HEY CASS

Rebecca Hamlin Green, Pattern, 2012. Low-fire ceramic, oxide stain, beeswax, rubber, 12”x8”x2” (each frame).
www.rebeccahamlinart.com

The materials of the domestic space are integrated into the domestic identity- how we define ourselves through how and where we live and with what we surround ourselves in our everyday lives. Nature provides us with much of this material- clay, wax, rubber and living beings- and we take them in, manipulate them, care for them in an effort, perhaps, to recreate an idealized nature within the home. Pattern presents an installation of honeycomb-covered frames: human “heirloom”-like forms transformed by honeybees, tireless female soldiers forever dedicated to the betterment of the home-hive and arguably one of the most domestic of animals. Memory and action converge in this element as the bees take the frames over and over again, their comb vanishing, then building it up again, endlessly productive and seemingly never satisfied.

Rebecca Hamlin Green, Pattern, 2012. Low-fire ceramic, oxide stain, beeswax, rubber, 12”x8”x2” (each frame)

Sophia Chu, Untitled, 2013. Oil on canvas, 26”x38”.
sophiachu246@yahoo.com

A tentative portrait of happen chance. Forms rooted in a familiar space of illusion and gravity, simultaneously existing in the ephemeral sphere of fantasy.

Lydia Seabrooks, Crevasse, 2012. Charcoal, 22”x28”
lseabrooks.wix.com/draw-write-create

Drawing became my scope and means for fashion design before I even knew I was interested in fashion design and costume production.

This piece is from a series of works done at a point in my life when I was considering my ancestry, as well as the benefits of “going natural” or curly with my hair. I thought of it as going back to my roots, not only of my natural hair, but also of my culture and my family tree. While wearing the braids, I research the history or African braids and cornrows, and found that each style can present a person’s age, wealth, status in society, etc. I began experimenting with up-dos, and took pictures before taking the braids out.

Each proceeding drawing became a study on lighting and shading within the overall style and on each individual braid. While I still maintain the idea of portraiture in my work, the primary focus of Crevasse became the intertwining of the braids and the different textures brought to light with each individual shape and size.

I stayed a curly girl for 1.5 years.

Sara Duff & Amelia Fawcett, Click Clack . . . Ding!, 2013. audio, typewritten paper, coffee stains, glue, tissue paper, chicken wire, light bulb. 18”x20”
www.be.net/ameliafawcett

Writing is often used to describe sight and sound, but how could you express the written word through other senses?  What you hear is a single page of writing.  Other than trumpet, all sound is created from a typewriter.  Duplicated, manipulated, delayed, reverberated, equalized, tonified, synthesized, added, subtracted, mixed, and looped.

Bogumil Bronkowski, www.bbronkowski.com

i. Furthest Away, series, 2013. Oil and Acrylic on Panel, 8”x6” and 5”x7”
ii. Moving Forward, 2013. Oil and Acrylic on Panel, 12”x12”
iii. Dissolve Me, 2013. Oil and Acrylic on Panel, 11.75”x15”
iv. Floating Vibes, 2013. Oil and Acrylic on Panel, 12”x16”

These series explore the idea of just how much control we have over our lives, which has been a dominant theme throughout my life. Perhaps much like other children, I had no control over my own life when I was younger. I was forced to leave my homeland and the family and friends I loved and move to a strange and scary new world.  This experience forced me to develop my own strengths; they were the only constants in a world of variables.  I could not control the externals in my new homeland, but I could control how I met them.

I replicate the experience of immigration through the physicality of paint.  Painting wet into wet or using thick paint equates a loss of control for me; I cannot predict, rein in or dominate the piece.  Rather, I start off with a challenge that I must overcome with the best of my painting ability.  And while I can attempt to form some sort of attack plan, there are always surprises. Painting this way forces me to rely on my skills and trust that I can turn anything that happens into a good painting.  

ashley thompson, re(cycle)d setting, 2011. 35mm inkjet prints, 24”x30”
www.ashleyethompson.com

who left? what stayed? where can we go from here?

Kim Guare, Fragility and Strength, 2013. Fabric, thread, copper tubing, 18”x22”
www.kimguare.com

There is a disconnection from the products we buy to eat and where they come from. My artwork demonstrates my concern with our lack of knowledge for the source of the foods we buy and celebrates the beauty of organic whole foods. The subjects often featured in my work are vegetables, fruits, and farm animals. I take my knowledge of food production, and share my ideas with the viewer so one may enjoy the beauty of our food and be challenged by the way our food is being produced.

I would like my work to trigger a desire in the viewer to be more connected to the origin of our food and the natural world.

Jessica Buben, The Thirst of a Jug (A Thing Thing-ing), 2013. Cut vinyl, 60”x36”
www.girl-a.com

Hei-degger, Hey, Kool Aid!

Jessica Buben, The Thirst of a Jug (A Thing Thing-ing), 2013. Cut vinyl, 60”x36”

Yhelena A. Hall, Un-distant Flights: Playing Frisbee during Sunrise, 2012. Video, 22 minutes
www.elenahall.org

Playing Frisbee during Sunrise belongs to the multimedia series called Un-distant Flights. The idea of Un-distant Flights is closely connected to physicality of a human body, its imaginary abilities and dreams rooted in childhood. My piece was inspired by the wonderment of the desire to fly. Why there is such a drive in us? What is the flight for humans? Is it more of an advanced function which can allow us to move faster and observe more from a higher altitude? Is it just a state of mind aware of this dazzling possibility? Is it a need to escape an everyday reality of confined space?

Playing Frisbee during Sunrise captures a Frisbee game which starts when the Sun is below the horizon and continues until it fully crosses the horizon. This happening takes place somewhere between dream and reality, sleep and awakening. The idea of my piece dwells on the intersection of the real world where the experience of flight receded and the dream world where this experience was regained.

Aubrey Manson, We Are Growing Old, 2012. Dried flowers, dirt, hot glue, 11”x14”x9”
www.aubreymanson.com

We Are Growing Old is a dark humored and delicate dried flower sculpture that shows dependency between its parts balancing on each other. My intention is for the piece to have an eerie air about it, to talk about a certain amount of pathos and longing.  This was also an abrupt realization that, hey, I will become old and frail someday, and is it a morbid wish to want it to be shared with someone else?