Projects and Collaborations
Fun-a-day 2011 - stop motion doll
Fun-A-Day is a project I got involved in, in January 2011. The idea is to make one piece of art everyday in the month of January, to start the new year off right. A bunch of people signed up for this in Albuquerque, but the idea started 7 years ago by The Art Clash Collective in Philadelphia, and is happening all over the country. I had been in a creative funk, so to speak, so I joined in and had a bit of a creative explosion! After coming up with several ideas, I decided on the most involved.
I would make a cloth doll and take 50 pictures of her each day, to create a stop motion film. I didn't realize how ambitious this was, given I'd never really made a stop motion film before. I quickly reduced it to 25 pictures a day. In the end there were 967 pics and the video was 2minutes and 45 seconds long. It was amazing to see all of that work scrunched up into such a short video.
Though stop motion isn't something I've given a lot of thought to, making a flip-book is something I've been talking about doing for years. So a few days before the opening I chose 100 of the pics (days 27-30) and had a small book printed, pictured above. In the video, these days represented a dream the doll had of being in a boat and taking a swim.
The opening, where all 25 or so artists involved displayed what they made, was on February 11th. It was amazing to see the diversity of the work that people did, and how they interpreted the idea. All in all, it was a hysterical party. As group shows often are, it was packed, barely room to breath, and tons of energy. But as people came and went a lot of the artists hung around, watching people interact and react to our work, but mostly releasing the energy we'd all been building up alone in our studios all month long. By the end of the night we were grabbing at our cheeks in pain from laughing so much. It turns out, as my friend Jenny pointed out, that fun-a-day didn't refer to all of the fun we had in our studios, alone, day after day, but to the month's worth of fun that exploded that night.
I would make a cloth doll and take 50 pictures of her each day, to create a stop motion film. I didn't realize how ambitious this was, given I'd never really made a stop motion film before. I quickly reduced it to 25 pictures a day. In the end there were 967 pics and the video was 2minutes and 45 seconds long. It was amazing to see all of that work scrunched up into such a short video.
Though stop motion isn't something I've given a lot of thought to, making a flip-book is something I've been talking about doing for years. So a few days before the opening I chose 100 of the pics (days 27-30) and had a small book printed, pictured above. In the video, these days represented a dream the doll had of being in a boat and taking a swim.
The opening, where all 25 or so artists involved displayed what they made, was on February 11th. It was amazing to see the diversity of the work that people did, and how they interpreted the idea. All in all, it was a hysterical party. As group shows often are, it was packed, barely room to breath, and tons of energy. But as people came and went a lot of the artists hung around, watching people interact and react to our work, but mostly releasing the energy we'd all been building up alone in our studios all month long. By the end of the night we were grabbing at our cheeks in pain from laughing so much. It turns out, as my friend Jenny pointed out, that fun-a-day didn't refer to all of the fun we had in our studios, alone, day after day, but to the month's worth of fun that exploded that night.
Dispossessed
Dispossessed was an instillation that was organized around two plays, Parts of Parts & Stitches by Riti Sachdeva and The Circuz by Georgina Hernandez Escobar. The instillation included work by Myriam Tapp, Regina Corrit, Aabel Ramirez, Katy Bowen and once again art directed by Elisabeth Dwyer Sandlin. In Elizabeths words "the two plays share a common ground in that they both present the audience with a city broken down by borders, violence and chaos. The people in these two plays find themselves in realms of dispossession, isolation and desperation."
I'm really beginning to enjoy working with stage sets and short term installations. It has forced me to work outside of my usual realm of materials. The idea seems to keep coming back to light weight, cheap, and possibly the farthest departure to how I'm used to working; not absolutely durable. For the instillation I made a larger-than-life-size marionette. When I was first introduced to the project and heard that one of the plays was about the circus I immediately had ideas of a marionette. As it turns out the idea of a marionette lent itself to the second play Parts of Parts and Stitches, about the India/Pakistan independence. So much so that by the time the marionette was finished it resembled the iconography of that play possibly more than that of Circuz.
The marionette itself was a great thing to work with and I plan on doing more work with this idea soon. As you can see in the video, it wasn't as easy to use as a small handheld marionette is. But because of it's size, seeing it moving around in a room with people milling around was something I look forward to exploring more.
I'm really beginning to enjoy working with stage sets and short term installations. It has forced me to work outside of my usual realm of materials. The idea seems to keep coming back to light weight, cheap, and possibly the farthest departure to how I'm used to working; not absolutely durable. For the instillation I made a larger-than-life-size marionette. When I was first introduced to the project and heard that one of the plays was about the circus I immediately had ideas of a marionette. As it turns out the idea of a marionette lent itself to the second play Parts of Parts and Stitches, about the India/Pakistan independence. So much so that by the time the marionette was finished it resembled the iconography of that play possibly more than that of Circuz.
The marionette itself was a great thing to work with and I plan on doing more work with this idea soon. As you can see in the video, it wasn't as easy to use as a small handheld marionette is. But because of it's size, seeing it moving around in a room with people milling around was something I look forward to exploring more.
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Genesis Lead Me Home
Genesis Lead Me Home is a play written by Shannon Rogers, about a young (slightly frustrated) artist exploring her feelings on motherhood, daughterhood, and the creative process. Shannon approached me while she was still writing the play to see if I would create a piece to be used for the production. I gladly accepted, I felt at the time, she was telling a little piece of my story.
In the picture from left to right is Elizabeth Dwyer Sandlin, the director and the reason I got involved in the first place, Morgan Fife, the star of the play and Amy Elizabeth, one of the three actors.
In the picture from left to right is Elizabeth Dwyer Sandlin, the director and the reason I got involved in the first place, Morgan Fife, the star of the play and Amy Elizabeth, one of the three actors.
The Cradle Project
The Cradle Project was the most involved and long running collaboration of sorts I have ever been a part of. I originally got involved because I wanted to be included in the instillation and get into the space where it was to be held (the old abandoned Albuquerque train station), but instead I was heavily involved in organizing this project for the next two years. The project was an art instilation of cradles made by artist from around the world, from recycled and found objects. The Cradles represented the plight of children in Africa orphaned by disease and poverty.
The project was a huge success. After two years of work we finally had the installation which consisted of over 550 cradles. A book was published about the project, featuring some of the cradles. Overall through sponsorship of the cradles, donations and book sales $90,000 were raised. The money went to our partner organization, The Firelight Foundation.
Naomi Natale, the founder of The Cradle Project has started up another project called One Million Bones. One Million Bones uses some of the same principals of The Cradle Project but on a bigger scale. This time a million bones made by people will be installed, as a mass grave, on The National Mall in D.C. to raise awareness about the genocide that continue to take place around the world today.
And yes, I'm working away on this project as well!
Below is a photo of the sculpture that I made for The Cradle Project instillation. It is cast iron and was sold to a woman who wanted to put it on her midwifery office.
The project was a huge success. After two years of work we finally had the installation which consisted of over 550 cradles. A book was published about the project, featuring some of the cradles. Overall through sponsorship of the cradles, donations and book sales $90,000 were raised. The money went to our partner organization, The Firelight Foundation.
Naomi Natale, the founder of The Cradle Project has started up another project called One Million Bones. One Million Bones uses some of the same principals of The Cradle Project but on a bigger scale. This time a million bones made by people will be installed, as a mass grave, on The National Mall in D.C. to raise awareness about the genocide that continue to take place around the world today.
And yes, I'm working away on this project as well!
Below is a photo of the sculpture that I made for The Cradle Project instillation. It is cast iron and was sold to a woman who wanted to put it on her midwifery office.
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This piece was featured in the book that was published for The Cradle Project.
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Four Markers
Four markers was a project I did in school, all the way back in 200...5. The four 'markers' were created using syringes, bees wax and my hair. The ink was made from beet root juice and my blood (a little bit of it).
More to come.....
More to come.....
