Sky Comparison - MFA Exhibition

Vermont College of Fine Arts February 2013 

Exhibition Documentation

As a partial fulfillment of the Master's in Fine Arts Visual Arts program at the Vermont College of Fine Arts, I participated in the 2013 Winter Residency Exhibition. If you are new to this blog and would like to find out more about the program, see my post from August 15, 2012 - MFA Update. Since I wrote quite a bit about the program in that post, here I will concentrate on the work.

Sky Comparison

      As most of you know, I moved from the US to Australia about 6 months ago. The move was well thought out and planned. I had decided not to take a break from my MFA studies in order to get acclimated to my new situation. I wanted to push through and continue the program while getting used to new surroundings. My program is made for this type of situation, in fact I was not the only student to move in the middle of a semester. I can think of 5 other people off the top of my head. Prior to moving, I tried to consume as much knowledge about life in Australia as I could find. Despite all the research, the past six months have been mixed with feelings of vulnerability, lacking political and cultural knowledge and of movement backwards. Many of these feelings are parallel to what one feels when learning about environmental issues and the individual's impact on such issues. I know I feel so small when I think about climate change. Often times, my efforts feel useless when I see others not doing anything.

      I found myself retreating to meditative and repetitive activities such as making paint, knitting, sewing, etc. in an effort to get away from these feelings. Once again, I know all too well how hard it is to constantly think about one's environmental impact. It is hard to change a life long habit. The conscious daily efforts to change take their toll psychologically as well as physically on the body. 

     My exhibition stems from all of these ideas. The sky is something we all take for granted as an ever-present, stable entity. The illusion exists that the sky here is the same as the sky there. Often times, it is only directly perceived at times of heightened activity, say at sunset or during a tumultuous storm. Thus making it the ideal subject. As a result, I decided to impose a schematized practice on myself. I painted the sky in Australia once every hour for 3 days. I was concerned with charting the major color changes in the sky. My intention was to bring the resultant 72 paintings to Vermont and comparing the differences and/or similarities. 

Photo of the sky during 72 hours of painting. 

Photo of the sky during 72 hours of painting. 

72 Hours of painting in progress. 

After the panels were finished, I brought them to Vermont to exhibit. I presented a temporal piece, meaning it evolved and changed over the course of the 10 days. The installation began with all of the panels on the left wall. They were magnetic and thus easily movable. I arranged them in the order in which they were painted. The first day is the innermost circle, the second day is the middle circle and the final is the outermost. 

Day 1: Exhibition at the Vermont College of Fine Arts, February 2013.

I began painting these panels at 12:00 AM on December 31, 2012 and commenced on January 2, 2013. In an effort to digest the differences between the Vermont and Australian sky, I devised a plan that I would follow for three days. Beginning at 12:00 AM on Sunday January 27, 2013, I picked a panel that I thought matched the sky at that time. Every hour, I picked a new panel, each time placing said panel outside to hang over a walkway for that hour. The experiment went as follows:

12:00 AM 27 January 2013: Picked a matching panel. Hung it outside.

1:00 AM 27 January 2013: Picked a new panel that matched the sky at this time. Hung it outside. Brought the 12:00 AM panel inside and hung it on the right wall in the corresponding time slot.

2:00 AM 27 January 2013: Picked a new panel that matched the sky at this time. Hung it outside. Brought the 12:00 AM panel inside and hung it on the right wall in the corresponding time slot.

Etc. for 72 hours.

Here I am comparing two panels to the sky outside trying to decide which one matches.

Then I tweeted about what I was thinking as well as what colors I would use to paint the panel if I were creating a new one for that time in Vermont.

Here is a screen shot of a few of the tweets.

Placing the panel outside.

Here it is hanging.

Bringing in the previous hours panel and putting it in a corresponding time slot on the right hand wall. 

Here is a close-up of the book. I added to it every few hours documenting my tweets.

This photo was taken in the middle of Day 1.

This photo was taken near after the last day. 

I chose not to schedule a performance time for this exhibition. I was very keen not to demand the attention of my audience. With that in mind, I was aware that many viewers would only experience this piece once, and thus miss it's evolution entirely. As a result, I decided to keep a written log of my thoughts for each time I looked at the sky. This took two forms. I wrote these thoughts on a handmade book at the foot of the exhibition walls noting the time, date and place of each log. Additionally, I decided to post the notes on Twitter and Facebook for two reasons. One of which being that a lot of things are experienced through mediated forms of technology. Thus someone could have a completely different understanding of the piece having only been able to view it online. I also did not give any explanation of this project nor did I supply photos until after it ended. The purpose was to invoke confusion and allow my audience to explore for themselves what my intentions may have been. Hopefully, in the end, arriving at a personal meditation of the sky in their area. 

Here are some more photos from the exhibition that I found interesting:

In Progress

Here are some photos of the installation of the exhibit. I put four magnets on each panel. On the wall, I installed galvanized steel nails, which are magnetic. The nails were placed in both walls in precisely such that a panel would line up exactly. To do this, I had to draw out a diagram directly on the walls and use a spare panel that had four holes cut out for where the nails needed to go. After I finished, I painted the walls and nails white and began hanging all 72 panels. 

A note to those who want to do something similar. Drill pilot holes! It will make the nailing go so much faster and with less harm to your hand/arm. I had a slow moment and only began doing this halfway through the installation. Oops.

Also, I do not have photos of the back of the panels or the 'template' panel that helped me tremendously when placing the nails. I will get those soon and post them. 

I decided to post about the exhibition process, because a lot of people were interested in it at the show. I think that hanging tactics are guarded and kept secret. This does not interest me. I am incredibly interested in what other artists consider when hanging an exhibition and how they pull off their ideas. If I can help you achieve your optimal exhibiting experience, then I have succeeded in continuing the dispersion of artistic ideas out into the world, which is the ultimate goal. 

If you have any questions or are interested in hearing more about the exhibition, feel free to email me.