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Journal

News from Dowd House Studios: places to find our pottery, exhibitions, classes & workshops, new forms and exciting projects.

Filtering by Category: Art Exhibitions

FoundSpace 2017 - Part 2

Jenny Dowd

It's here, FoundSpace 2017!

Invited by the JH Land Trust and JH Public Art I joined 4 other artists to create artwork designed to engage and enhance the pathway from the Wilson School to the Stillson lot. This busy pathway is a beautiful spot for walking and biking, enjoyed by dogs and their people, and even horses!

Matt Daly and I have been collaborating on a project that features lost objects and the stories behind their loss. Mailboxes became collection points for these objects and also added to the surrounding nostalgia. Living in a small mountain town means mail is not home delivered, so most of my days include a trip to the post office to check my PO box. Plus a mailbox in the middle of a field with a red flag up invites a look-see.

After months of thinking about this project and making plans our installation day finally arrived! Matt delivered the mailboxes to spots along the path where we attached them to fence pots and trees. With all the parts involved we were lucky to have an assistant, Brittany Hill helped immensely! 

Each mailbox contains a kit for writing love notes to objects that have been lost- tags to tie onto found objects plus pencils and sharpeners. You will also find paper that can be used to make rubbings from the poems on the ceramic tiles. (Check out last week's post for details on how these were made.)

During the opening event Friday night we hung a collection of found objects (lost items as well as some natural found objects) in the JH Public Art Mobile Studio. We invited people to write poems to the objects and place them in the mailboxes so they can be found. It was such fun watching people interact with the mailboxes and to hear about what they found inside!

There is much to discover along the path...

Silent Fallen Tree: Ben Roth carved a tree into a chain and also a bench, a perfect spot to sit and contemplate.

Get-togethers have been carved by Bronwyn Minton and create places to find interesting objects both found and made. An invitation to play, perhaps they with gather different objects over the summer.

Willow Wheel by Bland Hoke is a kinetic sculpture woven from willow, while turning in the wind it makes a beautiful and subtle sound as it rustles and glides through the water. Interesting from any angle, however I should have crossed the creek to take a photo!

There is plenty of time to experience the artwork along the path, come back to interact, see what has been changed, find something new! The artwork will be on site until August 14.

FoundSpace 2017 - Part 1

Jenny Dowd

This year I am joining artists Matt Daly, Bland Hoke, Bronwyn Minton, and Ben Roth in the FoundSpace Project. This is the third year that the Jackson Hole Land Trust has partnered with Jackson Hole Public Art to bring art to conserved public land in a surprising and engaging way. I think of it as finding or rediscovering a place.

This year the project is taking place along the path between the Wilson Schoolhouse and the Stillson parking lot. This is truly a found space for me because before this project I had never been to this pathway!

Last year I participated as an assistant (check out the details here.) This year I have been collaborating with Matt Daly to create an interactive sculpture that highlights objects that have been lost (and perhaps found.)

Matt and I began this collaboration during a conversation about lost objects. The snow was just melting and we were noting the funny way lost objects are lovingly placed on a fence post or sign where they were found. We thought this geolocation and obvious hope for reunion was an interesting point for our FoundSpace project.

Matt wrote 12 stanzas to a Ghazal, a poem that can be read in any order. Each is part of a love note to an object that has been lost. I collected different voices by asking 12 people to write the stanzas on paper. I then carved each into a clay tile then stained and fired each.

This past Friday evening I participated in a Gather with families from the Doug Coombs Foundation. We hiked around a Land Trust property at the base of Munger Mountain looking for interesting found objects to incorporate into our installation.

So, how will it all come together?

Check back next week for an update, or come to the opening celebration on Friday June 9 from 5-8pm at the Hardeman Meadows. Food, music, art, and beautiful open spaces, plus you never know what you might find!

Flowers still grow

Jenny Dowd

Earlier this year I was invited to participate in the Laramie County Library's summer exhibition, Inspiration and the Artist Book. I was especially excited partly because this exhibition has a yearly theme. This is a challenge I look forward to, knowing that it will take me out of my current box. The 2017 exhibition, curated by Sue Sommers, is Utopia/Dystopia. 

Since I don't usually make art with a theme in mind, I find this addition at first jarring and then liberating. I must pass through a few stages:

1. Shock: What?? How do I do That? 

2. Acceptance: Hmmm... but it could mean this... or it could mean that...

3. Problem solving: I've looked at several angles, now how do I say what I want to say within this frame?

4. Grateful: I've stretched, learned a bit, and have made something that I would not have come up with otherwise.

While thinking about how to interpret Utopia/Dystopia I kept coming back to books and information, and not only because this show is in a library! I thought about the porcelain books I used to make (see them here) and thought about what a dystopian landscape would look like to me: a heavily censored world with nothing to read.

In order to execute this idea, I decided to alter a book. I recognize that this is a weird process. I love the tactile feeling of books. They offer escape and education all in one place, so destroying a book seems like the last thing I would want to do. However, I see this an an opportunity to redirect the life of an object that has been produced in multiples and has been discarded. (This book was found at the Teton County Library where I have taught book altering classes in the past, they let me pilfer the collection of books that will be in an upcoming book sale.)

For this project I found a particular sized book with a black, hard cover. After distressing the cover I went to work cutting away the interior to create a niche for my hidden utopia.

I made hills out of the discarded pages and used correction tape to obscure any words with meaning, leaving behind only a few pronouns, articles, and indirect objects. 

Gluing everything together was interesting: 

When I was finished, I had a little fun making a stop-action video:

Flowers still grow

One book is an infinite, hand-held universe. It has the ability to introduce unknown places and ideas with questions, experiences, and thoughts. Just one book is capable of leading a reader on a lifetime of learning and searching.

This book represents a dystopian world of redacted and heavily censored information. While this could be a diagram for the ideal, utopian meadow, it still contains an element of dread. Set like a stage with delicate clouds hanging from thread over rhythmic hills, the subject of the book remains unknown and creates a suspiciously dull scene.

White flowers reflect what little nutrients are available to be gleaned from sanitized, stripped soil, but they are growing. Hope and the ability to evolve will always be found where something grows.

The exhibition will be at the Laramie County Library in Cheyenne, Wyoming from June 9 - August 7, 2017. If you are in the area be sure to stop by and see how several artists interpreted this theme!

Place/Settings: Part 2

Jenny Dowd

This is the 2nd part of my journey to Concord, North Carolina where I installed my sculpture in the exhibition Place/Settings. Check out last week's post for details on my artwork in this group exhibition.

12 artists from across the state of Wyoming were invited by co-curators Connie Norman and Do Palma to explore the theme of place. Check out this article by the Independent Tribune of Cabarrus County for more thoughts on this theme.

The show is hosted by The Cabarrus Arts Council and is on display at The Galleries, in the Historic Cabarrus County Courthouse from May 5 - July 7, 2017. The Artist Reception will be on June 9th. 

The exhibition is spread throughout 4 galleries, creating intimate conversations between the artwork in each space.

Starting out the exhibition in the Jones Gallery is artwork by Bronwyn Minton, Jenny Dowd, Georgia Rowswell, Dandee Pattee and Sue Sommers.

The Lockavitch Gallery features artwork by Connie Norman, Do Palma and Wendy Lemon Bredehoft.

The Grant Gallery contains artwork by Susan Moldenhauer, Leah Hardy and Georgia Rowswell.

The Dusch Gallery features the work of Jennifer Rife, Ashley Hope Carlisle and Jenny Dowd.

Here are some details of the work:

I am honored to be part of this exhibition and to have had the opportunity to travel to Concord. I came back to my studio full of energy and ideas... a great way to start out the busy summer season!

Place/Settings: Part 1

Jenny Dowd

This past week I traveled to Concord, North Carolina to install my sculpture in the exhibition Place/Settings. Co-curators Connie Norman and Do Palma invited 12 Wyoming artists to explore the theme of place in our artwork. How do these settings or childhood memories shape our outlook or artistic spirit?

The show is hosted by The Cabarrus Arts Council and is on display at The Galleries, in the Historic Cabarrus County Courthouse from May 5 - July 7, 2017. The Artist Reception will be on June 9th. 

Cabarrus County Historic Courthouse, Concord, NC

Cabarrus County Historic Courthouse, Concord, NC

I am so excited to be included in this beautiful exhibition and honored to be in such good company. The exhibition includes artwork by: Wendy Bredehoft, Ashley Hope Carlisle, Leah Hardy, Bronwyn Minton, Susan Moldenhauer, Connie Norman, Do Palma, Dandee Pattee, Jennifer Rife, Georgia Rowswell and Sue Sommers.

Check back next week for details and images from the whole exhibition. Since there is so much to say about this show I've decided to split it into 2 posts.

My thoughts on Place/Settings led me to explore the dream-like moments that follow me wherever I am. Thinking back to childhood, I spent a lot of time reading and living in my imagination- and still do. Lately I have been trying to define these dreamy moments without pinning them down too much.

My travel schedule allowed 3 days to install my work, luckily everything arrived safely. (To see how I packed and shipped my pieces, check out this blog entry from April.)

Where the ground meets the sky

Experimenting is a large part of my process. Where the ground meets the sky only lived in my head before last week. I worked with porcelain, silk and vellum to create a subtle palette and relied on shadows to add depth and attract attention. The silk and vellum clouds hang from thread attached to entomology pins, creating a deliberately orchestrated scene. While I'm not sure if this is a real place or not, it is important that it seem hauntingly familiar. The clouds flutter as people walk by, attracting attention and sometimes creating a weather pattern- big gusts cause some serious tangling, which I hadn't expected but really like. (Although, now the piece needs to be de-tangled regularly!) 

Where the ground meets the sky is made of porcelain, wire, silk, vellum, silk thread and entomology pins. In this installation it is 7 feet wide.

Passages

Passages is a flexible sculpture that I have been working on since 2009. I had an idea of a piece that could change over time in response to display in a variety of spaces. With each installation I learn more about these pieces and try different solutions. This is the 5th installation of Passages, and it's first trip outside of Wyoming. (Last fall Passages was installed outside in the courtyard of Persephone Bakery in Jackson, WY, check out the blog post here.)

The installation process is both exciting and nerve-wracking. I enjoy working around different site obstacles and allow them to shape the course of the piece. For this installation I had limited time (which is a great way to make me focus and commit to decisions!)

This time there were lighting fixtures to work around and a plaster ceiling which made adding extra hooks difficult, plus I wanted to make sure I was not distracting from the other artist's work in the space. All of these "obstacles" are actually what makes installing this piece fun, I think of it as adding to a good conversation.

Even though Passages and Where the ground meets the sky are 3-dimensional, I also see them as drawings.

Heavy anchor wire attaches the boats and allows them to visually move through their environment. This wire makes a beautiful line and I feel that I am drawing in space. I compare the cluster of boats to leaves, a flock of birds or school of fish and the shadows expand the space they occupy. I also see these pieces as something familiar, though not quite recognizable, seen just out of periphery. 

In this installation, Passages, is made up of 120 (ish) welded steel boats dipped in Egyptian Paste.

On May 4th Curator Rebecca Collins held a gallery talk to discuss the artwork and show concept with the docents. On the left she is discussing Ashley Hope Carlisle's piece Carried Away. I spoke about my pieces and answered questions. I never think I want to talk about new artwork, especially when it is so fresh, but it is actually very insightful as it helps me put my ideas into words. 

I am grateful to the amazing staff at the Cabarrus Arts Council for all of their help and for allowing me such freedom to experiment!

To make the whole experience even better, my parents met up with me in NC and attended the gallery talk! Here they are trying to figure out what I did.

Check back next week for more images from the exhibition as well as photos of all the other artwork!

Packing for a show

Jenny Dowd

This summer I will be included in an exhibition of artwork by 12 Wyoming women. The exhibition, Place/Settings, will be in Concord, North Carolina at The Galleries, located in the Historic Cabarrus Courthouse and curated by the Cabarrus Arts Council.

In May I will travel to Concord to install my pieces. One is Passages, which has been installed 4 different times in Wyoming since 2009. This flexible sculpture was designed to have several lives and I'm excited for this new chapter in NC.

Passages is made up of over 300 boat forms that are made from welded steel then dipped in Egyptian Paste and kiln fired (See some of the past installation here, plus check out this past blog post about the installation last fall at Persephone Bakery.) Each installation is different and I am looking forward to working within the gallery space and tying my work in to that of my colleagues. 

For this installation, I've packed about 125 boats, 2 spools of wire, a ton of screw eye hooks and some wire snips. Not sure how many boats I'll use, just want to make sure I have options. I've also never shipped this work before. I padded them in tissue paper and packed them tightly in boxes with old sheets and bubble wrap. You can see that Merlin is unsure of this packing method. I think it will be ok.

The other piece I will be installing, Where the ground meets the sky, is a new and also very flexible piece. There are lots of little parts and pieces for this one: silk and velum clouds suspended from pins by silk thread, little porcelain hills plus hills with porcelain and wire flowers. (I lovingly call them hillettes.)

I am equally excited to install this piece as I am to install Passages. And I can't wait to share the process! I had to be really careful in my studio- I found all these little pieces to be particularly attractive to the studio cat, I know he probably thought he was being helpful, but I really didn't need the flowers or clouds to be perforated. Playing with and installing this piece in a cat-free space is much needed.

Now the boxes are headed to NC, I'll see them in a month! (Boxes photographed with large studio cat for scale. Thanks Merlin, always so helpful.)

Stay tuned, I will post details of my installation and also the show!

If you are in the Concord, NC area, be sure to check out the show from May 5 - July 7, 2017

A Literary Landscape

Jenny Dowd

Last week I traveled to Bozeman, Montana to install an exhibition of my new work at the Ecce Gallery. The show also features work by Shannon Troxler and Valerie Seaberg. Shannon and I installed the work and gave a short talk about our inspiration and process during the opening reception on October 14.

Shannon is inspired by books and her love of reading. The layers of encaustic, oil and drawing bring the characters from these books to life. 

We had some fun with the installation, I brought a lot of extra "hillettes" (little porcelain hills with flowers) and we scattered them around her encaustics.

Valerie and Shannon collaborated on a series of vessels; Valerie made the clay forms and wove horsehair around the tops, while Shannon brought the surface to life with birds painted in oil on gold and silver leaf.

I have been creating porcelain sculptures that tell stories and highlight the lives of inanimate objects around us.

Do vases get jealous when one vase is selected for a beautiful bouquet? Could flowers have memories of the fields they came from before landing in a vase?

"That moment" is composed of several small pieces in an attempt to capture the very instant a connection is made between two people. Or, in this case, flowers and an empty vase noticing each other for the first time. 

That moment

Porcelain, wire, ink

I saved a little space in the gallery for a new idea I've been considering. What if hills and flowers dreamed of flight?

I imagined hills and hillettes with flowers looking up to a sky full of puffy clouds. One day, flowers and hills merged with the clouds as they learned to fly. 

Where the ground learns to fly...

The exhibition will be on display until December 3, be sure to check it out if you are in the Bozeman area. The Ecce Gallery is in the Emerson Center, which is also a great art destination in Bozeman with lots of galleries, studios and other art happenings!

Aesop's Fables

Jenny Dowd

Sam and I are part of an exhibition that will open on Thursday October 13th at the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson, WY. The reception is from 6 - 9pm and all are welcome!

25 Fables: Aesop's Animals Illustrated is an invitational exhibition curated by Bronwyn Minton. 25 artists were each assigned a fable to illustrate in black and white. The show will start with a sneak peek and artist talk on Thursday from 11:30 - 12, Sam will be one of the artists speaking about his process. 

I illustrated "The crow and the pitcher" and Sam illustrated "The two crabs." Our interpretations and the fables are below: 

THE CROW AND THE PITCHER  

In a spell of dry weather, when the Birds could find very little to drink, a thirsty Crow found a pitcher with a little water in it. But the pitcher was high and had a narrow neck, and no matter how he tried, the Crow could not reach the water. The poor thing felt as if he must die of thirst.

Then an idea came to him. Picking up some small pebbles, he dropped them into the pitcher one by one. With each pebble the water rose a little higher until at last it was near enough so he could drink.

In a pinch a good use of our wits may help us out.

 

The Two Crabs

One fine day two Crabs came out from their home to take a stroll on the sand. “Child,” said the mother, “you are walking very ungracefully. You should accustom yourself to walking straight forward without twisting from side to side.”  

  “Pray, mother,” said the young one, “do but set the example yourself, and I will follow you.”

   Example is the best precept.   

The show is on display until April 23, 2017, so if you are in the Jackson, WY area be sure to stop by and check it out!

Western Design Conference 2016

Jenny Dowd

Earlier this year Agnes Bourne invited several Jackson artists to work with her on a project for the 2016 Western Design Conference. We were asked to create artwork for the foyer of the Designer Show House, on display during the conference, September 8 - 11.

The theme of the room, Flying West in Summer, served as inspiration as we met and discussed our vision for the space. Sam committed to making a coat rack and I took on the challenge of a chandelier.

The cool end of summer / early fall weather was perfect; we turned our driveway into an extra studio for welding, fabrication and even wood burning.

The Designer Show House is composed of 9 rooms, each featuring a different designer. The foyer celebrates "New Arts" in Jackson, with new and repurposed objects offering a welcoming space full of ideas and reflections. Visitors are met with a large shelving unit filled with fascinating objects: a Cabinet of Curiosities. To the right in the lower bank of photos, Ben Roth's Aspen Coat Rack, fabricated from steel and spoons. At the top and lower shelves of the Cabinet of Curiosities is The Grand Pan, created by Bland Hoke. Small paintings by Lee Riddell are tucked between the curiosities. 

Inspiration for Sam's steel and wood coat rack came from the current fire season in Wyoming and throughout the West.

My inspiration for the Wyoming Sky Lantern came originally from the little white birds seen at a distance in Yellowstone National Park, usually around Grand Prismatic. I also incorporated the silhouette of the ever present mountains and stars that pierce the night sky.

Also in the image below is a plein air painting by Kathryn Mapes Turner. And surrounding the room is a giant image from Triangle X Ranch, printed on fabric.

This project stretched the imagination- the first time we saw all of the components together was during the installation on Monday before the show opened! With a bit of magic and a lot of trust this project came together to offer a space full of vision, as written by Agnes Bourne:

listen to the light

in the tent of early dawn

under the cover of quiet sunrise

the Wunderkammer of deepest dreams

reflects the shadows of living memories

in the museums of our minds

flying West in summer

listen to the light - listen to the light

Passages

Jenny Dowd

A few weekends ago, with the help of Jackson Hole Public Art, I installed Passages over the patio of Persephone Bakery. This installation will be up through Jackson's Fall Arts Festival, so if you are in Jackson be sure to stop by!

Passages is part of a series I have been working on since 2009, each installation is unique with its own challenges (see them here.) This is the first opportunity I have had to install these pieces outdoors, I found the main challenge to be working in a public space. I strove to find a balance between visibility while not creating hazards in a busy, popular restaurant. 

Each form is welded steel that has been dipped in Egyptian Paste and fired in a kiln. I strung them from a spiderweb of wires stretched between the canopy of trees that makes this patio so cozy and inviting. The boats (or leaves or fish or birds or bats...) form lines and groups, drips when they meet a tree and swirl around overhead. Sometimes they seem to hide in nooks between branches, offering moments of discovery.

I am so happy to have been able to add something extra to one of my favorite spots in Jackson; every installation of Passages offers new ways to activate space. This has been beautifully written about by Katy Niner on the Persephone Blog

Next time you are looking for a coffee or beautiful baked treat, be sure to stop by Persephone... then see if you can find all the boats!

Spiders!

Jenny Dowd

Last weekend I participated in a unique project: Spiders! Interconnectedness, Innovation and Stewardship. Organized by Sarah Kariko, Research Director of Gossamer Labs, this project brought together a team of artists and scientists with the mission to explore the biodiversity of spiders found in Grand Teton National Park.

The setting for this exhibition was the Berol Lodge at the AMK Ranch in Grand Teton National Park. The pop-up exhibition was kicked off last weekend with a talk at the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson, WY as well as an opening reception on August 21st. While I helped with some of the installation, I ended up missing the reception, so unfortunately I did not take photographs of the exhibition. 

These tiny sculptures were my contribution to the exhibition. I took inspiration from the daily lives of spiders:

Crab Spiders hang out on bright yellow clumps of Arrowleaf Balsamroot while they watch for prey:

This detail of a layered velum drawing is my representation of the afternoon activities of orb-weaving spiders as they repair and rebuild webs. Then in the evening, between hunting and repairing webs, I imagine that a spider would admire her collection of silk wrapped prey- reminiscing over large captures and particularly tasty meals.

DG House created a painting of the Crab Spider sunning itself on the Arrowleaf Balsamroot and Chef Oscar Ortega fabricated a beautiful solid chocolate spider sculpture!

I learned a lot from this project, from the daily spider activities that inspired my sculptures, to venom research and spider silk synthesis innovation. I even had the opportunity to see a recently discovered spider in person.

The Mason Spider is currently being studied, yesterday I met up with Sarah Kariko to see Maggie Raboin's research site. After the Mason Spider attaches her egg sac of spiderlings to a rock, she builds a mound of objects around it: pebbles, grass stalks, seeds, flower petals... These tiny mounds (1 - 2 inches) blend right in with their surroundings and are beautifully built. As an artist who takes inspiration from collected objects, I found this fascinating! (Look closely in the center image for a tiny snail shell)

This project has only just begun, in 2017 the exhibition will travel to the University of Wyoming in Laramie. I hope to have the opportunity to see these artists and scientists again, who knows where this inspiration will lead!

Tiny Art Show

Jenny Dowd

This week a mobile pop-up gallery opened its doors at the Jackson Hole People's Market. The gallery features a Tiny Art Show composed of tiny art created by 10 local artists and curated by Alissa Davies and Meg Daly.

For this show I played off the theme of a Farmer's Market and made a 16 x 16 inch flower stand out of corrugated cardboard. The stand includes tiny porcelain vases and flowers and customers are invited to make their own bouquet or select from a variety of handmade vases with arrangements.

 

The Tiny Art Show will also be at the People's Market August 10 & 17, from 4 - 7pm. Be sure to come by and check it out! I'm not sure what flowers will be available next week, perhaps some different colors will pop up in my studio.

A few details from the Tiny Art Show, plus work by a few of the artists:

Rendezvous in Pinedale

Jenny Dowd

On June 30th the exhibition, Rendezvous, opened at Mystery Print Gallery in Pinedale, WY. The show features the art of Wyoming artists, Christy Anspach, Babs Case and myself.

Given the theme of Rendezvous, I thought of my little furniture sculptures- groupings of objects coming together and often caught in the act of misbehaving.

From left to right: First Kiss | Longing | Time Out | Was it murder? (click on the image to see the whole piece)

I love the color in this gallery, now I want color behind my work all the time!

 "Dearly Beloved" by Christy Anspach  

Each line is a family- a group of pinch pots with similar yet unique features. (Christy's Obvara firing process is totally new to me and something I would like to try.)

This detail and studio photo lends a peek into the intricate collages made by Babs Case. My photos from the show were blurry, so I grabbed these from Mystery Print's Facebook page. 

Continuing the theme of Rendezvous and coming together over a shared meal or drink, Sam and I also have pottery in the gallery.

This show is up until September, so if you are in the Pinedale area be sure to stop by!