Permanent Collection at the Museo d'Arte Contemporanea di Florina, Greece

A photo of an installation I did last November on the banks of the Seine river in Paris, France called "An Ankh For Paris" was selected from several works in the ArtClash 2016 exhibition in Florence's Palazzo Vecchio to become part of the permanent collection at the Museo d'Arte Contemporanea di Florina in Greece. The installation, made out of 200 baguettes measuring 16m x 12m was created to show solidarity and support for Paris after the terrorist attacks on November 13, 2015. The Ankh, an Egyptian hieroglyphic symbol meaning "everlasting life" is also known to be the shape of a bull's vertebra, implying strength and power.

Gaia III Exhibition at City Hall, Paris, France

The Gaia III exhibition was hosted at Mairie 2e, - city hall in the 2nd district, to commemorate International Women's Day. I was excited to fly back up to Paris and spend time with curator Julia Rajacic, along with artists Morgan Le Cam, Jisook Min, Laurence Hochin, AnneCecile Surga, and Şirin Döğüş. "Lead Feet," my big nest sculpture was on display along with my two videos titled, "What Is Home," and "A Letter To My Sister," which were projected in the main terrace.

Here are some photos of the installations in progress, as well as some shots from opening night.
A great time! I love this city and hope to be back again soon :)

Gaia Opening in Paris

I am super excited to be one of the contributing artists exhibiting artwork this January at the Gaia exhibition, hosted by Le Pave dans la m'Art at Galerie d'art Amarrage, in Paris.
I have four pieces in the show: two videos and two sculptures. Below are some photos of the installation, as well as the opening night. The exhibition will be up through February 13, 2016 :)

Links to Arctic Videos

It's now been 5 months since I sailed the Arctic Ocean, and I have finally been able to wrap my head around the experience, somewhat :)

This trip - all around - gave me more of an appreciation of the ephemeral aspect of life. I learned that there is quite the fragile balance between darkness and light, and that embracing our vulnerabilities is risky but not nearly as dangerous as succumbing to our fears. What's that old saying, "Uncertainty is the only certainty there is?" I think it holds true. It was a great lesson about living in the moment, as no one knows the future of this vast region in years to come. One thing for sure: it's all symbiotic. The separation of me from you, from us from the glaciers, of the glaciers from the desert is all an illusion.

I created two videos from this venture. Here are the titles and the links for viewing, I hope you enjoy.

What Does Home Mean To You?

Video, Writings, Drawings, Audio, Installations

2015 (ongoing)

Spitsbergen, Norway

Arctic Circle

This video is part of a series of work created while in an artist residency program sailing on the Arctic Ocean

around Spitsbergen, Norway. A collection of interviews, written statements, and audio recordings share people’s ideas of what the word Home means to them. These were then saved in a weatherproof time capsule and buried for future generations to find.

Link to video online:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_Nuyqum8v0&feature=youtu.be

A Letter To My Sister

Video 2015

Spitsbergen, Norway

Arctic Circle

This video is part of a series of work created while in an artist residency program sailing on the Arctic Ocean

around Spitsbergen, Norway. A Letter To My Sister represents the fragility of both humans and our planet as well as reminding us that all things are temporary.

Link to video online:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nI38iqidSFE

Strength in Baguettes: Solidarity Art in Paris

A few crazy things have been happening in the world, and it effects us all.

I am feeling very lucky that I am safe and sound while others in Paris, Beirut, and additional parts of the planet are forced to endure unstable conditions.  A few days after the terrorist attacks in Paris, I was bound for the city of lights to attend an art opening for the exhibition "Gaia" - a fantastic show in conjunction with the COP21 summit on climate change. Unfortunately, it was postponed due to the turmoil at hand. I decided to fly to Paris anyway, and met up with Curator Julia Rajacic, as well as other artists in the exhibition. The more I discussed the current state of the city with the them, I learned that the people of Paris are compassionate and strong. They are determined to keep their freedom and to spread unity in their communities. 

I stayed for that whole week and immersed myself into their world as much as possible. Paris is a unique and special city, with people who are responsible for making it that way. Here is an article on a project I created while there, written in the Florentine - the English speaking newspaper here in Florence. It is called "An Ankh For Paris" and I will post more photos of the making of it soon.

http://www.theflorentine.net/articles/article-view.asp?issuetocId=10455&browse-by=News&level=Community-News

Three months after the Arctic....

Upon returning from the Arctic, I am humbled and a different person. The extreme living and environmental conditions call for hearty, unique residents. What I found were not only strong people inside and out, but some of the most caring, interesting and thought provoking humans on earth. 

I continued my quest of interviewing people on their definitions of "Home," as well as burying the time capsule containing previous ideas of "Home" that I had gathered from people throughout the United States and Italy. (See video made in Tuscany, Italy below.) Currently, two art pieces in the form of videos are being worked on and I will share them on this site in the next coming months. Until then, here is a link to a little more information as well as some photos taken on our journey.

One of the most important aspects I took back from this expedition is the constant reminder that everything on earth is fragile and everything is temporary. Change occurs in life, but we must take care of each other and our surroundings. We do have the ability.

Arctic Circle Part 2: SACI MFA student Keri Rosebraugh goes on expeditionary artist residency

Our sailing vessel "The Antigua"

Spitsbergen, Norway

The Global Seed Vault, Longyearbyen, Norway

"Stuck boat, everyone move to one side..."

"Home" Video Installation

Home Video Installation, Firenze, Italia 2015

Home presents a video created in response to a large windstorm that hit the Tuscany region of Italy on March 5, 2015. This Intense weather pattern is a mere sign of the increasing impact of climate change internationally. Both people and animals are currently being forced to relocate their homes as a result of global warming, uprooting their cultures, their traditions, and ultimately having to adapt to new environments altogether. This piece shares individual's ideas and the importance of the meaning of the word "home".  

What is Home? - Spring 2015

This series discusses the idea of what the word "Home" means.  The following sculptures are formed by utilizing materials taken from our natural world and juxtaposing them with man made / manufactured components. This is a search to examine the urgent need for humans to make peace with our planet.

Materials:

sticks, chain, steel, metal bed springs, brick, dirt, clay, rope, marble, turmeric, flowers, lemons, limes

photos courtesy of Ana Lia Orezzoli
http://analiapop.tumblr.com

Zanzara art series in progress

This fall I started a series on the "zanzara," which is how you pronounce the word "mosquito" in italian. In keeping with my upcoming trip to the Arctic Circle next June, this series discusses the role of the mosquito in this region and its impact on the environment due to the increase in rising temperatures. Warmer seasons are coming earlier and lasting longer, and large amounts of mosquitos are rampant in the lower Arctic areas. Entire swarms have been observed surrounding one caribou and sucking enough blood out of it in one day to kill it. THAT is power in numbers.

I started off with these charcoal/pastel sketches below.....

I then moved on to oil paintings on wood, 50 cm x 70 cm in size. Pietro Manzo is a fabulous and outstanding painter here in Firenze, and he was my professor/mentor while creating these paintings.
(You can check out his wonderful work here:  www.pietromanzo.net)

Playing around with the concept of mosquitos as sculptures, I wanted to use materials from

the earth to exhibit how these tiny, fragile creatures have such a strong presence to cause huge damage to our eco system.  Below are three pieces symbolizing this idea.

zanzara #1: travertine, fresh flowers

zanzara #2: marble, fur, tree branch

zanzara #3: travertine, caribou antlers

Dario Arcamone is a super skilled sculptor living in Toscana who mentored me with these pieces. I broke a rock or two while carving and he was always there to walk me through everything and find solutions. 

Daria Filardo (http://www.celesteprize.com/dariafilardo) is a mind blowing curator and art historian who has taught me crazy amounts of information this fall. She really helped me cess out concept issues with this sculpture series.  

I also worked closely with John Taylor - an exceptional person/academic/sculptor and will continue to do so this spring in prepping for the Arctic residency. 

Again, this series is in progress, so I will post more next spring as additional pieces come together.

Thanks for checking it out! 

:)