Lucid Arts Foundation Alumni Artist-in-Residence On-Line Exhibit

I am pleased to announce my participation in the Lucid Arts Foundation Alumni Artist-in-Residency exhibition (Group 3) currently on line HERE.

December 1, 2020 - January 3, 2021

Five years since my residency there. I went back to the blog archives, dated November 8, 2015 to recall the experience. Fascinating to relook and see the threads in my current work from that time.

Words I wrote: I will source possibilities for methods and materials from the place—its history, language, landscapes and natural processes.

i will work towards shaping moments and finding ways and forms that express the movements “between”—looking at rocks and stones that reflect frozen moments for inspiration in a changing landscape.

Recallng some explorations there:

Deconstructing 1970s vintage development maps of Pt. Reyes Peninsula. I wondered how this exercise might influence my constructions.

Light Studies, following and tracing the changing light, discovering forms using pen and masking tape. A way to think about transient moments.

Crumpling paper—an impulse out of the blue. A way to think about natural processes and moments when this impulse might occur.

Five years later:

Still breaking apart conventional forms and discovering alternative shapes for constructions.

Crumpling in different ways and discovering how to use these processes in my constructions and artist books.

Book Iceland 2018

BOOK ICELAND _ JUNE 18 – 29,  2018
Application Deadline: February 1, 2018
www.gullkistan.is/book-iceland

It’s a rare visitor who is not touched by Iceland’s natural energies and diverse landscape. It’s this land of extremes that has shaped its people & language, and has inspired this workshop.

Now more than half-filled, but space available for those interested in exploring Iceland’s
landscape for content— for two book structures that you will learn in the class: the drum-leaf binding and a coptic-bound cover book (examples below).

Drumleaf binding book structure

Coptic-bound cover book

The workshop is for artists of all levels interested in exploring the book form and learning
about Iceland, its book culture & history, weather, and diverse landscapes.

For specifics, check out:  gullkistan.is/book-iceland

*This will be my fourth trip to Iceland.  I recently reviewed some old blog entries with early impressions.  Thought you might be interested in what I wrote:

“What a deceptively still place with its vast expansive open spaces—panoramic views of horizontal blue ribbons of sky and sea. I sometimes found it difficult to discern the horizon between the two. And I was struck by how much of the land is barren with minimal traces of human habitation.

Iceland is a small country but full of geological wonders that gave me a glimpse of what the earth might have been like when it was newly formed. Everywhere I looked I saw evidence of the new with it lava beds, glaciers, ice, geysers, craggy scree slopes, natural waterfalls, basaltic columns, black sand beaches and glacial carved rocks jetting out from green grass covered mountains. Surreal. I have experienced few places in the world, like Iceland that offer this unique kind of space. Surprisingly serene on the surface, especially when one realizes that it is a land of the verb with underground rumblings of the wild that can spew out at any time as steam, lava or rock through pockets of the earth.

I met a few Icelanders and if they are representative of the whole, then I am impressed. So much open space, yet their connection to their land is intimate. I saw this in the way that they name their places; names with endings like vatn, foss, vik, and jokull that offer clues about the landscape. Their connection went beyond words, however. I witnessed many who embraced the land with vigor and pride, some easily scrambling up a hillside of scree, hiking on the vast lava fields or up a mountain between 1am and 5 am, or swimming in the ice cold waters of lakes and sea. And I identified most with those who relaxed and socialized in the geothermal heated pools, found throughout the country.”

here(t)here continued:

Beginnings: In Cuts Make You, I introduced prime numbers as a way to structure the series. With the wide open schedule of the residency here at the Lucid Art Foundation, I applied this way to structure a working routine. The vastness of 21 free days in the wilderness of Gordon Onslow Ford land was daunting. (Above: Gordon Onslow Ford,  Present in Company, 1969. Acrylic/Linen, 93 x 140 inches)

So, when in doubt, resort to the prime.  A schedule enveloped:

Oct 20: day 1 Catch Oct 21: day 2 Catch Oct 22: day 3 Catch Oct 23: day 4 Construct Oct 24: day 5 Catch  Oct 25: day 6 Construct Oct 26: day 7 Catch Oct 27: day 8 Construct Oct 28: day 9 Construct  Oct 29: day 10 Construct Oct 30: day 11 Catch Oct 31: day 12 Construct Nov 1: day 13 Catch Nov 2: day 14 Construct Nov 3: day 15 Construct Nov 4: day 16 Construct Nov 5: day 17 Catch Nov 6: day 18 Construct Nov 7: day 19 Catch Nov 8: day 20 Construct Nov 9: day 21 Construct November tenth: departure and return home

And an envelope to be ripped?  And it was!

Thoughts Before about Place:

An exploration of this place as opposed to that place; seeking a particular type of relationship to it that connects to the other.  I returned from Iceland with many impressions and thoughts about the place. What happens to these thoughts in a place close to home?

So these are some of the things that happened:                                                                                             At the residency, I  disrupted existing conventional forms to find new shapes using natural &                  temporal elements.

1970s Vintage Development Maps of Pt. Reyes Peninsula:  Acquired from Eleanor Murray's collection, I brought them to Inverness to reference the location of the residency.  Not knowing what I would do with them, I first made rough cuts (and secondary cuts)  into each to approximate the shape and sections of the studio.  Then I established a visual line on the walls using masking tape.  Waited. Thoughts about tectonic plates and the fault lines of Iceland and Pt. Reyes directed me. Breaking up the conventional forms of the maps became a side project during the residency while I worked on constructions using book parts and wondering how this exercise will influence my constructions.  I will take the maps home to continue this process and see what happens.

 Light Studies:  Explored forms using changing light with pen and masking tape.

When Plans are Disrupted:

Constructions:

here(t)here: another residency

Since May,  I've been away from my blog.  Back this month to report to you some of my summer and fall activities.

I'm off to Inverness (on Pt. Reyes peninsula in CA) later this month for another artist residency, this one sponsored by the Lucid Art Foundation.  And this time, intentionally close to home, for three weeks, solo without cell coverage and social media. So no reports during my time away but should have something to share upon my return.  Lots of prepping, finding that I will take more than I take to residencies afar and certainly a way to complicate an experience.

When I have traveled to residencies somewhere else,  I am often surprised by what I learn about my home. Three years ago in Iceland, I was awed by its raw landscape that had been shaped by volcanoes, glaciers, weather and its location in the Northern Atlantic. There I realized its connection to California--both lands edging the North American tectonic plate with Iceland on one end and California on the other. I wanted devoted time to experience my own landscape with this in mind.  Inverness, though not situated on the North American plate shares the San Andreas fault which separates the No American from the Pacific.  And like Iceland, its land has been shaped by invisible forces of the earth.  At Inverness, I want to further explore this connection.

I am also interested in exploring place--what it holds and what I carry to it. When I applied for this residency,  I wrote, "Using Inverness as a springboard, I will source possibilities for methods and materials from its history, stories and landscape. I will look at the archival remains--rocks and stones that hold the memory of the geologic forces that shaped the physical terrain. I will walk the terrain, feel its relief and make contour lines as I move through space. I will look at the scratches and markings of the rocks as well as their shapes.  I also will be on alert to ways of letting nature and synchronicity enter into my process. These will be my entry points to a 'process conscious' project working with themes of the archival and ephemeral."

"Language, materials and natural energies of and from the place will inform my process. Like the rocks and stones that reflect frozen moments in a changing landscape over time, I will work towards shaping moments and find ways and forms that express the movements 'between'. "