I'm excited to include an installation in the "Interaction of Colour" show at the Ann Street Gallery in Newburgh, New York.
A view of my studio in New Haven, CT
in progress shot for the upcoming installation
The Ann Street Gallery
104 Ann Street
Newburgh, New York 12550
"Interaction of Colour" opens August 19th from 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.
The show is curated by Virginia Walsh.
Lumia: Thomas Wilfred and the Art of Light, light art compositions by the Danish-American inventor and musician, closed last weekend at the Yale University Art Gallery. The exhibition’s title refers to the name Thomas Wilfred (1889–1968) gave to his kinetic artworks. Arranged chronologically, the works in this exhibition escalate in ambition from Wilfred’s earliest home devices in the “Clavilux” series to a large, public installation, commissioned by the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
Wilfred created the first “Clavilux” instruments in 1919, nearly a decade before the first electronic television was invented. Light traveled through rotating mirrored surfaces from a painted “color record” onto a screen. The earliest instruments were performed live for viewers. Later, the mechanical projection machines were housed in small cabinets resembling TVs; however, unlike the television, Wilfred’s lumia were intended to be silent. Wilfred was a musician, yet he was adamant about producing an experience of color without sound for viewers.
Wilfred had hoped to sell his luminous light boxes to consumers as a replacement for the television, but as he gained traction with artists, he gradually shifted his focus to museum and galleries. In 1963, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, commissioned his most ambitious public installation, Lumia Suite, Opus 158, which remained on view at the museum until 1980. In 1971, Wilfred had a retrospective at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
Wilfred’s lumia are beautiful and slow, albeit an awkward replacement for the television. It was difficult for me to consider passively enjoying a Clavilux projection in the same way I consume an episode of “Game of Thrones.” Watching the lumia, I felt my sense of observation was heightened, whereas my senses seem more often dulled by TV.
The cascading colors projected inside his machines made me recall artists such as J.M.W. Turner (1775–1851). In particular, the atmospheric and ephemeral cloudscapes later admired by the Impressionists, especially Claude Monet, recall the slow-moving colors in the lumia. Using washes of watercolor and oil paint, Turner’s layered works achieved the shimmering sensation of light, while Wilfred’s works used light itself in lieu of paint as the primary visual element in his compositions. The lumia works evoke sublime phenomena such as the aurora borealis or gaseous plumes in outer space.
In fact, Wilfred’s innovations preceded works by other light artists. For example, László Moholy-Nagy (1895–1946) made his seminal work, Light-Space Modulator—a light-based sculpture powered by electricity—in 1930. Moholy-Nagy, a Hungarian artist and Bauhaus professor, advocated for the integration of art, industry, and technology. He recognized the innovation of Wilfred’s works, and the lumia were also admired by many other artists of his time, including the Abstract Expressionist, Jackson Pollock (1912–1956). In the foreword of the exhibition catalog, the contemporary artist James Turrell (b. 1943) recounts his childhood encounter with Wilfred’s works at MoMA.
Despite the respect Wilfred earned among artists of his day, his radical oeuvre of light art has not been shown in the last four decades. Lumia Suite, Opus 158 was restored for the occasion of the exhibition, and it concludes the show in a special viewing room, matching the specifications of Wilfred’s original plans. The show reaffirms Wilfred’s role as a visionary artist of both light and color.
Lumia: Thomas Wilfred and the Art of Light closed on July 23, 2017 at the Yale University Art Gallery. The exhibition will travel to Washington D.C.’s Smithsonian American Art Museum in October.
“[The] simple act of tying a knot is an adventure in unlimited space … an excursion that is limited only by the scope of our own imagery and the length of the rope maker’s coil.”
For the past few weeks, I have been reading about different kinds of knots and making a series of gouache paintings on paper loosely tied to different types of knots.
In a 2014 article in T Magazine, Jody Rosen discusses the importance of knots throughout history. Still nots are an undervalued craft today, often relegated to the storage rooms of major collections. More here.
all works are 9 inches square, gouache on paper
Knots have been on my mind for a long time, and they've surfaced in various forms in prior drawings and paintings. Since ancient times, knots were an essential form of technology for seafarers, among others. Moreover, knots have served deeply symbolic purposes; they were used to keep records for the Incas, celebrate a birth or marriage in numerous cultures, and summon strong winds for the Laplanders, for example. They are practical, yet deeply mystical at the same time.
The third completed spread of sketchbook pages from Mazmanian Gallery featuring the hands of (11) Teres Audette, (12) Tara Capelluno, (13) Rose Piz, (14) Isaac Vu, (15) Cam Graves, and (16) Tyler Johnson #FSUsketchbookproject
I've been catching up on some reading this summer. I hope to teach a course in the fall on Modern and contemporary art so I've been reading through Volume II of History of Modern Art (seventh edition) by H.H. Arnason and Elizabeth C. Mansfield. Last night I was fascinated with the Surrealist Jean Arp's thoughts about tearing up his own works to make new collages. His ideas are eerily timely.
“I began to tear my papers instead of curving them neatly with scissors. I tore up drawings and carelessly smeared paste over and under them. If the ink dissolved and ran, I was delighted... I had accepted the transience, the dribbling away, the brevity, the impermanence, the fading, the withering, the spookishness of our existence... These torn papers, these papiers déchirés brought me closer to a faith other than earthly.”
Jean Arp (1886-1966), Constellation According to the Laws of Chance c. 1930
In today's Monadnock Ledger-Transcript you can read more about my current show at the Sharon Arts Center in Peterborough, New Hampshire.
Everything old is new again, and nothing is permanent. Artist Jacquelyn Gleisner’s new exhibit at the Sharon Arts Gallery in Peterborough makes important statements about the fleeting nature of art and the importance of not letting things go to waste. Plus, it gets student artwork into a fine art gallery — in a manner of speaking, anyway.
Read more at the link below.
http://www.ledgertranscript.com/brarSACInstall-ml-062917_-10959303
Staff photo by Ben Conant
The Folds of the Cloak, the title of my current installation at the Sharon Arts Center, references the last line of the poem “Of the Surface of Things” by Wallace Stevens. I read this poem aloud to my students on the first day of classes last fall, and throughout the year I collected their discarded drawings and paintings to re-use. Viewers can see glimpses of color wheels and other exercises repurposed into pyramid forms.
The title also alludes to paper and textiles, two important materials for my practice as an artist. Paper, an ecological and malleable form, represents flexibility and durability. Textiles are another important source for me, and I regularly reference patterns as well as the cultural importance of fabric, embroidery, and other handicrafts. All the paper and cardboard used in this installation are found or recycled from my previous works or former students, creating a textural map of color, patterns, and time.
Sharon Arts Center Gallery | NHIA
30 Grove Street, Peterborough, NH 03458
Reception August 18, 5 - 8pm
Through September 2017
Hours: Wednesday-Saturday 11am - 6pm; Sunday 11am - 4pm
Over the course of the night, artists at all stages of their careers take shifts to draw for an hour in front a live audience, bringing their private studio practices to the public. As spectators spy on the creative process, sketches morph into full-fledged artworks. Artists will then donate works to be bought the night of the event for $50 each, all proceeds will go to support programming at the Ely Center of Contemporary Art and Artspace New Haven. We will also be having a bourbon tasting from Litchfield Distillery with Connecticut-made varieties including: Straight Bourbon, Double Barrel Bourbon, Vanilla Bourbon and Coffee Bourbon (donation $6 for a half flight or $12 for a full flight suggested). Food will be available for purchase by Farm Belly. Throughout the night Dave Coon will DJ tunes to set the mood. All art lovers, supporters, and enthusiast are welcomed to this free event.
Participating Artists:
Sarah Afrogola, Michael Angelis, Caryn Azoff, Cat Balco, Binwanka, Alexis Brown, Anna Tu Bu Lei, Leslie Carmin, Jessica Cuni, Johannes DeYoung, Dionamic, Mary Dwyer, Michael Edmundson, Danielle Eugene, Roxanne Faber Savage, Zeph Farmby, Joan Fitzsimmons, Julie Frankel, Laura Gardner, Jacquelyn Gleisner, Stephen Grossman, Larissa Hall, Clymenza Hawkins, Lisa Hesselgrave, Iyaba Ibo Mandingo, Peter Konsterlie, David Livingston, Cayla Lockwood, Eric March, Marry Ann McCarthy, Alexis Musinski, Jason Noushin, John O’Donnell, Leila Orienter, Joesph Padilla, Rashmi, Chen Reichert, Samuel Rowlett, Jaime Ursic, Michael Van Winkle, Amanda Walker, Christa Whitten, Jemma Williams Nussbaum, Amie Ziner
Friday, Jun 23, 2017 from 7:00 PM to 9:30 PM
Location: Ely House Center for Contemporary Art, 51 Trumbull Street, New Haven, CT
Come by 30 Grove Street in downtown Peterborough to see my installation in the front window of the Sharon Arts Center. All these forms were made using discarded paintings and drawings from former students and old works of mine on recycled cardboard. Join me for the reception on August 18th! More pictures soon...
Also be sure to check it out at night!
The theme for the The Eli Whitney Museum's annual fundraiser is "Leonardo in Bloom." Artists are challenged to create a work of art inspired by the fullest expression of a flower, the bloom, and the quintessential "Renaissance man," Leonardo da Vinci.
In his notebooks and sketchbooks, the Italian artist and scientist, Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), explored botany, geology, geography, cartography, zoology, engineering, anatomy, as well as countless other topics. He adamantly believed that his scientific investigations helped him become a better artist. Indeed many of his scientific illustrations are appreciated as works of art. The artist also believed that reality was fathomable only through what could be observed through the eyes—the most vital organ according to Leonardo.
Below are a few images of my submission for the event, a freestanding sculpture made from paper, glue, turf, glitter, and sand. The shape of the sculpture recalls both an explosion and a geometric interpretation of a dandelion flower. The title, Lion's Tooth, comes from the French name for this common weed, dent de lion.
Click on the image above to see detail shots.
I have an installation at the Crown Street windows at Artspace this month. Check out the windows from now until April 30, 2017. The reception for these windows, as well as the current exhibition, Laughing Skulls, will take place this Friday. The installation will also be up during the Annual Gala and Silent Auction on April 29.
Work in progress shot
A view of the installation from outside with the reflections of the city
