All photos by Esther Cuan and Emily Rogers.
Mark and I were just in Reno for two weeks making and installing all the work for my current solo exhibition Will Have Been at the University of Nevada, Reno via a Gallery-as-Studio Residency. Many students an gallery staff were involved in the installation process. We met so many great people while there. Here are some images of the show being installed. Many thanks to all who helped out!
The front and back of the postcard for my upcoming two-person exhibition at the University of Dayton.
My good friend Fiona Short traveled from New Zealand via Glasgow where she is currently based to spend two and a half weeks with us preparing for our upcoming two-person show To Arrive Where We Started at 2739Edwin in Hamtramck in Detroit. We’ve been enjoying working steadily in the studio together in anticipation of the show.
To Arrive Where We Started | Amy Sacksteder and Fiona Short
18 August – 15 September 2012
Exhibition Public Reception: Saturday August 18 from 7 to 10pm
Regular Hours: 1pm – 5pm Saturday. Other hours by appointment
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We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time. T. S. Eliot
The exhibition “To Arrive Where We Started” grew out of conversations between Ypsilanti based Amy Sacksteder and New Zealander Fiona Short about common themes in their artistic practices. The title, a quote from T.S. Eliot, can be read as a summing up of their respective global wanderings or as a shared tendency of returning to earlier work to see what more it can reveal with time. Either way it indicates awareness of balancing new experience with reflection and looking again.
Sacksteder’s work is rooted in painting and drawing, but for this show might also include installation. Combining source material from her surroundings, life experiences and historical context, and often incorporating landscape and natural imagery, she constructs documents of time and place that are both beautiful and complexly referenced.
Short’s subtle and enigmatic photographs are grounded in the ordinary and are as much about the process of looking as about what is being looked at. Her images reveal a sense of place and order, engaging the viewer in the way that a quiet voice may command attention. One senses that for Short, each image is a small lesson, a discovery of unexpected delight, and that each photograph is an opportunity to communicate this discovery.
Biographies
Amy Sacksteder received a BA in English from the University of Dayton in 2001 and an MFA in painting from Northern Illinois University in 2004. She currently lives and works in Ypsilanti, Michigan, where she is an Associate Professor of Art at Eastern Michigan University.
Fiona Short completed her MFA at The Glasgow School of Art in 2009 and has since travelled to New Zealand, Iceland and the US to participate in residencies and exhibitions. She currently lives and works in Glasgow, and teaches in the Continuing Education Department at The Glasgow School of Art.
The two artists met at the SÍM Residency Reykjavik in June 2010.
My fantastic friend Lauren, who runs the vintage shop Dear Golden, just featured my house and studio (with glimpses of new artwork) on her blog. It’s refreshing to see everything through her lens. Thanks Lauren!
There is not much more edifying and enlightening than having a truly superlative writer examining one’s work. Thank you Hila for this lovely post. It’s an honor to have my work featured alongside that of Philipp Haager.
Usually I try to keep my posts to art-related things in my life, but I have been working on this little project to surprise my husband, Mark for some time now and wanted to share it here. I think it’s justified since there are some studio images there. It’s a cool story. Enjoy!
photo credit: Lauren Rice
Last summer Detroit artist Lauren Rice visited my (old storefront) studio in Ypsi. She wrote a great article about my work and her experience (which just came out the other day) for The Studio Visit. Thanks Lauren!
For the past few months we’ve been moving out of our old house and into our new house. This included consolidating both studio spaces into this one new space. These are two images of the studio in its current, lovely state.
Here are some before and progress images. As you can see, the studio was the dumping ground for some time while we put the rest of the house in order.
Thanks to Joe and Mark for all of your hard work! They tore out and replaced bad drywall, Joe painted the whole thing and Mark installed a sink. We also had the skylight put in which makes a huge difference in the amount of light the room gets. It’s a really fantastic place to be making; I already see changes in my work from my new surroundings.
The exhibition LOST and FOUND took place at three different venues: the PASSENGER Temporary Project Space in Detroit, Starkweather Art Center in Romeo, Michigan and Detroit MONA in the Russell Industrial Center.
The work in all of the spaces is being documented, but for now here’s an iphone image of my painting Floe, installed at MONA.