PROTEST- very cool show at Gallery A3 in Amherst MA

 I am always fascinated by the way my work is transformed when I get it up in a gallery setting. When the Protest show was announced a number of months ago and I decided to make something for it, I immediately got an image of these boats, made of paper and hung high in the space. I had a lot of fun making them, but it was not until I saw them in the gallery space that they really made sense to me. 

The show is up until the end of July and there is an Art Forum on Thursday July 20 at 7:30p. For more information check out the Gallery A3 web site. I am super impressed with the work of my colleagues and how diverse the whole show is- it is powerful!

My piece is called Passage. People at the opening were asking what my intent was, and yes there is definitely reference to the refugees. There is also for me the reference to all of our individual and collective journeys- ongoing through everything.

 It was not until I had seen them in the context of all the folks at the opening and all the other art that I understood why it was so important to me to put them up high. Having them float above us placed us in the ocean below them. Our lives, our everyday existence that we swim through is in a completely different kind of atmosphere and sense of reality than those boats, and yet they are connected. I hope, if you live locally, that you will drop by the gallery because it is a completely different experience to feel them above you than to just read about it.

As with most of my art, it is not a direct cognitive and logical statement. Rather it plays on a physical, sensory awareness and works on an emotional and intuitional level. What you bring to it is part of what its meaning is. And it asks you to let yourself understand, question, engage on a deep and intuitive level. The context of the PROTEST exhibit gives them a layer of meaning and they give the concept of protest a new twist.

I would love to hear what you think of this piece and of the show in general. I would also love to hear in what ways your work functions, or other work that you have seen. Please leave a comment and/or come to the forum:

If you would like to engage in conversation about the show, please come to the Art Forum on Thursday July 20 at 7:30 pm. For more information check out the Gallery A3 web site.