The NARS Foundation hosted a SONIC MUD ceramic instrument performance with Kenny Wollesen, Kirk Knuffke, Mike Irwin, and Julia Elsas. See more images here.
The Weight of the Temporary
The Weight of the Temporary
Curated by Elisa Gutierrez Eriksen
The NARS Foundation
Main Gallery (4th FL) & Project Space (2nd FL)
201 46th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11220
August 9 - 23, 2019
With works by Yasmeen Abdallah | Keren Anavy | Niamul Bari | Frank Born | Jade Chan| Lauren Cohen | Julia Elsas | Lauren Gidwitz | Kathie Halfin + Bingying (Emma) Yi | Tenaya Izu | Daniel Jay Genova | Tadasuke Jinno | Sydney M. King | Abigail Levine | Ioana Manolache | Caitlyn McLaughlin | Robert Melzmuf | Elizabeth Moran | Joshua Nierodzinski | Xavier Alexander Petromelis | Jelena Prljevic | Andrew Schwartz | Liza Sokolovskaya | Elena Soterakis
Ugav Nights
I have had the honor of being in the inaugural cohort of the New Jewish Culture Fellowship, sponsored by the Brooklyn Jews and the UJA-Federation of NY.
For my final NJCF project, SONIC MUD: Ugav Nights, I have reimagined a mysterious biblical instrument, the Ugav, through a series of ceramic sculptures. The Ugav is mentioned only four times in the Bible, including in the very first description of musical instruments (Genesis 4:21). Contemporary interpretations of the Ugav describe it either as a reed instrument or a stringed instrument. Possibilities include: pipe, bagpipe, end-blown flute, vertical flute, water organ, panpipe, lute, harp, viola da gamba, or simply a love charm.
My sonic sculptures and other hand built instruments will be performed live at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music on March 28th, 8pm by Kenny Wollesen, Cyro Baptista, Sae Hashimoto, Dalius Naujo, Mike Irwin and Rich Stein.
Carleton College Alumni Magazine Interview
Read the interview Dustin Yager and I had with Karen Kedmey for the Carleton College alumni magazine here.
Fall Open Studios
Fall Open Studios in Sunset Park, Brooklyn is co-hosted by the NARS Foundation and J + M Studios. More information about the exhibitions, artists, and studios on view during the open studio weekend is on the NARS Foundation website.
Directions: NARS is two express subway stops from Manhattan. Take the “N” or “D” to 36 St. Transfer to the “R” one stop to 45 St. Walk to 46th Street then make a right and walk down 46th street to the building on the corner of 46th street and 2nd Ave on the right.
Sonic Mud at Brooklyn Clay
I'm thrilled to participate in SONIC MUD a live performance of ceramic instruments at the new location of BKLYN CLAY. This event will take place during the Brooklyn Clay tour.
BKLYN CLAY
535 Carleton Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
September 8th, 6pm
All are welcome.
Practice: in Progress
Practice: in Progress
Summer Exhibition
August 3 - 24 | Opening reception: August 3, 6-8 PM
Featuring works by: Keren Anavy, Danielle Ash, Kate Bae, Niamul Bari, Julia Elsas, Nadine Mahoney, Ioana Manolache, Caitlyn McLaughlin, Trina Merry, Samantha Morris, Naomi Nakazato, Gustavo Prado, Dayana Romero, Andrew Schwartz, Homer Shew, Liza Sokolovskaya, Elena Soterakis, Tanya Steinberg, Brian Stinemetz, Brendan Sullivan, Yi Xin Tong and Flora Wilds
Curated by Elisa Gutierrez Eriksen
Practice: in Progress brings together the work of 22 artists working at the 201 46th street NARS Foundation’s 4th and 2nd floor galleries. The artists, who have worked in this building anywhere from 2 months to 6 years, have continuous practices in which they experiment and explore different methods of making art through a variety of media, themes, techniques and interests. These actions, intuitions, creativity approaches and disciplines shape both the process and final results.
Process can be thought of as a path that one decides to undertake, one with a destiny that can be clear from the onset or otherwise unknown. Similarly, artists create paths when producing artwork; the layers are gradually exposed, the materials are made visible, and the relation between one another emerges and opens the door to the visions of the artists. The spectator is then able to trace the paths each one of them has explored to reach a final result. A constant metamorphosis that has lead to an equilibrium: from a thought, to a gesture, and then to another unexpected equilibrium. To create becomes something like a ceremony, an event that generates its own language, often coinciding with or becoming a general concern or the object of experimentation.
Beyond the idea of exploring the processes that each artist has developed, the exhibition has taken two areas of primary focus, oscillating between identity and the act of being seen, and ones relationship to the environment and its surrounding social and political subjects. The objects presented in Practice: in Progress are like physical and mental layers of a creative process, building and growing, or otherwise being peeled back to reveal something that lies beyond the surface.
Love Child at Ortega y Gasset
Kenny Wollesen and I will play my ceramic udu drums at the closing reception of Love Child, curated by Eleanna Anagnos, on Sunday, July 26 from 4 - 6 pm at Ortega y Gasset Projects // 363 Third Avenue, Ground Floor // Brooklyn, New York 11215.
More information about the artists in the exhibition can be found online at Ortega y Gasset Projects.
The Drawing Center
Kenny Wollesen and I will perform on February 6, 2016 at The Drawing Center. Our sonic and visual performance is a part of The Drawing Center's Basement Performanceswhich is curated by renowned composer and performer John Zorn. Other musicians and artists participating in two month series include: Okkyung Lee and Andrew Lampert; Raha Raissnia and Panagiotis Mavridis; Bill Laswell; Kenny Wollesen and Julia Elsas; Ela Troyano and Uzi Parnes; and Ikue Mori.
Read an interview about the performance here.