Water Stories & Soundscapes this weekend

Posted on by
Reply
left: BioBAT Art Space presents Water Stories, June 8 2024 - May 3, 2024 Opening reception Saturday June 8th, 5 - 8 pm Right: Caramoor presents Soundscapes, June 9 at 12:00pm - celebrate Caramoor's sound art and the opening of the grounds! Free event!

Two events this weekend!
Saturday (June 8) is the opening of Water Stories, an exhibition at BioBAT Art Space in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. My friend Anne Hollænder and I are presenting a new version of our interactive musical installation Water the Sounds. The opening event is 5-8pm on Saturday, but if you can’t make it, the show will be up for almost a year. The venue can be hard to find, so check the directions!
Sunday (June 9) is Soundscapes, the annual celebration of sound art at Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts. Come out to see the latest sound sculpture commissions and visit the permanent ones like my Stone Song! Caramoor is a pleasant ride out of the city on Metro North, so you get to start at Grand Central Terminal.

Performance: Foulbrood Orchestra, 5PM Saturday Feb 17, at BioBAT Art Space, Brooklyn

Posted on by
Reply

Join me, sound artists Thessia Machado and John Roach, and violinist Concetta Abbate as we swarm from location to location in the vast, dark, and echoing ground floor spaces of the Brooklyn Army Terminal. The show starts around 5, but come early to explore the exhibition – there’ll be some delicious honey ice cream available to sample courtesy of B-Line Ice Cream, honey mulled wine, and some other bee themed takeaways. John has posted some previews of the performance on Instagram here and here. We’re all working on weird new instruments for this gig!

The performance is part of the exhibition “Embodied Futures and the Ecology of Care” at BioBAT Art Space in Sunset Park and is an extension of John Roach’s installation “Scorched Honey Archive” that explores the complex ecological role of honeybees and other pollinators. BioBAT has more information about the exhibition and more upcoming events.

Getting to BioBAT Art Space can be confusing, because the Brooklyn Army Terminal is a vast maze! Do not enter BAT from 2nd Avenue – take 58th or 63rd St all the way to the parking lot on the river, and you’ll find BioBAT’s entrance facing the river towards the south end of the gigantic building. (Google will tell you it’s in the middle, and Apple will say it’s the north end. Lies!) You can even take the ferry to Sunset Park / BAT and you’re almost there!

Teaser: testing a new instrument I’m working on

ancient animals

Posted on by
1

To learn how to work with clay, I’ve been copying ancient animals that I find on the web. These were made, with air-dry clay and acrylic paint, between November 2021 and April 2022. Here they are, arranged from youngest to oldest.

cute rounded whale in black stone

Whale effigy, Chumash, 1200-1600 CE

Musée des Beaux Arts, Montreal

my clay copy of the whale, painted black
whale copy seen from the back
a pleased looking clay dog, reclining, with sleepy eyes.

Rattle dog from Athens, 3rd century BCE

greecehighdefinition.com

my version of the rattle dog, in clay painted to look weathered
dog copy seen from the side
yes, my rattle dog really rattles!
elegant abstract horse with smooth curved limbs and painted details

Horse, ancient Greek, Boeotian, 6th century BCE

bidsquare.com

my copy of the horse, painted to look weathered, not as elegant as the original
my copy of the horse, seen from behind
an abstract bull-like figure with rounded horns and short legs

Animal figurine, Late Mycenaean (14th–13th c. BCE)

Museum of Cycladic Art

my copy of the figure, painted to look weathered, seen from the front
my less elegant copy, in weathered paint, seen from the side
a little carved hedgehog in white stone, with short legs, a perky nose, and an engraved grid pattern representing the spines. It's standing on a dark stone cart with wheels.

Hedgehog on wheels, Susa, Iran, Middle Elamite period (1500–1200 BCE)

Musée du Louvre

my clay copy of the hedgehog in weathered white paint, with a much bigger nose and clumsier modeling. It doesn't have a cart with wheels.
another view of my copy.
Maybe someday I’ll make wheels for my hedgehog…
a perky little dog with pointy ears, curly tail, spots, and only three legs

Spotted dog, Pakistan, Chanhu-Daro, 2600–1900 BCE

Museum of Fine Arts Boston

my copy of the dog, painted to look weathered. It has a longer, less cute face, and still only 3 legs.
a front view of my dog copy.
a grizzled and tough looking boar, its side heavily slashed

Boar, Tepe Sarab, Iranian Neolithic, 9th millennium BCE

reddit

my copy of the boar, painted to look weathered, slashed down the sides
front view of my boar copy, showing how narrow it is