Collaboration with Visual March to Prespes

Places of memory - Fields of vision

Contemporary Art Center of Thessaloniki

Thessaloniki, Greece

December 21, 2012 - February 24, 2013

Visual March to Prespes, working display of collaborative images

Land Arts of the American West collaborated with the Greek artist group, Visual March of Prespes, on a experiential exploration of the borderlands during our time in Buena Vista, El Paso, Texas. While conducting our Land Arts project, Cement Lake, which investigated an accidental wetland that sprouted up on the edge of Barrio Buena Vista, we held several skype conferences with Visual March of Prespes, discussing our investigations, methods, and discoveries. During one of the conferences, we took the Greek contingency on a live video walking tour of the Land Arts encampment and presented a live visual pan of our surroundings: pointing out the border fence, the contested and dry Rio Grande River, and the patchwork of residential, industrial, wetland, and highway networks.

Land Arts then selected ten images from the surrounding area of Buena Vista, El Paso, Tx, to send to Visual March of Prespes. These images were identified by participating artists as being representative of objects, environments, and moments engaging a discussion of borders.

Participating artists include: Eric Cook, Bill Gilbert, Jeanette Hart-Mann, KB Jones, Jeffrey Nibert, Eso Robinso, and Amelia Zaraftis.

Ameila Zaraftis

Buena Vista, El Paso, TX, USA. 2012.

"In, out; this, that; yours, mine; all under the same sky."

KB Jones

Cement Lake, Buena Vista, El Paso, TX, USA. 2012.

"The salt cedar provides a hiding place near the border of the US and Mexico, in the town of Buena Vista."

Bill Gilbert

Mount Christo Rey, El Paso, TX, USA. 2012.

"Petrified dinosaur prints from a time before borders, projecting out of a hillside along the Rio Grande, in El Paso."

Eric Cook

Monument #1, US/Mexico Border. 2012.

"This image portrays a political border, it is the border between the United States and Mexico."

Eso Robinson

Buena Vista, El Paso, TX, USA. 2012.

"This image depicts a section of the high-tension lines that both connect and cut through the town of Buena Vista, TX, representing a constant physical and a forceful unseen presence in this geographically and sociopolitically liminal community."

Jeanette Hart-Mann

Cement Lake, Buena Vista, El Paso, TX, USA. 2012.

"Memories of a home-run hit and a desire that punctures the boundary of immanent domain."

Jeanette Hart-Mann

Cement Lake, Buena Vista, El Paso, TX, USA. 2012.

"In proximity to a lost softball, I find a terrifying object, mysterious and strangely cannonball-like."

Jeffrey Nibert

Buena Vista, El Paso, TX, USA. 2012.

Jeffrey Nibert

Monument #1, US/Mexico Border. 2012.

Jeffrey Nibert

Buena Vista, El Paso, TX, USA. 2012.

CCA Connecting Liminal Nowhere Exhibition

Friday, December 8th, 2012
Photos: Ryan Henel

     After a wonderfully busy installation lead-in, the Land Arts of the American West group kicked off a lovely exhibition opening at the Center for Contemporary Art in Santa Fe.  With the cool, brisk evening air commingling with the warm, glowing gallery lights, guests and artists gathered together in vibrant conversation.
     The Goldmines! group exhibition is in the front gallery of the Munoz Waxman Gallery, and beyond, is the Land Arts of the American West exhibition, a diverse gathering of art that transcends medium and subject matter, but retains a conceptual connection that is resonant and liminal.  Work included in the show involves video, sculpture, painting, drawing, printmaking, installation, performance, and combinations of the above.  The collective Land Arts experiences have become translated and imbued into collaborative projects as well as individual works.  The group's travels across the American Southwest have fueled this show's fresh work, energy, and liminal connectedness.

     The opening was a wonderful evening in celebration of art inspired by land and those who tread it.  Thank you for your support to all who made it.  For those who weren't able to attend, Connecting Liminal Nowhere will be on view through December 30th.

Tamara Zibners and group performing some lovely music

Artists Katelyn Deluca, KB Jones, Jeff Nibert, and Emily Vosburgh

CCA Installation

Friday, November 30th through Friday, December 7th

     The 2012 Land Arts of the American West group headed up to Santa Fe two weeks ago in order to begin an intensive installation of artwork at the Center for Contemporary Art.  The group lent helping hands wherever needed and offered problem solving for various hanging and installation situations.  With our sleeves rolled up, we had several diligent days of work.  What started off as a messy gallery space slowly transformed into a slick looking exhibit.  We collectively learned a great deal about what it means to put on a show together and the amount of work it takes to make things happen.  Hard work pays off, and in the end, the gallery was exhibition ready!

Marne Elmore, Jeff Nibert, and Bill Gilbert working on palette
sculpture collaboration with KB Jones (Photo: Ryan Henel)

Eric Cook working on outdoor shelter structure (Photo: Ryan Henel)

KB Jones beginning her charcoal drawing installation (Photo: Ryan Henel)

Connecting Liminal Nowhere

Connecting Liminal Nowhere

Land Arts of the American West 2012

Center For Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe

Munoz Waxman Main Gallery

December 7th - December 30th, 2012

Open: Friday - Sunday, 12 - 5 pm

Opening Reception: Friday, December 7th, 6:30 - 8:00 PM

      Artists include: Lea Andersson, Eric Cook, Katelyn Deluca, Marne Elmore, Bill Gilbert, Jeanette Hart-Mann, KB Jones, Cecilia McKinnon, Jeff Nibert, Heike Qualitz, Eso Robinson, Emily Vosburgh, and Amelia Zaraftis with Armando Carlos, Chrissie Orr, and Roberto Salas.

      Music by Tammy Zibners, Karl Hoffman, and Friends as well as trashcan roasted turkey tacos served by the artists.

      Land Arts of the American West, at the University of New Mexico, is an ongoing experiment in radical interdisciplinary arts pedagogy, with field based research and practice taking place throughout the American Southwest.  This program emphasizes direct physical engagement within a full range of human interventions in the landscape, from pre-contact Native American architecture, rock paintings, and petroglyphs to contemporary art, federal infrastructure, US military installations, ecological niches, and land use structures across the West.  CCA will present a culmination of works from the 2012 Land Arts program, ranging from two-dimensional, sculptural, installation, multi-media, and performance based projects, including an interdisciplinary play of exploration across space.

     Land Arts of the American West at the University of New Mexico is made possible through generous contributions from Lannan Foundation.

     For more information or for press images, please contact Erin Elder at curator@ccasantafe.org

Buster Simpson Collaborative Projects

Marne Elmore
Photos: Catherine Harris

     Upon return from the field, the Land Arts of the American West students joined forces with the Landscape Architecture students in collaborative group projects, framed with the presence of visiting artist, Buster Simpson.  During this collaboration, the groups divided into teams of three and sought how to build temporary installations on campus, incorporating the element of wooden pallets.  

     After installing, everyone gathered together for a walk to visit each group's interpretation of materials, time, site, and space.  It was interesting to see the end results of flexible planning, experimenting, reworking, constructing, and collaborating on these temporary installations.  Ephemerality was at play with the short duration that the installations were up, however, the collaborative nature of the projects taught us that learning is never ephemeral.

Buster Simpson documents the light and shadow playing across an installation

Reawakened

Emily Vosburgh

     Our second journey came and went in the bat of an eye.  We entered a time warp and came out the other side somehow schooled in a new way of perception separate and distinct from that of the first journey.

                                       Lackadaisical.
                                       Limbs find it hard to move, time
                                       Slow, tempo unfound
                                       Beat existent but elusive.

                                       Confused about what it is I'm trying to find, yet
                                       Amazement at beauty found in crevice, cracking
                                       Intellect, snapping to attention
                                       Reawakened to awareness.

                                       Freshly made mind set.
                                       New eyes, or merely wiped clean
                                       Glaze surrendered to dystopian light,
                                       Era of unrest professed.

     Work wise, I feel like I didn't accomplish much.  I did so much thinking - about the 'fabric' of life I guess you could say.  I also thought about how to let my audience enter into my work, about making it less abrasive.  Jenn, Ryan, and I discussed how, if approached from a deep sense of love, this will be apparent and communicable.

     I also continued to think about borders - how/why we make them.  How borders are related to the way in which we experience space, why it is that we try to interpret space in this way.  I thought about the difference between different kinds of borders and how borders are frames that alter the way we experience space.  I also thought about how I can employ borders to communicate ideas of utopia.

Cement Lake Collaborative

Sights, Sounds, and Stories from Cement Lake in Buena Vista, El Paso, Texas
Jeanette Hart-Mann

Shoreline of Cement Lake, Buena Vista (photo Jeanette Hart-Mann)

      Land Arts of the American West spent October 1st - 5th, 2012 in Buena Vista, El Paso, Texas, exploring the sights, sounds, stories, and politics surrounding an accidental wetland, called Cement Lake.  Guest artists Chrissie Orr and Roberto Salas, along with Buena Vista community resident Armando Carlos led the students on this multifaceted exploration, as they collaborated on three distinct modes of investigation: community engagement, ecological survey, and political evaluation.

Guest artist Chrissie Orr with community resident Armando Carlos
 at Monument #1, US/Mexico Border. (photo Jeanette Hart-Mann)

     Chrissie Orr and Armando Carlos, led the community engagement group, which included: Lea Andersson, Celia McKinnon, Eso Robinson, and Heike Qualitz.  They visited residents of BuenaVista, who shared historic stories of Cement Lake.  Some of the stories included its use as a reservoir for industry, a big fish catch, intentional draining, and continuous percolation from a newly sourced spring, refilling the lake and keeping the accidental wetland alive and a part of the Buena Vista community.

Andy shares his stories of Cement Lake with student, Celia McKinnon. (photo Heike Qualitz)

      Roberto Salas and Bill Gilbert, along with students Marne Elmore, KB Jones, and Amelia Zaraftis, met with Cemex representatives, city officials, and a district representative to hear more about the Cement Lake property and future plans for this site.

Cemex property manager, Arturo took the crew over to look at
the lake in proper MSHA safety attire.  (photo Ryan Henel)

Green Boyz tag at the Cement Lake. (photo Ryan Henel)

    The ecological survey group, including Emily Vosburgh, Eric Cook, Katelyn Deluca, Jeff Nibert, and Jeanette Hart-Mann, creatively explored the site by following the water flows from the spring seep with underwater video and photographing the flora and fauna inhabiting this site.  Soundscapes were also collected, along with water and soil specimens.

The ecological survey group sends the video camera underwater
at the spring seep. (photo Jeanette Hart-Mann)

Bee pollinating willow flowers at Cement Lake. (photo Jeanette Hart-Mann)

     At the end of the week, all the groups gathered to share presentations from their individual inquiries. These presentations included personal stories from Buena Vista residents, along with information from meetings with city officials and Cemex representatives, and a video compilation of the ecological survey.

Marne Elmore checks out the water and soil specimens.  (photo Jeanette Hart-Mann)