HIVE at Inside/Out

Last Wednesday we installed HIVE in the windows of the INSIDE/OUT Gallery in Davis Square, Somerville. I love the idea of this public access exhibition space. Just like the name implies, one doesn't need to enter the walls of a formal space to view work because the art is brought to the public. With exhibits rotating monthly, people get to encounter a variety of the local Somerville talent as part of their daily routine.

HIVE will be up until June 3 or 4. I've already witnessed several parties slowing down to see what HIVE is about and to view the video featuring the making of, and all the individuals who are integral to the HIVE experience.

Thanks to Heather Balchunas and the Somerville Arts Council for this very fun opportunity to share a community work with my community.

I'm enjoying being able to drive by at odd hours and find it all ablaze.

It takes a HIVE

Came across this quote the other day and it made me realize how those of us that work with our hands and with each other are part of life's best kept secret.

How belonging to something larger provides us with purpose, satisfaction, and more importantly connection. Creating a meditative space to quiet the mind and open up self consciousness. To break down the environmental noise and ease into yourself and your potential.

This is exactly the feedback I hear from participants of HIVE. Additionally, some have mentioned that they achieve a state of calm when working at a HIVE gathering that they don't have the ability to achieve with traditional meditation technique.

It takes a HIVE.... my new mantra.

Imagine if everyone could take the time to quiet down, think, listen and connect. I think I know what this author is getting at.

Our world is in a precarious state, and we desperately need each person alive to feel empowered, to have a real sense of his or her inner creativity. And when we witness what we have been able to make - something that never before existed - we are more inclined to see ourselves as creators, as people who can make a difference in the world.  —Maggie Oman Shannon

Please join our HIVE. We have a gathering scheduled for tomorrow at FRUITLANDS MUSEUM and several more between now and the end of October.

Thursdays, July 11 & 25, 3PM - 5PM
Thursday, August 8 5PM-7PM
Wednesday, September 11 2PM-4PM
Saturday, Sept 21 10AM-12PM
Thursday, October 10 1PM-3PM
Monday, October 14 1PM-3PM
Thursday, October 24, 2PM-4PM

Learn more about HIVE here, here and here.

Cornered

 It's been an eventful week:

Wonderful article in Artscope's online zine CORNERED. Thanks to Brian Goslow and the Artscope staff for their interest! Check it out here.

A lively HIVE gathering at Fruitlands last Wednesday. We introduced six new people to the joys of working collaboratively. Hope to see them again this Thursday from 4-6 pm.

Saturday was the reception for MORPHOLOGY with Kay Hartung at Fountain Street Fine Art. We had a lively bunch and it was fun to meet so many new people. Artist talk this Friday, June 14 at 7:30 pm and a free Needlefelting demo on Wednesday June 19 from 3:30-5pm. Please join us!

Sunday I taught part I of a two-part workshop on Needlefelted Orbs at the Eliot School. A very talented group with interesting stories and approaches. Can't wait to see what they do next Sunday.

Back to work on the final details of my upcoming show THE NOBILITY OF THINGS opening at Fruitlands Museum on June 29. Reception June 29 from 1-3pm. Hope to see you. We're expecting a good time and my son Devon will be providing music!

2013 Artist-in-Residence Fruitlands Museum

I'm honored to officially announce that I will be the 2013 Artist-in-Residence at Fruitlands Museum in Harvard, MA. Opening day for the Fruitlands campus is April 15 and we've been busy planning HIVE meetings, public collaborative installations, museum exhibitions and more.

This has already been a rewarding experience and I look forward to the next months spending time with the museum membership and making art on the spectacular grounds. There's incredible depth to what the museum has to offer so please make sure to visit - let me know and I'll look out for you.

We have a schedule for HIVE gatherings for the next few months below. It is installed in the Wayside Building with IMPRINT and that's where we'll be working together.

HIVE schedule:
April 16 and 18  -  1-3pm
May 16   -   2-4pm
June 5   -   1:30-3:30pm
June 13   -   4-6pm
July 11 and 25   -   3-5pm

In addition to the collaborative projects, outdoor installations and workshops, I will be exhibiting at the Art Museum. My show, The Nobility of Things, will be in the main gallery from June 29-August 18 with a reception on June 29 from 1-3pm.

This is only the beginning and we'll be adding more events as we get into the season... so check in often!

Photo: Sun setting last week after I finished installing Imprint. What a treat.

HIVE, the movie

A quick post just to share the final cuts of two videos that I've been working on with super talented Chris LeGare. Chris and his biz partner Corey have been helping to document both Re:Constructed at Regis College and the HIVE project.

HIVE in its material form has been a launching point for two other bodies of work IMPRINT and TRACES. Now it embodies yet another medium.

Here are two videos so far - both having to do with HIVE. One is a teaser... something that I'll use very much like a video postcard. Please click here if below isn't cooperating.

 

And the other is a more comprehensive overview with audio exposition, great images and animation. Or click here.

 

 

So excited to have this and can't wait to see the final video about Re:Constructed... Chris tells me that it's about to launch - like next week!

For more HIVE, visit the Danforth Museum of Art today from 4-6pm. I'll be there facilitating another HIVE gathering. The museum is open for free tonight, Thursday Jan. 31, a great opportunity to view all the other exhibits including my collaboration with the teen docents.

A very special thank you to all who have participated and contributed themselves to the fabric of this project.

HIVE - a social network

I'm thrilled to announce that HIVE is currently exhibiting at the Danforth Museum of Art in Framingham, MA. It will be in the installation room for the month of January 2013. 

HIVE is a collaborative project that explores the chemistry among people when they work together with hands busy and minds free.

Aluminum screen chambers are stitched with steel wire and assembled into a growing matrix representative of the community effort and time spent together.

The material is non-traditional but suggestive of fabric.

The wire stitching is simple, welcoming all levels of experience to participate.

The result is a sculpture that grows organically from the contributions of chambers that are as individual as the participants who create them.

HIVE is currently hanging and growing in the installation room of the Danforth Museum. I will be facilitating three gatherings in January to introduce more participants to the project.

You are cordially invited to join us!

January 19, 10-12pm

January 24, 1-3 pm

January 31, 4-6 pm

Off and Running

We're a week into the new year and I'm already sprinting.

Though today is my first official day back I've actually been at work since last week. My show, Re:Constructed at Regis College was deinstalled last Friday, a major feat to pack and move. I've been teaching a bit. And yesterday I initiated my HIVE installation at the Danforth Museum in Framingham, MA. This is a month long interactive exhibit working with the Teen Docents and the Drop into Art Program that happens at the museum on Sunday afternoons.

 Teen Docents working together on HIVE at the Danforth Museum - a place of industry 

whose progress can be witnessed during the month of January.

Earlier in the week I visited NYC to see a few mind boggling exhibits: Ann Hamilton's An Event of a Thread at the Park Ave. Armory, Lin Tianmiao Bound Unbound at the Asia Society, Rosemarie Trockel A Cosmos at the New Museum and Mickaline Thomas Origin of the Universe at the Brooklyn Museum. My head is spinning with information and ideas.

I'll be writing in more detail about all of these events in upcoming posts but today's entry is designed to help me organize my thoughts around the many things that I'm dying to share.

Finally, I'd like to take a moment to reflect on and appreciate all the support received in 2012 and all the promise of 2013.

Cheers!!

Wrap Up

It is a very busy time, so in the spirit of the season, I'll start by making a list...

A lovely visit by the Fruitlands Museum to Re:Constructed. The exhibition was received with rave reviews and we are all very excited to be making plans for next year's residency.

Reception for Spectrum: A selection of Joy Street Artists last Sunday at the Brickbottom Gallery in Somerville. A great turnout, made some new friends and enjoyed listening to Dave Cohen playing on one of his Equilibrium Guitars. Exhibition includes work by myself, Nathan Miner, Sarah Meyers Brent, Wilhem Neusser, Nancy Moskin and Dave Cohen.

Videographer Chris LeGare and his photographer Cory have been working on documenting Re:Constructed. They have a meticulous process and keen eye for design with lots of great ideas. They'll be filming the HIVE meeting at the gallery this Sunday too.

Facilitated another rewarding workshop at MEDITECH in Westwood. Always amazed by the ingenuity and catharsis that takes place in the span of a lunchtime break!

Meeting with the teen docents of the Danforth Museum, Framingham about a collaborative screen art project for a future biomedical client. Excited to engage with the enthusiasm and talent
of these interesting young adults. 

Completed a third 6 foot charcoal in the TRACES Series.

Will finish up the week with two events this Sunday, Dec. 16:

A HIVE meeting at Carney Gallery, Regis College from 2-4 pm. Please join us if you can. Here's a link for directions. Please park out front in circular drive. The back doors by parking lot will not be open.

And Somerville's Nave Gallery Holiday Party with the closing of Threads Bared, a fiber show curated by Tori Costa including art by myself, Rebecca Aranyi, Susan Berstler, Merill Comeau, Ruth Daniels, Melissa Glick, Kathleen Kneeland, Susan Meier, Charlotte Noruzi, Lauren O'Neal, Amy Pett, Stacey Piwinski, Margaret Ryan, V Van Sant and Ellen Solari

Drawn

Two large charcoal drawings inspired by the shadows cast by HIVE. They were worked simultaneously and each measures 51 inches wide x 6 feet tall. I have several other drawing ideas in queue... but these two will be going to Carney Gallery at Regis College for the show Re:Constructed that's opening November 2. The install is happening next week so these babies are ready to go. 

Drafting

Another HIVE derivative - large 82" x 60" charcoal rendering. Wish I could find quality drawing paper large enough to avoid the seam. Tomorrow will be at it again with more projections.... Re:Constructing the HIVE experience from sculpture to sketch.

Accretion

IMPRINT is growing daily. New panels capturing the lines and impressions from HIVE in encaustic medium. Growing organically like cells dividing - each playing its role towards the larger whole.

4 x 4

Continuing to IMPRINT the HIVE artwork into beeswax. Playing with size, color and texture while using assorted sizes of wooden panels - pictured above are four, 4 in. square panels that are arranged to form a larger square.

Panels relating to each other by a common multiple of 4. Sizes ranging from 16, 8, 4 inches square. Designed to create a composition with movement and interest for the eye.

Back to work tomorrow on creating more from the most recently completed HIVE chambers. One-of-a-kind relief patterns captured in wax and pigment to solidify the ephemeral.

Impressed

There are many facets of HIVE to appreciate. There's the performance that happens within the circles of participants. There's the texture, line, shape and depth of the material piece.  And there are the cast shadows that are ephemeral. I'm interested in trying to capture the essence of each of these qualities in other media - as another level of transformation.

Yesterday I pulled out my encaustic supplies from a couple years back and started playing with relief patterns using the HIVE pieces. After preparing the boards with many layers of wax I pressed the chambers into the hot wax and removed them after the wax cooled. This left impressions of the wrapped wire which I then painted into and scraped back several times with two different colors.

Then I superimposed the delicate impressions from the screen itself. These indentations are very light so instead of painting in them with wax I rubbed with an oil pastel to capture the patterning.

I'm enamored with the honeycomb-like shapes that happen in HIVE when the chambers are sewn together. My aim is to focus on that detail in these relief patterns, transforming them into yet another facet of HIVE. I can't wait to get back in the studio to continue the experiments.

There are two other projects associated with HIVE that I'm investigating this summer, one based on sound and the other shadow. More about those later...

All Hands on Deck

How funny is it that aluminum screen transformed into an artwork is really just aluminum screen? The newest member of the HIVE project... arrived to our meeting a little early yesterday. I guess the anticipation was just too much!

The HIVE schedule will be taking a two week break. I will be using the time to finish final preparations for my solo show at NK Gallery in SOWA. PHYLA opens on First Friday, June 1, with a reception from 5-8 pm. I'll be hanging the show on Saturday May 26 and plan on creating some site specific artworks. HIVE will be present in its current state along with some new pieces and old favorites. Hope to see you... will keep you posted!

You can read more about HIVE here, here and here.

Open studios

A very nice weekend working on HIVE and sharing my work. The comments and feedback from people passing through are extremely valuable. Always great to experience so many reactions first hand. What's not to like about talking with enthusiasts about what you love doing?

Thanks to everyone who stopped by. And especially to everyone interested in participating in HIVE... I'll be in touch soon with this week's schedule.

Below are my two friends Bob and Mathieu trying their hand at HIVE... They've earned a footnote and I hope they join us again soon!

Shadows

I'm loving the traces of light and shadow created by the HIVE project. It suits what I'm thinking about when working on the pieces. About the impressions we make and what we leave in our wake as we move through our day: the relationships, the actions, the discussions and ultimately the connections. Like with UNDERCURRENT, light is cast on the physical but ends up illuminating the invisible. The dancing shadows just below the surface appear solid but in reality are very difficult to grasp.

This Friday we will be having another of our weekly meetups at NK Gallery. In only a few sessions, relationships have been bonding and we're already becoming a unit. Several have been able to attend, to drop in for a few minutes or stay for a few hours. The discussions have been lively and I'm already seeing the genesis of the dynamic that I experience with traditional handwork circles that I'm involved with.

With HIVE, the unorthodox materials of screen and wire are free of associations to traditional handwork like embroidery, quilting, knitting etc., and the technique is simple and requires no training. The repetitive actions busy the hands and free up the self conscious mind. The aim is to experience the essence of what happens between us when we work together without any historic prejudices that confine it within the 'women's work' view, and to leave a personal mark.

If you're interested in joining any of our meetups, please contact me to be added to the email list.

And if you're around this Friday, we'll be at
NK Gallery
450 Harrison Ave.
Boston
1pm

Please note this week's time is an hour later than usual...

Looking forward!

SOWA

Friday we had another HIVE meeting. This time at NK Gallery in SOWA District, Boston. An afternoon of working, art talk, politics, food tips and in a setting of two inspiring art exhibitions. Natacha made us a 4-egg cake with eggs from her chickens in NH. Nancy read aloud The Phantom Tollbooth.  It was intriguing to listen to the wit of Tock, the Whether Man and especially the Lethargians as we passed the afternoon. The perfect situation to experience a story that elaborates on the small things, especially as we're focusing on building the small units of HIVE.

Thanks to Natacha for hosting at NKG, and to Barbara Lucas, Rebekah Gardiner, Nancy Moskin and Soosen Dunholter for attending. We will be meeting regularly at NKG, each Friday at noon except for First Fridays of the month.

All are welcome to join us in a low-risk, high-return pause in the busy schedule. It will be worth the trip!

Next meeting:
Noon, Friday, April 20
NK Gallery
450 Harrison Ave
Boston


I've printed up HIVE cards and am awaiting their delivery from the printer. See below... please feel free to use, especially if inviting friends to join us!

MetroWest

A BIG thank you to Rebekah for hosting our HIVE meeting yesterday. We had a fun crowd with Jean, Ellie, Mary, Rebekah and myself. The stories were flying with some old favorites (Sarah's Dead) and the tears from laughing were flowing. Lots of work done too. No better way to spend a few hours... with friends and busy hands.

Looking forward to our meeting at NK Gallery tomorrow, April 13, at noon. We have a special event... a live reading from one of our participants to accompany us while we work!

Open to any one interested in participating... please contact me if you'd like to join us... we schedule meetings regularly and I'll add you to the list.

NK Gallery
450 Harrison Ave
Boston

Laying the Foundation

Today was the first meetup for the HIVE project. Mary Gregory, Margot Stage, Brenda Cirioni, Catherine Evans and myself met at Artspace in Maynard. We busily set out to work of embroidering aluminum screen with steel wire... each of us adding our individual touch to the process. The collected units will ultimately be sewn together to build the modular components of a growing installation.

Each week groups of interested participants will be meeting at my Joy Street Studio and other venues. The next time together will be in my studio this Friday, April 6, at twelve pm.  If you'd like to be a part of this community collaborative, please contact me for future schedules and more information.

In the course of today's meeting we shared book titles, kid advice, politics and the merits of aluminum screen as material.  The newness of the group kept the conversation simple... A few shared moments... some relationship building... all we need now is time.