Books without shelves; Woodhouse at PSB; Kingwill in the Park

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

By Henry Sweets

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-Jenny Dowd has been making books that don’t need a shelf.
Her installation in the Artspace Loft Gallery is almost an elegy for the card catalogue, or at least the way information was gathered before the digital information age took over.
“I wish I could import the smell of a library in here,” she said.

Books, she says, have a story. They are personal, not just because they have an author, but because they have been held and read by other people. They have a smell. The information inside of them can be obsolete, but still be a comforting presence on a shelf.

The human aspect of gathering information is something she fears will be lost as the Internet continues to become the king of research.
For her installation at the Artspace Loft Gallery, Dowd wanted to transform the space into an experience. She wanted to make a place where books without shelves flux in and out of the white walls and the concrete floor.

”You walk in and hopefully get a feeling of loss, and information that’s fleeting,” Dowd said. The installation represents the “book once the information has been taken out of it,” she said, but it is also a celebration of sorts for the way information is always evolving, and always in flux.

To make the books, Dowd mixes her own porcelain recipe, and adds about 10 percent paper (toilet paper) into the clay. She lets it sit and rot for a couple of months, which increases its plasticity, before she makes it into slabs and constructs the books. A material called Terra Sigillata is added to the books before firing to give them a textured, often pitted, surface.
The fired porcelain is stained, sometimes with tea or graphite, and frequently covered in wax. Details of gauze, hair and human teeth add to the almost flesh-like eeriness of them.

Dowd’s intentions aside, the installation will be transform the space into an aesthetic, perhaps even spiritual experience.
Books surround us everywhere, and their presence is becoming more decorative and less practical, so a wake for their once mystical and expansive presence in our lives is more culturally relevant than one might think.

The book "Collection" is a documentation of Dowd's exhibition with haiku poetry by arts writer Tammy Christel. The book will be available at the opening reception for Dowd's show. The reception is from 5:30 to 7:30 on Thursday, June 19 at the Art Association.

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Tom Woodhouse draws people around town - in a pad, or on beer coasters. Huge murals, which he began a couple of years ago, were his first attempt at putting his artfully scribbled people onto a large format. Since then he has been painting gesturing figures of different sizes in different color palettes. As his art evolves, different pieces are deemed worth saving and become part of the infinite pile of finished art that litters his home and studio.

This Friday he will hang a selection of these works at Pearl Street Bagels. Some of his recent works display a softer palette with pastel yellows and oranges, and isolated figures compared to past paintings with bright colors and heavy contrasts that were downright confrontational (though visually effective). He also has been practicing painting cars for a large mural he has been commissioned to paint in Denver. Some of these 1950s-era scenes might make their way into his PSB show as well.

Expect to see small, affordable pieces as well as some larger paintings. At his last show, at the Snake River Brew Pub, many of Woodhouse’s best small pieces sold quickly.
Look for a Planet exclusive interview next week with Woodhouse, who will discuss in more detail the most current evolutions of his art.

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On every second Saturday of the month, the Artist in the Park series will bring well-known local artists to Grand Teton National Park to do a plein-air demonstration. This Saturday, June 14, Fred Kingwill will be painting watercolors at the Oxbow Bend from 9 a.m. to noon. Those who wish to participate can park at the Oxbow Bend parking lot, 2.5 miles south of the Moran Park Entrance.

Courtesy
‘Shelf 1’ porcelain, mixed media by Jenny Dowd. (Courtesy)

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Books without shelves; Woodhouse at PSB; Kingwill in the Park | Planet JH News Article: Arts Beat

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