Camac Artist Residency, France

Today marks 1.5 months I have been residing in the countryside of France, in a beautiful small village called Marnay sur Seine. With about 250 residents, this town hugs the Seine river with agriculture and farming as it's main business. (Of course the Champagne vineyards are very closeby as well :)
This residency is allowing my studies on water, and the Seine river specifically, to open up new doors on the importance of water, the history of the Seine, and the various terrains this large river flows through on it's way to the ocean where it joins the Atlantic on the coast of Normandy.  The residency grounds are old and rustically wonderful - dating back to the 10th century where it once was a monastery - then in the 1960's a thriving radio station in France. (Thus the many cool record albums still stashed in the basement.) Here are a few photos of the buildings, where the messenger pigeons' ancestors once flew regularly off the rooftops long ago...

I am currently in the middle of my water research, testing the water from the Seine river to see if colors and patterns can affect the molecular structure of the crystals. Exposing the water in jars to found elements from the neighborhood which I added color and patterns to, I then use dry ice to freeze each drop of water after various amounts of time to see if there are any differences in each drop's crystal structures. Here are some photos of the water while being exposed, and I will post more once the test is concluded - at the end of this month.  I hope to see interesting results! Stay tuned.....

Residency at the Scuola Internazionale di Grafica, Venice, Italy

The year has zipped by so far and it’s already September! This summer proved super busy. I had the fortunate opportunity to attend a printmaking residency at the Scuola International di Grafica in Venice, Italy for two weeks. The timing of this worked perfectly, as I could visit the Biennale and soak in the massive art from so many countries. I will share a bit of both: the monoprints I created while at the residency, as well as art from the Arsenale and various pavilions at the Biennale. 

Here are some photos from the Biennale:

Phyllida Barlow, British Pavilion

Russian Pavilion

Cinthia Marcelle, Pavilion of Brazil

Erwin Wurm, Austrian Pavilion

Photos taken from the fantastic printmaking facilities at the Scuola Internazionale di Grafica:

These monoprints below were created while attending the residency and are from a body of work that I am creating based on the importance of water. Scientists back in 1976 made the hypothesis that water has memory: that it makes an imprint of any outside influence, remembering everything that occurs in the space surrounding it. Collecting water from countries all over the world, I am examining their structures to try to make connections between the art and science of this life necessity.

Fall/Winter 2016

Happy 2017! Time flies, so I wanted to update this blog a bit with some events that happened toward the end of last year and share with you some fun and interesting artwork by talented artists I saw along the way.

The end of October into early November was very busy. I was fortunate to be asked by Serbian artist and professor Dejan Atanackovic to give an artist's talk at SACI in Florence, as part of his lecture series titled, "An Idea of Home." It was an honor to be a contributing artist alongside Patrick Hogan from NASA, Rodolfo Lacquaniti, artist and architect, and Francesca Bigoni, anthropologist. 

I then made a quick pit stop in Paris to catch the ending of the incredible exhibition by Olafur Eliasson, who staged spatial installations throughout the Palace of Versailles, all on the theme of "Water." It was fantastic. Here are a couple of photos from my day there:

The exhibition titled "Plantarium," curated by Manuela Enna and Daniel Buso was hosted at the House of Carraresi Museum in Treviso, Italy. It opened on October 22nd, and actually ends today. I was one of twenty one participating artists, who all contributed in creating an interactive journey to discover nature through contemporary art. The exhibition focused on the world of plants and environmental protection needs, where art and science intersected to build a sense of exposure to this. Here are a few photos of the symposium on opening night -  the curators were discussing each artist's practice and you can see my photograph of the Arctic on the monitors above the guests's heads.

Entrance to the Museum of Casa Dei Carraresi, Treviso.

"Aequilibrium" by Eros Emmanuil Papadakis.

"Speranza" by Giovanni Canova.

"Little Boy" by Saverio Bonelli.

"In Vitro" by Andrea San3ni and Francesca Toich.

Lastly, to end the year, there was a fantastic exhibition at the Museum of History/State Darwin Museum in Moscow, Russia. It was titled, "Now and After," and the theme was Ecology Without Borders. It was curated by artist Marina Fomenko, and I was one of 

twenty eight artists who each contributed a video focusing on this topic. Below are a few photos of opening night, where I met many of the artists who arrived from all over the world. It was a great experience and I hope to keep in touch with them to see where their art takes them next :)

Front of the museum

With curator Marina Fomenko and Russian artist Konstantin Krylovskjy

Chatting with Dutch artist Pim Zwier

Celebrating with Russian artist Anna Butenko and many others :)