WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.350 align:middle line:90% How am I for sound? 00:00:01.350 --> 00:00:02.280 align:middle line:90% Is this working? 00:00:02.280 --> 00:00:06.390 align:middle line:90% 00:00:06.390 --> 00:00:07.200 align:middle line:90% Thank you, Ellen. 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:08.998 align:middle line:90% That was wonderful. 00:00:08.998 --> 00:00:11.040 align:middle line:84% I always-- whenever I do anything with my mother, 00:00:11.040 --> 00:00:13.570 align:middle line:84% I start to tear up, and it started happening already. 00:00:13.570 --> 00:00:16.500 align:middle line:84% So hopefully I can get through the first five minutes 00:00:16.500 --> 00:00:17.790 align:middle line:90% without crying for you. 00:00:17.790 --> 00:00:20.380 align:middle line:90% 00:00:20.380 --> 00:00:23.430 align:middle line:84% So just to give you a sense of how the evening is going to go, 00:00:23.430 --> 00:00:26.400 align:middle line:84% what our plan is I'm going to share some work, 00:00:26.400 --> 00:00:29.950 align:middle line:84% do basically an artist talk for about a half an hour, 00:00:29.950 --> 00:00:32.400 align:middle line:84% then we're going to have an impromptu dialogue 00:00:32.400 --> 00:00:36.960 align:middle line:84% about a collaboration we've started in the last six months. 00:00:36.960 --> 00:00:38.940 align:middle line:84% And then we'll conclude the evening 00:00:38.940 --> 00:00:44.650 align:middle line:84% with a reading from my mother and her new book Rope. 00:00:44.650 --> 00:00:49.500 align:middle line:84% So before I start talking about these images, 00:00:49.500 --> 00:00:51.900 align:middle line:84% I'm essentially going to share the five 00:00:51.900 --> 00:00:55.590 align:middle line:84% bodies of work or excerpts from five bodies of work. 00:00:55.590 --> 00:00:59.250 align:middle line:84% And I'm hoping that in sharing some 00:00:59.250 --> 00:01:01.470 align:middle line:84% of the narratives of that work with you 00:01:01.470 --> 00:01:04.470 align:middle line:84% that it'll start to unpack and unfold for you a little bit. 00:01:04.470 --> 00:01:09.030 align:middle line:84% Ellen articulated very well what my concerns are, 00:01:09.030 --> 00:01:12.180 align:middle line:84% and I'd like you to be able to see the trajectory of my work 00:01:12.180 --> 00:01:15.935 align:middle line:90% that's brought me to that point. 00:01:15.935 --> 00:01:17.310 align:middle line:84% And before I do that, I just want 00:01:17.310 --> 00:01:23.170 align:middle line:84% to make a couple preliminary points. 00:01:23.170 --> 00:01:27.270 align:middle line:84% One is that even though I work in traditional media 00:01:27.270 --> 00:01:30.150 align:middle line:84% often in painting and drawing and collage, 00:01:30.150 --> 00:01:34.337 align:middle line:84% I consider my work to be collaborative, 00:01:34.337 --> 00:01:36.420 align:middle line:84% and I don't think that's a natural way of thinking 00:01:36.420 --> 00:01:38.760 align:middle line:84% about work that you often have to isolate yourself 00:01:38.760 --> 00:01:41.580 align:middle line:90% in your studio to create. 00:01:41.580 --> 00:01:44.670 align:middle line:84% I'm going to share some of the conversations 00:01:44.670 --> 00:01:47.880 align:middle line:84% I've had with artists and thinkers and colleagues 00:01:47.880 --> 00:01:50.220 align:middle line:84% I teach with at Union, and hopefully you'll 00:01:50.220 --> 00:01:54.420 align:middle line:84% get a sense of in spite of this isolated aspect of my practice 00:01:54.420 --> 00:01:57.270 align:middle line:84% how committed I am to dialogue in how understanding 00:01:57.270 --> 00:02:01.350 align:middle line:84% and looking at my work through that lens of collaboration. 00:02:01.350 --> 00:02:02.940 align:middle line:84% I think it'll help you to understand 00:02:02.940 --> 00:02:05.190 align:middle line:90% what it is that I care about. 00:02:05.190 --> 00:02:09.930 align:middle line:84% The second point is this is just-- 00:02:09.930 --> 00:02:15.120 align:middle line:84% it's a little random but related to the idea of collaboration. 00:02:15.120 --> 00:02:23.250 align:middle line:84% And the idea is that I wish as a young artist that I had 00:02:23.250 --> 00:02:27.390 align:middle line:84% understood how much power I have to create a public life 00:02:27.390 --> 00:02:30.740 align:middle line:84% for myself, and whenever I have to talk about my work in front 00:02:30.740 --> 00:02:33.240 align:middle line:84% of students where they're going to be young people, I just-- 00:02:33.240 --> 00:02:35.100 align:middle line:84% maybe it's different to now-- because now-- 00:02:35.100 --> 00:02:38.400 align:middle line:84% today because it's like the DIY-- 00:02:38.400 --> 00:02:42.030 align:middle line:90% do-it-yourself-- DIY nation. 00:02:42.030 --> 00:02:44.880 align:middle line:84% But for me it took me many years of doing my practice before I 00:02:44.880 --> 00:02:50.520 align:middle line:84% realized that the richest, most satisfying creative exercises 00:02:50.520 --> 00:02:52.770 align:middle line:84% that had a public life were those that were coming out 00:02:52.770 --> 00:02:55.200 align:middle line:84% of dialogue with people in other disciplines, 00:02:55.200 --> 00:02:58.620 align:middle line:84% with other artists, and hopefully I'll 00:02:58.620 --> 00:03:02.130 align:middle line:84% unpack that a little bit for you as I describe some of the shows 00:03:02.130 --> 00:03:04.260 align:middle line:90% that I've been involved in. 00:03:04.260 --> 00:03:09.360 align:middle line:90% So this first series-- 00:03:09.360 --> 00:03:10.800 align:middle line:90% can you see these images OK? 00:03:10.800 --> 00:03:12.090 align:middle line:84% Do we need to dim the lights, or do you 00:03:12.090 --> 00:03:13.257 align:middle line:90% think this is going to work? 00:03:13.257 --> 00:03:14.010 align:middle line:90% 00:03:14.010 --> 00:03:14.860 align:middle line:90% All right. 00:03:14.860 --> 00:03:16.330 align:middle line:90% Dim a little maybe? 00:03:16.330 --> 00:03:17.970 align:middle line:90% [INTERPOSING VOICES] 00:03:17.970 --> 00:03:19.630 align:middle line:90% Oh, OK. 00:03:19.630 --> 00:03:22.000 align:middle line:90% That'll be fine. 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:24.670 align:middle line:84% So about a year and a half ago, I 00:03:24.670 --> 00:03:27.280 align:middle line:84% was involved in this alternative festival 00:03:27.280 --> 00:03:30.130 align:middle line:84% called the Sacred and Profane Festival on Peaks Island. 00:03:30.130 --> 00:03:31.450 align:middle line:90% Anyone ever been to Maine? 00:03:31.450 --> 00:03:35.140 align:middle line:84% Do you know that Casco Bay territory? 00:03:35.140 --> 00:03:37.817 align:middle line:84% So every October, there is something 00:03:37.817 --> 00:03:39.650 align:middle line:84% called the Sacred and Profane Festival where 00:03:39.650 --> 00:03:42.340 align:middle line:84% 30 or so artists or artists collectives 00:03:42.340 --> 00:03:45.340 align:middle line:84% are invited to come out to this military battery 00:03:45.340 --> 00:03:48.880 align:middle line:84% and essentially transform it into an alternative artist 00:03:48.880 --> 00:03:49.930 align:middle line:90% space. 00:03:49.930 --> 00:03:52.060 align:middle line:84% So about a year and a half ago, I 00:03:52.060 --> 00:03:53.560 align:middle line:84% did a collaborative installation, 00:03:53.560 --> 00:03:54.820 align:middle line:90% and this is a detail. 00:03:54.820 --> 00:03:56.770 align:middle line:84% It was called the jellyfish cave. 00:03:56.770 --> 00:04:00.040 align:middle line:84% It was a collaboration with an artist Rebecca Fitzpatrick 00:04:00.040 --> 00:04:02.230 align:middle line:84% whose practice is primarily collage. 00:04:02.230 --> 00:04:05.710 align:middle line:90% 00:04:05.710 --> 00:04:08.920 align:middle line:84% And so to get to the site, one has 00:04:08.920 --> 00:04:10.660 align:middle line:84% to take this half an hour ferry ride 00:04:10.660 --> 00:04:13.870 align:middle line:84% and then basically hike a mile into the center of this island 00:04:13.870 --> 00:04:16.540 align:middle line:84% where there is this military battery that 00:04:16.540 --> 00:04:20.829 align:middle line:84% was created in the early 20th century, a battery still-- 00:04:20.829 --> 00:04:25.240 align:middle line:84% I think it is the biggest one created in the United States-- 00:04:25.240 --> 00:04:26.680 align:middle line:84% in time for World War I, and then 00:04:26.680 --> 00:04:28.510 align:middle line:84% it was expanded for World War II, 00:04:28.510 --> 00:04:33.040 align:middle line:84% and essentially it's just moss covered, 00:04:33.040 --> 00:04:35.692 align:middle line:84% dripping walls, very spooky, covered with graffiti. 00:04:35.692 --> 00:04:37.400 align:middle line:84% I'll give you a sense of that in a minute 00:04:37.400 --> 00:04:40.510 align:middle line:84% and show you some before and after pictures. 00:04:40.510 --> 00:04:49.510 align:middle line:84% But essentially one of the most powerful parts of this piece 00:04:49.510 --> 00:04:52.720 align:middle line:84% was just transforming that formerly military space 00:04:52.720 --> 00:04:56.740 align:middle line:84% into something much more ethereal and magical. 00:04:56.740 --> 00:04:59.600 align:middle line:90% Let's see. 00:04:59.600 --> 00:05:03.790 align:middle line:84% So here we are on Peaks Island, and what I want to do 00:05:03.790 --> 00:05:05.830 align:middle line:90% is just set some context. 00:05:05.830 --> 00:05:09.220 align:middle line:84% So Peaks Island is part of the Cushing Formation. 00:05:09.220 --> 00:05:11.080 align:middle line:84% Minerals from the Cushing formation 00:05:11.080 --> 00:05:14.500 align:middle line:84% date 471 million years old, which 00:05:14.500 --> 00:05:16.330 align:middle line:84% means that the volcanic eruptions that 00:05:16.330 --> 00:05:18.550 align:middle line:84% produce this geological formation 00:05:18.550 --> 00:05:20.530 align:middle line:84% occurred before the Himalayas, the Alps, 00:05:20.530 --> 00:05:22.720 align:middle line:84% before the Atlantic Ocean, before dinosaurs, 00:05:22.720 --> 00:05:25.750 align:middle line:84% and before the first land plants evolved. 00:05:25.750 --> 00:05:29.650 align:middle line:84% 25,000 years ago, Maine was covered in a glacial ice 00:05:29.650 --> 00:05:32.650 align:middle line:90% sheet 1.5 miles deep. 00:05:32.650 --> 00:05:36.460 align:middle line:84% Something like 12,500 years ago, woolly mammoths lived in Maine. 00:05:36.460 --> 00:05:39.640 align:middle line:84% 12,000 years ago, the first humans lived in Maine. 00:05:39.640 --> 00:05:42.130 align:middle line:84% And just as a general fact, jellyfish 00:05:42.130 --> 00:05:45.010 align:middle line:84% were among the first creatures to evolve on Earth. 00:05:45.010 --> 00:05:49.000 align:middle line:84% So to let you think about that as you look at this piece, 00:05:49.000 --> 00:05:51.590 align:middle line:84% I'm first going to say, we'll get to the piece in a moment. 00:05:51.590 --> 00:05:53.110 align:middle line:84% I just want to describe this as an event, 00:05:53.110 --> 00:05:54.902 align:middle line:84% because part of what makes it so incredible 00:05:54.902 --> 00:05:56.530 align:middle line:84% is just the process of getting there. 00:05:56.530 --> 00:05:59.322 align:middle line:84% And there's always a sort of theatrical entrance. 00:05:59.322 --> 00:06:01.030 align:middle line:84% This year it was the great white elephant 00:06:01.030 --> 00:06:06.580 align:middle line:84% with this male drumming group on the roof of the transformed RV. 00:06:06.580 --> 00:06:10.540 align:middle line:84% And everybody piles on to these ferries. 00:06:10.540 --> 00:06:12.880 align:middle line:90% I mean, so many people. 00:06:12.880 --> 00:06:15.310 align:middle line:84% And they're led back basically back to the site 00:06:15.310 --> 00:06:18.010 align:middle line:84% by this great white elephant, and this theatrical performance 00:06:18.010 --> 00:06:19.390 align:middle line:90% that had many crazy parts. 00:06:19.390 --> 00:06:24.008 align:middle line:84% They were throwing large golden bricks out the back of it, 00:06:24.008 --> 00:06:24.800 align:middle line:90% if you can imagine. 00:06:24.800 --> 00:06:25.300 align:middle line:90% Put it together. 00:06:25.300 --> 00:06:26.425 align:middle line:90% Figure out what that means. 00:06:26.425 --> 00:06:29.450 align:middle line:90% 00:06:29.450 --> 00:06:31.962 align:middle line:84% So, basically everyone is led out. 00:06:31.962 --> 00:06:33.670 align:middle line:84% Then they're given candles, and then they 00:06:33.670 --> 00:06:37.180 align:middle line:84% have to walk around in these tunnels finding these art 00:06:37.180 --> 00:06:42.020 align:middle line:84% installations throughout this old military battery. 00:06:42.020 --> 00:06:46.450 align:middle line:84% Now when Becky and I first started this project, 00:06:46.450 --> 00:06:47.410 align:middle line:90% this is what we found. 00:06:47.410 --> 00:06:49.330 align:middle line:84% We had to wander through these spaces 00:06:49.330 --> 00:06:51.970 align:middle line:84% and basically find a room that spoke to us. 00:06:51.970 --> 00:06:55.870 align:middle line:90% 00:06:55.870 --> 00:06:58.470 align:middle line:84% And as I said about 30 artists, that's a little hard to see, 00:06:58.470 --> 00:07:00.490 align:middle line:84% but you can see our room was right around the corner. 00:07:00.490 --> 00:07:01.890 align:middle line:84% There was another one here, and it just 00:07:01.890 --> 00:07:03.060 align:middle line:90% goes on for like a mile. 00:07:03.060 --> 00:07:11.820 align:middle line:90% 00:07:11.820 --> 00:07:14.880 align:middle line:84% You know, it's like, making art is such a crazy thing. 00:07:14.880 --> 00:07:17.820 align:middle line:84% Something I think about when I see this picture is, 00:07:17.820 --> 00:07:22.800 align:middle line:84% I've got a family, I teach full time, my life is crazy busy, 00:07:22.800 --> 00:07:27.450 align:middle line:84% and we came up with this idea of creating 50 jellyfish out 00:07:27.450 --> 00:07:28.860 align:middle line:90% of really ordinary materials. 00:07:28.860 --> 00:07:30.485 align:middle line:84% We didn't want to use artist materials. 00:07:30.485 --> 00:07:33.660 align:middle line:84% We wanted to get wire and thread and spray paint 00:07:33.660 --> 00:07:36.250 align:middle line:84% and just make something magical with it. 00:07:36.250 --> 00:07:39.060 align:middle line:84% And when we finally, after about a month of working, 00:07:39.060 --> 00:07:42.570 align:middle line:84% designed a prototype, you know, we were very excited, 00:07:42.570 --> 00:07:44.460 align:middle line:84% and then of course, we had to make 49 more 00:07:44.460 --> 00:07:48.990 align:middle line:84% of them, which I can't tell you how long it took us, 00:07:48.990 --> 00:07:50.650 align:middle line:90% and we're very good friends. 00:07:50.650 --> 00:07:53.460 align:middle line:84% We can basically say, OK, I am going to sew three things. 00:07:53.460 --> 00:07:54.300 align:middle line:90% I'm going to go to the bathroom. 00:07:54.300 --> 00:07:55.720 align:middle line:84% I'm going to get us a snack, and I'll be back. 00:07:55.720 --> 00:07:57.262 align:middle line:84% And the other one'd say I'm going to. 00:07:57.262 --> 00:08:00.627 align:middle line:84% And we were like that for a month. 00:08:00.627 --> 00:08:02.460 align:middle line:84% But I bring up the craziness of art practice 00:08:02.460 --> 00:08:07.210 align:middle line:84% because my mother-in-law has Alzheimer's right now. 00:08:07.210 --> 00:08:10.440 align:middle line:84% And while Becky and I were manufacturing 00:08:10.440 --> 00:08:15.020 align:middle line:84% these many jellyfish, this is the entryway to the finished 00:08:15.020 --> 00:08:16.520 align:middle line:84% piece, I'll just tell you this story 00:08:16.520 --> 00:08:20.840 align:middle line:84% so you can see what the finished piece looks like. 00:08:20.840 --> 00:08:23.330 align:middle line:84% We were having a little family retreat 00:08:23.330 --> 00:08:26.510 align:middle line:84% on Swan Lake with my sisters-in-law 00:08:26.510 --> 00:08:29.300 align:middle line:84% and their families, and my kids, and my mother-in-law. 00:08:29.300 --> 00:08:31.580 align:middle line:84% My mother-in-law with Alzheimer's must have come over 00:08:31.580 --> 00:08:35.570 align:middle line:84% and asked us what we were doing like every 20 minutes. 00:08:35.570 --> 00:08:39.057 align:middle line:84% And she was mystified, and would kind of chuckle to herself, 00:08:39.057 --> 00:08:40.640 align:middle line:84% and then come back over in 20 minutes. 00:08:40.640 --> 00:08:42.679 align:middle line:90% You're making what? 00:08:42.679 --> 00:08:43.520 align:middle line:90% And we'd explain. 00:08:43.520 --> 00:08:46.580 align:middle line:84% We had like piles of fabric and spray paint and wire 00:08:46.580 --> 00:08:48.950 align:middle line:84% and, it was just a great kind of mirror. 00:08:48.950 --> 00:08:51.230 align:middle line:84% Like, yes, we're obsessed with making these 50 things. 00:08:51.230 --> 00:08:53.444 align:middle line:90% And we're going to you know. 00:08:53.444 --> 00:08:57.320 align:middle line:84% This kind of wonderful window into what 00:08:57.320 --> 00:08:58.940 align:middle line:84% it takes to be an artist, and someone 00:08:58.940 --> 00:09:01.790 align:middle line:90% with a fallen rich life. 00:09:01.790 --> 00:09:04.367 align:middle line:84% So here you see we sewed these curtains 00:09:04.367 --> 00:09:06.200 align:middle line:84% so that you would walk into the space, which 00:09:06.200 --> 00:09:08.000 align:middle line:90% was about 20 feet deep. 00:09:08.000 --> 00:09:09.740 align:middle line:84% It looks a little foreshortened here. 00:09:09.740 --> 00:09:12.680 align:middle line:90% We filled it with candlelight. 00:09:12.680 --> 00:09:14.990 align:middle line:84% You saw from those first images what it was like. 00:09:14.990 --> 00:09:16.340 align:middle line:90% We're in a military battery. 00:09:16.340 --> 00:09:18.080 align:middle line:84% We had to drill holes in the ceiling 00:09:18.080 --> 00:09:22.370 align:middle line:84% to try to create this chicken wire 00:09:22.370 --> 00:09:24.890 align:middle line:84% armature to hang the jellyfish off of, 00:09:24.890 --> 00:09:27.710 align:middle line:84% but it really had totally transformed the space. 00:09:27.710 --> 00:09:30.260 align:middle line:84% So you saw what it looked like right outside the door. 00:09:30.260 --> 00:09:32.780 align:middle line:84% You have this sort of decaying military structure. 00:09:32.780 --> 00:09:35.420 align:middle line:84% And then you really did sort of passage 00:09:35.420 --> 00:09:39.800 align:middle line:84% through into this magical space that fell. 00:09:39.800 --> 00:09:41.930 align:middle line:84% I mean I share all that geological information 00:09:41.930 --> 00:09:44.450 align:middle line:84% just because for me, it's the context of information 00:09:44.450 --> 00:09:46.820 align:middle line:84% like that up against just the desire 00:09:46.820 --> 00:09:49.820 align:middle line:84% to create something magical, sort of the meaning of the work 00:09:49.820 --> 00:09:52.340 align:middle line:84% unfolds in those things jutting up 00:09:52.340 --> 00:09:54.530 align:middle line:84% against each other, the juxtapositions. 00:09:54.530 --> 00:10:02.070 align:middle line:90% 00:10:02.070 --> 00:10:04.950 align:middle line:84% And again, really, there was something about using, 00:10:04.950 --> 00:10:07.320 align:middle line:84% and this is from the back looking out, 00:10:07.320 --> 00:10:11.118 align:middle line:84% something about just using ordinary materials that made 00:10:11.118 --> 00:10:12.285 align:middle line:90% this a really special piece. 00:10:12.285 --> 00:10:15.810 align:middle line:90% 00:10:15.810 --> 00:10:18.750 align:middle line:84% Yeah and then it sort of developed this virtual life 00:10:18.750 --> 00:10:20.340 align:middle line:84% because people, by the end of the day, 00:10:20.340 --> 00:10:22.215 align:middle line:84% were coming back to have their pictures taken 00:10:22.215 --> 00:10:23.220 align:middle line:90% with the jellyfish. 00:10:23.220 --> 00:10:25.190 align:middle line:84% And the next day I got all these little links 00:10:25.190 --> 00:10:27.420 align:middle line:84% to little YouTube clips of people 00:10:27.420 --> 00:10:29.385 align:middle line:84% with the jellyfish, and very, just funny. 00:10:29.385 --> 00:10:42.160 align:middle line:90% 00:10:42.160 --> 00:10:42.660 align:middle line:90% All right. 00:10:42.660 --> 00:10:44.355 align:middle line:84% Now I'm going to make a little jump. 00:10:44.355 --> 00:10:47.070 align:middle line:90% 00:10:47.070 --> 00:10:52.440 align:middle line:84% Just really briefly talk about another project. 00:10:52.440 --> 00:10:54.368 align:middle line:84% I'm going back several years, and I'm 00:10:54.368 --> 00:10:56.410 align:middle line:84% going to try to move through this really quickly. 00:10:56.410 --> 00:10:58.952 align:middle line:84% I'm just going to have something to drink [INAUDIBLE] waters. 00:10:58.952 --> 00:11:00.390 align:middle line:90% 00:11:00.390 --> 00:11:05.250 align:middle line:84% This was from the Exposing Scarlet show, which 00:11:05.250 --> 00:11:08.130 align:middle line:84% was installed at the Boston Center for the Arts, 00:11:08.130 --> 00:11:13.530 align:middle line:84% And really came out of another collaborative dialogue 00:11:13.530 --> 00:11:18.600 align:middle line:84% with sculptor Cynthia Atwood, and a Native American print 00:11:18.600 --> 00:11:23.010 align:middle line:84% maker and installation artist, Ed Burnham. 00:11:23.010 --> 00:11:25.020 align:middle line:84% And Ed had had the idea that he wanted 00:11:25.020 --> 00:11:28.980 align:middle line:84% to have a group of artists read Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Scarlet 00:11:28.980 --> 00:11:32.020 align:middle line:84% Letter" and make work in response to it. 00:11:32.020 --> 00:11:34.167 align:middle line:84% So essentially, we curated this show together. 00:11:34.167 --> 00:11:35.250 align:middle line:90% And this is another thing. 00:11:35.250 --> 00:11:36.060 align:middle line:90% We had the idea. 00:11:36.060 --> 00:11:38.040 align:middle line:84% We created, you know, had a conversation, 00:11:38.040 --> 00:11:40.080 align:middle line:84% decided which artists to include in that show, 00:11:40.080 --> 00:11:42.005 align:middle line:90% and then tried to find a venue. 00:11:42.005 --> 00:11:43.380 align:middle line:84% And we were so excited about what 00:11:43.380 --> 00:11:47.883 align:middle line:84% we'd created that Boston Center for the Arts, that just 00:11:47.883 --> 00:11:49.050 align:middle line:90% happened really organically. 00:11:49.050 --> 00:11:50.110 align:middle line:90% They were really excited. 00:11:50.110 --> 00:11:52.350 align:middle line:84% It was this complete product that we brought to them 00:11:52.350 --> 00:11:54.240 align:middle line:84% out of our own enthusiasm, you know, 00:11:54.240 --> 00:11:57.450 align:middle line:84% which was one example of the point I 00:11:57.450 --> 00:11:58.970 align:middle line:90% was making at the beginning. 00:11:58.970 --> 00:12:00.720 align:middle line:84% I don't want to say a lot about this work, 00:12:00.720 --> 00:12:05.620 align:middle line:84% but because it will help you to understand the current work, 00:12:05.620 --> 00:12:09.150 align:middle line:84% I just want to say a little bit about my process. 00:12:09.150 --> 00:12:11.730 align:middle line:84% In reading the novel, for me what happened, 00:12:11.730 --> 00:12:14.700 align:middle line:84% my work is often a sort of process of condensation, 00:12:14.700 --> 00:12:17.970 align:middle line:84% and so I sort of condensed my reading and my notes 00:12:17.970 --> 00:12:21.120 align:middle line:84% of that novel to four themes that 00:12:21.120 --> 00:12:24.780 align:middle line:84% seemed to me that course through it, which were hunger, 00:12:24.780 --> 00:12:26.970 align:middle line:90% vengeance, love, and truth. 00:12:26.970 --> 00:12:28.560 align:middle line:84% And then for me, there's a huge amount 00:12:28.560 --> 00:12:31.920 align:middle line:84% of invisible process, that isn't part of the final piece that 00:12:31.920 --> 00:12:33.730 align:middle line:90% gets exhibited. 00:12:33.730 --> 00:12:37.260 align:middle line:84% So it was about developing these icons that 00:12:37.260 --> 00:12:39.030 align:middle line:84% would speak to each of those themes, 00:12:39.030 --> 00:12:41.730 align:middle line:84% and then could be created in a simple gesture. 00:12:41.730 --> 00:12:46.680 align:middle line:84% So this was hunger, love - love, that was 00:12:46.680 --> 00:12:48.600 align:middle line:90% a hard time in my relationship. 00:12:48.600 --> 00:12:56.650 align:middle line:84% I think if people look at that image - vengeance, and truth. 00:12:56.650 --> 00:12:58.650 align:middle line:84% And again, I'm not going to spend a lot of time, 00:12:58.650 --> 00:13:01.470 align:middle line:84% but I could unfold these for you in a number of ways, 00:13:01.470 --> 00:13:04.350 align:middle line:84% and I'm often trying to create work that will unfold. 00:13:04.350 --> 00:13:06.660 align:middle line:84% And as, you know, Ellen made that point so clearly, 00:13:06.660 --> 00:13:09.150 align:middle line:84% it's like, there is that social concern in my work. 00:13:09.150 --> 00:13:13.470 align:middle line:84% I'm very much engaged with social issues. 00:13:13.470 --> 00:13:15.108 align:middle line:84% But there's also a personal narrative. 00:13:15.108 --> 00:13:16.650 align:middle line:84% There are all sorts of ways to unpack 00:13:16.650 --> 00:13:21.870 align:middle line:84% these very, in this series, kind of simple iconic images. 00:13:21.870 --> 00:13:27.300 align:middle line:84% And this one, I was thinking of that scene, 00:13:27.300 --> 00:13:29.910 align:middle line:84% if people are familiar with the novel, that scene when 00:13:29.910 --> 00:13:32.490 align:middle line:84% Hester and Dimmesdale are in the woods, 00:13:32.490 --> 00:13:37.180 align:middle line:84% and the illegitimate daughter Pearl is watching them. 00:13:37.180 --> 00:13:39.990 align:middle line:84% And that, to me, seemed so profound 00:13:39.990 --> 00:13:42.450 align:middle line:84% and spoke to me in so many ways, but one 00:13:42.450 --> 00:13:45.630 align:middle line:84% of the ideas that came out of that, that stayed in my work, 00:13:45.630 --> 00:13:49.440 align:middle line:84% is this idea of sort of, what's wild and uncivilized 00:13:49.440 --> 00:13:52.517 align:middle line:84% and outside of the institution as witness, that 00:13:52.517 --> 00:13:54.600 align:middle line:84% could be like nature as witness, but it could also 00:13:54.600 --> 00:13:57.870 align:middle line:84% be this illegitimate child, hiding in the woods, 00:13:57.870 --> 00:14:01.560 align:middle line:84% in a way has a sort of freedom that those characters who 00:14:01.560 --> 00:14:05.580 align:middle line:84% are sort of bound to the institutions didn't have. 00:14:05.580 --> 00:14:09.520 align:middle line:84% That led me to this crazy little character, 00:14:09.520 --> 00:14:14.100 align:middle line:84% which was obviously this illegitimate daughter combined 00:14:14.100 --> 00:14:16.470 align:middle line:90% with animal form. 00:14:16.470 --> 00:14:18.630 align:middle line:84% Just really briefly, show another piece 00:14:18.630 --> 00:14:25.890 align:middle line:84% that was in that exhibit, which is an antique box that I sort 00:14:25.890 --> 00:14:28.830 align:middle line:84% of, reconditioned, and then created it 00:14:28.830 --> 00:14:31.603 align:middle line:84% as a sort of traveling installation space. 00:14:31.603 --> 00:14:33.270 align:middle line:84% I was thinking a lot about how Hawthorne 00:14:33.270 --> 00:14:37.440 align:middle line:84% was kind of nomadic in his life, and how 00:14:37.440 --> 00:14:41.520 align:middle line:90% I yearned to be nomadic. 00:14:41.520 --> 00:14:43.740 align:middle line:84% Staying put is a challenge for me. 00:14:43.740 --> 00:14:45.990 align:middle line:84% Anyway, so I did these altered postcards dealing 00:14:45.990 --> 00:14:48.780 align:middle line:84% with some of the same themes I just described, and then 00:14:48.780 --> 00:14:52.020 align:middle line:84% in the drawer, open to the order of snakes 00:14:52.020 --> 00:14:55.500 align:middle line:84% was a natural history book that had been published a hundreds 00:14:55.500 --> 00:14:59.340 align:middle line:90% years after Hawthorne's birth. 00:14:59.340 --> 00:15:06.110 align:middle line:84% Just some details of the altered postcards. 00:15:06.110 --> 00:15:09.770 align:middle line:84% And again, here that nature as witness, that sort of imagery 00:15:09.770 --> 00:15:10.700 align:middle line:90% comes up a lot. 00:15:10.700 --> 00:15:14.090 align:middle line:90% 00:15:14.090 --> 00:15:18.150 align:middle line:84% This is the dirtiest drawing I've ever made. 00:15:18.150 --> 00:15:20.150 align:middle line:84% But I love it, and I really wanted to push that. 00:15:20.150 --> 00:15:21.692 align:middle line:84% I was thinking like, what if I wanted 00:15:21.692 --> 00:15:24.620 align:middle line:84% to deal with these issues, and it was like an eighth grade, 00:15:24.620 --> 00:15:28.550 align:middle line:84% you know, girl's notebook or something. 00:15:28.550 --> 00:15:30.890 align:middle line:84% And at slowly as this work moves on, 00:15:30.890 --> 00:15:33.530 align:middle line:84% you'll see it's like these issues of play, 00:15:33.530 --> 00:15:37.160 align:middle line:84% and sentimentality, and cuteness, beauty, 00:15:37.160 --> 00:15:39.380 align:middle line:84% with a sort of undercurrent of sadness 00:15:39.380 --> 00:15:42.560 align:middle line:84% that I've gotten better and better at that. 00:15:42.560 --> 00:15:44.240 align:middle line:84% But here I was just starting to realize 00:15:44.240 --> 00:15:46.460 align:middle line:84% that that was the tone that I wanted my work to have. 00:15:46.460 --> 00:15:50.080 align:middle line:90% 00:15:50.080 --> 00:15:52.420 align:middle line:84% So these were for a show that was at Century Piedmont 00:15:52.420 --> 00:15:53.890 align:middle line:90% Community College. 00:15:53.890 --> 00:15:55.150 align:middle line:90% I did a lot of these drawings. 00:15:55.150 --> 00:15:56.525 align:middle line:84% I'm just showing a couple of them 00:15:56.525 --> 00:15:58.927 align:middle line:84% where I was taking those same themes. 00:15:58.927 --> 00:16:01.510 align:middle line:84% I've read a lot of Foucault. I think I was having a discipline 00:16:01.510 --> 00:16:06.910 align:middle line:84% and punish thing when you see the A has been internalized. 00:16:06.910 --> 00:16:08.830 align:middle line:84% We still have hunger struggling with itself, 00:16:08.830 --> 00:16:14.770 align:middle line:84% but they're self surveillance now. 00:16:14.770 --> 00:16:18.070 align:middle line:84% And these were, as I said, the show had another manifestation 00:16:18.070 --> 00:16:19.750 align:middle line:84% at Central Piedmont Community College, 00:16:19.750 --> 00:16:21.340 align:middle line:84% where six of those original artists, 00:16:21.340 --> 00:16:23.800 align:middle line:84% there were 17 in the original show, 00:16:23.800 --> 00:16:26.230 align:middle line:84% were asked to revisit it a few years later 00:16:26.230 --> 00:16:27.640 align:middle line:84% and see how the work would shift. 00:16:27.640 --> 00:16:31.030 align:middle line:90% 00:16:31.030 --> 00:16:34.090 align:middle line:90% That was love, and truth. 00:16:34.090 --> 00:16:39.160 align:middle line:90% 00:16:39.160 --> 00:16:44.770 align:middle line:84% Let's see, I'm going to just show 00:16:44.770 --> 00:16:47.500 align:middle line:90% a couple of transitional pieces. 00:16:47.500 --> 00:16:50.835 align:middle line:84% We didn't start exactly on time right? 00:16:50.835 --> 00:16:52.960 align:middle line:84% Please tell me that I don't have five more minutes. 00:16:52.960 --> 00:16:58.550 align:middle line:90% 00:16:58.550 --> 00:17:01.100 align:middle line:84% I started working a little larger. 00:17:01.100 --> 00:17:04.297 align:middle line:84% This is about like 24-by-24 inches. 00:17:04.297 --> 00:17:05.839 align:middle line:84% I have a big vinyl record collection. 00:17:05.839 --> 00:17:08.720 align:middle line:84% I think I like everything in squares feels right to me. 00:17:08.720 --> 00:17:11.839 align:middle line:90% 00:17:11.839 --> 00:17:13.970 align:middle line:84% I wanted to start experimenting with having 00:17:13.970 --> 00:17:18.349 align:middle line:84% more happening on the page and these issues of place, 00:17:18.349 --> 00:17:19.157 align:middle line:90% questions of place. 00:17:19.157 --> 00:17:20.990 align:middle line:84% I think this is one of the first pieces that 00:17:20.990 --> 00:17:28.109 align:middle line:84% started to be a sort of central, underlying issue in the work, 00:17:28.109 --> 00:17:31.970 align:middle line:84% sort of these questions of environment, 00:17:31.970 --> 00:17:33.980 align:middle line:90% both psychological and actual. 00:17:33.980 --> 00:17:36.393 align:middle line:90% 00:17:36.393 --> 00:17:38.810 align:middle line:84% And the other sort of formal issue that started to come up 00:17:38.810 --> 00:17:42.230 align:middle line:84% is, I was trying to find ways to combine 00:17:42.230 --> 00:17:45.590 align:middle line:84% more literal representation language with abstract forms, 00:17:45.590 --> 00:17:47.550 align:middle line:84% and have a real reason for doing that. 00:17:47.550 --> 00:17:49.580 align:middle line:84% And so the narratives in these pieces 00:17:49.580 --> 00:17:54.350 align:middle line:84% sort of gave me a reason for combining those languages. 00:17:54.350 --> 00:17:58.820 align:middle line:84% Just going to again share a couple of transitional pieces. 00:17:58.820 --> 00:18:02.480 align:middle line:84% Around this time I was working on one of my altered books 00:18:02.480 --> 00:18:03.140 align:middle line:90% series. 00:18:03.140 --> 00:18:04.890 align:middle line:84% I'm only going to show you a few of those, 00:18:04.890 --> 00:18:06.530 align:middle line:84% but I've done a lot of all book series, 00:18:06.530 --> 00:18:08.488 align:middle line:84% where I'll take a book that I find in the dump. 00:18:08.488 --> 00:18:12.650 align:middle line:84% I'm not damaging any valuable books. 00:18:12.650 --> 00:18:16.520 align:middle line:84% I'll take those apart and use the pages in various ways, 00:18:16.520 --> 00:18:21.500 align:middle line:84% as drawing surfaces, and for collage elements, and whatnot. 00:18:21.500 --> 00:18:23.210 align:middle line:84% But, I was having a really hard time 00:18:23.210 --> 00:18:25.610 align:middle line:84% engaging with the piece I was doing then, 00:18:25.610 --> 00:18:29.900 align:middle line:84% called "Lessons in English," because I 00:18:29.900 --> 00:18:31.370 align:middle line:84% had lost a few people close to me, 00:18:31.370 --> 00:18:34.410 align:middle line:84% my young aunt and my father-in-law, 00:18:34.410 --> 00:18:38.510 align:middle line:84% and in my inability to focus on that work that felt more 00:18:38.510 --> 00:18:40.730 align:middle line:84% cerebral, and there were many layers 00:18:40.730 --> 00:18:43.370 align:middle line:84% to the process of the "Lessons in English" work, 00:18:43.370 --> 00:18:44.720 align:middle line:90% and I just couldn't access it. 00:18:44.720 --> 00:18:47.030 align:middle line:84% I just started playing in the studio, 00:18:47.030 --> 00:18:51.830 align:middle line:84% and first started drawing these ostrich forms, 00:18:51.830 --> 00:18:54.320 align:middle line:84% just really focusing on different animal forms. 00:18:54.320 --> 00:18:56.330 align:middle line:84% I was thinking here is sort of birth 00:18:56.330 --> 00:18:58.430 align:middle line:90% of life as birth of death. 00:18:58.430 --> 00:19:02.180 align:middle line:90% 00:19:02.180 --> 00:19:04.370 align:middle line:84% And I'm sharing this, there are a lot of these. 00:19:04.370 --> 00:19:06.080 align:middle line:84% I did them for a couple of years. 00:19:06.080 --> 00:19:09.420 align:middle line:84% But then in this piece and a few others, 00:19:09.420 --> 00:19:12.470 align:middle line:84% it was like I'd gotten some distance from that loss, 00:19:12.470 --> 00:19:15.470 align:middle line:90% and they started getting funny. 00:19:15.470 --> 00:19:18.230 align:middle line:84% And then that I realized, OK, I'm on to something. 00:19:18.230 --> 00:19:22.515 align:middle line:84% This is actually - this one was called "Ostrich Examining Her 00:19:22.515 --> 00:19:23.015 align:middle line:90% Gender." 00:19:23.015 --> 00:19:29.570 align:middle line:90% 00:19:29.570 --> 00:19:31.760 align:middle line:90% Very silly piece. 00:19:31.760 --> 00:19:41.240 align:middle line:84% But I realized that humor was a way to actually access 00:19:41.240 --> 00:19:43.370 align:middle line:84% and sort of open people up to the content that 00:19:43.370 --> 00:19:45.740 align:middle line:90% was important to me. 00:19:45.740 --> 00:19:49.310 align:middle line:84% I'm not showing you earlier grad school work where I was really 00:19:49.310 --> 00:19:51.380 align:middle line:84% turned on by French feminist theory, 00:19:51.380 --> 00:19:56.450 align:middle line:84% and I was making big juicy like angry body women paintings, 00:19:56.450 --> 00:19:58.280 align:middle line:84% and they're wonderful, and I love that, 00:19:58.280 --> 00:20:03.213 align:middle line:84% but it took me years to sort of understand these other. 00:20:03.213 --> 00:20:04.880 align:middle line:84% Actually that was in the feminist stuff, 00:20:04.880 --> 00:20:07.047 align:middle line:84% too, with the whole theories of the laughing mother, 00:20:07.047 --> 00:20:07.590 align:middle line:90% and whatnot. 00:20:07.590 --> 00:20:11.220 align:middle line:84% So maybe it just took me a while to reach that point. 00:20:11.220 --> 00:20:13.850 align:middle line:84% So here this new language starts to emerge. 00:20:13.850 --> 00:20:16.625 align:middle line:84% This was obviously "Rabbit and Armor." 00:20:16.625 --> 00:20:19.207 align:middle line:90% 00:20:19.207 --> 00:20:21.124 align:middle line:84% I think that one speaks for itself and I don't 00:20:21.124 --> 00:20:22.374 align:middle line:90% think I need to say much else. 00:20:22.374 --> 00:20:26.330 align:middle line:84% But you see this sort of new tone emerging in the work. 00:20:26.330 --> 00:20:28.910 align:middle line:84% OK, so with this I had to explain not only to my family, 00:20:28.910 --> 00:20:30.590 align:middle line:84% but everyone in the studio building, why 00:20:30.590 --> 00:20:33.350 align:middle line:84% there were condoms pinned all over my studio walls 00:20:33.350 --> 00:20:34.940 align:middle line:90% for a month. 00:20:34.940 --> 00:20:36.440 align:middle line:90% But this is Bunny with Condoms." 00:20:36.440 --> 00:20:41.630 align:middle line:90% 00:20:41.630 --> 00:20:43.610 align:middle line:84% This was for a piece at the Center 00:20:43.610 --> 00:20:47.880 align:middle line:84% for Maine Contemporary Art, called The Naughty Bunny 00:20:47.880 --> 00:20:48.380 align:middle line:90% Series. 00:20:48.380 --> 00:20:52.460 align:middle line:84% I started doing these wall drawings where again we 00:20:52.460 --> 00:20:54.620 align:middle line:84% have a bunny licking itself, smoking a cigarette, 00:20:54.620 --> 00:20:56.690 align:middle line:90% and then running away. 00:20:56.690 --> 00:21:00.740 align:middle line:84% Just trying to be like playfully speak to aspects 00:21:00.740 --> 00:21:02.240 align:middle line:90% of the human experience. 00:21:02.240 --> 00:21:05.320 align:middle line:90% 00:21:05.320 --> 00:21:06.375 align:middle line:90% This is a detail. 00:21:06.375 --> 00:21:11.080 align:middle line:90% 00:21:11.080 --> 00:21:13.810 align:middle line:84% And then I did a limited edition. 00:21:13.810 --> 00:21:15.700 align:middle line:84% You know I've been very interested 00:21:15.700 --> 00:21:19.780 align:middle line:84% in this whole postmodern critique of the marketplace, 00:21:19.780 --> 00:21:23.000 align:middle line:84% and what it means to create a commodified object, 00:21:23.000 --> 00:21:24.500 align:middle line:84% and so I thought I'd play with that. 00:21:24.500 --> 00:21:26.530 align:middle line:84% And so for this exhibit I made a limited edition 00:21:26.530 --> 00:21:28.840 align:middle line:90% of 20 naughty bunny pin sets. 00:21:28.840 --> 00:21:31.690 align:middle line:84% They sold within the first 10 minutes of the show. 00:21:31.690 --> 00:21:34.095 align:middle line:90% 00:21:34.095 --> 00:21:35.470 align:middle line:84% Pretty hard to get your hands on. 00:21:35.470 --> 00:21:38.490 align:middle line:90% I think my mom has one though. 00:21:38.490 --> 00:21:40.990 align:middle line:84% All right I want to say a little bit more about this series. 00:21:40.990 --> 00:21:42.390 align:middle line:84% So that was like transitional work. 00:21:42.390 --> 00:21:43.890 align:middle line:84% I don't have much time so I'm trying 00:21:43.890 --> 00:21:48.030 align:middle line:90% to show you a lot very quickly. 00:21:48.030 --> 00:21:49.920 align:middle line:84% There's a wonderful science and art 00:21:49.920 --> 00:21:53.700 align:middle line:84% center called The Garthwaite Center for Science and Art. 00:21:53.700 --> 00:21:56.346 align:middle line:90% 00:21:56.346 --> 00:21:56.846 align:middle line:90% Let's see. 00:21:56.846 --> 00:21:57.929 align:middle line:90% I can't remember the name. 00:21:57.929 --> 00:22:00.180 align:middle line:84% Cambridge-- Cambridge School of Weston. 00:22:00.180 --> 00:22:03.690 align:middle line:84% And I have a friend there, Todd Bartel, and again you know, 00:22:03.690 --> 00:22:06.360 align:middle line:84% Todd is a wonderful artist and someone 00:22:06.360 --> 00:22:08.220 align:middle line:84% I've been in dialogue with for a long time. 00:22:08.220 --> 00:22:10.770 align:middle line:84% We had a critique group for a couple of years 00:22:10.770 --> 00:22:13.470 align:middle line:84% where, once a month, we'd all get together and share what 00:22:13.470 --> 00:22:19.170 align:middle line:84% we were doing, and we trusted one another enough that we 00:22:19.170 --> 00:22:22.710 align:middle line:84% actually could save each other years of sort of processing 00:22:22.710 --> 00:22:27.030 align:middle line:84% stuff, and just cut right to the point 00:22:27.030 --> 00:22:28.440 align:middle line:84% in critiquing one another's work. 00:22:28.440 --> 00:22:32.190 align:middle line:84% So Todd was curating a show called "Sublime Climate," 00:22:32.190 --> 00:22:33.990 align:middle line:84% and it's sort of this point where 00:22:33.990 --> 00:22:40.980 align:middle line:84% my work, after some struggle, became a more overtly engaged 00:22:40.980 --> 00:22:44.690 align:middle line:84% with ecological and environmental issues. 00:22:44.690 --> 00:22:48.670 align:middle line:84% So Sublime Climate Show obviously 00:22:48.670 --> 00:22:49.920 align:middle line:90% was about climate change. 00:22:49.920 --> 00:22:52.810 align:middle line:84% It was a group of, I don't know, maybe 12 artists 00:22:52.810 --> 00:22:55.750 align:middle line:84% or so invited to make work for this show. 00:22:55.750 --> 00:23:01.480 align:middle line:84% And for about a month, it was like the show was so didactic. 00:23:01.480 --> 00:23:05.310 align:middle line:84% I struggled so much with, obviously I care about. 00:23:05.310 --> 00:23:07.060 align:middle line:84% That's an issue that's come up in my work. 00:23:07.060 --> 00:23:08.852 align:middle line:84% It's something I'm really passionate about. 00:23:08.852 --> 00:23:10.390 align:middle line:90% I think it's an urgent concern. 00:23:10.390 --> 00:23:13.840 align:middle line:84% But given a task that specific, I just 00:23:13.840 --> 00:23:16.750 align:middle line:84% couldn't bring myself to create work that was decent. 00:23:16.750 --> 00:23:20.290 align:middle line:84% I made just awful drawings for a month. 00:23:20.290 --> 00:23:23.680 align:middle line:84% And then I started going into the woods, and onto roofs, 00:23:23.680 --> 00:23:28.060 align:middle line:84% and taking my little bag of those wonderful realistic 00:23:28.060 --> 00:23:31.263 align:middle line:84% small plastic animals, and setting them up and shooting 00:23:31.263 --> 00:23:33.430 align:middle line:84% Polaroids of them, bringing them back to the studio, 00:23:33.430 --> 00:23:37.180 align:middle line:84% and using those as drawing sources. 00:23:37.180 --> 00:23:39.670 align:middle line:84% And again, did some awful drawings for a couple of weeks. 00:23:39.670 --> 00:23:41.410 align:middle line:84% And then was looking at the Polaroids 00:23:41.410 --> 00:23:44.830 align:middle line:84% and realized that, it never occurred to me that this 00:23:44.830 --> 00:23:46.450 align:middle line:90% was photographic work. 00:23:46.450 --> 00:23:48.160 align:middle line:84% It was more interesting as photography. 00:23:48.160 --> 00:23:51.790 align:middle line:84% So then did a bunch of digital images of the same, 00:23:51.790 --> 00:23:54.610 align:middle line:84% with the same process, and finally came 00:23:54.610 --> 00:23:58.030 align:middle line:90% to these 35-millimeter images. 00:23:58.030 --> 00:24:06.190 align:middle line:84% And this was "Exodus One," "Exodus Two," 00:24:06.190 --> 00:24:11.170 align:middle line:90% "Exodus 3," and 4. 00:24:11.170 --> 00:24:13.420 align:middle line:84% And there are all kinds of mythological and religious 00:24:13.420 --> 00:24:15.857 align:middle line:84% narratives that get evoked here, but I'm messing with it. 00:24:15.857 --> 00:24:16.940 align:middle line:90% They don't make any sense. 00:24:16.940 --> 00:24:20.137 align:middle line:84% And again, it's the sort of sweet language of play, 00:24:20.137 --> 00:24:21.220 align:middle line:90% you know, but they're sad. 00:24:21.220 --> 00:24:24.400 align:middle line:90% 00:24:24.400 --> 00:24:27.400 align:middle line:84% They're not like playing the game of the original myth. 00:24:27.400 --> 00:24:28.990 align:middle line:84% They're not living out the narrative 00:24:28.990 --> 00:24:31.780 align:middle line:90% as they're supposed to. 00:24:31.780 --> 00:24:33.460 align:middle line:84% And actually with this work I've just 00:24:33.460 --> 00:24:36.100 align:middle line:84% received a grant from the Maine Arts Commission 00:24:36.100 --> 00:24:39.160 align:middle line:84% to experiment with some animation. 00:24:39.160 --> 00:24:40.810 align:middle line:84% I'm on sabbatical this spring and I'm 00:24:40.810 --> 00:24:42.440 align:middle line:84% going to be playing with that a little bit. 00:24:42.440 --> 00:24:43.523 align:middle line:90% So we'll see what happens. 00:24:43.523 --> 00:24:47.720 align:middle line:90% 00:24:47.720 --> 00:24:50.140 align:middle line:84% So just to briefly say a little bit more 00:24:50.140 --> 00:24:55.480 align:middle line:84% about this idea of whether this question of whether one can use 00:24:55.480 --> 00:24:58.420 align:middle line:84% sort of beautiful sentimental language, 00:24:58.420 --> 00:25:00.040 align:middle line:84% I keep covering this with my hair, 00:25:00.040 --> 00:25:05.920 align:middle line:84% whether one can use a language of beauty, 00:25:05.920 --> 00:25:10.360 align:middle line:84% and have it be engaging enough, and content rich enough. 00:25:10.360 --> 00:25:12.340 align:middle line:84% Can I get the depth of my concerns. 00:25:12.340 --> 00:25:15.120 align:middle line:90% 00:25:15.120 --> 00:25:19.560 align:middle line:84% I really want those to come across in this work. 00:25:19.560 --> 00:25:25.600 align:middle line:84% Maybe, have anyone read Dave Hickey and his book 00:25:25.600 --> 00:25:27.520 align:middle line:84% "Enter the Dragon" where he sort of makes 00:25:27.520 --> 00:25:29.560 align:middle line:90% this defense of beauty. 00:25:29.560 --> 00:25:31.060 align:middle line:84% It's a kind of an interesting idea. 00:25:31.060 --> 00:25:32.765 align:middle line:84% I won't go into it too much now, but I 00:25:32.765 --> 00:25:35.140 align:middle line:84% think that relates to what I'm trying to do in this work, 00:25:35.140 --> 00:25:40.660 align:middle line:84% and it feels courageous to make sort of work that 00:25:40.660 --> 00:25:43.345 align:middle line:84% could be silly, that comes out of a sort of act of play. 00:25:43.345 --> 00:25:50.250 align:middle line:90% 00:25:50.250 --> 00:25:52.050 align:middle line:84% All right, so I just want to share with you 00:25:52.050 --> 00:25:54.750 align:middle line:84% a dream that generated a lot of this work that's 00:25:54.750 --> 00:25:57.510 align:middle line:90% in the Poetry Center. 00:25:57.510 --> 00:25:59.820 align:middle line:84% And I'll show you a few more things and try to wrap up. 00:25:59.820 --> 00:26:02.580 align:middle line:90% 00:26:02.580 --> 00:26:10.230 align:middle line:84% But this is a wonderful dream, which my mother stars in. 00:26:10.230 --> 00:26:12.900 align:middle line:84% So in my dream, I was coming out to visit her 00:26:12.900 --> 00:26:16.560 align:middle line:84% at the University of Arizona, and we, I think, 00:26:16.560 --> 00:26:18.030 align:middle line:90% were going out for martinis. 00:26:18.030 --> 00:26:20.010 align:middle line:90% Something we occasionally do. 00:26:20.010 --> 00:26:22.750 align:middle line:90% 00:26:22.750 --> 00:26:24.450 align:middle line:84% And she said to me, I can't believe 00:26:24.450 --> 00:26:25.537 align:middle line:90% I forgot to tell you this. 00:26:25.537 --> 00:26:27.120 align:middle line:84% We talk on the phone almost every day. 00:26:27.120 --> 00:26:29.078 align:middle line:84% She said, I can't believe I forgot to tell you. 00:26:29.078 --> 00:26:30.780 align:middle line:90% I quit my job at the University. 00:26:30.780 --> 00:26:33.120 align:middle line:84% And I've taken a job as poet in residence 00:26:33.120 --> 00:26:34.357 align:middle line:90% at the local hospital. 00:26:34.357 --> 00:26:36.690 align:middle line:84% I was thinking, I can't believe you didn't tell me that. 00:26:36.690 --> 00:26:37.312 align:middle line:90% That's crazy. 00:26:37.312 --> 00:26:39.270 align:middle line:84% And she said, OK, we just have to go over there 00:26:39.270 --> 00:26:41.760 align:middle line:84% because I need to meet with the head nurse, 00:26:41.760 --> 00:26:44.250 align:middle line:84% and have a little conversation before we go out. 00:26:44.250 --> 00:26:47.250 align:middle line:84% So we walked into the hospital in my dream, 00:26:47.250 --> 00:26:51.660 align:middle line:84% and it was this just cavernous space with you just bodies 00:26:51.660 --> 00:26:53.310 align:middle line:84% and injured people, I mean everywhere. 00:26:53.310 --> 00:26:59.968 align:middle line:84% Piles stacked up, just piles of them like a refugee camp 00:26:59.968 --> 00:27:00.510 align:middle line:90% or something. 00:27:00.510 --> 00:27:06.010 align:middle line:84% Didn't look like an American sort of city hospital. 00:27:06.010 --> 00:27:07.690 align:middle line:84% And then as we're standing there, 00:27:07.690 --> 00:27:09.580 align:middle line:84% and I'm sort of dismayed at all the people, 00:27:09.580 --> 00:27:12.940 align:middle line:84% I look down at a coffee table, and it's 00:27:12.940 --> 00:27:15.640 align:middle line:84% covered with like kitten-sized deer, 00:27:15.640 --> 00:27:18.807 align:middle line:84% but look just like that, with these little bloody bandages 00:27:18.807 --> 00:27:19.390 align:middle line:90% all over them. 00:27:19.390 --> 00:27:22.120 align:middle line:90% 00:27:22.120 --> 00:27:24.970 align:middle line:84% I looked up at the nurse, and in the craziness of dream life 00:27:24.970 --> 00:27:28.360 align:middle line:90% said, you take animals here too? 00:27:28.360 --> 00:27:30.100 align:middle line:84% And literally, in my dream, she went on 00:27:30.100 --> 00:27:31.780 align:middle line:90% to explain the technology to me. 00:27:31.780 --> 00:27:34.000 align:middle line:84% They've developed this technology for miniaturizing 00:27:34.000 --> 00:27:37.390 align:middle line:84% animals, and then when they were going to actually work on them, 00:27:37.390 --> 00:27:39.160 align:middle line:84% they could expand them again, and you 00:27:39.160 --> 00:27:41.590 align:middle line:84% know I'm embarrassing myself, so I'm going to stop now. 00:27:41.590 --> 00:27:45.588 align:middle line:84% But literally, this is my step-by-step dream. 00:27:45.588 --> 00:27:47.380 align:middle line:84% And so it became a sort of visual obsession 00:27:47.380 --> 00:27:51.010 align:middle line:90% and this idea of bandaging. 00:27:51.010 --> 00:27:54.820 align:middle line:84% And as I've explained imagery that, 00:27:54.820 --> 00:27:56.950 align:middle line:84% at first in that transitional work, 00:27:56.950 --> 00:27:59.590 align:middle line:84% began a sort of personal loss and injury, 00:27:59.590 --> 00:28:02.210 align:middle line:84% really transformed into something bigger. 00:28:02.210 --> 00:28:05.890 align:middle line:84% And I think something that speaks more directly 00:28:05.890 --> 00:28:10.950 align:middle line:84% to social concerns, and the personal stuff 00:28:10.950 --> 00:28:12.670 align:middle line:90% is still in there too. 00:28:12.670 --> 00:28:20.920 align:middle line:84% So with this work, which is across the way, 00:28:20.920 --> 00:28:23.440 align:middle line:84% I'll just say a couple of things. 00:28:23.440 --> 00:28:24.940 align:middle line:84% I think I mentioned earlier that I'd 00:28:24.940 --> 00:28:26.680 align:middle line:84% been looking for a sort of opportunity 00:28:26.680 --> 00:28:30.520 align:middle line:84% to combine abstraction and representation, 00:28:30.520 --> 00:28:32.990 align:middle line:84% but I wanted a sort of narrative reason to do it. 00:28:32.990 --> 00:28:35.470 align:middle line:84% I didn't want to do this very contemporary kind 00:28:35.470 --> 00:28:37.660 align:middle line:90% of pastiche way of painting. 00:28:37.660 --> 00:28:40.180 align:middle line:84% And these sort of meditative drips 00:28:40.180 --> 00:28:42.910 align:middle line:84% seem to provide a way, a reason for doing that. 00:28:42.910 --> 00:28:46.580 align:middle line:90% 00:28:46.580 --> 00:28:49.552 align:middle line:84% And I also am a lover of art history, 00:28:49.552 --> 00:28:51.010 align:middle line:84% and I have a degree in art history, 00:28:51.010 --> 00:28:54.070 align:middle line:84% so whenever I can slip in art historical quotes, 00:28:54.070 --> 00:28:54.980 align:middle line:90% I love to do that. 00:28:54.980 --> 00:28:58.140 align:middle line:84% And I think it's very important to claim our precedents, art 00:28:58.140 --> 00:28:59.230 align:middle line:90% historical precedents. 00:28:59.230 --> 00:29:02.005 align:middle line:84% And so here, there are a couple for me. 00:29:02.005 --> 00:29:03.130 align:middle line:90% A number of them, actually. 00:29:03.130 --> 00:29:07.088 align:middle line:84% But I'll just mention Kiki Smith is an obvious one. 00:29:07.088 --> 00:29:08.005 align:middle line:90% And then Brice Marden. 00:29:08.005 --> 00:29:13.410 align:middle line:90% 00:29:13.410 --> 00:29:15.450 align:middle line:84% Just explain one thing about process 00:29:15.450 --> 00:29:18.240 align:middle line:84% is that, you'd think that making - I sort of 00:29:18.240 --> 00:29:19.530 align:middle line:90% created a game for myself. 00:29:19.530 --> 00:29:22.770 align:middle line:84% I didn't let myself plan these drips out. 00:29:22.770 --> 00:29:25.500 align:middle line:84% And it would have been much easier if I had. 00:29:25.500 --> 00:29:27.810 align:middle line:84% And the game, the rule I created for myself 00:29:27.810 --> 00:29:34.800 align:middle line:84% the sort of obstruction, was that I would not 00:29:34.800 --> 00:29:38.130 align:middle line:84% let this get figurative, right, which is harder than you might 00:29:38.130 --> 00:29:39.840 align:middle line:84% imagine, because you see all of a sudden 00:29:39.840 --> 00:29:41.760 align:middle line:84% it's like Mickey Mouse is coming out, 00:29:41.760 --> 00:29:46.470 align:middle line:84% and you need to quickly jump track. 00:29:46.470 --> 00:29:48.910 align:middle line:84% I couldn't let myself get boxed into a corner. 00:29:48.910 --> 00:29:51.030 align:middle line:84% So what happens is you want to reach this sort 00:29:51.030 --> 00:29:52.890 align:middle line:90% of meditative art making zone. 00:29:52.890 --> 00:29:57.690 align:middle line:84% And I had to sort of force myself to back up from that, 00:29:57.690 --> 00:29:59.280 align:middle line:90% after about three inches. 00:29:59.280 --> 00:30:02.530 align:middle line:84% And so it became this process of 3 inches of dots 00:30:02.530 --> 00:30:04.530 align:middle line:84% and then just looking, and turning and imagining 00:30:04.530 --> 00:30:07.230 align:middle line:84% and projecting on the white page where 00:30:07.230 --> 00:30:12.040 align:middle line:84% the dots were going to go, where the drips were going to go. 00:30:12.040 --> 00:30:16.060 align:middle line:84% And it's not a comfortable way of working for me. 00:30:16.060 --> 00:30:18.220 align:middle line:84% I'm much more interested in gesture, 00:30:18.220 --> 00:30:19.840 align:middle line:84% but there was something about that 00:30:19.840 --> 00:30:23.980 align:middle line:84% seemed to sort of embody that idea of healing, 00:30:23.980 --> 00:30:33.830 align:middle line:84% and sort of play with this idea of - 00:30:33.830 --> 00:30:37.820 align:middle line:84% Well I was just thinking about that Brice Marden Cold Mountain 00:30:37.820 --> 00:30:40.610 align:middle line:84% Series, and I never really understood that work 00:30:40.610 --> 00:30:43.730 align:middle line:84% until I was trying to do something sort of repetitive, 00:30:43.730 --> 00:30:46.280 align:middle line:84% and have it still work formally, and I 00:30:46.280 --> 00:30:48.920 align:middle line:84% think in this process I understood that newly. 00:30:48.920 --> 00:30:51.470 align:middle line:90% 00:30:51.470 --> 00:30:52.850 align:middle line:90% I'm going to try to finish up. 00:30:52.850 --> 00:30:55.490 align:middle line:90% 00:30:55.490 --> 00:30:58.790 align:middle line:84% I'm represented by Whitney Art Works in Portland, Maine 00:30:58.790 --> 00:31:02.180 align:middle line:84% and when Deb, who owns that gallery, 00:31:02.180 --> 00:31:04.130 align:middle line:84% first saw the red and blue drips, 00:31:04.130 --> 00:31:06.120 align:middle line:84% she had an idea that I hadn't thought of, 00:31:06.120 --> 00:31:09.303 align:middle line:84% which was oxygenated and deoxygenated blood, 00:31:09.303 --> 00:31:10.220 align:middle line:90% which I kind of loved. 00:31:10.220 --> 00:31:12.910 align:middle line:90% 00:31:12.910 --> 00:31:15.060 align:middle line:84% It was a wall drawing with actual beads 00:31:15.060 --> 00:31:17.060 align:middle line:84% that, when it was installed at Whitney Art Work, 00:31:17.060 --> 00:31:18.970 align:middle line:90% I included that. 00:31:18.970 --> 00:31:23.460 align:middle line:90% 00:31:23.460 --> 00:31:25.830 align:middle line:90% And you see this animal form. 00:31:25.830 --> 00:31:28.440 align:middle line:84% Obviously I'm changing how I'm working with the picture. 00:31:28.440 --> 00:31:29.520 align:middle line:90% Playing quite a bit. 00:31:29.520 --> 00:31:34.290 align:middle line:90% 00:31:34.290 --> 00:31:36.080 align:middle line:84% And I just love these sad little, I mean, 00:31:36.080 --> 00:31:37.603 align:middle line:90% look at that deer. 00:31:37.603 --> 00:31:39.020 align:middle line:84% That's just like the saddest thing 00:31:39.020 --> 00:31:40.430 align:middle line:90% I've ever seen in my life. 00:31:40.430 --> 00:31:46.580 align:middle line:90% 00:31:46.580 --> 00:31:51.020 align:middle line:84% So just quickly say one more thing about this one, 00:31:51.020 --> 00:31:57.320 align:middle line:84% because my grandmother Travella turned 100 yesterday. 00:31:57.320 --> 00:32:00.000 align:middle line:84% And she's been really struggling this last year. 00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:02.000 align:middle line:84% And as I was creating these pieces 00:32:02.000 --> 00:32:04.700 align:middle line:84% that were really questioning sort of place, 00:32:04.700 --> 00:32:08.510 align:middle line:84% sort of thinking about environment, 00:32:08.510 --> 00:32:12.180 align:middle line:84% and these are sort of this ethereal in-between world, 00:32:12.180 --> 00:32:13.760 align:middle line:84% where there isn't a proper place. 00:32:13.760 --> 00:32:15.380 align:middle line:90% The relationships are messed up. 00:32:15.380 --> 00:32:19.250 align:middle line:84% There aren't, they don't make any sense in terms of scale, 00:32:19.250 --> 00:32:22.580 align:middle line:90% in terms of location. 00:32:22.580 --> 00:32:24.710 align:middle line:84% I thought I'd sort of place my grandmother 00:32:24.710 --> 00:32:28.340 align:middle line:84% kind of waiting to exit this world in that ethereal space. 00:32:28.340 --> 00:32:30.320 align:middle line:84% And every my grandmother would come visit me, 00:32:30.320 --> 00:32:32.810 align:middle line:84% she'd like be an hour until it was time to leave, 00:32:32.810 --> 00:32:35.570 align:middle line:84% and she'd stand near the door with her pocketbook, 00:32:35.570 --> 00:32:37.640 align:middle line:84% and so I thought that would be an appropriate way 00:32:37.640 --> 00:32:40.940 align:middle line:84% to just of represent what she's like right now. 00:32:40.940 --> 00:32:41.690 align:middle line:90% Kind of waiting. 00:32:41.690 --> 00:32:47.550 align:middle line:90% 00:32:47.550 --> 00:32:50.400 align:middle line:84% And again, and these pieces are in the Poetry Center, 00:32:50.400 --> 00:32:53.880 align:middle line:90% sort of back on the far wall. 00:32:53.880 --> 00:32:55.410 align:middle line:90% And again questions of place. 00:32:55.410 --> 00:33:02.960 align:middle line:90% 00:33:02.960 --> 00:33:07.498 align:middle line:84% This series, Atlas of American Wars, 00:33:07.498 --> 00:33:10.040 align:middle line:84% again I need to finish up, so I'm just going to zoom through. 00:33:10.040 --> 00:33:13.880 align:middle line:84% But I want to quickly say, just because I mentioned it earlier, 00:33:13.880 --> 00:33:19.280 align:middle line:84% this was that Lessons in English series that had gotten sort of 00:33:19.280 --> 00:33:20.660 align:middle line:90% disrupted. 00:33:20.660 --> 00:33:25.640 align:middle line:84% And since it's appropriate to this venue, 00:33:25.640 --> 00:33:29.000 align:middle line:84% I was taking this literal Lessons in English book 00:33:29.000 --> 00:33:32.180 align:middle line:84% that was filled with grammar lessons and whatnot, 00:33:32.180 --> 00:33:35.180 align:middle line:84% and essentially whiting out, reading each page, 00:33:35.180 --> 00:33:37.520 align:middle line:84% whiting out each page with gesso, 00:33:37.520 --> 00:33:41.450 align:middle line:84% and saving just a word or phrase on each page. 00:33:41.450 --> 00:33:44.330 align:middle line:84% And so they became, when installed like this, really 00:33:44.330 --> 00:33:46.340 align:middle line:90% a visual and textual poem. 00:33:46.340 --> 00:33:52.370 align:middle line:90% 00:33:52.370 --> 00:33:55.970 align:middle line:84% There's another set of those pages. 00:33:55.970 --> 00:34:03.740 align:middle line:84% Really trying to use unexpected sort of visual languages 00:34:03.740 --> 00:34:04.520 align:middle line:90% with one another. 00:34:04.520 --> 00:34:07.150 align:middle line:90% 00:34:07.150 --> 00:34:08.660 align:middle line:84% These are from earlier book pieces. 00:34:08.660 --> 00:34:12.310 align:middle line:90% 00:34:12.310 --> 00:34:15.190 align:middle line:84% This was from "Strategies in Handling People," 00:34:15.190 --> 00:34:16.420 align:middle line:90% a JP Morgan book. 00:34:16.420 --> 00:34:21.080 align:middle line:90% 00:34:21.080 --> 00:34:23.480 align:middle line:84% And I'll end with this one, which was from, 00:34:23.480 --> 00:34:26.719 align:middle line:84% in each one of these was a series of 30 pages, just 00:34:26.719 --> 00:34:30.170 align:middle line:90% trying to zoom through. 00:34:30.170 --> 00:34:32.852 align:middle line:84% In "Diary of a Provincial Lady" again, 00:34:32.852 --> 00:34:35.060 align:middle line:84% I was combining a lot of different drawing languages, 00:34:35.060 --> 00:34:38.960 align:middle line:84% and this one was my son Raymond in second grade 00:34:38.960 --> 00:34:43.199 align:middle line:84% was asked to make a list of memoir topics, potential memoir 00:34:43.199 --> 00:34:43.699 align:middle line:90% topics. 00:34:43.699 --> 00:34:46.010 align:middle line:84% They were trying to teach what memoir was. 00:34:46.010 --> 00:34:47.150 align:middle line:90% And he had a list of 20. 00:34:47.150 --> 00:34:48.770 align:middle line:90% It was missing number 4. 00:34:48.770 --> 00:34:53.449 align:middle line:84% And I loved his mark making so much, I sized it to scale. 00:34:53.449 --> 00:34:57.380 align:middle line:84% And you know, it's just, it's a heartbreaking piece, right, 00:34:57.380 --> 00:34:59.150 align:middle line:84% that the terrorist attack was something 00:34:59.150 --> 00:35:03.800 align:middle line:84% that my young son had in his consciousness, 00:35:03.800 --> 00:35:07.980 align:middle line:84% and in his body as a memoir subject. 00:35:07.980 --> 00:35:13.020 align:middle line:84% So I'll end there, and thank you very much 00:35:13.020 --> 00:35:16.220 align:middle line:90% and invite my mom to come on up. 00:35:16.220 --> 00:35:17.000 align:middle line:90%