LAND ART PESCADERO
August 4, 2018
Participants: Elizabeth Addison, Peggy George, Judy Johnson-Williams, Evangelina Miller, Priscilla Otani, Eleanor Ruckman, Irma Velasquez.
Photos courtesy of Elizabeth Addison, Judy Johnson-Williams & Priscilla Otani
Photos courtesy of Elizabeth Addison, Judy Johnson-Williams & Priscilla Otani
LAND ART ARTIST STATEMENTS
Elizabeth Addison
Ark on the River Styx
Lined with a bed of flowers, the boat sits serenely upon a sea of chaotic and overgrown grasses and weeds – hope and a haven in the deadly, storm-driven waters of environmental, human rights, and political degradation. The mast hoists a beacon of brightly-colored paper scraps from my printmaking works, popping in contrast to the Ark’s natural materials. It dances in the wind and includes two photographs; one of my mother and another of a dear friend and mentor, Rene Yanez, both having died recently, both beacons in my soul.
Judy Johnson-Williams
Untitled
With an abundance of materials, I chose to braid Timothy hay into a circle. I wanted to have a space for a performance of re-committing to save the Earth, especially in protest of the current administration. We are pretty ecologically careful but in our hearts we know there’s aways more we could do.
Evangelina Miller
Medicine Tree
A medicine tree, represented by a branch of elm and colored cotton & hemp thread wrapped around the ends of each small branch which were extended & tied to small rocks at its base. These represent how our ancestors used this to give and ask for blessings for all, including the earth: green for good health, blue for clean water, red for blood & family and white for good positive thoughts.
Priscilla Otani
Reclining Flag
The disassembled flag and girl scout handbook pages represent the fragmentation of social decorum and civil discourse. The symbols of what made "America great" historically are in tatters. The reassembled flag and book, in a different structure from the original, represent hope for a new society that is not dependent on nostalgia, but on the future of a vibrant, multicultural society. For now, though, the flag reclines in nature, letting the wounds heal so that it can fly again proudly.
Eleanor Ruckman
Uprooted
Uprooted is an offering, a prayer to release and renew, at the edge of the labyrinth located on Irma Velasquez’s land in Pescadero. Flocks of crows dip and rise on the wind blowing from the ocean, blue swallows fly in fearless, delicate aerobatics. Irma and I shared intention for release and making way for new possibilities, for ourselves and for the land itself. She had begun clearing the path to the labyrinth with a tractor, and I began the piece by clearing the paths of the labyrinth from prickly, dry overgrowth – literally clearing the sacred way.
I wove the uprooted plants together to form a boundary wall, which almost blends into the landscape. All the clearing and uprooting may look natural, but it is not.
Plants at the bottom were red, for blood. This offering honors Nia Wilson, an 18 year old who was recently stabbed to death on the MacArthur station BART platform in Oakland; and mourns all the black and brown children who have been uprooted from their families, their homes, and even their lives.
The black void at the center represents birth and death – the Mother’s vagina and the unfillable hole of loss.
The opening is contained by a mandorla of cornmeal and flour; this form surrounds Guadalupe and many other representations of the Divine Feminine.
Materials include a bird pelvis found years ago while making my first ofrenda on Irma’s land; prickly pear jelly from Tucson (honoring my own mother) and rock candy for sweetness; yellow rose petals from a witch’s urban garden; pinon nuts, black sunflower and nyjer seeds to thank the birds and animals; chili peppers and salt for protection; cedar for the ancestors; and a damiana tequila bottle from my altar holding feathers, sage, lavender and lemon verbena.
Ark on the River Styx
Lined with a bed of flowers, the boat sits serenely upon a sea of chaotic and overgrown grasses and weeds – hope and a haven in the deadly, storm-driven waters of environmental, human rights, and political degradation. The mast hoists a beacon of brightly-colored paper scraps from my printmaking works, popping in contrast to the Ark’s natural materials. It dances in the wind and includes two photographs; one of my mother and another of a dear friend and mentor, Rene Yanez, both having died recently, both beacons in my soul.
Judy Johnson-Williams
Untitled
With an abundance of materials, I chose to braid Timothy hay into a circle. I wanted to have a space for a performance of re-committing to save the Earth, especially in protest of the current administration. We are pretty ecologically careful but in our hearts we know there’s aways more we could do.
Evangelina Miller
Medicine Tree
A medicine tree, represented by a branch of elm and colored cotton & hemp thread wrapped around the ends of each small branch which were extended & tied to small rocks at its base. These represent how our ancestors used this to give and ask for blessings for all, including the earth: green for good health, blue for clean water, red for blood & family and white for good positive thoughts.
Priscilla Otani
Reclining Flag
The disassembled flag and girl scout handbook pages represent the fragmentation of social decorum and civil discourse. The symbols of what made "America great" historically are in tatters. The reassembled flag and book, in a different structure from the original, represent hope for a new society that is not dependent on nostalgia, but on the future of a vibrant, multicultural society. For now, though, the flag reclines in nature, letting the wounds heal so that it can fly again proudly.
Eleanor Ruckman
Uprooted
Uprooted is an offering, a prayer to release and renew, at the edge of the labyrinth located on Irma Velasquez’s land in Pescadero. Flocks of crows dip and rise on the wind blowing from the ocean, blue swallows fly in fearless, delicate aerobatics. Irma and I shared intention for release and making way for new possibilities, for ourselves and for the land itself. She had begun clearing the path to the labyrinth with a tractor, and I began the piece by clearing the paths of the labyrinth from prickly, dry overgrowth – literally clearing the sacred way.
I wove the uprooted plants together to form a boundary wall, which almost blends into the landscape. All the clearing and uprooting may look natural, but it is not.
Plants at the bottom were red, for blood. This offering honors Nia Wilson, an 18 year old who was recently stabbed to death on the MacArthur station BART platform in Oakland; and mourns all the black and brown children who have been uprooted from their families, their homes, and even their lives.
The black void at the center represents birth and death – the Mother’s vagina and the unfillable hole of loss.
The opening is contained by a mandorla of cornmeal and flour; this form surrounds Guadalupe and many other representations of the Divine Feminine.
Materials include a bird pelvis found years ago while making my first ofrenda on Irma’s land; prickly pear jelly from Tucson (honoring my own mother) and rock candy for sweetness; yellow rose petals from a witch’s urban garden; pinon nuts, black sunflower and nyjer seeds to thank the birds and animals; chili peppers and salt for protection; cedar for the ancestors; and a damiana tequila bottle from my altar holding feathers, sage, lavender and lemon verbena.
ka-POW! HEROIC WOMEN EXHIBITION
February 15 - May 29, 2018
KaPow: Heroic Women exhibition is an initiative of the Northern California Women’s Caucus for Art (NCWCA) in collaboration with the Pacific Pinball Museum.
Heroic women are those who say "Me Too”, steadfast friends, mothers, sisters, famous and unknown women of the past whose lives speak to us, living artists, fantasy figures, and living, working, women. We are in a historical moment where our society is once again examining the role and treatment of women. There is a desperate need to see women through women's eyes.
Opening Reception: Thursday, February 15, 2018 from 5-9pm
Where: The Pacific Pinball Museum, 1510 Webster St., Alameda, CA
Exhibition Dates: February 15 through Sunday April 29, 2018
Admission: Viewing is free with admission to the museum.
Websites: NCWCA.org and pacificpinball.org
Contact: Melissa Harmon: mharmon@pacificpinball.org
KaPow Statement
KaPow! Heroic Women is being shown in the gallery of the Pacific Pinball Museum, which exhibits over a century of pinball machines.
A great deal of the art about women and girls on pinball machines is undeniably sexist, yet many of the women depicted are heroic figures: athletes, cowgirls, adventurers, rocket riders, queens. Come and view the KaPow exhibition as the expression of today’s artists working within the chaos and complexity of current events.
KaPow! depicts our varied, dignified and sometimes humorous strengths, a heroism that is ongoing, changing the social and political landscape, and making women’s history. We join a global movement of activists laying the foundations required for inclusive, intersectional gender equity.
NCWCA President: Sawyer Rose
Ka-Pow Jurors: Leisel Whitlock: NCWCA Exhibitions Chair
Melissa Harmon: Curator, Pacific Pinball Museum and NCWCA member
D’Arci Bruno: Director, Pacific Pinball Museum
Heroic women are those who say "Me Too”, steadfast friends, mothers, sisters, famous and unknown women of the past whose lives speak to us, living artists, fantasy figures, and living, working, women. We are in a historical moment where our society is once again examining the role and treatment of women. There is a desperate need to see women through women's eyes.
Opening Reception: Thursday, February 15, 2018 from 5-9pm
Where: The Pacific Pinball Museum, 1510 Webster St., Alameda, CA
Exhibition Dates: February 15 through Sunday April 29, 2018
Admission: Viewing is free with admission to the museum.
Websites: NCWCA.org and pacificpinball.org
Contact: Melissa Harmon: mharmon@pacificpinball.org
KaPow Statement
KaPow! Heroic Women is being shown in the gallery of the Pacific Pinball Museum, which exhibits over a century of pinball machines.
A great deal of the art about women and girls on pinball machines is undeniably sexist, yet many of the women depicted are heroic figures: athletes, cowgirls, adventurers, rocket riders, queens. Come and view the KaPow exhibition as the expression of today’s artists working within the chaos and complexity of current events.
KaPow! depicts our varied, dignified and sometimes humorous strengths, a heroism that is ongoing, changing the social and political landscape, and making women’s history. We join a global movement of activists laying the foundations required for inclusive, intersectional gender equity.
NCWCA President: Sawyer Rose
Ka-Pow Jurors: Leisel Whitlock: NCWCA Exhibitions Chair
Melissa Harmon: Curator, Pacific Pinball Museum and NCWCA member
D’Arci Bruno: Director, Pacific Pinball Museum
Artists in the Show Elizabeth Addison, Mague Calanche, Carla Caletti, m.c carolyn, Gina Chiao, Elin Christopherson, Sherri Cornett, Marguerite Elliot, Miriam Fabbri, Veronica Hallock, Melissa Harmon, Blond Jenny, Shawnee Johnson, Judy Johnson-Williams, Juliet Mevi, Soad Kader, Linda Joy Kattwinkel, Leslie Lew, Seren Moran, Tomye, Priscilla Otani, Pamela Pitt, Sawyer Rose, Sondra Schwetman, Durba Sen, Lena Shey, Judy Shintani, Mary Shisler, Fleur Spolidor, and Sandra Yagi.
Gallery Pacific Pinball Museum, 1510 Webster Street, Alameda, CA 94501
Exhibition February 15 - May 29
Online Gallery click here
Gallery Pacific Pinball Museum, 1510 Webster Street, Alameda, CA 94501
Exhibition February 15 - May 29
Online Gallery click here
ka-POW! ONLINE GALLERY
Click on any image for a larger view
ka-POW! CATALOG AVAILABLE THROUGH AMAZON
smile.amazon.com/ka-POW-Heroic-Women-Priscilla-Otani/dp/1984390325/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1517531568&sr=1-1&keywords=ka-pow%21+book
smile.amazon.com/ka-POW-Heroic-Women-Priscilla-Otani/dp/1984390325/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1517531568&sr=1-1&keywords=ka-pow%21+book
