WE'RE ALL STRANGERS HERE at EMP Collective

From EMP's event write-up:

Our latest gallery show, We're All Strangers Here, opens Friday, June 27th. 

Inner worlds collide into extraterrestrial landscapes as artists create new terrains to be interpreted, reinterpreted, and to get lost in. 

We're All Strangers Here features the installation works of Gina Alexandra Denton, April Camlin, Hoesy Corona, Nikki Painter, Lisa Krause, and Laure Drogoul. 

This show is organized by curator Sara Barnes and EMP Artistic Director, Carly J. Bales. 

EMP Collective  *  307 West Baltimore Street  *   Baltimore, MD 

Opening night: June 27, 7-10PM   Closing Event: Friday, July 25, 7-9PM

"Relics of a Disappearing World"

Detail

Eamon and I wheat-pasting during installation

Gina Denton

April Camlin

Laure Drogoul

Hosey Carona

Nikki Painter

BINGO at Current Space

Before I left for an apprenticeship at Bread and Puppet in Vermont, I sent work to be included in another group project created by Andrew Liang and Michael Benevento.  

Each year since I've lived in Baltimore, Andrew and Mike come up with games or other large group projects that include many of our friends for art and production help.  Years in the past- I was involved with Human Foosball and  Ball Movement II: Mole Balls and CART.  I'm sorry I missed the event, but Eamon Espey has graciously offered to write a scene report, and I'll add that in here when he's back from his trip to Upstate NY- where he's on the crew helping to build an Earthship until September.

July 13-14, 8pm-12am

$10 per card, valid for all games, all night

During the summer of 2011 Current Space presented CART, an exhibition that transformed part of the gallery space into a fully-functioning mini-market which featured affordably-priced works of art made by fine artists from all around the world.  BINGO serves as an extension of the philosophy behind CART, namely that art is an essential part of everyday life and that all people, regardless of income or social status, should be able to afford to purchase fine art.  

For BINGO, Current Space will be transformed into a post-modern bingo hall. We will screen print limited edition bingo cards, which will be designed by different artists, and everyone who attends the exhibition and pays the entry fee will receive the bingo card design of their choice. Bingo will be played, of course, so additional cards (i.e. artwork) may be purchased to increase one's chances of winning. Prizes will consist of freebies from local businesses and musicians. Like the bingo that our grandparents play, BINGO will include a caller, prizes, and time to socialize, but unlike our elders' bingo, ours will include music, sound effects, and strobe lights.

Lisa Krause   

Eamon Espey

Michael Benevento and others building the ball tumbler

Andrew Liang

Project Director: * Michael Benevento * Andrew Liang *

Artists:  * Jordan Bernier * John Bohl * James Bouché * Monique Crabb *  

* Nate Cubeta * Laure Drogoul * Eamon Espey * Skye Gilkerson *  

* Marian Glebes * Mitchell Goodrich * Julianne Hamilton * Josh Van Horne *  

* Lou Joseph * Gary Kachadourian * Sarah Konigsburg * Lisa Krause * 

* Dina Kelberman * Andrew Liang * Skye McNeill * Miranda Pfeiffer * 

* Annie Rochelle * Nicole Rodrigues * Jasmine Sarp * Fred Scharmen *  

* David Ubias *

MC: * Jeff Mc Grath *

Sound FX: * Martin Kasey * Stephen Santillan *

Production Team: * Annie Rochelle * Kat Kinnick * Grace Davis *  

* James Bouché * Julianne Hamilton * Mariam Cooper * Sarah Dittrich *  

* Devin Martin * Kim Te * Bao Nguyen * Flannery Silva * Monique Crabb *

Special Thanks to: 

* Mike Shecter + Marian Glebes * Fluid Movement * Transmodern * 

part of the Artscape Gallery Network 

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Amulets

In the last few years I've been doing research on shrines and amulets. Then I use things I've found and collected in my own projects that are inspired by my research. Last year I made 30 each of three types of amulets to give everyone that met us in the desert last fall, and for some reason I didn't take any pictures of my process. I am making new ones now and documented them here.

The symbolism in these amulets is sourced from practices in place for protection of travelers and people in transition throughout African, Asian, Eastern European, Mediterranean, Mexican, Middle Eastern, and Native American Cultures.

I combined those different symbols into my own super-amulet.

As part of the packaging, I include keys to the symbolism:

BLUE BEAD: sky/sea, turquoise, maintains harmony (Mediterranean/Middle Eastern)

EYE: one of the most powerful protectors against evil, blue eye stares back at the unseen evil eye meant to harm (Italy/Greece/Turkey/Uzbekistan)

TANGLES/LABYRINTH: confuse or catch evil spirits & dreams and they loose their way (N. American Indian/Finland)

TREES/TWIGS: regrowth (Europe/Middle East/ Asia)

TRIANGLES: amulets made for travelers are crudely stitched and protect from illness and the evil eye (Egypt)

FEATHERS: guide good dreams and ensnare bad. they move through the air and thus connect the human and spirit world. (N. American Indian)

RED: blood of life, most potent force against evil, confronts darkness with a blaze of sun and light (Eastern Europe/Russia)

RED THREAD: tied to anyone in a transitional phase of life (Greece/Bulgaria)

RESIN/CLOVES: strong smells repel evil spirits (almost everywhere)

*----------------------*

These type of Amulets were part of the art show C A R T in July 2011 at Current Gallery. The idea behind the show was to turn the gallery into some kind of art mini-mart.

Andrew Liang made a special display for them on the wall to the left of the register, next to Eamon Espey and Andrew's chalkboard mural. Monique Crabb took these two pictures of things I put in the show.

Forum of 40 Champions- Curated by Gary Kachadourian

Forty champions, each possessing a special power, have been invited to create a warrior to enter the Minstallation Gallery and face the special powers of their peers.

Minstallation Gallery
Creative Alliance at The Patterson
3134 Eastern Ave. Baltimore, MD
Closing Reception, Saturday, April 10, 5-7pm
February 27 – April 10, 2010





Curated by Gary Kachadourian
Installation and Logo Design by Eamon Espey
Sound by Witch Hat
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=300706996682&ref=mf


I used this project as an opportunity to expand on my warriors that I had been making before. I added to the original 2 and made a bunch more. As with my shrines, I've been using stuff I pick up walking around. In this case some things include shells, seeds, stones, ground turquoise, cardinal bones, a humming bird's head, prize-winning chickens' feathers, and hair from rabbits, deer, and dog.

Clusterbomb Bears, creation and installation

For this series, I had been working with imagery by photojournalist Sean Sutton and Mines Advisory Group America (MAG). The images he provides cover the efforts of MAG to clear military debris from former conflict zones in areas such as Iraq, Cambodia, Lebanon, and Vietnam. Inspired by the visual impact of his documentation of the devastation coupled with news reports of people attempting to piece their lives together amongst bombs in Afghanistan and Iraq from National Public Radio, I wanted to help us envision the international landscape by setting it here.