EVENING SONG MORNING LIGHT AT COTHREN CONTEMPORARY

November 21, 2021

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

October 31, 2021

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.

MAKING EMPTY HOUSES HOMES

July 1, 2020

A couple of weeks ago, Claire, in her alternate role as marketing director at the Houston Furniture Bank, asked me if I might donate work to the inaugural show and auction at their art gallery. I’d never been to the space and offered to drop the pieces off and get a tour. I’d be remiss in mentioning that a car trip outside of my neighborhood held a rare thrill given 2020’s unique terms.

In hindsight, I could have made more of the opportunity to pose with a heap of foam, but I suppose after months of solitude, any performative instincts will require some warm up.

I donated Spring Moon to the auction and Blue Drip to the gallery. While I was delighted to learn that the former sold to an eager bidder, I was more excited by how quickly I was notified that the other piece had also been claimed.

I do hope that other artists in town will consider contributing pieces to the effort (details here). The auction raised funds to provide new beds to children in need in Houston, while the gallery donation provided a family with an original work of art to take home. The experience really made plain to me the thrill of adding to the energy of a fresh start and I look forward to fueling this initiative into the future.

RED ALERT

June 28, 2020

After an especially gray week that essentially felt like one long rainy afternoon, the mere sight of sun, not to mention how it saturated the piece I was working on, seemed worthy of adding to my list of everyday magic. Less welcome and hardly a surprise, however, was the notification I’d received earlier in the day along with other Houston residents announcing that the virus threat had escalated to its most severe level, a most unfortunate coincidence.

BLUE BAYOU INSTALL

May 15, 2020

Shortly after our stay at home order expired I was notified that a large commission I’d finished in March would be ready for install. I’d anticipated feeling strange to be working in proximity to other people after some six weeks of relative isolation, but the thrill of getting to see a substantial project to completion was by far the tone for the entire afternoon.

A couple of days later, I got a troubling call, informing me that there’d been ample feedback since install that the bayou looked too much like a sperm. The irony, of course, is that I'd been thinking the design had a fertility motif since the beginning but figured if they were happy with that messaging then so was I. To abridge an epic tale, I was assisted in getting the offending portion of the bayou back home and was able to transform the ‘head’ into another whiplash curl.

Everyone was pleased with the outcome—and true to form, I’m looking forward to seeing what I can make from the areas I cut out…

I have a few additional pieces in this lobby as well, after all, what’s a moon and a bayou without a few Guide Stars?

MASQUERADE

April 24, 2020

I didn’t think I’d be able to fall in love with a mask until I saw the ones Julia Kwon was making for her Unapologetically Asian series. I met Julia few years ago during a residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, where she was making giant textile pieces out of Korean fabrics—words fail, but her images help.

She describes the face mask pieces as follows:

The work is in response to the fact that preventative mask worn especially by Asian people has largely been perceived as an unnecessary overreaction, a proof of illness, or an open invitation to commit hate crimes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now a growing number of officials and health experts argue that people should wear non-medical fabric masks in public to help prevent spread of the virus. Kwon's work unapologetically embraces her ethnic identity to confront coronavirus-related racism that is prevalent today.

While it has nothing to do with her concept for the project, I feel like I have the most exotic beak in the entire grocery store so attired. Given the scope of denial about the virus, I figure imagining myself as a bird while out doing errands is nothing.

THE PASEO PROJECT

September 15, 2019

The Paseo Project was a dense presentation of numerous public art projects over the first weekend I was in Taos. Had I not heard an offhand reference to it, I would have likely not even known it was happening from the central, yet secluded location of the residency. I’m pretty sure I experienced a fraction of the pieces on view, and photographed even fewer. Take my word for it—there was a lot going on in addition to the Telepoem Booth (instructions for how to use a rotary dial included!) and this interactive projection dance-a-thon.

Major thanks to fellow AIR, Rebecca, for capturing the moment just as the dialed poem got into stamens and the loudest motorcycles I’ve ever heard revved at the light at the corner.

An earlier, unexpected highlight of the evening was a stop at the Harwood Museum where there is an exhibition of Judy Chicago fiber art on view. The Birthing Project is a collection of pieces from the early 1980s whose subject matter takes on birth from the physical to the mystical and was made by scores of collaborating needleworkers.. I took these snapshots for myself, not intending to share them, but keep coming back to the color and extraordinary textural and imaginative detail for inspiration.