I am pleased to announce that my work will be part of
The Art of the Book
Tenth annual exhibition
of handmade artist books, altered books & book-related objects.
May 5 - 31, 2015
Opening Reception on Saturday, May 9, 5:30 - 7:30
The Seager/Gray Gallery is located at 108 Throckmorton Avenue
in Mill Valley. 415.384.8288
Hours: Tues - Sat, 11 - 6, Sunday, 12 - 5
The installation, mtlaugwalkcuts was inspired by a walk that I took to the summit of Mt. Laugarvatn in Iceland. I recorded the shapes of the walk with a GPS device and then printed out into 23 sections. The line sections influenced the contours of the constructions. More images of the individual works can be found on my website on the third page of mixed media/ constructions.
During the exhibition at RiskPress, I hosted poetry walks in and outside of the gallery and recorded their shapes with a GPS device. We chanted the words, "walking like reading like cutting like..." while looking at the artwork on the walls. Words appeared and found their place on the concrete floor of the gallery. These words and more may find another place as I continue this work with cuttings.
Other words that surfaced but didn't appear on the floors but may appear elsewhere in the future are:
multiple lines, icey undulations, cold empty, sequential, serial striations, slivers and slices, shafts and shifts, gray-day shuns, uninterrupted, light of rain, shimmering ground, curves, edges, distillation, energy, music, enigmatic void, an architecture of color, meandering texts, gun metal striations, white ice open, the architecture of a cut, cuts squared, grounded sticks and stones, graphite lines go by, waves, piano keys, subtle shifts, tracking, folding, bird perches,....
2013 opens with "The Residency Show" at the Gatewood Gallery, University of North Carolina, Greensboro (UNCG) on January 14th through February 1st. The show features work of faculty and other artists who participated in artist residencies recently. I sent work inspired by my experiences at the Gullkistan Artist Residency in Iceland last summer.
About the work:
I walk a lot when I travel. Walking allows me to wander wherever I wish, and not be limited to "auto driven" roads. I can choose a way, a pace, and I often see more. I love how walking shifts me from an accelerated frenetic state of mind to a contemplative one. And slowing down has a way of opening up space. The artist, Richard Long, once wrote that "a walk expresses space and freedom and the knowledge of it can live in the imagination of anyone, and that is another space too."
And I found that space in Iceland last summer at the Gullkistan Artist Residency; not only because "eg' gekk mikið!", but also because I discovered that Iceland is a land with panoramic views and horizontal ribbons of sky, land, and sea. My response was elemental and primordial and it took me back to a place of "beginning"—an invigorating feeling that I want to experience again.
I went to Gullkistan with the intent of incorporating the act of walking into my artistic process. Before I left, I purchased a Garmin GPSmap 62, a device that records tracks of walks. In Iceland, I used it to collect the shapes and lines of my walks while exploring the new terrain. I accumulated many tracks. In the studio, I printed them out and displayed them on the wall. These "visual walks" were a beginning. However, I wasn't clear on how I would use their shapes and lines in a body of work.
I had heard of Iceland's "geologic wonders". I was interested in how this geology related to its constantly shifting landscape. I saw this in lava beds, glaciers, craggy scree slopes, black sand beaches, glacial carved rocks and basaltic columns. These materials create a myriad of contours and textures. I have started to explore how this topography might influence my work so that it reflects the natural tensions of the land.
The work in the exhibit is a beginning of an investigation that combines both line cuts (sections from the tracks) from a walk and the contours of the landscape. The work comes from one of six walks that I tracked in Iceland; the one here is the trek up to the summit of Mt. Laugarvatn, a mountain behind the town of the residency with views of it and beyond. The track provides evidence of a step-by-step process, like walking, and is broken into 23 sections to suggest that. The constructions, mtlaugwalkcut1, mtlaugwalkcut2, and mtlaugwalkcut3 are the result of an investigation of line and form taken from the walks.
Artwork:
mtlaugwalkcut1, 2, & 3 are mixed media constructions made from book covers, cloth & board on a birch panel. Each are 9.13 x 8.66 x 3.25 inches ©2012
Without seeing Iceland's glaciers, one knows by the abundance of scree slopes (skriða) throughout Iceland, that they exist. Glaciers break down the land and broken rock fragments accumulate at the base of hamars (crags) and mountain cliffs. Deceptively smooth from a distance!
On my last day of the residency, Alda (one of the residency directors) and her husband, Jon took us on a walk down to the "milky" waters outside of Laugarvatn (an endearing term they give to rivers that looked white from a distance). Once at the river, rather than return the way we came, Jon wanted to follow the river out and asked if anyone might be interested. Most opted not too. His children and Auke followed Jon and I elected to as I wanted to gps a longer walk . Little did I know that I would call this one my "challenge" walk.
As the terrain became rockier and rockier, it became clearer that we would not be able to walk down along the river. Jon pointed up along the hillside, "this way up". Hmm? Straight up a hillside of scree with minimal plants for anchors. Trusting an Icelander (???), I followed along until I was no longer able to establish firm footing in the abundant scree, slipping and sliding with no plants to hold onto. Scree wise?
Somehow, with Aucke's help (and body), I found a way up to meet the others at the top. Thank you Auke!
I tracked another walk with my gps device, this time the trail up to the summit of Mt. Laugarvatn. Beautiful views of Laugarvatn and beyond and another track!
