Caroline Gore

Caroline Gore in Philadelphia Studio, November 2014

photo: Patricia Huston

Caroline Gore is an artist currently working in Philadelphia. She recently joined the faculty at The University of the Arts as an Associate Professor of Jewelry/Metals in the Craft & Material Studies program.  Gore holds a BFA in Crafts with a jewelry focus from Virginia Commonwealth University and her MFA in Metal Design from East Carolina University. Although her studio practice is rooted in jewelry and metalsmithing, her work varies in media, scale and implementation – ranging from jewelry to sculptural installations, photography and large-scale drawings.

In 2012, she was awarded a sabbatical from teaching, the exhibition …mercurial silence… was the result of this intense period of time spent in studio where through research and experimentation she plumbed deeper into material meaning, the histories jewelry and objects hold and our unique ability to process memory though remembering, forgetting and transforming. 

Gore’s lecture at Yuma will reveal the research and investigations that led to the work in the exhibition.

www.carolinegore.com

...mercurial silence...

The exhibition …mercurial silence… is the culmination of an investigation of how grief and loss manifest in society. Comparative meanings were sought through multidisciplinary research of historical jewelry, Roman myth, and materials and objects as they relate to commonalities across human experience.

Memorializing tragic events through leaving objects and ephemera at sites of violence and tragedy is now pervasive: in doing so we attempt to process what has happened, honor victims, and give some physical form to loss. However this was not the case 30 years ago – we tended to walk away from the actual site and perhaps more directly towards one another.

Looking closer at objects in relation to personal losses – how does one thoughtfully negotiate possessions of loved ones received through inheritance? As in processing grief there is no clear answer, instead we search our lived experience as it reveals itself over time through remembering and forgetting. Objects we have lived with, that others have chosen and lived with, are often murky and become laden with a multitude of meaning. Transformation of these objects, while at first may seem an act of violence in itself, offers to make the negotiation physical – despite the persistence of grief continually marking and changing the interior of ourselves.

Caroline Gore, installation view of ...mercurial silence... at Western Michigan University, Kerr gallery, 2014 reclaimed cherry from inherited furniture, jet, black spinel, silk, 18K gold, oxidized sterling silver, brass, seven identical silk dresses, tintypes, black glass ambrotypes, photo: Caroline Gore

John Risseeuw

In 1972, when perhaps less than a hundred people in the U.S. had learned hand papermaking, I received the rudimentary basics while a grad student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. It was an eye-opening gift to be able to make paper of the size, color, thickness, shape, and content I chose for my print projects. Eight years later, I came to Arizona State University to begin a new faculty position establishing book art courses within the already solid Printmaking Area of the then Department of Art and discovered that Dean Jules Heller had created a papermill a few years earlier pursuant to his current interests in contemporary hand papermaking and the book he was writing, which became Papermaking, Watson-Guptill, 1978. 

View of the ASU School of Art papermill studio

Feeding fibers into a Hollander beater to make pulp.

Pulling sheets of handmade paper.

Within a couple of years, with the book art studio well under way with presses, type, equipment, and students, I began teaching papermaking in Dr. Heller’s mill, learning more and more about the process, craft, and medium as I went along. By 1988, I realized that the content of handmade paper could contribute to the content of the work printed on it, and new conceptual doors began opening up that I slowly explored over the next 25 years. The Keepsake of the Risseeuw Family Farm was printed on paper made from sisal binder twine, jute feed sacks, straw, hemp ropes, and cotton seed sacks from that farm. It seemed to make sense.

A Keepsake of the Risseeuw Family Farm

In 1991, Pyracantha Press staff printer Dan Mayer and I decided to print a broadside to commemorate the bicentennial of the signing of the Bill of Rights. We printed it on paper made from cotton American flags and blue jeans, two quintessential American fibers that we felt embodied the freedoms of the Bill of Rights. The paper is purple because of the blend of red, white, and blue fibers.

The Bill of Rights, 1991

Many projects later, I chose landmines and landmine victims as subject matter in a multi-year project. I interviewed victims in Cambodia and Mozambique, asking them for articles of clothing. I also received clothing from victims in other countries, making paper pulp from the clothes plus plant fibers from the minefields and including shredded currency of the countries that make and use landmines. On the paper, I printed stories and facts, selling them to produce revenue to donate to the organizations that help victims and demine the land. To date, over $25,000 has been donated.

 Strange Fruit, 2002

 La Explosion, 2003

Artist books of handmade paper have provided me with yet another form in which to exploit the use of content-specific handmade paper.

Children of War, 2005

 The Politics of Underwear, 1973

 

Spirit Land, 1996

 Spirit Land, detail, 1996

 Eco Songs, 2000

Total Fucking Idiots, 2003

Boom!, 2011

Subjects include underwear as political analogy, fibers of place, the ecology of the earth, political chaos, and the fragmentation of lives. Making Paper Mean Something has been an interest of mine for a long time, through my printmaking, bookmaking, and papermaking. It is also the title of my presentation for the 2015 Yuma Symposium. I hope to see you there.

John Risseeuw

Professor

School of Art

Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts

Arizona State University

"Come To Yuma If You Want To Change Your Life" by Neely Tomkins

This is a sentiment I’ve heard several times over the years. The first time was in the 80’s. …..Al Gilmore telling 8 students in Montana why they should all jump in a pickup truck, with camping gear and drive thru sleet and snow to get here!

OK, really?

Last year was the last time, when Danielle James used it as the title of her 4-part blog about her Yuma Symposium virgin voyage on the CraftHaus website. Hilarious. (Link below)

Let me digress a bit. I was just back in Springfield, Ohio for homecoming at my alma mater. It’s been at least 40 years since I’ve seen the leaves turn. The Wittenberg campus looked gorgeous.

I did a little homework before I left, going thru the one yearbook I still had. I also got in touch with some folks I wanted to see. I got a late start, so not many could make the late plans to come, but many I remembered were there. Forty+ years is a long time to look back. Looking at those faces and trying to see the face I knew years ago was easy for some, who haven’t changed much, but really eye-opening for the ones whose lives have altered their appearance beyond what I could recognize. What really impressed me was how friendly everyone was, old friends or new.

It’s been over a week since I’ve been back and I am looking at people my age in a new way…..That lady moves like a crazy dancer….. or……That guy was probably the funniest character in his class.

The same thing happens during the Yuma Symposium. For many it has turned into a huge annual Homecoming. I’ve watched friends age physically, seen them mature artistically and been proud of their successes. People talk to me like we are long lost friends. Some names I remember, some I don’t. I’m bad with names, so that’s my excuse.

Having been involved since before we started counting makes it around 40 years. Let me digress one more time. When Pete Jagoda and George and me first moved here in the early 70’s, we were fresh out of grad school with MFA’s that would surely help us set the art world on fire. Soon, we started to miss our artist friends and wondered what they were doing. Pete and George started inviting them to Yuma to share them with our new Yuma art community. This took the form of weekend workshops at Arizona Western College. Those workshops, born out of the need to reach into the outside art world and pull it here to Yuma, have grown into what we have today.

The next symposium marks 36 years since we’ve been counting. So what brings people back year after year?

Quotes from the campfire:

You can be yourself here. It is a safe place.

Nobody thinks you’re obsessed with art. Nobody judges.

The stage is set for networking.

Everyone is so friendly, sharing and knowledgeable.

I get to see what my peers are doing.

For you Yuma Symposium virgins, invite a friend to join you. Start your tradition of coming to this unique total immersion art weekend. Make new friends that you will stay in touch with all year long? What will make you want to come back year after year?

--Neely Tomkins

   executive director for the Yuma Arts Symposium

 READ HERE__Danielle James Blog post about her Yuma Experince

Are you ready for the Pin Swap and Pin Auction? by Teresa Burgher

Are you ready for the famous Lute’s Casino pin swap? I am. Last year I did a post with pictures of my favorite pins. This year I just wanted to tell a brief story about my pin process for any newbies who are interested in getting started and getting involved.

First, take any idea that seems doable and get cracking. You will need more time than you think to fabricate even the simplest of pins. I am a notoriously untalented craftsperson and have made some of the faultiest pins ever in the history of the Yuma Pin swap. Since any pin that someone is kind enough to share with me is a total gift I am inclined to the egalitarian principle of first come first served, and give my pins to the first fifty people who ask.

In fact, I set that number and goal years ago when faced with the daunting reality of coveting pins from some of the most talented makers in the country. That is why they invented the auction. It is an amazing way to help the Symposium stay financially solvent AND a terrific way to acquire the most beautiful pins from the event. It kind of put the pin slobs like me on an even footing with the pin elite and has allowed me the pleasure of dabbling in the fierce hot competition of bidding for my favorite pieces.

Last year I was actually pleased enough with my pin, a screen printed silk flower with political undertones, to keep two of the best and offer them to the pin auction. I was thrilled that someone bid on them and took them home.

This year I’ve made four pins as a set. I set out with the theme of ‘35 Pins’ in honor of our 35^th anniversary. I was going to make all of the pieces out of 35 safety pins. My idea took on several permutations and in the end I fell short by one and finished 34 pins with some kind of reference to the number 35 or pins. Anyway, it was fun.

That leaves me with 30 to trade. I’m trying an economic principle of supply and demand. I hope it works and that due to the short supply, someone will be wild to acquire my auction pins and they will demand a higher price. But let’s get real, and please, take pity on my pin pride! On Friday night when you see my bid sheet is blank, throw me a bone and bid my pins up. I’ve got some serious competition, and every bid is for a good cause.

So, if you are new to the Symposium, or if you have been dragging your feet, it’s not too late to make a few pins and get in on the fun. And for the thirty of you who get to registration early, well, I’ve still got a pin for you.

--Teresa Burgher

Executive Committee, 

Yuma Symposium Board of Directors 

Julie Anand

Yuma friends,

I decided to use this year's post to describe a collaborative project I worked on over the summer, Río Canciòn. I received a grant from Arizona State University's Global Institute of Sustainability to travel to Honduras to work with my brother John Blake Batten of Guaruma, an environmental education non-profit http://guaruma.org 

Over the course of a week, we made art with about one hundred youth of the villages of Las Mangas and El Pital, about an hour up river into the jungle from La Ceiba on the Carribean coast. We made Mundos Pequeños—tiny microcosms of found materials and modeling clay to explore ideas of scale. 

I also introduced the students to cyanotypes, a turn of the century method for making blueprint photographs, so that they could experience analog light phenomena and explore patterns in nature printing plant material from their surroundings. We talked about Anna Atkins, quite possibly the first female photographer, who used this method to make the first book illustrated by photographs in her Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions. I was interested in having these kids recognize that people can study plants for a living and also in gesturing to female empowerment by referencing a botanist/artist from 1843.

 

Students made both blueprints on paper and also contributed their blueprints on cloth to a collaborative tapestry. 

Ultimately, we had enough funding to bring Camillo Lopez and John Blake Batten of Guaruma up to Arizona for a culminating exhibition at ASU with outcomes from the workshops as well as over a hundred of the student's digital photographs of their incredible ecosystems. 

It was truly a wonderful collaboration and I am deeply impressed with the vision of these young people and with the work my brother is doing in Honduras. Wanted to sing the praises of Guaruma.org and share an experience with you all. Can't wait to see you once again at our community shindig!

 --Julie Anand   ASU Professor and Yuma Symposium Board Member

Rocky Lewycky

 Hello from the Santa Cruz redwoods!

A couple weeks ago, I received an email from Peter and Kit Jagoda.  Here’s an excerpt from the message…

 “Your exhibition was shared with me by Ron Milhoan. Ron is a friend of 

 my husband, Peter Jagoda. Peter started the Yuma Art Symposium

 35 years ago. Are you familiar with it?”

Is it a small world or what?  

Kit and Peter run a nonprofit animal sanctuary: River's Wish Animal Sanctuary.  We share a connection as my current show aims to elucidate the brutality of animal factory farming.  Later in our conversation, Kit asked me if I was going to include this project at the symposium.  So Kit, yes, I will talk about this piece in my lecture.  Here are some images of my current show, “Is It Necessary?”, up through February 23^rd at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History.

 










“Is It Necessary?”
Installation at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History
2013/14

 










 
“Is It Necessary?” (Detail)
Installation at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History
2013/14

A recent article published by C-File (Global Community for Clay and Ceramic Creatives in Art & Design & Architecture,) illuminates the show and accompanying "Liberation Project." 

Here's the link   http://www.cfileonline.org/exhibition-rocky-lewycky-necessary/

I’m looking forward to my visit in Yuma!  See y’all soon.
-Rocky Lewycky

   2014 Yuma Symposium Presenter

Stephen Robison

Wow its getting closer and I am certainly looking forward to a good time.  I have heard that it is and that Yuma is a great symposium.  I have only been to AZ once to present at a wood fire conference in Flagstaff.  I am privileged to be a part of The Great Yuma Symposium.  I was so excited about getting there I accidentally booked my plane ticket a day before it starts!

So they say the devil is in the details.  Dang, if I would have just checked the dates before booking. But since I don’t believe in the devil its cool, I will relax and enjoy Yuma.  I think the beauty in life is the intricacies and the details. They are often more hard to discern but for me the challenge of details are where much of both the ugliness of life and the beauty of life lie. To see the big picture details are needed.

So the images I am posting are details of my work and the collaborative work I do with my partner Kathleen Guss.

 

The work is primarily fired in atmospheric kilns such as wood fired or soda fire kilns and generally there is no glaze used except for liner glazes, but I do use a variety of metallic oxide slips to work with the surface. 

 

These details are from pieces that are all made from different clay bodies, but fired in a similar atmosphere. They have layers of ash and sodium that create crystals that are varied in their chemic make up due to the wood used and the metallic oxides inherent in each individual clay body.

 

Both the science and serendipity, or the control and lack of control of the process of wood and soda firing are focal points that continually hold my interest and offer somewhat unlimited areas of investigation into surface.

 

Some recent work is using laterite, which are soils that formed in hot and wet tropical areas and are very rich both iron and aluminum.  The reticulation of the surface creates a skin like tension and a surprise of some brilliant copper penny looking crystals are two areas of investigation. On some forms the metal from the laterite rises to the surface to form more drastic reticulation.

 --Stephen Robison  35th Yuma Symposium Presenter