Field Work

Go see my friend Ellie's show. Field Work: A Traveling Exhibition at the Harry Wood Gallery from
January 24th – February 4th 2011!
Master of Fine Arts candidate Ellie Richards presents her Thesis Project as a whimsical campsite filled with curious objects, material, and structures. The exhibit is made up of knock down furniture, stackable boxes and take apart structures all of which will travel in and out of the gallery on a 4x8 trailer – visit more than once to see the gallery in various states of construction!

Harry Wood Gallery
ASU Art Building
More Info: www.playbuildmake.blogspot.com

Event Image:
Campaign Table 1/10 - detail
18’x18’x3’

My Thesis Exhibition: Invented Heirlooms Part 1

My MFA Thesis Exhibition was March 8th-19th. I began installing the show on Friday the 5th at about 5pm. I have amazing friends that came out to help me with the install and thanks to them, the show was completely hung by about 11pm. Then I had the rest of the weekend to prepare (okay, freak out) about my oral defense on Monday morning. The oral defense was Monday morning at 9am. At the defense was my thesis committee, Becky McDonah, Tedd McDonah, and Nancy Serwint (filling in for Clare Verstegen who is on sabbatical). My out of area committee member was Sam Chung. In addition to the committee there were about ten graduate students in the audience. The defense lasted about an hour, after which the committee sent me out to deliberate. They talked amongst themselves for about 20 minutes before calling me back in to let me know that I had passed, and to discuss more about the work and exhibition with me. We talked for about another half an hour and then it was all over.
Basically what we talked about was the general theme of the work, how the different pieces worked together as a group, and what I planned on doing next. We talked about display, materials, and my motivation behind the work. There were no questions that were unexpected or that threw me off guard, which made me very happy. In the next post or so I will include a more lengthy description of the ideas behind the work in my show.
Below are some images of the installation (taken by photographer Josh White). In this post are just images of the wall pieces, and the spoon collection. I will be posting the rest of the show tomorrow. View all the photos here.

Thanks for looking and stay tuned for more tomorrow!

Face Lift!!

The Harry Wood Gallery is getting a face lift!! The Harry Wood Gallery is the gallery that all the MFA students at ASU have their thesis show in. Well, after 30 years they finally decided that the gallery needed new walls. Instead of having nasty, pitted, bumpy, ugly walls, there will be fresh, flat, clean walls for my thesis show. Its exciting! In case you ever wondered what 30 years of paint layers looked like, here you go! (Only 39 days until I install my show...!!!)

Stitchalicious: Mindy Sue Meyers

My friend Mindy Sue Meyers, has an opening reception for her thesis show tomorrow! The show is titled "Stitchalicious" and is going to be absolutely FABULOUS! Mindy is a fibers grad who creates wonderful sweet things. You must see this show! Pictured below is a view of some work in her studio and just a small taste of the sweetness you will be treated to if you attend the exhibition! Mindy says this about her artwork:

"In my artwork I explore themes of comfort and security by making sculptural objects that represent sweets. I make large quantities of treats from household items that may look tempting at first, but their materials, abundance, or size can leave one feeling quite sour. I draw inspiration from vintage cookbooks, Betty Crocker, and Martha Stewart."

Read and see more about her on the craftzine blog. Also, if you live in the valley, you may have recently seen her work at the Arizona Museum for Youth, or the Eye Lounge.

Here are the details:

When: OPENING RECEPTION Monday, Spetember 22nd from 7-9 pm.

Where: Harry Wood Gallery, Art Building, 900 South Forest Mall(west end of campus near intersection of Forest and Tyler malls)
Hours: Monday-Thursday: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Friday: 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Weekday Parking: Metered, short-term parking along Forest Avenue and Gammage Parkway; Parking Structure 1 (Apache Boulevard).
Evening Parking:Parking Structure 3 (Myrtle Avenue).

Here is a MAP.