Join me at the 10th Anniversary of Sculpture IS: In the Garden, this Thursday June 9th from 5-7pm at Sierra Azul Gardens in Watsonville. The garden is filled with pieces from every medium and style. The exhibit is up through October 31st, Sierra Azul is located at 2660 East Lake Ave, Watsonville across from the fairgrounds.
Here’s the monthly wrap up of everything going on at the studio…
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I have two installations from my Bone Series in this show, one is suspended from the 20’ceilings and the other spread out over and 8′ wall, I’m really happy with both of these installations and hope that you get a chance to get there to see the show. It will be up until July 17th. Here’s a sneak peek…
As many of you know, I’ve traveled to Haiti several times over the past few years. In addition to bringing supplies, doing art projects and fundraising for goats in a small village, I’ve friended artists from Atis Rezistans, Sculptors of the Grande Rue, who create mixed media work from found objects. I have three pieces of art by artists Claudel Casseus & Racine Polycarpe for sale.
The two wall pieces were made in Haiti and brought to the US as part of an exhibition at Recology’s Artist in Residence Program. They are made with carved rubber from tires, found objects and painted with imagery found in voudou style work.
The large sculpture ‘Poisson’ was made during Polycarpe’s residency at Recology from found objects at the San Francisco dump. This piece lights up from the inside and is suitable for an outdoor sculpture.
Please contact me if you are interested in any of these pieces. All sales will go directly to the artists.
About Atis Rezistans:
Grand Rue is the main avenue that runs a north-south swathe through downtown Port au Prince from Bel Air and La Saline to La Cimetière and Carrefour. At the southern end of Grand Rue, amongst the labyrinthine warren of back streets that line the avenue, is an area that traditionally has produced small handicrafts for the ever-diminishing tourism market. This close-knit community is hemmed in on all sides by the makeshift car repair district, which serves as both graveyard and salvation for the cities increasingly decrepit automobiles.
All the artists grew up in this atmosphere of junkyard make-do, survivalist recycling and artistic endeavour. Their powerful sculptural collages of engine manifolds, TV sets, wheel hubcaps and discarded lumber have transformed the detritus of a failing economy into bold, radical and warped sculptures. Their work references their shared African & Haitian cultural heritage, a dystopian sci-fi view of the future and the positive transformative act of assemblage.
The artists from Grand Rue are extending the historical legacy of assemblage to the majority world. Their use of the readymade components are driven by economic necessity combined with creative vision and cultural continuity. Their work is transformative on many different allegorical levels, the transformation of wreckage to art, of disunity to harmony and of three young men, with no formal arts training, to the new heirs of a radical and challenging arts practice that has reached down through both modernist and post-modern arts practice.
I was invited to install two sculptures at the 5th Annual Clay and Glass Exhibit at the Healdsburg Center for the Arts. I have the parts, hardware and tools for the two indoor installations from my Bone Series all packed up and ready to go. Road trip ready!
The fun (and scary) part about doing these type of installations is that I really don’t know what it will look like until I install it. I base my plan on sketches, basic layout in my studio and the hopes that this new crazy idea will just somehow come together and look good too! I confess that I also consult my in house construction team (aka: my husband Nate) about the plausibility of these ideas too.
Today, I arrived at the gallery to find pedestals being painted, walls being arranged and the scissor lift waiting to take me up to the 20′ ceilings to start installing the hardware for the suspended work.
Tomorrow, the pieces will be installed and fingers crossed, they will look amazing! Until then, I’m enjoying the beauty of the Russian River.
I installed my piece at Sculpture IS: 2016 at Sierra Azul Gardens last week and was lucky enough to be there when KSBW news was there reporting on the event. Caught this screenshot from their live news report the other night. This is my favorite exhibit if the year and the opening is a beautiful time to walk the gardens, view the art with music and a glass of wine. After seeing some of the other work coming in while I was installing, I assure you that this is a very incredible exhibit not to be missed!
I got in to see this exhibit last week and it’s fantastic! Many pieces have already sold and my parents decided on a piece to add to their collection as well. Here’s a sneak peek of a few teaser pics…
Sculpture IS: In the Gallery
May 4 – June 19
Opening Reception May 15th 2-4
Demos starting at 11am
Pajaro Valley Art Gallery
37 Sudden St Watsonville
Prizes:
The Nest Series is about the balance between protecting and trapping. Each nest has an item that is exposed to the viewer through its outer shell but also shielded by its webbing. In some, the inner items are attempting to escape but are then left vulnerable to the elements. These pieces are hand-built, hand-carved and created with a process that fuses the inner pieces to the outer.
‘A Relationship with Earth’ A hardcover catalog of the artwork created by sculptor Jenni Ward from 2009 – 2011. This includes images of work from the Nest, Branch, Sprout and Hive Series.
Visit the studio at our next event for another chance to win raffle prizes!
Thursday May 5th, 2016
Demos: 12:30 – 2
Talks: 2:30 – 3:30
Enjoy demonstrations by: Jamie Abbott, Ingrid Marianne, Payson McNett, Cynthia Siegel, Victoria May, Angela Gleason and Beverly Raynor
Enjoy talks by: Rose Sellery, Cynthia Siegel, Roy Holmberg & Jenni Ward
Cabrillo College Gallery
Aptos, Library, Room 1002
Sunday, May 15, 2016
Demos: 11:00 – 1:45
Reception: 2:00 – 4:00
Enjoy demonstrations by Jamie Abbott, Carlos Dye, Barbara Downs, Jeff Arnett, Wendy Ballen, and Ingrid Marianne from 11:00-1:45
Pajaro Valley Arts Council Gallery
37 Sudden St Watsonville
