentors include a sculptural potter, an installation artist, a performance artist, a glass artist, and a blacksmith. He has exhibited his raw clay work in DC, Maryland, and Virginia, where his piece “Site Singularity” was reviewed by the Charlottesville News and Arts in September 2010: “Artists always struggle to make their material conform to their vision, but this DC sculptor takes an ingenious turn and allows the medium to prevail.” seanlundgren.com.

Alexandra Zealand is an installation sculptor. Originally trained in theatre design, she received an MFA in Sculpture from Pratt Institute. Since moving to Northern Virginia in 2006, her work has been seen at the Target Gallery, Evolve Urban Arts Project in DC, the artdc gallery and Artomatic. Her installation “Flock” was named Best of Artomatic 2009 by Art Seen Blog, and her January 2010 exhibit at the Delaplaine was reviewed by the Frederick News-Post. She was invited to install a coffee filter piece at the preview party for the new Arlington County Artisphere in Oct. 2009, and a film strip piece at the closing awards for the 4th annual Alexandria VA Film Festival in Sept. 2010. Fascinated by mummies, volcanoes, continental drift and zombies, she spends her days doing social media and reference work at the Arlington Public Library. alexzealand.blogspot.com

________________________________________
Photos can be downloaded for promotional purposes
Sherill Anne Gross – “Water”, Sean Hennessey – “Dream”, Sean Lundgren, Alexandra Zealand – “What Was”

ELEMENTS preview: Floating coffee filters

2011-01-24T08:21:00.002-05:00

This is a mock-up of part of one of the pieces I am creating for the ELEMENTS show (installing next weekend). These are the smallest size cone filters, #1s.

Listening to: The City and The City, by Chine Mieville

Film strip piece on display

2010-12-11T15:38:00.000-05:00

I gave this one to my sister in law and her family:

'In The Present' at artdc Gallery - Dec. 11 - Jan. 9

2010-12-06T19:37:00.003-05:00

In the Present: works by Alexandra Zealand and Jenny Walton
Reception: Saturday, Dec. 11, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. Facebook event

artdc Gallery
5710 Baltimore Ave.
Hyattsville, MD

I'm really psyched about this show - I've never worked with Jenny Walton before, but our work melds together beautifully. This is from the press release:

In the Present integrates the work of Jenny Walton and Alexandra Zealand who both grapple with thoughts of human life and its evolving relationships to the world. Though quite different in their materials, each artist’s work relates to the natural world in its present state, through abstracted anatomy caught in the act of degeneration or through repetitive looping reminiscent of cellular structures.

And here's the walk through:

Playing with film forms....

2010-12-02T21:46:00.001-05:00

I have no idea if this form is going anywhere....

Bid on a piece of my work, and help support ArtDC

2010-11-27T18:43:00.004-05:00

ArtDC is having and Auction Fundraiser next weekend, on Saturday, Dec. 4, at their gallery space in Hyattsville - 5710 Baltimore Ave., Hyattsville, MD 20781.

Facebook calendar event.

Preview starts at 5:15 p.m., and the auction starts at 6:15 pm.

Artists include Grayson Heck, D.B. Stovall, Mei Mei Chang, Wayson Jones, Sean Hennessey, Alexandra Zealand (me), Kimberly Stark, Christopher Brady, Heather Schmaedeke, Ric Garcia, Kelly Pearl, Cheryl Edwards, Tom Cardarella, Sarah M. Swift, Philip Yabut, Lori Boocks, Stephen Boocks, Joe Rogers (Aiven), Paul T. Farley, Alan Rich, Ian Doherty, Angela Kleis, Pamela Viola, Patrick Kirwin, Renee Woodward, Jesse Cohen, and more.

Sean Hennessey - with whom I'm having a group show at Herndon ArtSpace in February - also has a great piece up for auction. And Cheryl Edwards, who will be acting as auctioneer, totally rocks.

Good photos of the pieces at Columbia Pike

2010-11-13T12:09:00.001-05:00

This was taken by my friend Sarah, who works at Columbia Pike. Usually I try not to use flash when photographing my pieces, but in this case it was very helpful. More photos are on flickr, and I have a decent video to post soon, too.

Thinking about where the film pieces are going....

2010-11-12T11:18:00.002-05:00

...this morning on the way to work I was mulling over air, and memory, and expectation.

That's as far as I got before I had to change gears and think about work again.

What Was (Ramona)

2010-11-09T08:52:00.000-05:00

I love my new video camera, but it does not take great detailed still shots. Unfortunate, it was all I had when I took this.

I've decided to start keeping track of these based on which film they're made from. This was a live action Ramona Quimby film. It will be up for auction in December, to benefit the ArtDC Gallery in Hyattsville, MD.

What Was #2, with video

2010-11-01T19:54:00.004-04:00

This was very hard to film or to photograph. I'll have to go back this week after dark, and hope there's less background light to fight against (for the video).

In person, it looks much clearer, and also less like doilies floating in the sky.

The Wall Street Journal doesn't understand the difference between books and a Library

2010-10-28T11:46:00.000-04:00

Because I occasionally have to throw in a Library related rant....

WSJ photo of Library worker demonstrating the digitally locked cubby.

This article really annoyed me, because it's got both Library folks and the general public focusing on the wrong issues. There’s nothing wrong with the book vending machines themselves - the danger here is the assumption that all libraries do is lend books.

If our value as library professionals lies in our specialized knowledge and expertise, maybe the future of libraries lies in embracing the book vending machine as a way to cut shelving and circulation costs. Then we could instead focus our efforts - and especially our public awareness efforts - on the value of the other things we offer, things that book lockers can not.

New form for the film

2010-10-25T16:00:00.001-04:00

This is a new idea I'm working on - it will go up next week at the Durant Center in Alexandria VA, for the 4th Annual Alexandria Film Festival.

Mud is cool

2010-10-11T10:49:00.003-04:00

Every potter - and 2 year old - knows that mud is really, really cool.

This weekend my husband ran the Warrior Dash in PA. It's a short race, but it's full of obstacles, and there's a lot of mud towards the end.

As a result, the competitors cross the finish line in various degrees of mud encrustation. Some try hard to stay up out of the mud, and emerge fairly clean. Others belly flop into the mud and then flip over and do the back stroke through this part of the course.

My husband didn't do the back stroke, but he did get pretty covered.

I'd forgotten how fascinating mud is - it's a liquid! No, it's becoming a solid! - until I was standing with my husband as he waited to be hosed off by volunteer firefighters after the race.

I could have spent an hour getting interesting mud photos, but my husband was freezing at this point (he'd also walked through a pond, so he was soaked), and I didn't want him to get hypothermia while I geeked out on organic transformation.

So, Who's an Artist Anyway?

2010-09-29T09:43:00.005-04:00

Visual pun - Cristo's The Gates, photographed by Gene Han

Food for thought this morning, from Joe Flood, on the Pink Line Project blog....

In the past, it was easy to tell the artists from the amateurs. Artists appeared in curated exhibits. Professionals selected their work and put them in museums and galleries.

There were gatekeepers in all creative fields. Editors selected what articles appeared in the newspaper. Publishers decided what books would be printed. Art directors chose the photos that appeared in magazines. And museum curators decided what art was and wasn't.
Read the rest of the post

I agree that relying on institutionalized gatekeepers can be a very dangerous barrier to evolution and discovery. But that doesn't make me able to answer the fundamental question of whether gatekeepers SHOULD exist at all.

And - if I was to determine that the art world doesn't need gatekeepers (not a simple decision) - how would I get rid of them? Would that then invalidate all current art institutions, except as historical archives? What about art schools and degree programs - would I want to preserve them? Does this question then become an all or nothing paradigm of gatekeepers vs. anarchy? Is there a reasonable middle ground? Or does looking for a middle ground automatically validate the gatekeepers in a way that makes them primary all over again?

What do you think? I'm good at asking all the questions, but do not have a clear, gut-driven "I know I'm right" answer to any of them. I went to art school for my MFA, and that degree makes me feel valid. But I was in a program that deliberately didn't try to mold us in a particular image - instead the professors' attitude was, "What do you do? Now do it better." I'm also pretty certain that what makes 'good art' is subjective - I've been to plenty of gatekeeper-approved art shows that I've found boring, empty or pointless. I know that official success in this field is due as much to luck and patronage (and more luck) as it is to talent and perceived artistic value.

Maybe my ability to ask the questions, but not answer them, is why I lean towards the world of libraries and information access; I'd rather make everything - all the art, all the perspectives - available, and then let other people decide how to view the world for themselves.

As a side note, this is also Banned Books Week - another example of your right to decide for yourself.

Michael R. Richards - August 2, 1963 – September 11, 2001

2010-09-11T09:52:00.001-04:00

I wrote this post on September 12, 2008. I'm reposting it today, with a bit more explanation, in recognition of Michael's enduring work, and of the day he died.

I first heard about the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s “World Views” program (which gave artists studio space near the top of the Twin Towers) during a radio segment on NPR in 2000. At the time I was in grad school at Pratt Institute, in Brooklyn, for my MFA in sculpture. I immediately decided that someday I would get one of those studios - it seemed like the most exciting, romantic, awe-inspiring and uniquely-NY place on earth to make art.

Michael Richards did have a studio space in the Towers, and on the night of September 10th, he had stayed there overnight, working. Michael was an up-and-coming artist, in a big way. The piece here, Tar Baby vs St. Sebastian, was included in the The Harlem Studio Museum A-I-R program's prestigious exhibit Passages: Contemporary Art in Transition. In 2001, Christine Y. Kim, Assistant Curator at The Studio Museum in Harlem, and Franklin Sirmans, Independent curator and critic wrote about Michael's work:

That exhibition presented Tar Baby vs. St. Sebastian (1999), a seminal work in his series about the Tuskegee Airmen, where the artist's cast body in the uniform of the airman is pierced with model airplanes. St. Sebastian, the patron saint of soldiers and athletes because of his physical endurance, was martyered for protecting captured Christians he was supposed to imprison.

I'd never met Michael, but had heard about him through our mutual friend, Sharon Pendana. I had a vague fantasy that some day I'd get to meet him through Sharon, and that I might get to visit his studio. At the time, I was more focused on the space than the man...

But when Sharon and I - and the rest of our neighborhood - stood on our street in Brooklyn on the evening of September 11th, tallying up who we knew was safe and who we had yet to hear from, I shared her fear that Michael's last know location had been his studio, and that he was still missing. We never found out exactly what Michael's experience was on the morning of Sept. 11, but we do know that he was in the Tower when it fell.

You can read more about Michael, his 2000 show at the Corcoran Gallery here in DC in 2000, and the effect Michael and his art had on people, on Sharon' blog blog post from Sept. 11, 2008.

"What Was" at Beautiful Minds Art Exhibit for The Yards Park opening

2010-09-09T22:50:00.002-04:00

In conjunction with the microWave group and ArtWhino, I'm showing completely new work this Friday and Saturday at the BEAUTIFUL MINDS Art Exhibit at The YARDS PARK Grand Opening Weekend Celebration.

The area is right on the water in NE DC - 2 blocks from the Nationals' stadium and the Navy Yard Metro (NJ Ave exit). The art is being shown in what's called the Lumber Shed pavilion - the skeleton of a lumber storage warehouse - and is in a fantastic new park next to the DC Trapeze School.
But it's brand new and won't show on GPS, so visit the ArtWhino site for maps.

Opening Reception for Beautiful Minds - Sept 10th, 3:30pm - 11pm
With 3 hours of live music by bands I've never heard of, because I'm ridiculously out of touch, but who are apparently very good.
All Day Activities - Sept 11th, 9:00am - 10pm
Schedule of activitiess includes a moonbounce and trapeze demonstrations

As usual, my work photographs terribly, so I made a video.

I haven't figured out how to photograph this yet...

2010-08-22T23:54:00.000-04:00

I took down Moths to a Flame today...

2010-08-04T22:09:00.002-04:00

I hate taking an installation like this down, because it just ends up in shoe boxes on my shelf - basically, it ceases to exist.

On the other hand, if you've got to take an installation down, it's very satisfying to simple cut the threads and pop it into a shoebox.

4 days to put up, 45 minutes (including chatting with the curator and watching Leon jump off stairs) to take down.

Roots and Wings - sketch for a possible t-shirt design

2010-07-29T23:43:00.000-04:00

roots and wings

This is a first draft, for a friend who asked if I could design the back of a church retreat t-shirt. It's an Anglican church retreat - ironically, I'm working off a Quaker t-shirt I remember wearing as a kid...

I need to work on bigger paper, but this is okay for a first draft. Not a great photo, but I'm too tired to deal with lighting.

I did this tonight while my husband fell asleep watching Judgment at Nuremberg. I obviously need to create things right now, regardless of my statement that I'm currently in 'creative hibernation' (I've been wanting to bake cookies for days, too).

A moment of painting

2010-07-29T20:13:00.001-04:00

I went to visit a friend last weekend. When I got there she was painting, so I ended up fiddling with paints too - and this is what I ended up with.
I'm deep into creative hibernation at the moment (and continuing to focus on social media stuff at work), so I figured it was worth posting, since I have no idea when I'll make a new piece of sculpture.
I ended up leaving the painting with my friend.

Next Book - "When the Elephants Dance"?

2010-07-04T12:39:00.000-04:00

I've been taking a break from thinking about art for the past few weeks. I need to let all the ideas I've been working on go fallow for a while, and I also need to get back on my bike, focus on work stuff, and read a lot of escapist novels.

But, I think I might start on the next Transformed Book.

I picked up a withdrawn copy of When the Elephants Dance from the Library (it has a broken spine), and I'm planning to start reading it this weekend. It's a novel about the Philippines and a family during the beginning of WWII, and I think it may contain the right emotional elements to make a good sculpture.

Fibonacci Reception Today in Greenbelt, 1 - 3 pm

2010-06-06T09:56:00.001-04:00

I'll be in Greenbelt at the Community Center today - Sunday - from 1:30 - 3:00 for their Artful Afternoon, as well as a reception for my show. From the Greenbelt website:

Sunday, June 6, 1-4pm
Artful Afternoon: Peace Month and
Greenbelt’s 73rd Anniversary
Greenbelt Community Center,
15 Crescent Road

1:00pm-3:00pm:Transform plastic bags into whimsical flowers with the Greenbelt Museum. Also, participate in an additional art workshop sponsored by the Prince George’s County Peace and Justice Coalition. 3:00pm: The Greenbelt Concert Band performs a rousing tribute to our fair city. 1:00pm-4:00pm: Artists’ studio open house; Greenbelt Museum tours ($3)

It's going to be a fun afternoon - come on out! (Leon, now age 6, is bringing legos for sharing...)

Moths to a Flame - done

2010-05-31T23:04:00.003-04:00

The working title was "Shoaling and Schooling" because I was thinking of it like a school of fish, but it doesn't look fish-like to me anymore. It's more like moths, or something swarming.

And here is the walk-through video:

Evolve Installation Day 3, now with headlamp

2010-05-30T17:55:00.001-04:00

I bought this yesterday - immensely helpful for working with tiny invisible thread. I may look like a total goof, but I got another 5 hours of work done.

Still listening to "American Gods."

"Nature Transforms" at Evolve - Reception June 5

2010-05-30T10:13:00.000-04:00

Evolve Installation Day 2

2010-05-29T20:02:00.001-04:00

I worked out more practical details today, like how to move the ladder around the desk, and just how far I can reach from the top of the ladder without falling off. I now have 4 panels up, and have hung from 3 and a half of them.

I also had a really good chat with Bruce McKaig, who is reviewing the show (and showed up just when I needed to take a break), and got to listen to one of the Evolve residents practice piano and rehearse a string quartet.

As you may notice from the youtube notes on the video, the audiotrack for this install is Neil Gaiman's "American Gods," which I'm listening to on playaway from the Library. Good stuff.

Evolve Installation, Day 1

2010-05-22T23:34:00.004-04:00

I spent 4 hours at Evolve today, figuring out how I'm going to hang this piece. This is all I have to show for my time, but the practical details of how the piece will go up are solved, so I consider the day a complete success.

The piece is going to be hung in sections - probably 16 - 20 of them - from pieces of plastic needlepoint grid. The grid comes in 12"x24" pieces, and will be tacked to the ceiling with push-pins (my new favorite hanging tool, since I used it to hang the fibonacci piece as well). In some places the grid will be cut to be more narrow, depending on where it is in the room.

After I got home, I also spent a lot of time researching the actual purpose of grapefruit pith, but haven't yet come up with a satisfying answer with the online resources to which I have access. If any of you biologists out there have any ideas, I'd love to hear them.

How to teach a workshop loosely based on my work? Play with your food!

2010-05-17T20:09:00.002-04:00

I taught a day of art workshops at Greenbelt Middle School last Thursday, in conjunction with the piece I just installed at the Greenbelt Community Center. Here's what the students created:

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE - 8th grade

THE UGLY DUCKLING - 6th grade

THE TORTOISE AND THE HARE - 7th grade

THE LION AND THE MOUSE - 7th grade

I showed each class these images, and a bunch of interesting vegetables - rhubarb, turnips, beets, curly and red cabbage, dill, brussel sprouts, mushrooms and more. I then read the class a story, and helped them split the narrative into scenes. The students worked in groups, and each group created one of the scenes.

I then took photos of each scene, and added text using photoshop. As you can see, the entire text of each story is not represented - just the part relevant to the scenes that were created.

Created Thursday, May 13, 2010 - by Greenbelt Middle School art classes, in a workshop based on the Play With Your Food illustrators.

Fibonacci debuts at Greenbelt Community Center

2010-05-07T19:14:00.006-04:00

After 3 days of work, my new piece is up at the Greenbelt Community Center, in Greenbelt MD. This one is definitely still an evolving idea - but since I've never been able to put it up before, this was as far as I'd been able to take it in my head. Now that it's up I have some new ideas, but I know that I need to live with it for a while before I decide where it goes next.

I took a few videos - with the window shades down you can't see the color on the upper-most peels, but it gives a decent sense of how the piece moves and hangs in the space. If you have your volume up, you'll note that I was listening to the Glee! soundtrack. (a lot)

I like this photo of all the peels, laid out by size before I hung them. I took it with my cell phone, so it's not fabulous quality, but I love the reflection in the window:

Now I need to buy beads, too

2010-05-02T11:18:00.001-04:00

The thread has not yet arrived. Luckily I found a spool of the old stuff in the back of a drawer in my work bench that i can use for now, just to prep the pieces for the Greenbelt installation.

But I can't find the beads I need - I'll probably come across them next month when I'm looking for something else - so a trip to Target may be in order. Fingers crossed that their arts&crafts section sells seed beads.....

These are the peels, hanging in front of my workbench. I'm hoping to give them enough time to stretch - if they're going to - before I hang them Wednesday. Some of them lengthen after hanging, so I'd like to know how long each one is really going to be, since relative size will be important to the overall arrangement.

Thread is thread, right? Apparently not....

2010-05-01T10:37:00.002-04:00

I've recently discovered that the nylon 'invisible' thread I've been buying for 10 years at grocery stores and drug stores, and use in so much of my work, has disappeared from those same stores. This week I checked my local Giant, CVS and Rite Aid, and not only couldn't find it, but also didn't see a place for it on the shelves.

Since I use this for sewing coffee filters together and for hanging pretty much everything - and have a suspended orange peel show to install this Wednesday - you could call this a potential crisis.

So of course I went on line to try to find a local sewing-supplies store. No luck - nothing close enough for a quick trip in amongst everything else I have to do. Then I looked for places to order invisible thread online, and in reading through various sites found an article on quiltbug.com about sewing with specialty threads, which said:

Nylon (polyamide) thread will melt and fuse at a low temperature. Nylon thread goes brittle, yellows over time, and melts at low temperature. Unfortunately, most invisible monofilament thread is nylon.

Ack! I've been using regular Nylon thread for YEARS.
On further thought, I realized I also use acrylic medium on top of the thread, thereby sealing the thread and stitching. And,since I use materials that are generally expected to decompose, I've never assumed - or guaranteed - that my pieces would last forever and ever.

The article goes on to say:

Polyester monofilament invisible thread does not go brittle, or yellow over time or melt at low temperature. Polyester embroidery threads are made of long stapled fibers with a silk like finish which are them durable and color fast. They will not shrink or stretch so your embroidery motifs will not distort over time.

So this seems like a good time to take advantage of new information, and upgrade the quality of my materials. I ordered 3 rolls of Sulky Premium Invisible Thread - 2200 yards each, of .004 100% polyester monofilament thread. Hopefully it will arrive today.

Nice write up on Grayson's show in Hyattsville

2010-04-15T09:38:00.001-04:00

My friend Jesse wrote up last weekend's the reception for the show at the ArtDC gallery in Hyattsville, which was packed:

The gallery was filled at capacity for the extent of the night, the band played on, and the patrons stayed to discuss the art! We were pleased with the mix of interesting and important visitors from UMD professors, George Koch of artomatic, art collectors and gallery directors..

Grayson's View from artdc.com on Vimeo.

It's a great write up in general, so if you missed the show you get a good feel for what was there through both the words, photos and video. He also wrote about including me - the non-MD artist - in the show:

While curating the show, Grayson and I were talking about Peter’s work, and I couldn’t get Alexandra Zealand’s coffee filter works out of my head. So we invited her to join the show. There’s a connection between the repetitive material nature of their works. One filter or phone line isn’t enough. They hammer the idea in and create a new work out of old materials with a furious energy. As we move through this gallery process, I become more and more excited about site-specific work, and how they can change from space to space. Lexi’s work is a great example of that, since her filter works were created for her past exhibition at the Delaplaine in Fredrick, MD where they lived as wall installations. Here, we worked together to fly them with fishing line. During the show they would move and float with the air current.

Read the article on ArtDC.com.

Cameo in 'Big!!! Grayson's View' at ArtDC Hyattsville

2010-04-07T13:44:00.006-04:00

I was asked to contribute a ceiling-hung piece to a show curated by Grayson Heck at the ArtDC Gallery in Hyattsville (I'm the token non-MD artist involved), so I went out on a limb and hung the coffee filter wall pieces - from the Delaplaine and Creative Briefs shows - up in the ceiling of the gallery. Although they're really hard to photograph well up in the ceiling with all the grid/lights/car painting, looking at the shapes suspended in the air gave me some exciting new images to think about.

The facebook event listing is here.
The reception is:
Saturday, April 10, 2010, from 6 - 9 pm.
ARTDC Gallery
Route 1 Hyatsville Arts District, The Lustine Center by EYA
5710 Baltimore Avenue
Hyattsville, MD

Moving towards the installation at Greenbelt

2010-03-11T14:20:00.010-05:00

The growing pile of spiraled orange, clementine, tangerine and other assorted small citrus fruit on my work bench.

Delaplaine show ends March 14

2010-03-09T18:55:00.004-05:00

I took a friend to the Delaplaine today, to show her my exhibit, and took some more photos:

My run is over as of this Sunday, so this weekend will be your last chance to see the work in this configuration!

And Frederick is beautiful in the balmy weather we've been having, so this is a great time to go walking on the canal, and enjoy this glimpse of spring.

Transformations reception this weekend at the Delaplaine

2010-02-17T14:01:00.006-05:00

After being postponed twice due to the ongoing snow storms, the Delaplaine will be holding a reception this Saturday, Feb. 20, from 3-6 pm, for my show and several of the other artists currently on display.

And barring more horrible snow, I will be there!

In case you're not familiar with Downtown Frederick, they hold a First Saturday every month, and February's Fire and Ice - which has also been rescheduled to Feb. 20 - is a big event with ice sculptures, an ice playground and ice carving demonstrations. I've never been myself, but I'm looking forward to checking it out.

Great press for the Delaplaine show in the Frederick News-Post

2010-01-15T20:30:00.008-05:00

This excellent profile was written by Lauren LaRocca, arts reporter for the Frederick News-Post, the local paper in Frederick, MD:

Artist transforms trash ... and herself in the process
Originally published January 15, 2010

"Individually, the pieces of Alexandra Zealand's installation, made of browned coffee filters, resemble tentacles. Together, they play with the negative space of the Delaplaine's New Gallery to create an earthy, fantastical place.

Her solo sculpture exhibit, "Transformations," explores the transformations of organic objects to art, and as the objects were transformed, so was the artist. That was her intent." (read more)

Delaplaine Preview (Jan. 9 - Mar. 13, 2010)

2010-01-07T22:47:00.007-05:00

I installed my show at the Delaplaine today, and I'm happy to report that I think it looks great, and that Diane Sibbison, the gallery manager, was fantastic to work with. The wing piece from Ofrenda has evolved again, and is therefor the newest thing in the show. I've titled it "the thing with feathers"

Here's a mediocre video walk-through, with my junk still in the gallery:

working photos for a piece on Fibonacci

2009-12-10T16:53:00.006-05:00

I was working on photos today to send to Greenbelt for a installation I'm doing there in May:

Fantastic write up from Sharon on Pendulum

2009-12-08T07:11:00.007-05:00

My friend Sharon Pendana writes a blog called pendulum, which she describes as "The random musings and myriad inspirations of a bespectacled, red metal wearing, travel-loving, chocophilic stylist in the People’s Republic of Brooklyn."

A professional stylist by day, Sharon and I met when we lived on the same street in Brooklyn, and our dogs became friends. We've stayed in contact in the years since, and as fate would have it we settled close to where her mother lives. Sharon was able to see my Artomatic 09 piece this summer (ironically also running into a childhood friend at the same time), and apparently that got her thinking about my work.

So check out Sharon's Trove post on me and my work, not just for her insight into my inspirations, but also for her remarkable writing. And then read her blog for more fantastic writing. And if you need a stylist, Sharon's your gal.

Solo Show at the Delaplaine (Feb. 6 reception)

2009-11-24T11:25:00.006-05:00

I will have my first solo show at the Delaplaine Visual Arts Education Center in January/February, which in and of itself is very exciting. But I just received an email from Diane Sibbison, their Manager of Events, letting me know that they had chosen to use a photo of my work for an add they're running that month, in Maryland Life, and the January issue of Art in America. I'm more than a little bit stunned and amazed by the add.

Ofrenda edit

2009-10-20T15:03:00.002-04:00

I've been messing around with the piece - decided to take the vertebrae out. I still wish the angle came up more in the middle, but...

For Ofrenda 2009 - the most literal piece I've ever made

2009-10-19T20:46:00.003-04:00

This is definitely a draft, a 'throw it at the wall and see what sticks' kind of piece.

It's definitley not 100% where I want it. It's made in 2 pieces, that previously hung (in 2002) from the ceiling, touching in the middle to steady each other. For this incarnation I made a sort of wax frame, so that it can hang on the wall, but when I made that part I was worried about not having enough of the structure embed into the wax, and as a result I didn't put the two pieces in at the correct angle from each other. So the center bones should come up more in the middle.

The section hanging in the middle is made of chicken vertebrae, strung with beads. I've been trying to figure out what to do with these pieces for a long time (maybe a year?), so this is their first foray into form. They're sort of working for me...

I think I may need to add something more, above the piece in the center, but I'm not yet sure what.

Arlington Cultural Center Preview Party

2009-10-11T08:26:00.001-04:00

Details to come, because I really wanted to get a few photos up.

Even a wall installation makes more sense with video

2009-10-04T18:33:00.003-04:00

This is for the Arlington Cultural Center Preview Party next weekend (10/10/09), at the old Newseum building in Rosslyn.

Burning matches

2009-08-22T20:41:00.003-04:00

Just because....

August update

2009-08-22T19:39:00.007-04:00

I said that I was going to take a break after Artomatic. I was sort of wrong. So here's a quick post to catch up on the last month and the coming months.

Along with a lot of my favorite local artists, I'm in The Zip Code Show next week (August 29 - September 5th). A combination gallery show and music event, this is a collaboration between Art Outlet and ArtDC.org, with The Halstead Arlington and The Columbia Pike Revitalization Project. I installed my burnt match piece - Home (5 parts in Morse Code) - today.

Henrick Sundqvist (of Art Outlet) and I are creating new work, to represent Arlington County artists at an upcoming event to celebrate the start of renovation of the "former Newseum site in Rosslyn into a cultural center that will showcase the arts in Arlington and spur redevelopment by hosting a vibrant mix of year-round performances, exhibits and events." The event is in early October, so more info to come....

I'm designing a new floating pith-piece for a commission - my first! The buyers saw my work at both this year and last year's Artomatic, and contacted me. I love the collaborative process of working with people to create something for a specific space. And I may be in the market for a second hand band saw....

And finally, my friend Reidy saw this exploratory pith-piece in the window of my studio, and loved it. Since I'd hit a dead end with it, I happily gave it to her. Here it is in her window (bad photo, taken with with phone).

And Leon starts kindergarten in 2 weeks. Ack!

matches - playing with designs

2009-07-15T22:28:00.007-04:00

While I was building a burnt match piece to send to the Wohlfarth Gallery in Provincetown MA, I played around with some new pattern ideas.

This is the one I'm most interested in pursuing. I like the seeming randomness, and it makes me want to play more with code patterns.

I also like the way this one has a heart beat, but it's sort of boring.

This one, when turned 90 degrees, looks like a tornado. I'm not sure how I feel about that.

June wrap-up (several weeks late)

2009-07-15T14:51:00.009-04:00

It's been a very busy month, and I am completely exhausted. Artomatic was fantastic - it was wonderful to see people I'd only been emailing with for the past year, and I got involved more as a volunteer by leading kids' tours (highlighting some of the multi-media work). I was also very happy with my piece, got a lot of good feedback and critique, and have some strong ideas on where to take it next. And although I didn't sell anything, I may have picked up a commission, and I did receive several invitations to apply for solo shows around the area.

I made a short video of the finished piece, after all the surrounding work came down:

My next project is to clean up my studio (it's slowly taking over our apartment, but I just got new shelving). And I need to ship four of my coffee filter pieces (from the Surfaces show) to the Wohlfarth Gallery in Provincetown MA, where they will be showing some of my work for the next 6 months or so (longer, if it goes well). That is super-cool.

Then I'm going to turn my attention to this piece, which I started almost 2.5 years ago (our first winter in VA), because I've had some new ideas about where to take it. I'll post better photos as it evolves.

People say more really nice things about my work...

2009-06-16T13:50:00.009-04:00

Artist Tammy Vitale has a really great blog called Women, Art, Life; Weaving it all Together, in which she writes about both her own work, and that of other artists. She's just posted an interview we did regarding my Artomatic piece this year. She writes,

Alex's work always presents itself as something other than what it is, at least to me, and her piece this year creates the same sense of wonder, a yearning to sit and contemplate and see where the communion between piece and mind might take you. Mostly it's feelings and not words, a bodily reaction to something I don't quite understand but like a lot.

I am also honored to have been chosen by the DC Art Seen blog as one of their Best of Artomatic this year (scroll down, I'm at the bottom). About my work they write, "the delicate structure sways with the slightest movement, and the individual pieces are especially engaging because of their texture and their range in color."

I am quite delighted by both write-ups - Thank you Tammy and Alison!

very kind words

2009-05-28T16:55:00.002-04:00

Jesse Cohen said some more really nice things about my work this week, over on his blog.

Video of walking through Flock (unfinished, at Artomatic 2009)

2009-05-27T11:51:00.004-04:00

This video is a little shaky, and I believe I took it well before I was finished adding pith (there's more on the front end now), but it gives a good sense of what it's like to walk up to the piece:

the pith piece, taking shape

2009-05-25T11:01:00.004-04:00

I spent all day yesterday tying little pieces of pith onto string. I'm not done yet, but it is coming together, and I'm feeling good about the end product. I'm going back today - I need to get it all done this afternoon.

I'm still not sure what to call the piece... Cloud? Float? Pith? Nothing along my usual lines seems right.

Artomatic progress

2009-05-22T20:17:00.003-04:00

This is what I did Wednesday night.
It doesn't look like much, but it's actually a huge accomplishment. And now I can start hanging the piece itself, tomorrow.

That's Leon, watching The Clone Wars on the mini DVD player, which is a total life-saver.

a few of my favorite pieces from the 12x12 show

2009-05-17T10:17:00.011-04:00

(because you've got to love the red dot)

Hyattsvile Art Festival & 12x12 show

2009-05-17T09:37:00.011-04:00

We stopped by the Hyattsvile Arts District's big party yesterday, and checked out the excellent 12x12 show at the ArtDC gallery. There was a lot of art on the walls, but the salon-style hanging didn't feel crowded at all.
The visitors were plenty - even before 1pm - and the sales were flowing. I haven't heard the full tally, but my friend Adam sold all three of his steel wall pieces (one to me). I also sold one of my match pieces.

Jesse and Amy kept the red dots straight all day.

artomatic postcards

2009-05-12T21:28:00.002-04:00

I just ordered 1000 of these:

There's text on the back, too, but I don't have a jpeg of that.

Painting my walls

2009-05-06T12:01:00.003-04:00

The 'off-white' I mixed up to paint my walls at Artomatic ended up being a lot more salmon than I'd expected. So this evening after work Leon and I are headed over to the AOM space - me to add another coat of paint, finally take photos, and do some measuring - and Leon to watch DVDs of Star Wars so that he doesn't get covered in paint. I'll post photos when we get home.

May update

2009-05-04T09:52:00.003-04:00

I spent all weekend engaged in the business of art, with some parenting and socializing thrown in to keep me well-rounded.

Saturday was orientation and site selection for Artomatic, which took a while because my dreams of a 3-D window space ran head-long into the reality of a 3rd floor view dominated by Nationals Stadium. Then I got distracted by disappointment over not getting space on a higher floor, where the light is much better. But once I determined that I could get both sides of a tunnel space - where I can suspend my piece and control the light - I was very, very happy. I could have taken a similar space on the 4th or 5th floors, but I met some nice people who are also on 3, and the tattoo parlor is on 3, so I figured it will turn out to be a fine floor.

On Sunday I picked up my work from the Surfaces show in Hyattsville, dropped off the 3 very small burnt-match pieces for the ArtDC 12x12 show, which will be part of the Hyattsville Arts Festival (May 16th 11-5) then went back to Artomatic to paint my walls. I'd bought 2 gallons of miss-mixed, off-white paint, from home depot along with a gallon of stain-killer. I mixed all that with another leftover gallon of white from the 5th floor free-paint. The end result was slightly more salmon colored than I had expected - I may cut the remaining paint with more white and give the walls a second coat tomorrow after work.

Now I have to decide whether to keep my Artomatic volunteer shift for next Saturday afternoon, or switch so that I can use the time to actually work on my piece... More on the actual piece soon.

Photos from Surfaces

2009-04-18T15:26:00.010-04:00

These were all taken by my friend Tom Cardarella, because my camera battery died just before the show.

Absence of Flight 3 hanging next to Anatomy of Addiction: Christopher and Alex at home.

Adam's Antelope piece, in the Lustene building's amazing curved windows.

I'm not sure how Tom took this (multiple exposure?), but that's Karen in the foreground and me and Jessie talking to a visitor in the background.

The crowd checking everything out - Adam Eig is in the middle, wearing glasses.

Close-up of the trapped bird in Absence of Flight 3.

My work next to Adam's.

Absence of Flight 3 in the foreground.

Adam's two red pieces with Anatomy of Addiction: Anne at work

Surfaces sneak preview

2009-04-09T14:00:00.004-04:00

The gallery at night, from the street.

Leon helped with focusing the lights - he turned the switches off and on repeatedly.

Addiction/Infestation

Elizabeth Sanford Memorial Show @ Soundry

2009-04-08T10:43:00.004-04:00

I missed the call for this show at the Soundry, but it looks like it's right up my alley:
I haven't made it out there yet, so April 18th looks like a good time to go. Anybody want to join me?

Surfaces: April 11th - May 2nd

2009-04-06T22:27:00.010-04:00

I'm in Surfaces, a two person show that opens April 11th. The gallery is the new ArtDC.org space in Hyattsville, on the other side of DC.

The opening will be this Saturday (4/11/09), from 6-8 pm - I'm showing some new work, and some new variations. I met the other artist, Adam Eig, at the Art in Transition, continued show two and a half years ago. And for all the differences in our materials, I think our work plays surprisingly well together. Come see for yourself!

Arts District Hyattsville
5710 Baltimore Ave
Hyattsville, MD 20781 (map)

March update....

2009-03-18T15:18:00.014-04:00

It's been a busy few months, so here's an overview of what I've been up to:

The Luck of the Draw show/event at The Navy Yard on Valentines weekend was apparently a big hit - I thought there was a lot of good work, especially in the 10 Miles Square photo room.
Here are 3 of my 6 pieces, installed in The Pink Line Project's space. I don't think that I made great use of the space, but the show did give me a chance to look at my spheres in a different context, which was very helpful.

Here's another photo of the spheres, surrounding my friend's cat. We were at his house to donate a piece for the ArtDC.org silent Auction, to support his new gallery space in Hyattsville MD. I will, in fact, be part of a 2 person show there in April - more details to come.
Leon's leg can be seen in the upper right hand corner.

The reception on February 16th for the Target Gallery's BookEnds show at the Torpedo Factory was well attended, and on their web page you can see photos of me, Leon, and my friend Kerry looking at the work. There was also a video taken of the juror and artists talking about the work, but it doesn't seem to be online yet.

I visited The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History with friends, and spent a lot of time looking at their fabulous bird skeletons.

If you have any interest in skeletons in general, the Smithsonian has an incredible collection of POSED bones - sadly, much better than what they've got at the NY Museum of Natural History (much as I love it).

I also had a really good critique with Matt Best and Jill Romanoke, both resident artists at the Arlington Arts Center. They encouraged me to explore more of my ideas for the coffee filters, so here's a close up of filters with the valleys pushed in to make mountains. More of this to come, as I work on the upcoming show....

And here is a photo of spilled coffee grounds, in my kitchen.

Art Auction tonight for ArtDC.org

2009-02-21T11:21:00.003-05:00

I meant to post this much earlier, but we've been sick again, which always makes it hard to stay on top of current events....

Tonight ArtDC.org is holding an Art Auction at Wolfarth Galleries - 3418 9th Street, NE, Washington, D.C. (near the Brookland Metro) - to benefit a new ArtDC.org gallery and studio space. I donated a piece - along with about 25 other ArtDC artists - and I hope it finds a good home!
If you're on Facebook, you can view the event invite here.

I will be there myself if Leon and I are feeling better by this evening...

BookEnds show at the Target Gallery

2009-02-15T10:48:00.004-05:00

My piece The Road: an altered book is on display at the Torpedo Factory's Target Gallery, from now until February 22nd. I should have posted this earlier, but it has been a crazy few weeks, and I've been finishing other work at the same time. You can see the Target Gallery show here (the listing is alphabetical, so I'm at the bottom).

The gallery held a reception last Thursday, and a talk with the curator and the artists was captured on video. I'll link to that once it's up on their website.

The new, reversed coffee filter, experiment

2009-01-25T21:58:00.003-05:00

Two working shots of the new coffee filter piece - the first has limited back light, the second is front-lit only. These are #4 filters, turned inside out. I haven't yet taken photos of the coffee-grounds side.

January update - working photos

2009-01-08T19:23:00.008-05:00

Here are two photos of the pieces I'm currently working on:

These are chicken vertebrae, from a chicken I made into soup last weekend.

I love them, but at the moment I don't know where they're going. I initially thought they would go with the piece in the next photo, but after today I think they're a completely different piece. My current gut feeling is that are too literal in this form, but I need to live with them for a while before I can be sure.

This second piece is smaller than the previous sphere - only 10" across. I suspended the bird inside the sphere, because I need to see the idea completed. Although it's fairly easy to find the bird when looking at the piece, it's hard to see in this photo, so click on the image to see the bird.

Having now seen the nest in this smaller, completely spherical form, I'm 90% certain that the finished piece is actually the larger, incomplete shape. This version feels too small, and completing the sphere seems to deaden the form.

However, I have made technical progress with the materials. These stems were soaked in liquid medium mixed 1:1 with water, so they're fairly strong, and the 5-minute epoxy bonded them well. I believe that the next step, when I have enough new stems, is to rebuild the larger, un-closed sphere, as the original just fell apart completely.

I'm also working on something new with the coffee filters, but it's not yet ready to be photographed.

Upcoming show @ Target Gallery

2009-01-01T17:47:00.003-05:00

I'm excited to report that my transformed book The Road will be part of an upcoming Target Gallery show.

BookEnds: The Book as Art January 22-February 22
Reception: February 12, 6-8pm
Gallery Talk: 7pm

BookEnds, an exhibition that focuses on the book as art and will be open to all artists nationally and internationally. The exhibition will be split between two venues, Torpedo Factory Art Center¹s Target Gallery and Pyramid Atlantic: A Center for Print, Paper and Book Arts. The juror for this exhibition is Helen Frederick, Founder and former director of Pyramid Atlantic. Frederick chose 56 pieces that will be on display at both galleries. The work encompasses more traditional forms of art books and more contemporary and sculptural versions as well. The juror will present a gallery talk on February 12 at 7pm during the reception.

Art You Must Acquire: Good Press from Artdc.com

2008-12-19T09:57:00.006-05:00

This week I am the recipient of a wonderful write up on ArtDC.com, in Jesse Cohen's new series 'Art You Must Acquire'.

He writes, "Often I’ve looked at recycled materials and thought, "Huh. That looks like a pile of trash." This is not true for her work. When I take a look at Lexi’s* art, I’m pulled away in another dimension of thought and left with many questions, which often end up in how did she do that, what is it made out of, and why."

*that's me - Lexi is my screen-name in the DC online art forum, ArtDC.org

What do you think?

2008-12-14T12:02:00.007-05:00

If you're a regular visitor to this blog, you've probably noticed that it has gone through a number of format changes in the last week - specifically, the addition of navigation buttons (above), the more specific title and profile, and the new sub-pages, with a fuller artists statement, Gallery and Resume/Contact sections.

My plan is to continue blogging my work progress here - on alexzealand.blogspot - while I've created a new blog site - alexandrazealand.blogspot - for the gallery, and a more professional view on my work.

I know that blogger is not ideal for a professional site, and I do have plans to put up an actual site within the next year. But until then, please let me know what you think of these changes. Is there anything obvious I've left off the resume/contact pages? Language that's not professional enough? How does the artist statement on the Gallery pages read? Anything else? (As of this posting, the link-colors on the Resume/Contacts/Press page are weird, as is the font - I'm still working on those.)

Photos of how the coffee filter sphere is succumbing to gravity

2008-12-09T19:52:00.004-05:00

I like what going on here.
I know that it actually looks nothing like a rock, but I feel like it's trying to impersonate one.

Installation of All My Friends Have Addictions

2008-12-08T12:55:00.003-05:00

I installed this piece yesterday in it's permanent home:

Absence of Flight, 3rd version

2008-12-08T12:50:00.002-05:00

I think that the proportions of this box work much better. Now I just have to rebuild the nest, because it's starting to come apart.

More things that make me happy...

2008-12-04T09:18:00.006-05:00

Because I am a total dork, this really appeals to me. It's called The Enlightenment, and it's made out of plexiglass, designed by a company called Studiomeiboom, from the Netherlands.

It's also appealing because 10% of the purchase price goes to charity.

I want to get paid to make stuff like this

2008-12-01T13:51:00.008-05:00

This is the illustration for last week's NYTimes Book Review of Malcolm Gladwell's new book, Outliers. It was created by Stephen Doyle. I'd never heard of him or seen his work before, but his design firm has been around for a while, and they've done a lot of recognizable things (Barnes & Nobles, for instance).

working, waiting

2008-12-01T10:43:00.003-05:00

I knew I hadn't posted in a while, but I didn't realize until just now that it's been almost a full month.

In my defense, it has been a busy month - mostly with parenting, but I've submitted work to shows as well (no answers yet), and even attended the opening of the Fall Solo Shows at the Arlington Art Center. I've also been doing a lot of editing work for mother and her blog, which has been pretty interesting from a research perspective.

What else? I bought a box of Diamond brand matches to play with, but they are just like the Home Life ones, so that didn't get me anywhere. I also bought a box of toothpicks, but so far all I've used them for is checking whether my pies are cooked. I'm still messing around with the latest incarnation of the absence of flight piece - I acquired a smaller box over the weekend, which I'm going to try hanging the bird in next - I'll post photos of that soon. My gut feeling is that this box is still not right - it's narrower, but not as tall as the original - but I need to look at the proportions to know for sure. I'm also planning to get professional photos taken of the more recent pieces, soon - probably in January. But I want to have the absence of flight, and some of the burnt pieces, in a finished state for that.

Press!

2008-11-03T12:02:00.002-05:00

I just found out that the Ofrenda show was featured on WAMU's Art Beat segment, and National Geographic Traveler's Intelligent Traveler blog last week.

Still not quite right, but this is what it will look like for Ofrenda

2008-10-28T16:05:00.008-04:00

Given that I have to deliver this piece tonight (we're going to NYC tomorrow), I'm currently unable to achieve exactly what I want with the pedestal. I think it needs to be much narrower, and maybe taller, but I don't have time to build or find the right box. So I've improvised a bit in order to improve the proportions, using stuff I had in the studio. Here are two mediocre photos, taken in front of my workbench - the first is with no flash, the second uses the flash.

I've used a circular plastic container (usually filled with push-pins) to lift the nest up off the pedestal and visually separate them a bit more. And the smaller wooden box is an old wine box that I use for my sewing stuff. It's attached to the back wall of the pedestal with a piece of 2x4 left over from building our bed 5 years ago. The interior light seems right in principle, but the execution is not as seamless as I'd like. The bird is still hanging from the inside of the pedestal, so it's a little in front of the inner-box's opening.

Nest, version 4

2008-10-26T21:40:00.003-04:00

I'm feeling incredibly uncertain about this. The proportions are bothering me most of all, I think - the sphere suddenly feels too small on this drawer. Also, the drawer/pedestal is in direct response to the fact that I have to have a pedestal for the piece this week at Ofrenda. So I was playing around with how to 1) use a pedestal as part of the piece and 2) still work with the bird. Sadly, it felt a little better in my head....

But I'm really tired, so I'll need to look at it again tomorrow. I also don't know if I'm unhappy because it really isn't working, or because I can't get a decently lit photo, on account of all the depth in the piece.

Thoughts? Gut reactions? Rotten tomatoes?

Ofrenda 2008

2008-10-22T14:04:00.011-04:00

I'll be showing the latest (yes, it has evolved again) incarnation of the grape stems sphere at an Art Outlet show next weekend - called Ofrenda 2008 (their site does not work well in Internet Explorer, so try Firefox instead if you have trouble with the link).

From the press release:

Ofrenda 2008 (<--click here for the flyer) Art Outlet presents Ofrenda 2008, an art exhibition of local aritsts' shrines, altars, paintings, photography, music, dancing, magic and spoken word based on the Day of the Dead tradition, at Almaz Ethiopian Restaurant 1212 U St., NW in Washington DC, Friday, October 31 – Saturday, November 1, 2008.
Dia de los Muertos altars and ofrendas will draw the beloved dead to visit their loved ones, feast on their favorite food and drink and listen to their favorite music on the second floor transformed into a gallery of reverent and irreverent remembering of the dead and celebration of life.
We'll have music and performances on two stages and drink and food specials for visitors to the gallery. Indoors and outdoors, we will have artist-built altars. In the gallery, you can participate in the exhibition by contributing personal offerings.
It's the grand Halloween weekend. Come dressed Day of the Dead style!

Massive match frustration

2008-10-16T20:00:00.010-04:00

Here's my current problem - Home Best matches burn like this:

But Home Life matches burn like this:

The difference, as you can probably tell, is in the visual fragility.

Home Best matches look all gnarled and interesting, while the Home Life ones look like blacked versions of their original forms. They're just not as interesting, and they have a lot less transformative ability.

I've been playing around with what I can do with the Home Life matches, working with their inherent properties, but they're just not speaking to me.

So if you see any match boxes that look like this in the Northern Virginia area, please let me know! I need them...

Match circle, maybe

2008-10-08T19:35:00.004-04:00

Because the match heads are really very cool, I have been playing with massing the matches with the heads left on. As you can see, the slightly tapered nature of the burned matches makes the shape curve in an interesting way.

But I wanted to finish this before posting photos. Unfortunately, I ran out of the original matches before I got halfway around the planned circle. And when I bought more, I discovered that Shoppers Food Warehouse has replaced the Home Best brand with Home Life brand, and they're really different - slightly wider, and the tips don't burn the same way at all. Which isn't a big deal unless your working out a sculpture that's all about the combined visuals of massing....

So unless I can find more Home Best kitchen matches in the big 3-pack boxes, this piece is stuck. And it looks way too much like a rainbow in this form, without the full circle shape to balance out the anthropomorphised visual of people huddled together. Sigh.

What happens when you drop an encyclopedia in the tub...

2008-09-30T09:18:00.005-04:00

I really love some of this work - some of which I'd seen before - but the book sculptures of Jacquelin Rush Lee in particular make me want to drop everything and fly off to Honolulu to see them up close.

More matches

2008-09-21T21:45:00.003-04:00

I made another, bigger match piece today - this one is about 10" long.

When I did the first one, I made it really small in part because I figured that if it was in fact interesting to other people, I could submit it to a local 'Small Works' show (I've never made anything small enough that I felt was good enough to submit to a small works show).

But now I'm curious to get reactions as to how the length/scale affect the form. Is it better, worse, or just different? If so, how? And should I try to go even longer?

Dragon Bones - done?

2008-09-20T22:54:00.010-04:00

Well, it didn't turn out the way I'd planned - the acrylic dried with a lot of cracking.

(The cracking reminds me a bit of the shattered panes of that glass that Urban Outfitters stores used in the front windows of their stores when I was a kid. Only this is emotional, instead of 'hip and cool'. )

At first I was worried that I'd veered too far off my target, but I got good feedback from the 2 people I showed the book to today. I asked them to give me their immediate emotional impressions, and their reactions fit well enough with what I'm going for - a sense of chaos in a controlled world - that all may not be lost.

So I think I'm going to keep the book just like this - really simple. I have one other person I have to show it to - Stan, who I know from work. He's read the book, so his sense of whether or not this visual fits will be the deciding factor, I think.

In terms of readability, the prologue is still open, as is the last chapter. I lost the 'Dragon Bones' page after the prologue due to deciding to cover up the acrylic spill over, but I think that's fine, since I've still got the main title page.

I suspect that moving the acrylic after it had started to set is what caused the cracking. Also, I need to take more photos, in better light. But my husband was asleep on the couch (which is almost next to my work bench), and I didn't want to wake him up with the maximum blazing wattage of all my lights.

small match sculpture - good use of my time, or trash?

2008-09-20T22:38:00.013-04:00

This is either really interesting, or a total waste of time, and I can't tell which, so please comment. I'm completely open to the possibility that it was only interesting to make, and is not an interesting object to look at. I just can't tell which, right now.
It's about 5" long, and 2 1/2" high.

Dragon Bones update

2008-09-18T16:17:00.008-04:00

Having been sick the last two days, I spent most of yesterday sleeping, and a lot of today resting and blowing my Niagara Falls-like nose. By this afternoon I finally felt up to actually doing something with my hands, so I started work on Dragon Bones.

Dragon Bones with the first layer of resin (grid underneath is from the cutting mat I used to lay saran wrap over, to protect the prologue), drying on the AC unit. The title page of the last chapter - The Wild Domain - is on the right.

Roots of all kinds are a theme of the book, so I'd planned to make a two sided display box to fill with roots, using about 2/3rds of the book (leaving the preface, title page, and the last chapter intact). I'm trying to work with acrylic resin again, this time as the window material, in part because of the slight amber tint it has, which feels right for the book.

I laid in the first layer of resin today, at the front of the book. I had been hoping to be able to create two resin panes, so that the roots would be between them, but I had trouble getting the resin to fill the corners of the book while laying on top of the layer of saran wrap that I was trying to use as a divider. So I made the snap decision to lay the resin straight into the book, which will probably mean the the roots end up embedded in a solid block of resin - I won't be able to remove what I laid in today, which mean that I won't be able to create a second removable pane, either. I also suspect that the resin I put in today will have creeped under the front page and marred it quite a bit, so that's something else I'll probably have to work around. Maybe I can glue down the title page, and cover over the spill...

As a side note, I can't really breathe through my nose, so I also can't tell if the apartment smells of resin fumes. I really hope I got it all cleared... And I did get my CD player to actually play one CD today while I was working - The Mountain Goats' The Sunset Tree, from which comes my latest musical addition. Music really helps - I have GOT to get the CD player fixed.

Michael R. Richards, Artist, -September 11, 2001

2008-09-12T08:34:00.006-04:00

I first heard about the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s “World Views” program (which gave artists studio space in the Twin Towers) during a radio segment on NPR. I immediately decided that someday I would get one of those studios - it seemed like the most exciting, romantic, awe-inspiring and uniquely-NY place on earth to make art.

Michael Richards did have a studio space in the Towers, and on the night of September 10th, he had stayed there overnight, working. Although I'd never met him, I had heard about him through our mutual friend Sharon, and when we stood on our street in Brooklyn on the evening of September 11th, tallying up who we knew was safe and who we had yet to hear from, I shared her fear that his last know location had been his studio, and that he was still missing.

Sharon wrote about Michael, including a bit about his show at the Corcoran Gallery here in DC in 2000, on her blog yesterday. Check it out. And here is further information about his sculpture pictured above, Tar Baby vs St. Sebastian.

Current inspirations

2008-09-08T13:25:00.014-04:00

I think that I have finally figured out what I'm going to do with Dragon Bones, so I'll post some photos once I've got something to show. In the meantime, here are some things I've been looking at and thinking about:

This is the new work of my friend, Wendy Clark. A students in Goddard College's MFA-IA program (she also teaches art in the Spottsylvania County public schools), Wendy had been focusing primarily on her painting, but recently began a series of works that she calls 'painted weavings'. She says that these new pieces "speak to the concern of our changing world and the conditions of this world. They ask questions about our involvement and willingness to act toward improvement." It's clear to me that her Quaker background and practice play into this new work, but also that it takes real depth of feeling and subtlety of emotion to produce such simple and eloquent pieces.
The Blood of Our Labor, the Force of Our Breath, at the Garden House at Goddard College, where it was shown this summer (the first photo is of the same piece, from inside the house). Wendy says about the work, "I was very effected by the recent rice shortage and earthquake in China. It led me to think deeply about the landscape as we know it disappearing. And the air which we breath becoming impossible to breath. Something to think about as you look at the simplicity of this cloth. It is my belief that we can say much without using large amounts of words and imaginary." This is definitely what I'm trying to do with my Transformed Books.

Garden Cloth, left

The Measure of Your Effort, right

Another really cool new thing is the Creative Stream, a new artist-documenting web-site, based here in the DC area. Co-founder Jesse Cohen writes that "the goal is to develop a collection of interviews with creative individuals, organizations, and more. We look forward to the future discussions developed in relation to these interviews. Soon we will develop a discussion board directly related our work, and we look forward to your reactions here. Please respond to the content!" The first interview is with my friend Jennifer, who I met through Artomatic. I think the site looks great, and I'm really excited to see where Jesse and James take it in the coming months.