For your own copy and a lot more, click here.
Upcycled plastic installation on view for the Bombay Sapphire Artisan Series
A section of my much larger installation work, Loose Ends, is on view through Saturday, October 13th at the Houston Museum for African American Culture in the Bombay Sapphire Artisan Series—which I never would have known about had The Jealous Curator (aka Danielle Krysa) not given it a shout out at some point last summer on her highly informative Instagram account, @thejealouscurator. It never ceases to amaze me how much comes into our lives through random internet browsing: from the impulse purchase; hometown exhibition opportunity; or new, real life friend.
While installing the work, the HMAAC exhibitions manager (and ultimate competition winner!) Dominic Clay asked me what this work was about. I told him that I always feel compelled to make the random pieces of material I collect connect, my way of making sense of all of the stray things I bring into the studio.
Someone else I talked to about the piece didn’t realize that, in fact, I’d made each and every one of the component shapes out of single plastic widgets, thousands of discarded plastic garment display hooks sourced from the Reuse Warehouse.
So allow me to elaborate here: this is what each of the some 3,000 pieces looked like when I found them!
Coordinates
I feel like one true sign of friendship is the recurring tendency to turn up places in matching attire. Rebecca and I may not share a studio anymore, but at least we still have an indistinguishable affinity for bold prints.
Yep, we also do plaids. This was at a Claire Drennan Knits pop-up shop craft night earlier this summer.
Studio shift at Box 13
Fast forward a few months and it's Elisabeth Mladenov sharing this charmed corner of the space.
SAFETY YELLOW PHOTO SHOOT
Today I met Paul Hester over at the piece on Heights Boulevard and in addition to shooting the work, he agreed to take a few snapshots of me planted in the middle of it. If you look closely, you can see him in the reflection of my sunglasses! And don’t be fooled—the mood was not as serious as it looks.
The Empty Box
This year, the first Saturday in May was not only the Kentucky Derby, but also Cinco de Mayo, and the annual studio fundraiser, the Empty Box. I was so grateful that so many talented artists agreed to donate to the cause, including the friends I asked personally, whose work is displayed below.
Some of my pieces were also available for purchase, including work from a series made from salvaged, baltic birch plywood offcuts and a piece from another body of work made from discarded air filters.
Caught the night of the event in my studio among my favorite blobs and folds by Jessica Ramirez.
In Process
Without a doubt, one of the best things about having a studio at the Box is getting to see other artists’ gravity-defying ideas take form. Giant traffic popsicle (certainly, not his description) by Daniel Bertalot.
It’s also always inspiring to see artists bringing big ideas to form, particularly when I’m on a phase of a project that is small and needling. Case in point: I’ll have dipped a few thousand landscape staples in plasti dip before Safety Yellow is ready to install in the Houston Heights.
