Category: Feature
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Wearable Art!
For those of you who have wondered if you could wear my drawings, the good news is in: now you can! Adventurous Art! by ALLIDA store on Contrado.com See two shots of a jacket with a redbud leaf from my Songs of Urban Ecology Series. The first, a night shot was taken in northern Michigan…
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Ubiquitous Obsolescence
Ubiquitous is an adjective that describes seeing something everywhere, so much so that its presence is taken for granted. Dandelions are ubiquitous, they are everywhere, they survive being chopped and mowed, and their deep taproots mean that they also sometimes even survive being uprooted. Plastics are also ubiquitous. They are everywhere, sometimes visible, sometimes invisible,…
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Mahtava: Spectacular Inflatable Art
Mahtava, which is a movable site specific inflatable art installation, is designed to be a show-piece. Tendrils emerge from a pod that seems to breathe, dangling over the central market, moving and changing colors to create joyful fun while the DJ and others jam out. The process of creating “Mahtava,” which means spectacular or awesome…
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Emerging Wonder: A Shadow Ballet
Lewis Carroll played with time and scale throughout Alice in Wonderland in order to reframe the quirks of British culture. It’s publication in 1865 coincided with the end of the American Civil War, and despite optimistic framing at the time, vestiges of both British and American culture still contribute to inequitable systems of power.
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Breathe: Art Lives in Community
“This morning I have been pondering a nearly forgotten lesson I learned in high school music. Sometimes in band or choir, music requires players or singers to hold a note longer than they actually can hold a note. In those cases, we were taught to mindfully stagger when we took a breath so the sound…
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Looking Back, Looking Forward
Four years ago this weekend, in the midst of concern over the potential for our country to unravel after the 2016 election, I had an opportunity at the last minute to create something at an arts festival in Ypsilanti, Michigan. My head was a mix of fear, worry, protectiveness, hope, connection, and disconnection. Although my…
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Make it Out of the Ordinary: Faux Luminariaux
This post about making something Out of the Ordinary isthe first of several I will be doing in collaboration with WonderFool Productions as a part of their new initiative, FOOLmoon CommUNITY in which they will enable creative engagement with WonderFool artists both as a response to the current physical isolation, and to deepen and extend…
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Bedouin Cocoon: Spring 2001
The unexpected places in which surprises happen are the places where invention happens. Whatever plans I made, the process of creating and performing forced me to push my limits. Those limits left space for the air to pass, and for others to enter and share in the learning. This performance did not have a title when I…
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Math Arts with Kids
Teaching problem solving skills is an interesting exercise and watching young people address the design problems I formulate for them is inspiring. The last few weeks we have been doing math and art in the mobile program at FLY where I work. At the different schools the artists in the class come up with different…
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Brecht, Aelita, and other Inspirations
One of my other recent projects was at the same school where we did Charlie Brown, but with the “Upper School” students (Grades 9-12). It was the play by Bertholt Brecht, The Caucasian Chalk Circle. It takes place in the Caucuses region in what is present day Georgia. It is not about “white” people, though if…
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Participating in the Cannon
Although I would not say that these rugs were inspired by the work of Sonia Delaunay, after a series of drawings I did last year that were circular, someone directed me to look at her work. Of course I knew of her work before, she did both costume and fashion design, and when I was…
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Fractal Collars
Last weekend, I had an extraordinary experience. At the College Arts Association Conference, I met several people through my Fractal Necklaces. That’s not the extraordinary part though. As many of you who actually know me in person know, I’ve long been obsessed with pattern and structure in Fiber, be it beads, crochet, or paper. Before…