So--stealing just a moment to post, because I'm exhausted, but too thrilled to lose the moment; just a few images from Ghost Ranch, where I've been spending the last week and a half. I'll post sketches and studies when I get home next week.

Ever since I moved to Albuquerque I've had an especial respect for 516 ARTS, a contemporary nonprofit artspace downtown. The programming is varied and inventive, the space is big and beautiful, the work is always carefully selected and displayed to good effect, the staff gets stuff done and gets it done well; and all the while everything is done with an eye on community interests.

It's been an unspoken hope of mine for the past couple of years to get work in there somehow, and the opportunity has recently presented itself in the form of a regional showcase juried by Peter Frank (currently of the Huffington Post, formerly of all sorts of other stuff).

I have gotten a painting in, which is very exciting--it also happens to be one of the ten thumbnails appearing on the exhibition's website (right alongside a piece by my buddy Luanne Redeye!):

The show opens Feb 4th, from 6-8 pm, and runs through April 28th. Hope to see you there if you're within driving distance!

In October I went to a conference at the Center for Art + Environment at the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno. It was worthwhile for lots of reasons: exposure to exciting, strange work being made in the field; talks by artists I've long respected; spending time with new and old friends who are far-flung across the country (and in some cases across the globe); and last, but not least--solo road trip.

I camped out during the conference's duration, then took an errant, rambling route home. On the drive, I had an idea for a new body of work...not worth explaining yet, but it has to do with sublime landscape and multiple compounded horizon lines. I rambled about it to my camera (set on video mode while I drove)--impassioned, excited snippets of thought that make much less sense now than they did in context. I don't know how those pieces will work, so don't hold me to it, but the point is, I went out of my way to look for sublime scopes/scapes, cutting through Yosemite, Death Valley, and bits of the Mojave, and skirting the Grand Canyon. This resulted in tons of photographs and a couple of nice landscape studies.

6"x12", acrylic on hardboard

6"x12", acrylic on hardboard

The other thing that's happened recently is I fully documented my travel journal from Australia (hence the video in my last post). Here are a couple of pages from that:

Having all these things together, I reorganized my website gallery to reflect a category that's becoming more and more prominent in my practice: travelogues and field studies. Check it out if you'd like to see some extra sketches from recent travels!

The (mostly) completed AU field studies journal.

This summer when I was raising money for my trip to New South Wales, I was supported by a number of generous donors via Kickstarter, who pledged specific amounts of cash in exchange for studies made in the field. Here are some of those--for the $100 donation tier--which will get mailed out next week. I really hope their recipients enjoy them, and that they feel their pledge was worth the investment.

If any of you folks are reading, thank you again for your help!

The reception on Saturday for Wish You Were Here was a lovely thing. It was Homecoming here at the college, so plenty of alumni stopped by, and I met students past and present, and saw lots of old friends.

One alum, Diane Smith (whose photos of the Ghost Town Arts Collective show I posted recently), documented the swirl of attendees (and some details of the work) and graciously passed the following images on to me. Thanks, Diane!

 

You've probably heard me mention before my affection for and attachment to the Ghost Town Arts Collective. I'm lucky enough to have a couple of pieces in their current show at the Mokah Gallery in the LIFE Cultural Center in Deep Ellum (that's in Dallas, for those of you not familiar with North Texas): You Will Know When You Are There: A Journey in Art and Modern Dance.

postcard design by Liz Elsberg

What's that, dear reader? You'd like to read excerpts from the press release? Okay!

Deep Ellum’s Muscle Memory Dance Theatre and the Ghost Town Arts Collective Collaborate on Unique Multi-Media Event

Dallas, Texas.  October 10, 2011 –

You Will Know When You Are There is an art and dance collaboration between the Ghost Town Arts Collective and Muscle Memory Dance Theatre taking place at LIFE in Deep Ellum. While taking direction and drawing inspiration from each other, these two groups have worked together to merge visual arts and dance.  The collaboration is a large scale art and dance event: part gallery show, part dance performance, part art installation.

The subject of this event is transformation and myth: processes that twist and turn, taking us somewhere … a place that is unknown until arrival.  You will know when you are there.

The event kicks off with a art exhibition in the gallery at LIFE in Deep Ellum to open on October 10th. The journey continues through the fall as the Ghost Town artists build an installation that is companion to the dance performance choreographed by Muscle Memory Dance Theatre.  Taking cues from one another, the installation will shape the movement, and the movement will shape the installation. The project will culminate in an evening length dance performance on November 4th and 5th at LIFE in Deep Ellum.

(You can click here if you'd like to see the press release in its full, unabbreviated glory.)

The static elements of the show have been in place since the beginning of the month, and look great.

 two pieces by Heidi Rushing; photo courtesy Dianne Smith

 ceramic work by Katherine Taylor; photo courtesy Dianne Smith

 sculpture by Pati Dye; photo courtesy of Dianne Smith

The interactive installation mentioned in the press release (taking place on November 4th and 5th) overlaps my visit to the Dallas area to pick up the work from WYWH, so I'll be there for the install and performance! I'm excited to participate, and see what will come of it.