iceland

Happenings

A few things that happened, are happening, or will be happening soon...

- If you are in Philadelphia, this Thursday September 4th is the opening reception for my two-person exhibition with Emily Cucalon at the Parkway Central Library. 


- Last week, I wrote a guest post for Fieldwork, an artwork by John Rogers and Amy Tavern that is experienced through an interactive map tracing their journey through Iceland. After exploring the map, I wrote a short piece about the connection I felt with the artists and what we collected to remember our time in Iceland. which can be read HERE.


- Next week I will be in North Carolina, for a one-week retreat/residency, generously hosted by Penland School of Crafts for former students of their Core Fellowship Program. My home base will be the letterpress studio where I plan to work on a short book and some experimental printing techniques.


- I will have a book, Oculus Song, in the Picture Books exhibit at Duke University's Power Plant Gallery, a juried exhibition of self-published and handmade photo books. The show will run mid-September through November.


- Last but not least, I will have a table at the first annual Philalalia, small press poetry and art fair on Saturday September 26 at Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, where Justin Staller and I will be debuting our collaborative book "Start Over"



January

:: studio thoughts :: coded odes ::

January has almost come and gone, a month when long trains of thought finally arrived at their stations...

I will be starting a new job, adjunct teaching 2D Foundations at Temple University's Tyler School of Art on Monday! I'm so grateful for this opportunity and can't wait to start.

At the Crane Arts Building, the Due North exhibition is closing today. If you didn't get to see it, there are images and reviews on the show's website. As mentioned in The Inquirer's review, Cindi Ettinger's etchings on plaster and Julia Staples photographs of mountains in Iceland at night were among my favorites.

 
Geekadelphia Review of Due North 

The Due North Invitational Portfolio was also on exhibition this month at C.R. Ettinger Studio.
 

Philagrafika Invitational Portfolio at C.R. Ettinger Studio

Coming up, the opening reception is February 5th, I'm very excited to be a part of R/W: Reading & Writing Visual Experience a group exhibition curated by Gerard Brown which "investigates the uses of reading and writing – from punctuation to publication – in contemporary art. I will be showing prints from the Small Fires series.

:: R/W: Reading & Writing Visual Experience ::

Also coming up, Oculus Song will be traveling to Printed Matter's LA Art Book Fair courtesy of The Center for Book Arts in New York. Have a great trip little book!

Looking Forward, Looking Back

Many projects and opportunities coming into being these next few months. An exciting and busy time, a time to look forward and look back on a wonderful year.

:: from the National Land Survey of Iceland ::

:: Stem and Stave, for the Due North Portfolio ::

:: Small Fires No. 1, for R/W: Reading & Writing Visual Experience‌ ::

:: Oculus Song, for Light of the Moon ::

Experimentation

:: Home, walking in Tinicum ::

Back home, back in my studio, I'm processing the my experiences from Iceland and the drawings I made, and translating that into print.

:: Marianne Dages, Fragmented I, pencil and watercolor, 2013 ::

Working with fragments, pieces of rope and charcoal I brought home with me, memories of the landscape, spare at first, but bursting with detail under close inspection. Herringbone, the lines of geological time. Layers.


 

Studio Visits & Iceland Work Part Two

This week a couple studio visits of note. One from Amze Emmons, a founder of Printeresting, and all around delightful printmaker, painter, collaborator, and person. His visit was posted on the site, you can read the article and see pictures here.

:: the studio back in the summer, courtesy of Printeresting ::

And yesterday, I had a visit from Amanda D'Amico and students from The University of the Arts MFA Book Arts and Printmaking Program, great people with a great Tumblr (go there to meet them and see their work). As usual, I forgot to take a picture in the moment and only have the spread of work I put out to show. I had a wonderful time talking with them and hope they stay in touch. 

:: the spread of work ::

And I continue to unpack my work from my residency and look at it, starting to think about what it means and where it will take me. I recently had a breakthrough regarding themes in my work, that much of it has to do with translation/mistranslation, and the connection between language and culture. 

I had a strange experience while in Iceland. On the way to the residency, I took a long bus ride, exhausted and lacking sleep. In those moments of dozing, I would hear the Icelandic passengers talking to each other and for brief moments, I thought I understood them, and then it would disappear.

I grew up in a bilingual home and I've been losing my second language for years. With the loss of language, I gained the uncanny feeling of distance from parts of myself. In a way, I'm performing a personal archaeology, a unearthing and cataloguing of idiosyncratic symbols, sometimes fragmented, meanings lost. I'm making my dictionary.

:: Dictionary ::

White Lepiota



We are walking together,
the alder and the oak.

Carrying
a desert of lapwings
under our coats.

Back to the beginning,
back to the seabirds and foam.
The bull slides across the pitch ocean floor 

All the names are gone
White lepiota grows

our mossy hearts - the grind of planets -
songs of tallow and bone.

One foot in the water
- two far travelers -
Setting fires along the road.


- Marianne Dages, 2013














Iceland: Part Fourteen

I'm starting to feel that the end of this residency is looming. Trying to keep simple days and take in the lighting and textures of the landscape, and though they don't figure in my pictures prominently, the people, I'm going to miss the people that have made me feel so welcome here. I'm also looking for the arctic fox...so arctic fox, if you're reading this, please come out and hi. Thank you.   :)











Iceland : Part Thirteen

Time is passing quickly here in Iceland. I wrote a post about the Jan Voss show here in Siglufjordur and it was posted on Printeresting, you can read it here. Also, while I'm here, I had a couple of letterpress prints in the .918 show at Samford University pictures of their reception are up here. They also made printed a catalogue, chock full of great print work. I also have a couple pieces at the Making IT exhibition at The University of the Arts, a juried exhibition of work by recent alumni. More exciting projects in the works. For now, eating, sleeping, drawing, walking, listening to podcasts and having a lovely time. 








Iceland Part Ten: The Herring Era Museum

On a clear crisp day, I got to visit The Herring Era Museum, a beautifully curated, crafted, award winning museum that tells the story of the herring industry in Iceland. The museum is actually three separate buildings, these images are all from "The Salting Station." The third floor of the building remained untouched, including the "brakki," sleeping quarters for dozens of girls who worked in packing herring, and the office of the herring speculator. Örlygur Kristfinnsson, artist and director of the museum, is also one of the founders of the Herhúsið residency. 

:: looking out on the old piers ::










Iceland: Part Eight

 This morning, I had a visitors, artists in the residency the next town over. We had breakfast at the bakery. Bego Anton, a photographer from Spain, had been following me on Tumblr, and saw familiar looking mountains...two people from across the world in the same small place.

Drowsy evening, drinking cold coffee, trying to follow intuitions and make clear decisions, simpler, simpler, make it more simple.