a tiny kite

Inkblots have been surfacing in my studio again and again. At first I was in search of a way to generate kite forms, symmetrical, yet divorced from the direct associations of flighted things: birds, moths, and planes. As a result my sketchbooks and my studio have been filling to the brim with inkblots over the last few months in between preparing for shows. There must be hundreds haunting my studio by now. This paper skin has been waiting for most of that time, and I finally began my first small bamboo and paper kite with it.

After carefully splitting the bamboo down, and mapping out the kite's bones, I taped them onto the drawing and heated them up to set in place.

My bamboo shaping methodology is a mite unconventional and could probably use some refinement. 

 

Despite the close call with a torch, the bones are fine. This particular bamboo was gifted to me by a traditional Japanese kitemaker, Ohye Makoto, in Cervia, Italy in April of 2010. It's beyond satisfying to finally be using it.

The finished kite flies beautifully even indoors. The tail is 32" long and I'm still tinkering with different materials to find something a little more pleasing.

the back

for scale

There's a lovely connection between this shape flying in the sky and the clouds alongside it.

Entwine Opening

Entwine Show. Gallery 21. Gainesville, FL

The Entwine show opening went very well. The turnout was wonderful and many of my local friends came by. Two were even gracious enough to be resident spinners for the evening.  Sharon Emery and Ginger Clark -both accomplished fiber geeks- spun for guests and helped give a little context to the traditional process of handspinning. I could definitely see a shift in how people coming into the gallery perceived the work just by being able to have the experience of seeing a spindle in use. Sharon and Ginger were joined intermittently by other local spinners throughout the evening including our own nationally shown tapestry weaver Connie Forneris.

Sharon Emery demonstrating spinning to a visitor. © photo by R.Batista

Showing locally feels sasifying if only because I get to see so many of the wonderful people of my hometown all at once. It's so touching to have folks whether I know them yet or not come see my work and show their interest support. I can't begin to mention all of them or I'd have to write a book or at least a wiki and that is a project for another day (no really, it is on the list). Gainesville is very much Makerville; everywhere you turn is a musician, artist, poet, writer, jeweler, theater director . . . I've fallen very much in love with it partly because of that alone.

My co-artist and studio-mate, Cindy Steiler, exhibited work of great charm and sweet whimsy. I felt our work was well paired and hers seemed to lend a lightness to mine that isn't always apparent when alone. I exhibited a number of my Nubis (Latin "cloud") silk pieces as an installation near her mixed media work. 

Nubis ephemerus silk kites exhibited alongside Cindy's embroidered work

 

The soundtrack for the exhibit was created by Romain Challendes, and was an haunting combination of ambient sounds: stringed instruments, children laughing . . . 

Randy Batista and Sita Marlier at Gallery 21 did an excellent job making certain the community knew about the opening and we were included in the local paper with an image of one of my new tangle sculptures. My fairy godmother even unexpectedly arrived (as fairy godmothers are prone to do).

New Traces of Spun drawings, the Tangle (& . . . ) sculptures, and Specimens installation. © photo by R.Batista

Erin Curry. Tangle (& Arise) front and Tangle (& Swarm) back. handspun cotton thread, graphite dust, acrylic sheet, wood, and custom table. ©2011

Erin Curry. Specimens. handspun cotton, graphite dust under glass. 160 4"x6" pieces. ©2011

You can find a few more images from the opening on the gallery's Facebook Page which I suggest subscribing to as they had some other excellent shows come through recently. They were lovely to work with. Many thanks to Randy, Sita, Romain, and Cindy!

a quick spinning lesson for a young gallery attendee during the opening

Entwine Show

I hope all of you have had a lovely holiday and your new year is looking even brighter than the last. My 2012 begins with a show at Gallery 21, "Entwine".

"The work of artists Erin Curry and Cindy Steiler share a common thread. Each uses the traditional material of thread in divergent ways while intertwining ideas of handmade, process and narrative. Both share a fascination with the act of creating; some of Cindy's figures stitch each other into existence, while Erin's work dwells on the creation and character of handspun threads themselves."

opening reception:

Friday January, 6th 2012

6:30- 9pm

Gallery 21

21 SE 2nd Place (next to the Hippodrome)

The work will be up through January 27th. 

I'm so pleased to be showing with Cindy who also happens to have just moved her studio into Orange Blossom Art Studio where I've been working for over a year now (that's a blog post for another day). If you are able, please join us for the reception and I'm especially inviting all spinners to come with their spindles (or wheels) to share our processes and celebrate our community, I'd not be making the work I do without it.

Ancient dance

recorded anew. A new drawing plays out on a different surface. Smoother still and the trail must be left by a softer graphite or else the mark disappears.

Another show approaches swiftly, this time with another artist using threads as well. How will the work play together?

Collective Matter Show

These peices were all collections of a sort that interacted in a lovely way. The floor works seemed to brace against each other's accumulations in a way that had me in mind of an epic battlefield all the while my airy polaroids wavered above them, silent and watchful.

Collective Matter.
WARPhaus. Gainesville, FL.
Erin Curry, Galen Olmsted and Kalina Winska

Erin Curry. Powerlines. polaroids on wire. 2009-2011

Galen Olmsted. Populous. porcelain and vinyl. 2011

Kalina Winska. Dream of Gorgeia. rope, thread, ribbon, paint, paper, plastic. 2011

three things to see

 Hello 

Just a quick note to mention three shows my work is in this week. I promise to return with more musing type posts in the nearish future, but for now I think I must say three openings in as many days is a personal record. 

The first, Codified: Art and Genetics, includes artwork that explores genetics in conjunction with the Florida Genetics 2011 Conference. The connection between the two departments was fostered by The School of Art and Art History's scientist-in-residence, Jamie Gilooly, a biologist who worked to foster connections between art and genetics and artists and scientists themselves. 

A number of the works were created specifically for this show on a very short time span with the help of some generously provided grants. The official opening on Wednesday was well attended with lots of interested scientists asking questions and talking about what the work referenced to them (always my favorite part of openings). It was so popular the show's original end date was extended a couple of weeks through December 9th. 

See Tangle (&&&) and the rest of the work:

Codified: Art and Genetics

Nov. 9- Dec. 9, 2011

Cancer and Genetics Research Complex

1376 Mowry Road, Gainesville, FL (3rd floor)

Opening Reception: Nov. 9, 2:30 – 4:30 p.m.

Gallery Hours:

weekdays 8:30–5:30 p.m.

click to see more details

The second is Collective Matter, a one night showing of the trifecta of Galen Olmsted, Kalina Winska, and myself on Friday 11.11.11 (A Day of Collective Ones) from 7-9pm. All these little connections between the pieces continually popped up during installation and as a result we three are quite sad it's just the one night. Though my Powerline polaroids aren't for sale (yet) some of them make their debut in this show. After years of collecting and waiting, it's satisfying to see them in a proper space. 

 

Collective Matter

Friday, 11.11.11 7-9pm

WARPhaus Gallery

534 SW 4th Ave

 

Finally, at the exact same time another show hosts more of my work and many others opens across town. From the announcement:

 

Wabi Sabi: Imperfect Beauty

The Cofrin Gallery is proud to present an exhibition which examines the Japanese aesthetic philosophy of Wabi Sabi. Wabi Sabi seeks beauty in imperfections found in all things. Guided by this philosophy, Artists embrace random flaws and irregularities that occur through the creative process as an expression of beauty. Wabi Sabi evolved in 13th century Japan, as a way of rebelling against a time of growing materialism in Japanese culture. This exhibition hopes to reveal that the message of Wabi Sabi still has relevance for many aspects of modern life today.

If some of you locals missed the expanded installation of Specimens a few weeks ago, here's your chance to see it again . . . all 180 of them. It's one of the few shows I've seen that seeks to connect rare antiques, humble wooden tools and contemporary work, I'm so pleased to have been invited to show and am looking forward to going later and sitting quietly with the work awhile.

Wabi Sabi: Imperfect Beauty

Nov. 11- Dec. 17, 2011

Cancer and Genetics Research Complex

8009 SW 14th, Gainesville, FL (3rd floor)

Gallery Hours:

weekdays 9am–4pm

 

 

Until next time . . .

wresting meaning from inkblots and coffee grounds

gallery talk

After a special request, Kalina Winska and I are delighted to announce we'll be giving an informal artist talk in the gallery on Friday at noon. Please join us as we share a bit about the processes and concepts behind the work as well as how we set up successful parameters for collaboration.

Friday, October 28th
12-1pm
"the gallery"
Rietz Union 2nd floor

Parking is admittedly tricky that time of day, but if you aren't a student with a parking pass, there are metered spots in the garage next to the Rietz.

Plying Thoughts Show

I'm having a show this week! A friend of mine and I have been planning this all summer. We even collaborated on some work we're both really excited about.

We're in the middle of installation now, but the particulars are below. If you're in the area, we'd love to see you. Come by for the reception Thursday, October 20th, 7-9pm at the Rietz Union Gallery, or if you'd like, contact me (erinhcurry@gmail.com) for a private tour with Kalina and I.

Plying Thoughts presents both individual and collaborative artworks by Erin Curry and Kalina Winska. They began working together this past summer based on a kinship between their art practices and personalities. The title of the show refers to the dialogue between them and how the connection manifests itself in collaboration. The works between them are a result of an exchange and response process.

In the show, Kalina and Erin also present themselves as two distinct personalities with independent artistic visions through their individual works.

Erin Curry, a UF Sculpture alum, currently lives and works in Gainesville, FL. Her recent work revolves around handspinning raw chaotic fiber into orderly line and shaping ordered line into tangled or woven mass. The thread preserved within the work, either as the object itself or the record of it, functions as a gesture of archetypal human creation as well as shorthand for spun stories of personal narrative, highlighting our complex, often ineffable relationship to the world around us.

Kalina Winska, an artist from Poland and currently an MFA student in Drawing/Painting Program at University of Florida, creates large-scale drawings and installations. Her art draws upon loss and the threshold of displacement. Interpreting this liminal state through the transformation of materials, objects, and familiar images that often derive from personal memory and Polish Folklore, lies at the core of her studio practice.

For more information on the artist duo, please visit www.plyingthoughts.wordpress.com. The backlog of images and thoughts will continue its slow arrival once the show is up.

tangleblot

Another form of disorder -mirrored- becomes unexpected structure.

Tangleblot 1 (our vessels). ink and graphite on paper. 6"x6". 2011. private collection.

Tangleblot 2 (their bones). ink and graphite on paper. 6"x6". 2011. private collection.

Abstract symmetries crept into my work during last spring and summer. This method presents an intriguing way to generate unusual forms, suggestive and yet not derivative.

They appeared, too, during my Plying Thoughts collaboration with Kalina Winska.

note: I'm reaching into the past to bring some of these now older projects to light, so I'm postdating them closer to the time they were made to avoid too much overlap with current projects. Your blogreader might make this confusing.