Reception April 6 6-9pm – 225 S 2nd Street Milwaukee, WI
Il Bosco/The Wonder Gallery is proud to present a beautiful three month exhibition of works by artists and craftspeople from around the country, curated by outsider artist Anne Marie Grgich
“A common thread weaving throughout the work is a celebration of the persistence of wild nature in the midst of the anthropocene. Forms and shapes resembling nests, webs and burrows abound in work that interfaces with “nature” (human and non-human) on levels both metaphysical and scientific, allegorical and literal.
The work can be seen collectively as a celebration of the wonder and awe of the interdependence of all sentient beings as well as an alarm call for the protection and preservation of wild spaces. The exhibition is an opportunity for meditation on the stabilizing and healing force of the planetary biosphere, beyond the obsessive human desire to corral and control. In this surrender to natural forces the artists align with the mission of the gallery, which specializes in primarily handmade and sustainable wares.” -AMG
Below are my contributions to the show. A series of moments from a vision I had when contemplating what it is I feel when I say “I feel good when out in nature.”
Thank you to Il Bosco for allowing me to have one of your windows for a few months. I love your space and you have wonderful taste, if I do say so myself.
And thank you to Anne Marie, for the inclusion. Here’s to more! Cheers!
Curators Niki Nolin nikinolin@gmail.com Mike Benedetto mikeofillinois@gmail.com Paté Conaway pateville@hotmail.com Cathi Schwalbe casbah3d@gmail.com
Concept Two simple words – be mine – a valentine staple.
I chose to create an alternative method of calling out to the greater out there… for a loved one. One that would help your plea be heard as it is a noise maker comprised of bells, tins and nails which when struck or shook can help you stand out, cause you ain’t the only one out here looking for love.
Sold to another love seeking fellow artist in this very show! Cheers!
“Drawing it’s name from Joseph Nye’s theory of cultural heritage as a form of non-coercive power, Soft Power explores the dynamic contrast between soft materials and so-called ‘”hard”‘ ideas. Using traditional processes, these artists have created potent contemporary declarations of resistance, resilience, love, and rebuke.” -write up by TAM
21 artists including myself are in this show and it’s SO BIG! During the install someone mentioned one possible critique about the density of the show but I immediately countered with an actuality we can’t and shouldn’t deny… the show is ever more representative of our being … that we are still who we are with our own stories, and in a lot of cases these stories are heavy… and yet we stand here, colorful and next to others as we make our way through it. It is a lovely reflection of our world, I say. I am honored and thankful to be included!
I call my piece Soft Tower of Power. It is an installation. And although born of heavy emotions, has become a gift of sorts that I metaphorically give to you. I was invited by Ellen Ito, who I’d like to say than you to. Thank you! As well as to the Tacoma Art Museum. When I heard the title I immediately was compelled to look up the words. So simple, surely they had a nice literal launchpad for my imagination, which has become my M.O. I touch on the notion of Soft through my use of the materials themselves having been and being malleable, and Power comes through, at least for me, in the visual rise of the piece, growing up from the ground, standing as my ancestors intended their own ritually inclined centers of communion. The heavy emotions I mentioned were grief, resentment and a feeling of detachment. I moved to the PNW 11 years ago and although I certainly experienced and will continue to appreciate the glorious nature as often as I could and can, I didn’t really find community. I met a handful of lovely people here, but not enough for me. I was also being denied work for a long stretch of time, despite my being an intelligent, creative, skilled, bilingual, exotic individual with great references. This simply is not where I am meant to be, for now. I understand that, now. I had also left a thriving family who laugh out loud and are boisterous, friends who speak with their whole bodies and strangers who openly give compliments or even say a simple hi to me on the street, or maintain eye contact.. I have missed that terribly!
So, that unattached feeling, the lack of connection to the people I was dealing with had me search for it. I decided to build a space, a place for one to go and be. I provided the tools themselves to allow for the work to be done and chairs so you can really get into it or just sit back and reflect, visit, commune, rest. The blocks I hope relay a sense of purpose, a nod to the further step taken in the holding of space, to one of participation and acknowledgement. I decided to move to the Midwest to be closer to my family, my tribe, my lake… and I already feel better. I am now able to see this opportunity given to me by the Tacoma Art Museum, as a sweet send off, a Thank You For Your Time parting gift.
All the pieces that comprise the tower are transmutable. They can be arranged flat, around a corner… alone or together. Here’s a GIF of some options. I’m not good with tech so please be careful… the strobbing effect could be too much for some.
In reading about the Nahuatl, a people from land where my people are most certainly descendants of, I came across a custom that describes a sacred bundle; the Tlaquimilolli. It is very similar to a First Nations right, where-in the divine force itself is welcomed and symbolically bound in a cloth and is wrapped about some special thing in order to keep it safe. It can serve as a symbol of the groups identity even, conveying the oneness of the tribe, thus strengthening the group as a whole. I have for years now made such quilts as these on display for my own loved ones… bringing myself to tears thinking I have made something to keep them warm. My people. I have given them on birthdays and as welcome to the family presents. Instinct it seems has forced my hand and I willingly oblige as I am want to create with some intention.
It is my wish to have imbued these bundles for you.. stranger, with love and so, choose to bind the blankets with a heart I molded out of clay. An obvious metaphor, maybe, but love seems indeed more of what we need… more of.
In many traditions throughout our world the gift of a blanket symbolizes an honor and sometimes even a claim of someone as your chosen family or to offer a sense of luck and prosperity to a new union… in all cases it most certainly means that you care and want the receiver to know that.
Blanket as maker: a chance to ‘work’ through some manual methodical procedural practices as image: I see London I see France actually I see a pixelated hyperspace implying conduit as word: to cover to wrap and protect, charging the thing itself
Regarding the Sake Sets.
Ceremony is important as it puts one in place… and you can imbibe a spirit while your at it.
Regarding Dry and Cracked Pots for pots sake.
This was my first foray into the use of sodium silicate…. I will be revisiting as the cracks speak to me.
This body of work is an attempt at providing a space and the tools to commune with the divine.
Having had a traditionally catholic upbringing, up till being given the chance to decide whether to continue to participate, I reflected on one particular moment when I was made to kneel on dried beans on the front porch of one of the church leaders’ homes for “talking too much”.
Ever since then I’ve been against organized religion but have always appreciated the communion of it, especially the hand shaking of thy neighbor after being preached to about god knows what… I was busy talking.
It is in that vein, the appreciation I have for communing with whatever it is that supports us as a whole that I dedicate this installation to.
I was initially inspired to broach this subject after being awed by one of David’s cast-away pieces, which resembled a temple. I decided to recreate that temple’s insides and began to imagine what we would find there-in.
It was also when Saundra shared what she had planned to contribute that solidified the story for me. Her paintings on pillows gave the comfort factor and were very reminiscent of stained glass windows.
Here’s a peek at some of my pieces and parts. There’s a tentative closing reception mid-March
i should get a job or a connect, at least, with a bar restaurant… i love working with bottlecaps!sister and brother rattleurns for…making duecount them blessings!my version of the babblings of the man at the pulpit
My goal is to provide a space where-in one can commune with the divine. I have used my time to create some tools to use as a bridge/land line.
Come thru if your around! And let me know if you go I can meet you there and we can discuss!
Luh May-zohnTables set!The convergence; David Saundra and I work well together!Sweeter still is knowing you know I love you
Ultimately the “big” idea is to honor my 15 year old self with what my people refer to as a Quinceñero… which typically is not a thing as the event is geared particularly to individuals born within the societal context referred to as female. I myself (born/”present”/identify as male).. wish I would have had one and this show would be me doing so in spirit.
Currently I am working with fabric and clay, respectively, and I have attempted to use this installation to showcase my artistic sensibilities mixed with my sense of humor and wonder at what moments of ritualistic celebration can look like. I, like most, have an active imagination and do not shy away from the weird. I honestly and sincerely hope you can see inside this space a chance taken to share that weird.
I have also recently lost my big brother and want to honor him and our inclination to accumulate physical reminders of experiences had and appreciated for what they offered us. Be them a laugh, tears, a good night full of dancing and slight debauchery, and the birth of new members to our clan. I do this literally and metaphorically through the use of objects that have found a way to intrigue me enough to stay and somehow inspire my future artistic endeavors. My brother’s name is Elliot Luis Ortiz. I know he loved me and I continue to love him and wish if there is a chance he can see this and your faces as you witness it, that he is pleased.
The showing is ongoing… from now till the end of this year (2020).
At the corner of 150th and 6th in downtown Burien, Washington at the Maverick.
My big brother Elliot.. I call him El1st day starting installation of backdrop. 35′ wide x 13′ high.
Corner of 6th Ave SW and 150th Street till DECEMBER 31ST, 2020
Actual layout.. on the driveway. I had to climb onto the house to get it all in the photo.
first arbor first shingle wall first window install… this is to be my new new clay studio!
Ritual doll class with the lovely Kook
onesiepowa! hope this makes me a contender for an upcoming show!
for the child left behind after my dad was taken
PowerBttm
made this happen with some ty pennington fabric i found at my old job and the chair frame itself was payment from another job which i miss, but the owner spent way more than he brought in
Tre Fey Yeti – holloween 2017. i spent it with an alcoholic who led me astray. but i pranced none the less on the streets of capital hill, was dry humped thrice and asked a plenty… guess
What possessed us to paint the walls white, i do not know
Theirs and Theres. i found this set with some ugly fabric on it and now hopefully i can sell it. maybe thats what ill try and do on the side for a while. buy some sell some. whos interested?
QueenBitch aka SHIM
myDM’s
MojoMarker…sold!
indecent thoughts in the middle of the day in the middle of the park. would if i could get away with it ;”)
Famaly!
MagickMao!!
Bob came to me one day and now lives in the yard. He makes it fun to get dirt under my nails…
at the burien community center, right next to a lovely little green space that includes a valley, a playground and gorgeous cedar trees on saturday evening i and many other artists will have art on display and for sale. half the proceeds go to us and the other half to the burien arts league or something like that. here are what i did for this years show… i was half into it and half ready to give in. i thought it would be so easy to get 10 panels that measure 8″x8″ and do whatever i want. i struggled with the idea of only getting $20 per piece, so i feel like i held back. in the end though i figure they are sketches for future pieces. come thru if you can and see all the work… should be interesting :”)
my mom says she doesn’t believe in magic or “jinxes”… but she does believe in “god”. here’s where our world meets. the other day i attempted a digestible, yet poetic perspective; which in not so many words amounted to “god is us, the experience we are having right now, this conversation, everything around us.. that’s god”. she appeared open to it, that idea, though i believed her to sincerely feel that “god” was somewhere out side of us. we will continue that discussion next weekend. for now…we also needed a merman in the bathroom, to keep track of the soap and toothbrushes..
and then the plants have been asking for bigger pots… so not to let them down, here, i say
I was chosen, along with 49 other artists, to participate and help celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the Winnetka Community House by decorating a [2 1/2′ fiberglass] STAR! They have partnered me with the Hadley School for the Blind! I am just getting started and am using that one semester of upholstery! Hope you like the sneak peek pics of the process :”) I guess I should have taken a photo of it before I started working on it… oh well
“Inspiration for your star sculpture:” ‘I THOUGHT PRIMARILY OF THE ORGANIZATION I WAS PAIRED WITH AND SO WANTED IT TO BE EXTREMELY TACTILE. THE DYNAMIC DIMENSIONAL QUALITY MIXED WITH THE COLORS ARE FOR THOSE BLESSED WITH THE GIFT OF SIGHT.’
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