Aw geez, I guess its been a while since my last post. Well its not as though I haven't been thinkin up stuff. For instance I visited Nimbus Arts last week to check out artists Nancy Willis and David Garden's Chandelier Building Workshop. The group had been working for two days with industrial and found objects and the results were, of course, illuminating! Nancy Willis has been teaching at Nimbus for a while now, along with many other talented local artists. If you've never been, please get on their mailing list for a class schedule. We are so fortunate that a place like Nimbus exists in the NV--they need our support!
Speaking of support...chandeliers have been dangling in my mind for years, ever since I saw this Burning Man piece by Rosanna Scimeca and crew. Cleavage In Space represented a celestial chandelier that fell to earth. I loved the scale, and the fact that the artist included part of the ceiling that had come down with the fixture.
After that I started noticing more and more artists using the chandelier form, like Al Weiwei at the 5th Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art. His enormous sculpture (below left contained more than 300,000 crystals! And of course the Guerrilla Girls with their Tampon chandelier at the Venice Biennale 2005.(below right) Basically any material can become chandelier-esque.
This "Chiquita Chandelier" by Anneke Jakobs was made from dozens of discarded banana cartons found in the streets and is held together only by paper fasteners. Pretty impressive recycling! You can try it yourself by using CRAFT magazine instructions at: http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2008/09/banana_box_chandelier.html
Talking about materials is only half the challenge. Nancy and I had an interesting conversation about all that chandeliers imply: luxury, extravagance, delicacy, femininity, architecture, class systems, light, labor, the soul, the ballroom, the past. There are endless strings of thought to follow. And believe me they all came up while trying to title our next show at the Nest. After some silly, some serious, brainstorming with artists and colleagues, we came up with DECORUM.
De*cor"um\, n. [L. dec[=o]rum, fr. dec[=o]rus. See Decorous.] Propriety of manner or conduct; grace arising from suitableness of speech and behavior to one's own character, or to the place and occasion; decency of conduct; seemliness; that which is seemly or suitable.
The show ill include North Bay artists Nancy Willis, Kana Tanaka, Carl Dern, Mary Jane Wood, and Nina Zaslove, plus special guest artists, create stunning objet d'art that reflect the universal appeal of those pretty hangy things. Opens March 21 with a faaaabulous party!
Tune back for more info on the artists and...the subtitle. Gotta have one of those!
Comments