Installation and Recovery

I spent the last five days in a marathon session of driving and installing artwork in three galleries at McHenry County College outside of Crystal Lake, IL. On top of 15 hour days and two hours of driving from my incredibly hospitable pals in DeKalb and the college- I am slowly gaining back sleep and comprehension. My eyes feel like the apparatus from Clockwork Orange is keeping them open.

I am often over-prepared with contingency plans and like to keep my options open- making installing after only visiting a site once- both a thrilling and exhausting experience. Several aspects of the installations were altered once I arrived and took a closer look at the gallery spaces. Luckily, the gallery director Sandra Lange was a pleasure to work alongside and rest of the the college staff friendly and accommodating. The restorative powers of food- especially eating some real fast food- crepes at Crystal Lake's Chez Pierre Creperie made the long dark drive "home" possible.














Gallery One-
A slide show of little drawings of idiosyncratic maps of my process of getting used to St. Louis as my new home. Set up like a war room briefing, with a confusing map that changes as your orientation changes.



Gallery Two: A reassembly of my new kitchen's wallpaper.











Galleryspace 144- Here's a few shots of "Natural Defenses" the combination of conduit, landscape fabric, and branches in phlanx formation. For economic reasons I had to fit my three installations into my 4-door sedan to make this trip manageable . If you get to visit this one- take a big whiff- the odor of earth is refreshing...

For Each Adventure...

Word of the Day

Monday, August 10, 2009

peradventure

\puhr-uhd-VEN-chuhr; pehr-\ , adverb:

1.[Archaic] Possibly; perhaps.

noun:

1.Chance, uncertainty, or doubt.

Thanks google word of the day. I forget the new stuff always comes with some doubt and optional discomfort.

I heart Open Source!

I just thought I would give a shout-out to Sweet Home 3D... I've been using this great free online tool for designing both the house rehabs and prepping for art installations from a distance. One of my upcoming installation spaces is an odd triangular wedge with a large column to contend with--- so it was great to plug in the floor plan and get to see it in graphically 3D, since my photos were deceptive in depicting the angles of the space. It's very easy to use- thanks SorceForge.net! This is one of the great accomplishments from emergence--- a mid-blowing idea I came across a few years ago in

Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software

by Steven Johnson. It makes you rethink creating objects...and questions several assumptions. Not an easy read, but it made being close friends with a computer programmer that can speak simply a small cream-cheese-frosted slice of heaven.

Upcycling old prints, Paper Girl Style

I've been going through moving boxes and have come across some work I am ready to part with--- and found a great outlet.

Papermotion from Papergirl on Vimeo.

"The Paper Girl Northampton Project is a locally based, self-funded, nonprofit project to be modeled after the Paper Girl Project originally organized by Aisha Ronniger in Berlin Germany. The objective of the project is to hold an open call for donated, original works of art on paper which are to be displayed in local shops and restaurants for a period of two weeks in this coming September. At the culmination of the exhibit the works will be rolled into brown paper and distributed at random by a team of cyclist to persons on the streets of Northampton, MA.

The Paper Girl Project extends itself to Northampton via the efforts of Eben Kling, Adam Kology and Katherine Romansky. The Paper Girl Project is rapidly gaining momentum and is taking place in other major cities and on an international level. As a result, The Paper Girl Northampton Project will be simultaneously tying itself into an international arts community movement while soliciting an unsuspecting bond within the immediate Northampton community.

The open call for The Paper Girl Northampton Project requests original works of art on paper , works are not to exceed 30 x 30. Multiples of hand printed series such as screen prints, lithographs and other similar types of prints will be accepted. However, photographed-digital reproductions of any type of work will not be accepted. Participating artists will make donations with the understanding that their work will not be returned to them as it will be given away for free.

Donations can be made in person at 103 State St, Northampton MA, 01060 There will be a drop box in the front hall of the building which will be emptied regularly.

Donations can also be mailed to Katherine Romansky at 103 State Street apt 4 Northampton Ma 01060.

Please be sure that all your pieces are labeled with your name, title, medium and any contact info you may wish to include such as an email address or website, should you be interested in the recipient being able to contact you."

Sweet way to start the morning

After a great breakfast of cinnamon toast, grilled peppers and eggs and spending some quality time with Brad before he headed to work, I open my email and see my artwork featured in the WomanMade Gallery July Newsletter. And a hearty congratulations to WMG for being selected as one of the best art galleries by Today's Chicago Woman readers.



A very friendly voice from WMG called recently to make sure I really didn't want to the birdseed mailed back to me. It feels great to be low maintenance and let them know "really, you can just spread the seed outside (hopefully in a an artful pattern) and just reuse or recycle the containers." The gallery gave me such a sweet spot to install- right at the base of the stairs, under their street level window. Due to the crowding during events and the length of the show- the work was placed on a base for this one instance. Beate-the director and Tasha-the intern who answered my barrage of questions made the installation process enjoyable. Their staff and volunteers are wonderfully professional and friendly. It was great to work in such a lovely space- especially since I had to travel half a day to get there- with a staff that was organized and laid-back. This image- the one from the newsletter- was a great view down from the stairs and the artists shown were working on the peice for at least about a 1/2 hour, some nearly 1/2 of the opening. It was great to see others get lost in the act of making.

"Interactive" gets a review from TimeOut Chicago

I love google. The show came down yesterday---but Check out the review!

"“Interactive” makes one’s body feel welcome in the gallery space, rather than feared as a source of potential damage."

Although it poured outside, seeing friendly faces and getting to spend some quality time just enjoying artwork on a more visceral level, flipping delicate pages and smelling vials of "literary essence" was worth the drive up and back. The public transport I took to get from Elburn to the gallery ran like clockwork and was a gorgeous alternative to sitting in Chicago traffic. Too bad Brad was caught at the airport for the "worst day ever" with delays and cancellations and a comedy of errors, so I was solo- but it was worth it and very enjoyable meeting other artists and playing with the works in the show.

with a 10-foot pole...

I've been spending the last week putting together all the last scraps of wallpaper and finalizing the mounting process. I'm going to be an expert at ironing after not using it for my first decades of life. I've caught a snag in the ordering of the cream felt, so I'll have to literally wrap up the wallpaper in the pink gauze and clear out space to work on the phalanx installation in the interim.
I purchased more conduit for the ArtSpace 144 installation today--- and decided on PVC for the wider pipe if I need more of a transition from the 90-inch circumference pole in the space already.10 feet is longer than I imagined and the length created quite a few logistical challenges. I almost flipped over my cart in the aisle loading my needs and had to switch to a horizontal cart. Missouri's heat is much harder to bear when toting pipes out open windows and going slow to accommodate the load. I had to store it on end in the garage at the peak of the roof. Good thing we don't have an attic in the garage. Now for more research on fabrics and coverage, as well as hanging methods. Tomorrow will be an uninterrupted studio day, except for one afternoon appointment and perhaps that pesky lawn.