special guest collaborator: torsten zenas burns

after the show closed at parsons hall project space, i left my installation behind- partially out of laziness, a little bit out of lack of storage of my own, but mostly because one of the co-directors torsten zenas burns mentioned that he enjoys collaborating with other peoples' objects.
he just sent me some stills from videos he is editing...and i'm so freaking excited to share them with you!

another thing that i'm buzzing internally from is the opportunity to create a temporary installation at wistariahurst in holyoke as part of a project called reach. i took a tour last friday afternoon. i couldn't get photographs of the taxi-dermed frog circus or the hand-painted embossed leather wallpaper (in the "leather room"), but i did get a couple decent shots of the dining room (which is where my piece will be):

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there are a bit more restrictions that factor into the process of thinking about and making this work- the walls are wood or upholstered (love!), so that's out as a surface to attach anything to. foot traffic need not be impeded on either side of the table. and in general- nothing scratchy or pokey or sticky or smelly ... 

the windows of this decadent interior look out onto a street lined with houses that are a little run down..some boarded up windows. we were told a story about the skinner family (silk tycoons, former occupants) relocating all accoutrement that would indicate a front entryway to the rear of the house in order to avoid sharing a street address with the riff raff who were encroaching on their turf. this is really staying with me...i'm sure they'd be mortified that i've made it all the way into their bedrooms- and i came in the back door. ("front" door?)