She’s Hung…

So my head is in a new place. The piece is installed. She even has a name. And I have installation photos…photos that I’ll post after the opening. Actually, I think she’s a great photo opportunity…

One of the Space4Art curators photographing me photographing her.

Many thanks to Linda Litteral for encouraging me to propose for this, to also think off the wall (and onto the ceiling). And for helping me hang this beast on a hot day in a non-air-conditioned space, and for having water, because I left mine at home. It took two ladders, fishing line, nails, and the magical thread and needle she had in her car (I find that amusing…I’m the fiber artist. She’s a painter and ceramicist, but she had needle and thread.). And about an hour and a half later, we were done.

It was a relief to drive away from that. I was worried about how she’d turn out, about how she’d be in the space, and I think she’s fine. She’s awesome even. There are things I would change, fix, but then that’s always the way when we hang them. I wish I’d done this. I wish I’d done that. Here’s one: I wish I’d given her nipples. It bugs me that she doesn’t have any.

Anyway, the exhibit is called Response and it’s at Space4Art in downtown San Diego. The opening is this Saturday from 7-10 PM. There will be performances, soundscapes (some interactive), art, a food truck, and refreshments (whatever that means). And one crazy 17-foot-long woman quilt.

Here’s the official PR blurb: Space 4 Art’s biennial fall show focusing on artist collaborations returns with an emphasis on how art can be displayed in novel ways, viewed from different perspectives, and used to activate unexpected areas. Thanks to a grant from the San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture, Space 4 Art was able to support invited artists to consider new ways to re-contextualize their work, draw inspiration from the building and grounds to create site-specific pieces, and work together to create new and unexpected collaborations for Response. The show features sixteen recognized local artists from a variety of disciplines working around the theme of shifting perspectives and creating responses to the buildings and grounds of Space 4 Art, as well each other’s work. Response includes installations, immersive sonic environments, interactive pieces, dance, and musical performances – both inside and outside, on-stage and in the ground.

So I wish I could say I jumped right into the two projects that need finishing, but what really happened was planning for school and doing grades and inputting grades on the computer, and then some writing that needed to happen, and not a lot else. Plus I walked the dog a lot and it was hot, which kinda sucks my brain out. In fact, what’s strange is I don’t think I slept last night…at least I remember looking at the clock pretty much every hour and feeling like I’d just been lying there, wide awake, the entire time. Like my eyes wouldn’t stay shut. Like I’d had way too much caffeine. It was truly bizarre, and this morning, I kinda feel like I’ve been hit by a truck.

But hopefully tonight I will give up on grading early and start sewing, because if I don’t do that soon, I will be doing that crazy last-minute dance of 4 hours a day after work, trying to get it done, and being stressed beyond belief. I don’t need that. And yes, I do some of that to myself, but I honestly thought this was a cool opportunity, and sometimes when those present themselves you just have to say Fuck It and do them, because you don’t know when you will have the opportunity again.

So I did.