Visual artist (Washington/USA)
Residency period: 25th August – 6th October 2011
I have not yet met anyone who has visited Armenia. Most people I have asked cannot find Armenia on a globe. As I contemplate a residency in Armenia I am acutely aware how energy intensive air is. This poses a challenge to core expressions of my past work and personal ethics. Is it possible to reconcile these contradictions?
I am a sculptor who shapes objects from other objects. In French I would be called a “bricoluer”. In Italian my methods might be described as “l’arte d’arrangiarsi”. This translates roughly to the art of making something out of nothing, the art of getting by, of improvisation, of finding a way, of inventing something, of managing (somehow), of self-reliance. Multi-media might accurately, though obscurely describe my work.
Installing at the ACOSS residency space.
This sculpture will address themes implicit in the Samkura Project created at Cló and its call for “research, development and dissemination of new art works . . . in a context of a thematic artistic exchange focusing on cultural and linguistic specificity.” The sculpture, as a response to the themes from Samkura, will be informed by my work and experiences during a recent AKOS artist residency in Armenia. It is my intent to create work that is conversant with work I completed in Armenia and to exhibit separately the works created in both places.
Installed in public space.
I am fascinated with Armenian culture and history especially the identity of Armenians as descendants of Biblical Noah: Ark Builder, Captain of Creation’s Lifeboat and Great Deluge Survivor. This is a poignant narrative at this time of mass species extinction and global climatic change. In Armenia I will create work for exhibit, performance or demonstration focused on the theme of “Business as Unusual”. My interpretation may use interactive kinetic objects, installations, workshops, and/or images to invite and encourage individual viewer inter-action to create meaning, motion, movement, and change.
