Mouthing off

We are super honored to be hosting massmouth at the Nave Gallery Annex during my show Practice. massmouth is a nonprofit organization who promotes the timeless art of storytelling through social media, education and live performance. They conduct story slams throughout the Massachusetts community with competitions that culminate in a semi-final awards event in the spring.

A story slam is a competition based on the art of storytelling. Think of American Idol with narrative. Each event has a specific theme and participants' names are pulled from a hat. The stories are personal experiences that are presented without notes within the timespan of 5 minutes and then judged base on performance and content.

There is an art to storytelling. A system of organizing thoughts, words and presentation to convey a complete idea. It requires thought and practice to be able to focus and get it across. massmouth offers workshops and opportunities to help people to perfect their storytelling.

On Monday evening, March 31, a few signature members of massmouth, including the cofounder Norah Dooley, will perform their stories on the show's theme, Practice. Next, they will provide a fun and friendly how-to session on the art and craft of the story. Then the audience will be encouraged to try their hand at one of their own.

This is not a competitive event but an opportunity to see some amazing local talent, experience great entertainment, learn about the craft and try it out for yourself. There will be food and drink and all who share their story will receive a to fun gift for their efforts too.

Norah Dooley is an accomplished storyteller, author and educator. She has been presenting workshops and stories for people of all ages throughout New England and also in New York, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas and Phoenix.

There is a suggested freewill donation of $5.00 to attend. All proceeds will go to StoriesLive®, one of the many storytelling programs that Norah and massmouth is involved with. In its fourth year, the StoresLive® program has introduced over 5,000 high school students from 15 Massachusetts high school to the art of 21st century storytelling and awarded over $17,000 in scholarship prizes.

This night has all the ingredients of a wonderful time and we hope to see you there.

massmouth Story Slam: Monday, March 31 at 7 pm 
Practice: art influenced by craft
exhibition dates: March 12 - April 5
reception: March 12, 6-8 pm
Nave Gallery Annex
Davis Square Somerville

Over and Under

 

 Over and Under: 
Weaving Together the Fabric of our Community

Today was the first of 6 community weaving events at Wheaton College in Norton MA. As part of a program sponsored by the Marshall Center for Intercultural Learning, students are invited to participate in creating a collaborative tapestry. 

We constructed a scaffold weave in between two poles that measures approximately 6 x 16 ft. It will be moved around to several campus locations over the course of the 2014 spring semester. Instruction was provided on how to prepare the materials. Everything from flags, to athletic towels, to pinstripe was cut into strips and woven.

Today we occupied the Belfour-Hood Student Center. In the coming months we'll move to the Mars Center for Science and Technology among other places.

Accompanied by music and free candy, each person had a relaxed time sharing their uniqueness and learning about others. The event garnered a lot of attention as many stopped by on their way to class or coming from picking up their mail. Our next meeting will happen again at the student center on Tuesday evening, February 25 from 5-7 pm. This time there'll be free pizza too!

It's a great benefit to have an installation over an extended period of time like this. The project has the space to grow over the expanse of a couple of months more than it can in a single afternoon. Everyone left today with lots of plans for the next time. And student facilitators will be working with interested parties to teach them how to have their materials ready to go - more time for socializing!

Practice

I am curating a show for the Nave Gallery Annex in Davis Square Somerville. This space is quirky and intimate - a real gem with generous art spirit and support from the community.

This is a wonderful opportunity as well as a total indulgence. I get to think about what interests me and then engage in conversations about it with some pretty amazing artists. It is thrilling that everyone invited is able to participate, bringing their own special coolness to the project.

The show is called Practice and it is about making - the material, process, craft and commitment behind all genres of creation.

"PRACTICE explores artwork inspired by craft, and features highly skilled, process-oriented and conceptual works that require a high degree of proficiency and commitment - including drawing, photography, felting, installation, sculpture, performance, bookmaking and storytelling."

Reception:

Wednesday, March 12; 6:00 pm-8:00 pm
Nave Gallery Annex, 53 Chester St, Somerville, MA

Artists:
Caleb Cole, Jodi Colella, Julie Kumar, Stephanie Metz, Amanda Nelsen, Zsusanna Szegedi, Hannah Verlin

I will be posting sneak peeks in the weeks leading up to the opening. Stay tuned!

Cell Signalling Technologies

Last Saturday I installed some work at Cell Signalling Technologies in Danvers. As a strong supporter of the arts, CST has an in-house art gallery where they display the work of two regional artists for 6-week periods on a rotating basis. I am exhibiting Feb. 1- March 28, 2014 with the photographer Estelle Disch.

As the facilitator and installer, Debra Olin helped me to get it all up. Since my work isn't the easiest or the fastest to install, we spent most of the day working on it.

The results are fantastic. The organic nature of the work is a good fit for a biotech company. The generous space and track lighting add the necessary dimension. Thanks to Debra, Carol and CST for this opportunity to exhibit. Looking forward to meeting everyone at the reception!

 Undercurrent shines. It's the first thing you see when entering office area from the foyer.

This version of Imprint is arranged using about a third of the tiles. A modular artwork that has the benefit of being easily adaptable to any space. 

An arm from Carnivale peeks out from the wrappers while waiting its turn.

Happy to have this long hallway between office areas to show off my photograph series Token Affections.

One Day is occupying its own cozy corner in reception.

We were so busy, I neglected to photograph Estelle's install. Her photographs are beautiful and colorful and you can see them here.

Cell Signalling Technologies

Feb. 1-March 28, 2014

Reception Feb. 20, 4-6pm

Snow Day

I planted lots of seeds today. Not something one would consider viable in this weather but actually the conditions are perfect. I'm not sowing vegetables or flowers but activities. By being stranded a few times this snowy 2014, I've had the gift of time to ponder residencies, exhibitions and conceptual work.  In the quiet expanse of today alone I managed a couple of proposals to make it a total of 7 since the new year. Expectations are appropriately measured, but the work required to pull one of these babies together has many rewards besides the honor of acceptance. There's no better way to organize your thoughts than to make yourself write a coherent statement.

Forgeries

Today I did a last minute installation at the Arsenal Center for the Arts... and boy is it nice to be there. Lucky for me, the center had a cancellation and we scrambled to pull this together. The stepped gallery space as you enter the front door seems like it would be overwhelming to work with but my bronzes fit right in. The space and color palettes are perfect complements and there is ample space for each piece to breathe while still being able to relate to each other. It was fun to play with the layout because there's a changing perspective as you climb up the stairs making for a very dynamic viewing from all angles. Looking forward to a few receptions - one this Thursday for the New Member Show - and one for FORGERIES in late February/ early March. Will keep you posted as all the details work themselves out.

I like to playfully call this body of work FORGERIES. Though they appear to be bronze statues, these are not molded, cast and bronzed, but actual objects that are assembled, sealed to appear as if cast from a mold and then painted. It is a several step process that involves the application of patina and finally a wax finish.
They appear to be a heavy statue and even though the surface is firm, if you poke it, the fabric gives way under the pressure. I love the trick of perception with material and concept - a memorial of a particular place and time - but very much in the present tense.

Check out STASH and RELIQUARY to learn more about these projects.

Toast

 

Feeling cozy while viewing my new, hot-off-the-press, video of last November's bonfire at Fruitlands Museum. Though heat is in very short supply these days, I'm feeling the warmth of the past year, carrying forward all I experienced and learned during 2013.

(click here if above link is blocked)

As the Queen of Mixed Metaphors, it feels right to say that 2013 came in like a lamb and went out like a lion. Beginning with an installation at DanforthArt in January, an energizing VSC residency in February, a show with my beloved coaching group A Room of Our Own in March, countless workshops, HIVE, Morphology with Kay Hartung in June at FSFA, solo exhibition The Nobility of Things at Fruitlands during the summer, The Order of the Universe at Wheaton College in the fall, 65 Degrees at Nave Gallery Annex during the holidays, a studio move to Miller Street Studios in December and several deinstallations the week before Christmas.

Hence, the title for the post, and the reason for my long absence. The past 2 months have been all about cooking, packing, unpacking, putting up, taking down and more cooking. All good. 

This January is more like a snail or a tortoise. I'm looking forward to a slow, thoughtful 2014 shared with dear friends, colleagues and family. Let's see if I can keep up the pace.

Happy New Year everyone!