vacuously festive: NEW!! for Spring!

Conglomerate Occasion:

(work in progress)

Sneak Peak

news flash!:
i am not the world's premier photographer.
(heh..also, the light in this room is like- crazy!- it's super bright and super shadowy at the same time)

but here's some stuff i did this week:

sideboard

rear of dining room, facing pantry. there's the arrangement from the top of the page in that nice nook of a vitrine.
it's made with the same ruffles from the gloves, wiping cloths, sponges, bristles and scouring pads....

They were nice enough to let me use this platter. Fowl carcass mirrors image embroidered on apron.

Seen from other side- serving dish lined with dress cut-aways and filled with synthetic silk flower petals.

Progress Report: Wistariahurst

I decided that for my piece at Wistariahurst, I would once again cannibalize, update, or reconfigure some existing pieces from my repertoire- hoping that I finally get them right and that they will leave me be..let me move on. I want to the presence of the untouchable in the room to be undeniable. Instead of concentrating on being a period purist, I instead want to deal with issues that permeate the time gap. I've decided to go for technicolor, contemporary materials which are dispersed and arranged throughout the space in such a way that their placement within the room may be jarring, like seeing through to another dimension. 

I've been wondering whether or not I'm a surrealist? Ah..if only it were as simple as trusting in my dreams. 

Over the past couple of days working in my studio, I feel like I've hit my stride. Plowed through the agony-wall and dove head-long into some sort of visual-language building. Decision making minus all of the hesitation. Probably having a deadline real means there is no time for all of this second guessing- what does your gut tell you? double check it with your heart, then your brain..everybody in? Good. NEXT. go. 

colorful ric-rac edged ruffles

flower arrangement

new apron with swan riding heart

second flower arrangement

Angela Zammarelli gave me a box of 1000 red plastc swords- base of  effigy pillar

mop head with chandelier beads (from Carolyn Clayton) underneath skirt

taking up space

surprising new configuration of dismantled piece. now stacked to the ceiling atop my dresser....

Freedom isn't Free. But its Free-form.

For the next month or so, Angela Zammarelli  I will be teaming up with Katie Richardson and young artists from Youth Action Coalition in our new clubhouse at Freedom Trails Gallery in Amherst. We'll be meeting twice a week to collaborate in the space, creating an ongoing, ever-evolving installation which will be open to the public beginning in March. Leading up to that, us 3 big kids will have a small show in the front gallery space- come check it out next week!

New piece of mine: "Situation1" made from discarded styrofoam, molded plastic packaging, discounted holiday items, other mixed media

New Work by Alicia Renadette, Angela Zammarelli & Katie Richardson

February 7- March 2013

Reception Thursday February 7th, 5-8 pm, during the Amherst Arts Walk

AMHERST – The Freedom Trails Gallery is pleased to present work by three local installation and sculpture artists; Alicia Renadette, Angela Zammarelli and Katie Richardson. As part of the Freedom Trails Gallery mission to benefit the community through the arts, 25% of sold work will go to the Youth Action Coalition, an “Arts for Change” organization that provides art programs for youth in Amherst, Ware and Easthampton. The opening reception will be Thursday 2/7, from 5-8pm during the Amherst Art Walk.

Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 10:30 – 6:30. The exhibit is free and open to the public. For more information on the exhibiting artists please see their websites atwww.aliciarenadette.com, www.angela.zammarelli.com, and www.katierayart.com.

For more information contact anna@amherstvalleyframeworks.com or call 413-256-0949

Freedom Trails Gallery^TM

Valley Frame Works

534 Main St. Amherst, Ma 01002

Katie Richardson

Angela Zammarelli

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):

*************

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?)

blockage

i've been doing things like writing lists of desirable, compatible materials i don't have...and deciding that since i don't have a box of 1000 translucent red cocktail swords in stock, that it's not even worth going in that room.
i've been reading books and watching informative, inspiring, well-made movies and doing anthropological studies on newer versions of old sci-fi favorites. i've been cutting up magazines and working in our collage book.

sometimes i go into my studio to do yoga. or cut a piece of fabric. or pet the cat. or to help phloyd make an armature for a very large cone through which he will play his trombone.
sometimes i move things around on the wall.

it was something to stroll through Beuy's felt stacks and roll underneath Louise Bourgeous' spider... and then..Holy Land, USA
say what?! How had i never been there? it was gloriously creepy covered in snow, redeeming a day of check engine lights and missed trains that had led us far astray from our nyc destination.

There's some stuff in the works, or there should be soon..some fun things to work on:
a collaborative project/ workshop, a noisy day on the ice, an installation in a museum's dining room..

i'm pretty sure there's something good incubating up in my skull, but lately everytime i want to use my hands i feel like a goddamn gorilla!

oh, and i made this stuff:

i've been looking at images of altars 

micro/macro organic textures made up of mass-produced synthetic  flourishes:
shelf with fabric edging: top is styrofoam with cosmetics, varnish, broken lacework of painted fingernail clippings, petals from fake flowers, turmeric, plastic pearls 

i've been ripping apart "failed" or unfinished pieces i find lurking in the corners. insisting anew, that i can make them "work"

bits and pieces

closer up and to the right. and slightly down. right about....there.