Join me on Saturday, April 30th from 3-4:30p for a walkthrough of Nothing Goes to Waste, the current exhibition at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, alongside other artists from the show.
This gathering is bittersweet as it may be our public chance to wish curator Kathryn Hall well as she leaves her post for new projects in New York. Kathryn was the curatorial fellow when I arrived to the Center for a residency at the end of 2012 and assumed the role of curator shortly thereafter. In other words, I have never known the organization without her—it is truly the end of an era. While I didn’t anticipate it at the time, the photo she snapped of me a few months ago wearing my vectran sleeve almost looks like a hand waving goodbye!
Event link.
READER'S DIGEST DEBUT
I’m not sure what surprised me more: that Reader’s Digest was still in print or that a representative from the publication contacted me asking about rights to an image they found on my Instagram account.
What I love about this picture is that it was taken by dear friend and painting phenom Rebecca Rothfus Harrell, who I’d known all of 15 minutes when we embarked from the Wurlitzer Foundation campus to check out a public art event in town during our residency at the end of 2019. She had the marvelous foresight to snap a picture as my eyes widened during a racy poem—and the rest is in the March issue.
If it’s any indication of Rebecca’s character, she even sent a copy to my mom. I hope it’s sitting on the entryway credenza, which is where all of the issues piled up at my grandparents’ house. Since they were the only RD subscribers I’ve ever known, Rube and Mary, this one is for you. ♡
FOUR SEASONS FEATURE
At the end of 2020 I was commissioned by Kevin Barry Art Advisory to create a piece for ‘a restaurant in Napa.’ I didn’t ask which one, so you can imagine my surprise when I recently learned that my work was part of an art package for the Four Seasons Napa Valley.
The concept was to depict the route of the Oat Hill Mine Trail in the style of my previous work, with a significant difference being that the leather would be sewn into canvas as opposed to tacked directly into the wall and finalized on site.
While this allows me the opportunity to create pieces for destinations far and wide, it also means that the last time I saw the piece, it was in my studio—and as I review the images, it looks like I didn’t even take one of the fully finished version.
Process shots below.
TIME TRAVEL
Though the image was created in 2015, I’d yet to encounter myself larger than life at Intercontinental until traveling this Thanksgiving. What I remember most about the day of the shoot was how cold it was, exacerbated by the fact that we were in a warehouse open to the elements. And what’s hopelessly bizarre to me now is that I ever felt inclined to straighten my hair. I suppose the weirder thing would be running into a former self and not having changed in the ensuing half decade. But I certainly wish there were a kinder measure than prior self-styling choices.
I’d be remiss in not mentioning that it was Christine West, one of Houston’s indefatigable advocates for the arts , who invited me to take part in this campaign to highlight the city’s creative community. While I’m truly delighted that I now have another friend to visit in Albuquerque, some changes are harder to adjust to than others, and this is certainly true of the speed with which many in my circle moved away during the pandemic.
May craft night live on, somehow and somewhere, ladies!
EVENING SONG MORNING LIGHT AT COTHREN CONTEMPORARY
I have a few New Moons on display at Cothren Contemporary, alongside Jill Bedgood, Lucinda Cobley, and Doerte Weber. The whole show is beautiful and it’s truly a thrill to work with someone as enthusiastic about art as Jana. While I’ve been staring at these moons for some months, I’m realizing that aside from pieces that have flown out to new homes, it’s actually the first time a small series is in the world outside my studio. Join us for a closing reception on December 18th, 11-2p! The artists will all be present.
A joy of the opening was that I got to catch a glimpse of Hyeseung, visiting from New York, before our plans the next day. It’s not the first time that I’ve made a friend at a residency and then had the good fortune to catch up with them across miles in short order. More of this, please!
DESIGN FOR PUBLIC SPACE
This summer I was invited to submit a proposal for a commission at Intercontinental Airport here in Houston. The idea wasn’t chosen, but I like it so much that I decided to memorialize it here. Perhaps I’ll create a series comprised of four pieces hanging vertically—though likely not in the 28’ dimension that this setting would have required. Until then, this is my bookmark:
My use of a moon theme was influenced by Houston’s reputation as ‘Space City,’ not to mention flight itself, the process by which we all get a little closer to celestial bodies. In addition, my design’s emphasis on simple geometry ensures timelessness, as for centuries, its use in art has symbolized the desire for an ordered universe.
The organic shapes of these pieces contrast with the rectilinear forms and rigid materials that tend to dominate institutional spaces. Instead, the waves and bubbles of these evoke textures of the natural world, from the surfaces of distant satellites to foliage and foam found right here at home.
My motivation for using felt in this work has a similarly dual nature, as it was a material known to ancient people and yet also has contemporary industrial use cases, such as in gaskets and seals for aviation. I find it so powerful that this material is one of our earliest inventions and remains integral to innovative technology in aerospace applications today. And while textiles may seem an unusual choice for an airport, Heathrow offers us a lovely precedent in the form of a permanent 20’ fabric mural in its facility by Vanessa Barragao.
BAYOU BEACON
Best way to procrastinate unpacking after a three month artist residency away? An art show — hooray! Beautiful to see Falon Mihalic’s latest, Bayou Beacon, at Sawyer Yards last night. I can’t do the concept behind the work justice, but suffice it to say, she’s managed to turn the visualization of flooding data into an aesthetic experience.
What I can comment on with authority is that it’s always lovely when coming home is as wonderful as getting away.