…here in Brussels now installing a solo show at think..21 gallery.  Considering I jetted out mid-residency to do this show and I am also planning on opening the swf show June 18th, I consider myself busy.  Busy is something an artist should always desire and I am grateful I have so much going on.  My collaboration with Think.21 makes this show certainly one of the best supported efforts I have ever been able to make.  The result is some of my finest work and I say that with steady humility.  I have done a few shows over the years, this one is special.  There is a variety of works I have had the assistance of fabricators crafting and finishing the pieces, there is a giant site specific styrobot, over 20 framed drawings, 3 wall hung sculptures, and of course my banana-man.  10 hour days, jet lag, and the stress of installing has got my anxiety creeping up, but the thrill of the installation keeps me focused.  I’ll be back at the swf late next week and will begin the final stages of that show, FLOTSAM

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…….my itinerary is not in stone yet but I will travel to Brussels for a solo exhibition which opens May 28th.  I will be building a large styrofoam robot on site, and as usual, about half of the entire exhibition will be site specific.  There are several pieces being fabricated and its always a challenge to work in such a way overseas.  I work closely with this particular gallery, Think.21, who understands me and my work intimately enough to negotiate complex production methods – even when I am not there.  I develop drawings and plans, research production methods, and then they source the best fabricator.  “The guy doesn’t even make his own work?” true, in some cases, I seek a level of high production so technically specific it only makes sense to use professional technical crafts people.  I am sure we can find plenty of masters throughout history whom have had their work constructed by teams of assistants, but it does sound odd to some who still only understand art making as a craft exercise.  I am a maker and always will be, but in my practice I continue to believe I can and should use every media, method and technical advantage I can access.

The SWF show is coming right along, and I even have a title.  FLOTSAM.  The random floating debris encountered in the open ocean is referred to as flotsam, not to be confused with jetsom  which is the jettisoned articles a vessel will throw over board prior to running a ground or capsizing.  I imagine our visual culture to be a sea.  A sea filled with Flotsam so thick and dangerous that navigating through it is treacherous.  Imagine the things we see are bumped into, sometimes even attaching themseleves to us, clinging to our consciousness.  The work in this show is synthesized visual flotsam.

Join Artist in Residence Michael Salter and his students completing their BFA degree in Digital Arts from the University of Oregon Art Department as they present brief descriptions of their research. Considered to be the generators of our future visual culture, these artists and designers will present their motivations, insights and year-long BFA project thesis. Pizza, pop and junk food will be served.

Featured students on Thursday, April 30:
Zach Rose
Andrew Parnell
Daniel Strong
Mac Schubert
Dustin Dybevik
Peter Baston
Travis Bachmeier

UO/SWF Artist in Residence Student Presentations
Thursday, April 30, 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
AND
Thursday, May 28, 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
John Ross Plaza Studio
3623 SW River Pkwy., Portland, OR  97239 map it

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
RSVP appreciated, but feel free to stop by
RSVP: communityrelations@southwaterfront.com or 503.222.778

…though my intention was not to specifically investigate the meanings and implications of what make a space a space, or a neighborhood a neighborhood, my work inevitably responds to my environment.  Fascinated by the layers of visual information that cover our world, I investigate, cull, research, dissect, inflate, translate, synthesize, hybridize, cannibalize, slice, dice, chop, and julienne the images and objects I see.  This has long been a basis to my research.  There are 2 pics; one is the progress I am making on a large wall painting in the studio space, the other is a new graphic I drew as part of a collection of icons I have developed over the last 8 years.  These icons are inspired by the weird array of signs, logos and branding I find our current visual culture invested with.  I have drawn nearly 500 of them and the number continues to grow, as you can see the construction in the neighborhood may be of some influence.

well the styrofoam has begun to trickle in….but I sure am gonna need more, a lot more.  Please keep me in mind as you move through your worlds, knowing I am going to breath new life in to the stuff.  Don’t forget to peruse my website sometime, as when I start beating the bush for styrofoam I sometimes am referred to as the ‘styrofoam artist’, which is really just a piece of what I do.  I have a long history of using what I find and trying to change the way we see it.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the stuff, but I am as likely to use any number of materials at any time – and this I believe is indicative of a contemporary practice.  I’ll use any media necessary to the success of the work.  Essentially I am invested first and foremost in drawing, as I see it as the beginning of all visual communication.  I just happen to draw primarily on a computer.  I plan on making a 3 part installation, specifically for the studio site.  Part of the installation will be a very large sculpture, there will also be a giant painting directly to the wall, and I intend to have at least 25 frames of a portion of my collection of drawings.

Last week I took a few photos under the overpass.

The purpose of the original Artist in Residence program in the South Waterfront neighborhood was to create the opportunity for artists to bring their vision, perspective and energy to bear on the emergence of this new vertical community in the City of Portland. Specific to this program, artists representing all media were invited to create time-based, temporary work that explored and promoted a sense of place in the South Waterfront district. The goal of this accumulated practice of installation, performance and written/spoken word was to inspire dialogue, inquiry, curiosity and participation among the South Waterfront residents, as well as the people of Portland.

Following a program cycle curated and produced by South Waterfront Artist in Residence Linda K. Johnson, the program featured daily, weekly and major scale projects by Johnson, as well as by 13 guest artists. Johnson maintained a Storefront Studio on the ground floor of the John Ross Tower that was the hub of activity.

To review the work that was produced by Linda K. Johnson and her fellow guest artists please read through the blog posts below.

Hmmmm – how odd!  What exactly is this?  Seems to be 4′x4′ with hinged appendages.  Is that a stage? A coat? A device for moving?  All of the above.  This is little glimpse of the riffing on the standard 4′x4′ Ten Tiny Dance format that will happening this Saturday, Aug. 2nd, at the South Waterfront. Ten Tiny Dances/South Waterfront – A Performance Walkabout is an opportunity for Portlanders to see some great new works by some of the city’s finest independent dance artists all the while strolling the South Waterfront neighborhood – tram to river – amid live music.  Ten new, site-based movement works are being created for 10 different locations around the district. Participating artists include: Linda Austin, Cydney Wilkes, Tere Mathern, POV Dance, Hand2Mouth Theatre, Sojourn Theatre, Hot Little Hands, Ko & Co., Rhiza A+D, and Ten Tiny Dances founder – Mike Barber.  This particular object is part of the performance work being developed by Rhiza A+D, an architecture and design collective.  Expect a lot more unusual formats for this TTD.  While the 4′x4′ scale remains the common thread, the artists have been invited to challenge the how and the where of that structure. Presented by the Artist in Residence program and co-curated by Mike and me, this TTD offers audience members the opportunity to curate their own order of viewing, meaning – one can see all 10 performances, or sit and watch one over and over again.  The 10 dances will be performed simultaneously in continual rotation every 15 minutes.  A menacingly loud horn will signal the start of the next dance.  While this format will make for some very tired artists by the end of the day, it also makes for a very playful chance for viewers to have some autonomy over their experience.  I am always a fan of tha .To be part of this event, bring yourself to the the South Waterfront by 4p. Check in at the information booth on the corner of SW Moody and Curry to get your performance map and cool orange wristband.  First dance begins on the dot at 4:15p, so if you are not walking towards your first site by 4p you may miss one.  Be sure to bring some loose change so you can imbibe in the great treats for sale.  Oh, and in between the dances there will be these groups of performers walking around playing some fantastic music.  Please consider joining us for this free event.  Secure bike parking is available at SW Moody and Curry, as the South Waterfront is an easy, green commute by bike, streetcar, tram or carpool.

I have wanted to work with the amazing visual artist – Bill Will, for a long time. He has worked on and off with choreographers for many years, and I have always deeply admired his wit, subtle politics and use of materials. I considered it a milestone in my own making when – about 10 years ago, he went out of his way to let me know that he thought my then current project was really exciting. For me, it was a huge affirmation about how I was working. So, when it was clear that the Artist in Residence Program was going to go forward, I called him up to see if he wanted to collaborate on a major scale project for the park. Most often empty and lonely for activity, I wanted to create an event for the South Waterfront Neighborhood Park that would help to dream it into being; tatto it with the life and energy that neighborhood parks should have. This one will become a formal neighborhood park by June of 2009. The short story is that Bill said yes, and we began the very daunting process of trying to create a work that could, in scale and energy, inhabit the nearly two city blocks of open space that the park occupies. Many stunning ideas have lived and died over the last 9 months. A neighborhood in constant, dramatic physical transformation is a tough place to work. One turns around one day and the whole thing looks different. How to create something that can ride the flux, weather changes? Bill’s installation 20×20 and our shared creation of Promenade are our responses to the land, the history, the natural elements and the spirit of gathering that parks instill. Working in close collaboration with sound designer Seth Nehil and lighting designer Bill Boese, along with a core group of dancers: Daniel Addy, Noelle Stiles, Tahni Holt, Eric Nordstrom, Kathleen Keogh, Katie Arrants, Rebecca Harrison and Tracy Broyles, we are creating a very singular performance gathering. We hope you will join us on Saturday, July 19th an hour before sunset. PROMENADE

• Saturday, July 19th
• South Waterfront Neighborhood Park, SW Moody@ Curry
• gathering begins an hour before sunset
• Free; picnics and all ages welcome
• Go green with the tram, streetcar, bicycle or a carpool
• Safe, secure and free bicycle parking available at SW Moody and Curry

One-of-a-kind and unrepeatable, Promenade is an episodic dance, sound and light performance event that involves more than 30 performers, bicycles and a rising moon. Coinciding with Bill Will’s July guest artist residency as part of the AiR Program, Promenade will emerge from Will’s installation - 20 x 20, on Saturday evening, July 19th. Almost two city blocks in scale, 20 x 20 is a site-specific installation using simple materials that calls attention to the land, its simple proportions and subtle topography, as well as emphasizes the movement of the sun and wind throughout the day and the changes evoked by the natural phenomena of sunset, dusk, and moonrise. Promenade invites the viewer to traverse the installation at one’s leisure – sitting, resting and engaging as desired. One night only, Promenade references the rural, the urban, the past and the future of this area of the city.

Last July, when I received confirmation that the Artist in Residence Program had received a green light to go forward, I began making lists of artists – artists whose work I admired, artists whose work consistently seemed to address site and place, and artists who welcomed transparency and community interaction in their work.  It came as no surprise to me to find my long time colleague – visual artist Linda Wysong, on all of these lists. I have known Linda for 20 years and created my first two large-scale site-relevant works in collaboration with her.  We met when I was trying to teach myself about stillness in movement by modeling for visual art classes at PNCA.  She was the teacher and we just got to talking between sittings.  Turns out that we had some very parallel interests and embarked on a collaboration.   Over the years we have worked together on several pivotal projects – Intersection, Finding the Forest and PipeDreams to suggest a few.  Linda’s work is absolutely singular in this community and I have been deeply grateful to have her as a peer and often a kind of mentor.  She makes work that is genre-bending – and has, long before it became so popular to do so.  So, one can imagine my excitement when she was interested in being a guest in the AiR program.  True to her style, she has been preparing for this month for months, carefully researching and forming relationships to support her project – Backyard Conversations.  Comprised of a series of performance tours and video portraits, Linda’s project actively seeks to raise questions and provoke dialogue about how and why we build what we build.  Combining history, science, engineering and the anecdotal, each of the three tour opportunities  – Water: The Machine and the Garden, Constructing Community and Footprints Along the River, invite attendees to experience the South Waterfront district from singular points of view.  The project culminates on Saturday evening, June 28th, with the screening of a series of video portraits representing residents, construction workers and other individuals who work or interact with the neighborhood.  To sign up for a tour, please go to here.

In the last several years, our country’s cultural historians have slowly begun to tell the story of the early Chinese immigrant experience in the U.S.  Denied the opportunity to own land, gain citizenship or transport their families to our mainland, these almost exclusively male Chinese laborers suffered deep hardship, all the while clearing much of the land that is now most prized in our great cities located along the entire stretch of the west coast – Vancouver, B.C. to Los Angeles.  For his May project, AiR guest artist, Horatio Hung-Yan Law -  a native of Hong Kong but New Yorker since the age of 16, will explore how our cities might look and feel differently had the Chinese had more opportunity to assert themselves on the cities that they so painstakingly transformed on behalf of others.  In a three-part installation that traverses both the AiR studio and the South Waterfront neighborhood, Horatio will use common materials that we associate with either a Chinese or Asian lineage – rice, bamboo, chopsticks, t’ai chi – to play with how the South Waterfront district might be different today had the Chinese laborers been able to establish a presence there.  Please join Horatio for his opening reception on Saturday, May 3rd from 11a-2p in the AiR studio, and for the free t’ai chi workshops that accompany his residency in preparation for the T’ai Chi for 1,000 gathering on Saturday, May 31st.  In addition to the workshop on May 3rd during the reception, workshop times include:  May 14th, 10a-noon; May 21st, 6-8p; May 28th, 6-8p. To sign-up, please contact Horatio at: horatiolaw@gmail.com