"Junk" at The Soundry

What is Junk? Is it the things we throw away, or things discarded, items we no longer see as useful? At the First Annual Elizabeth Sanford Memorial Art Show at The Soundry in Vienna, VA, artists focused on this question by creating artwork out of materials that were "trashed" with a focus on repurposing, reusing and recycling.

Some artwork had an arts and crafts feeling with bits glued together and painted in ways that let the imagination play. However there were a few artists that took this challenge to a new level. In "Pull me, View me" Erin Quigley displayed a photo of the discarded material before it was assembled into the black sculpture that stands before the viewer. Intentional or not, this act of showing the before and after brings the notion of transparency and truthfulness not only to the piece but to her process and at the same time has us questioning how honest we are about the waste in our own lives.

Another highlight of the show for me was Jeff Ostendorf's "Message in a Bottle". I enjoyed the clever notion of creating a wind turbine model out of a plastic bottles, an obvious petrolium product. Not to mention the great placement of this peice, the plastic bright colors of the sculpture worked well against the painted pipes behind it.


Two others to see are "My Secret Garden" by Lord Kelvin and an untitled sculpture by Lara Sagatov and Aly Janka. Kelvin's industrial orange relief piece made of what seemed to be boat propellers questioned function and speed in a playful way that kept me coming back to it, wanting to touch and spin the various stationary parts. There were also some interesting paintings, collage works and sculptures addressing issues of nature, environment and an overall consumer culture.

The opening featured music by KIVA, food by James Main, and a live community art piece on an old car hood. The Soundry partnered with Bikes for the World, a great organization that collects unwanted bicycles in the US and delivers them at low cost to community development programs assisting the poor in developing countries. I hope this and other earth-friendly art gatherings this week help us all to reconsider our role in the future of this planet. Happy Earth Day.

Alphabet Show at Current Gallery

Last night I went to the opening of Alphabet: An Exhibition of Hand-Drawn Lettering and Experimental Typography at The Current Gallery in downtown Baltimore. Nolen Strals and Bruce Willen of Posttypography asked 51 artists (through open call) to visualize the alphabet in new and innovative ways. What they got surprised them and challenges all of us to think a bit differently about the letters we use to communicate our thoughts and ideas.

Alphabet opened in the Pinkard Gallery at MICA in conjunction with Baltimore's 2005 Artscape festival, and is traveling nationally through 2009, ending with a show at Chaffey College in Los Angeles.

The artists in this exhibition challenge the function of letters in the Latin alphabet and create visual symbols as single forms. When legibility is taken away, and you are left with a series of shapes in the predictable order of the alphabet, interesting things start to happen. In Michael Stout's Imageability Series, an inverted black triangle is seen as a V or two black squares become a Stonehenge like B as in Mihyun Kim's Stones representation.

The show was mixed in sophistication and technical ability but there were obvious highlights not to be missed. As mentioned above, Michael Stout's five Imageability works were in my opinion worth the trip. Based on ideas from the book "Imageability" by Kevin Lynch, he strips each letter down to its most essential properties and explores elements such as negative space, edges and corners.

Christopher Jackson's Therapy, was a perfect change of pace from the sea of black and white printed letters. With simple masking tape and black pastel paper he cut and placed bands together to create block versions of the letters. The actual letters he created were less interesting than the formal properties of the layered tape against the soft black background which were highlighted in this exhibition simply because of the lack of diversity in materials. He described the act of creating this piece as a respite from staring at the computer screen all day, but I found his work to be a respite in the gallery as well.

Tory Wright and Andrew Liang both approached this project in lighthearted way, creating letters out of breasts and penises. Both are humours and animated and complement each other well. Others worth checking out are Nancy Guiragossian, Elaine Lustig Cohen and Apirat Infahsaeng.

I did enjoy the variety of ideas presented in this show, however there were a couple things that puzzled me from a curatorial position. The black frames around the work seemed unnecessary. If the paper and printing were of good enough quality, the poster like images could have been pined or velcroed to the wall without the baggage of the conventional black frame. But do not let that stop you from seeing the show. Overall the Current Gallery space is worth visiting and it is an interesting group, especially if you are a graphic designer or just have a love of typography. If you missed it in 05, now is the time to check it out.

Sculpture at Evergreen 2008

This past Sunday, I went to the opening reception for the Fifth Biennial Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition at the Evergreen Museum in Baltimore. This year's guest curator is Andrea Pollan, the founder and director of Curator's Office in DC. Having worked with Andrea on last year's Gene Davis show at The Kreeger Museum, I was excited to see what artists she selected for this outdoor sculpture exhibition.

The first thing you notice when you arrive at the show is the beauty of the museum grounds. Both the manicured and wild portions of this property could capture your attention for hours. I was delighted just to be spending a few hours on a Sunday afternoon there, regardless of the sculpture I was about to encounter. If you have not been to see this beautiful oasis in the middle of a loud and busy city, take the time and seek it out.



As for the artwork, there were a few pieces that stood above the rest. J Hill's Hideouts, placed beautifully in the front lawn area, create an instant dialogue between the history of the site and the current state of our relationship with nature. These stark white tipis, handcrafted by the artist and residents of the Pine Ridge Reservation of South Dakota, open conversation between early American railroad pioneers and the American Indian tribes.

Hyungsub Shin's Rhizome and Wee Lit Tan's Ephemerally Everchanging Evergreen both comment on a wide range of ideas including architecture, technology, evolution and our natural state. And finally Michele Kong's Sky Glow piece is an elegantly crafted bridge that is devoid of function but still draws you in close, wanting to cross it just the same.



Overall I love seeing what artists catch Pollan's eye because they are always on the cutting edge of what we consider modern but generally intellectual enough to keep you looking for more.

In Home: In Response - Review

I recently wrote a review for the In Home: In Response show in Baltimore. It is posted on the Bmore Art Blog (Baltimore Art Blog). You can read the review by clicking on the link below.

In Home: In Response - Review by Eileen T. Wold

The Waiting Project

An artist friend of mine, Matt Keeney, has been waiting for you on a park bench in Clinton Square (Syracuse, NY) for weeks as part of a recent art piece. And he will be there, waiting and writing, until you introduce yourself (and maybe buy him a cup of coffee) so he can end the project. He posts your meeting time the day before, so you really have no excuse anymore. (It was funny to leave him waiting when it was warm out, but now poor Matt is cold and tired.) If you care about him (or art) at all, please put him out of his misery and go there already.

You can read his about experiences waiting for you at...

http://www.myspace.com/matthewkeeney_artist

Or see a video he posted to try and find you at....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nx2XIRkXZ8A


Good luck Matt!

2008

Happy New Year!
The past six months have brought a world of changes into my life. I started graduate school at MICA, and got through my first summer session and fall semester. I am so grateful to be in this program and have made some great friends that I am sure will not only enrich my artwork and school experience but my personal life as well. I feel very lucky to be part of such a dedicated and intelligent group of people. Currently I am a TI (Teaching Intern) for Hugh Pocock's sculptural forms class and assisting the Director of the program, Zlata Baum, in the office once a week. I am also taking a graduate seminar class, College Teaching of Art, on Thursdays. So, Between my studio practice, reading and papers for my MFA as well as all my time at MICA, I have been keeping busy. 2007 was a great year, besides getting into and starting grad school, Paul and I moved to Baltimore, bought a house, celebrated our second anniversary and found out that we are going to have a baby! I am due July 10th and we find out the sex of the baby in a few weeks. We are very excited and promise to keep everyone posted on that.
More to come on the artwork and creative risks I took this summer, as well as where my research and art is headed next. I will post again soon and look forward to being back on the blog. Thanks!

MICA

Just started the MFA program at MICA (Maryland Institute College of Art) in Baltimore. There are some very talented people here in the program with me. I will blog more about it when my six week studio intensive is over.

Artomatic!

Last week was the opening reception for Artomatic, a one month group exhibition of over 400 visual artists and 200 performing artists. There is always a great mix at Artomatic, from well known artists to emerging first timers. I included a picture here of my wall. If you live or work in DC or Virginia, I recommend getting out to Crystal City for this. You will need a few hours to get through the whole thing but it is worth the experience. The link below are pictures from the opening night party. If you missed opening night, no worries, there will be another party on may 4th, 5th and a closing reception. Photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/pauljbarry3/Artomatic