www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmXYau

During my undergraduate degree I concentrated on Sonic installations and sound appropriation. My early work involve collaborations where I would record and remix other musicians sound to make new compositions. I eventually became aware of the audience-performer barrier, which interrupted the effectiveness of my work.

Realizing a lack in audience involvement, I started to study traditions of oral tutoring. I had been thinking a lot about methods of education outside of the contemporary western system. The connections with musicians across a broad stylistic expression led me to contemplate the roots of improvisation in music and craft based art.

When I learned how to crochet from my grandmother, I recognized the similarities between sonic and craft based terminology and I began to create performances based on minute sounds created by craft techniques. These performance installations evolved into workshops focused on oral and physical modes of education. The installations also incorporate a sense of improvisation; there are no preplanned patterns involved in the construction. Furthermore, within these installations I am amplifying existing structures as a pedagogical way of conveying information or revealing hidden truths behind the materials form. I do this sometimes through sound, and sometimes audience participation.

I insert craft-based, process-oriented materials into a space to reveal the subtle nuances of a skill set or address ecological subjects with an abstracted domestic modus operandi. I am interested in hyper- amplifying overlooked aspects of darning and re-appropriating practical domestic objects while addressing the specificity of environment. “Going Green”was a site-specific yarn installation on a train car created for the show “Art on Track”. Throughout the duration of the one night exhibit, the yarn installation continued to grow due to others and myself actively crocheting onto the piece. The piece resembled an artificial over growth of vegetation juxtaposed with the non-organic steel and glass of the train. The installation then moved to a gallery exhibit in the Flat Iron building and continued to grow through the same process. Using this process I will install it in other locations to continue growing. The installation begins a life of its own, morphing by the hand of it’s audience. The variables such as how big, how long will it grow, or where it will inhabit are questions I would like to examine.

The metaphors I employ refer to ideas of social development, environmental consciousness, and artistic relevance. In my performance installation entitled “Tethered #1”, I gradually stitched together pieces of canvas, which were fastened to the walls of the gallery. The walls of the gallery space act as stretcher bars, thus supporting the work and confining it to the space.

I categorize creative exploits and develop a dialogue between creative-process and environment affairs, societal concerns, and self-awareness; by connecting abstract concepts to the common acts of knitting, crocheting, weaving, stitching, mending, and embroidering.

I hope to further explore oral systems of information distribution both at hand and acousmatic. I would like to research the various histories of knitting, crochet and weaving as well as address educational deficiencies of oral communication involving those crafts. I also have an interest in researching Chicago’s craft traditions. In the past, I have researched Irish Knitting and Japanese Sashiko.

A piece I created in the Burren, Ireland entitled “Security Blanket”; consists of Irish knitting, and crochet techniques. I developed a pattern from the unique rock formations of the Burren’s mountains as well as learned of various ways to naturally dye Irish yarn. The Burren community is concerned with the gradual disappearance of the mountain’s stone facade. This security blanket was eventually installed on the mountainside. Security Blanket acts as a feeble means of protecting the stones while still revealing their natural beauty beneath.

Gastronaut
0robonot0@gmail.com