Airing Dirty Laundry progress and install shots

Residency application draft for Women's Studio Workshop

Project Description

I am interested in creating an artist book based on my interactive performance piece Airing Dirty Laundry. This ongoing piece has existed both as a growing site-specific installation and as an interactive collaboration between the public and myself. It has aimed to reveal a common thread between meditation and everyday actions. It began as a collection of various commands and criticisms amassed via public interaction over the last few years; it has continued as an embroidery circle, most recently at a winter residency at Roos Arts in Rosendale, where I worked alongside volunteer participants embroidering the phrases onto antique table linens and white bed sheets. I hope to expand upon the collaborative nature of the piece in the form of an artists’ book.

Embroidery as a central visual element has emphasized the connection between internal reflection and external daily activity. The playful yet suggestive notion of “airing dirty laundry,” in combination with public participation, has facilitated a creative space to reveal stories and life experiences we might otherwise keep to ourselves.

The book I would like to make will be comprised of 12 antique table linens or ‘pages’ that have various commands and criticisms embroidered onto them. Linen and thread color would both be white, pointing to - and at the same time subverting - notions of neutrality, purity and cleanliness. The pages would be housed in a handmade portfolio, and experienced either in one’s hand, or as a wall-mounted installation. Both configurations aim to underscore the intimate nature of the texts themselves. Edition size would be 9 or 12; portfolios and pages to be created at WSW.

It would be a natural extension of the piece to continue its fabrication at Women’s Studio Workshop. WSW has a long-standing commitment to the tradition of making work in a collaborative and non-competitive environment, which is in line with my philosophy of art making. Especially in this piece, collaboration and participation from faculty, staff, and other artists would be encouraged.

recentering

sending messages of love -

organizing donation buckets and funds-

researching shipments directly to people-

there is a lot of work to do.

Mother Kitten Breath for Bodies Reform, To/From Project

Whore Mother Totem Pole (Sliding Glass Door)

indoor

(details)

outdoor

In the work, Whore Mother Totem Pole, (Sliding Glass Door), I play with the two acceptable roles for women within patriarchy, that of a mother and that of a whore. These two, not mutually exclusive stereotypes, interweave and support one another in this piece. I am interested in developing a gestural language through figures interacting. I use everyday materials to find a language that represents what we embody. I play with bodies to reform, alter and affect one another.

Airing Dirty Laundry: February 6, 2011

Today was an excellent day to begin this piece.

Everything - from the installation, to the informal interview with Db Leonard, to the actual embroidery circle - went smoothly and in the way I had hoped it would go. The atmosphere was warm, inviting, and with purpose.

The table was set with five stations of embroidery hoops, practice cloths, needles and thread. Within the first five minutes of the opening, each station was filled! Each person understood that this was the first day of the installation, and, with help, that the piece would grow as the residency progressed.

I taught the group the only embroidery stitch I know, the chain stitch, which was easily mastered by all. Everyone worked with vigor and great enthusiasm.

I've only ever made my own work, so to have such willing participants in one of my pieces was a new and humbling experience. My aim is to embroider upwards of 50 sheets during my time at Roos. Hopefully with this much positivity and encouragement, I will attain this goal.

Images to follow

x

blurring boundaries

exploring the impermanence of an edge

Airing Dirty Laundry

Airing Dirty Laundry

Angela Rose Voulgarelis

6 February - 12 March, 2011

Opening Sunday, February 6th, 1 - 5 pm

Roos Arts is Pleased to Present

Airing Dirty Laundry

Angela Rose Voulgarelis

6 February - 12 March, 2011

Closing Party: Saturday, March 12th, 6 - 8 pm

Gallery Hours: Tuesdays, 1 - 5 pm, Thursdays, 4 - 7 pm, Sundays, 1- 5 pm and by appointment

For five weeks, Angela Rose Voulgarelis will create an embroidery circle at Roos Arts, bringing to life the second of three phases of her performance piece Airing Dirty Laundry. This picks up the thread of the first installment, which invited visitors at the show, Made In Rosendale, to complete various phrases on small cards, and place them into a transparent ballot box. The phrases collected from that exhibition are now going to be embroidered onto over 50 white sheets that will be exhibited in and around Rosendale at a later date.

As an ongoing process, Airing Dirty Laundry has continued to exist both as a growing site-specific installation and as an interactive collaboration between the artist and the public. During the six-week ‘residency’ at Roos Arts, the artist again invites community participation, this time as fellow embroiderers. Embroidery, as a central visual element in this piece, works as a way to reveal the commonalities between meditation and everyday actions. The playful yet suggestive notion of “airing dirty laundry,” in combination with audience participation, provides a lighthearted incentive to reveal stories and life experiences we might otherwise keep to ourselves. The sheets, needles, and thread will be provided, as will basic embroidery lessons. All ages and skill levels are welcome to join on Tuesdays between 1 and 5 pm, Thursdays between 4 and 7 pm, and Sundays between 1 and 5 pm, until March 10th.

Please join us on February 6th, between 1-5 PM, for the first day of Angela's residency at the gallery, accompanied by warm beverages and cookies.

Special thanks to April Warren for all her help!

For more information, please contact Heige at hk@roosarts.com or 718-755-4726.

**Free Municipal parking available on Main Street behind Rosendale Theater. Thank you in advance for not parking at Rosendale Cafe parking lot.

Women's Works 2011 24th Annual Fine Arts Show, proposal

Bodies Form, To/From Mothering Alphabet

8' x 8', Dust and dirt on contact paper and wall

thoughts

integrating art and teaching

proposing, proposing, proposing

bodies reforming

between fem and ism

learning as I teach

planning this season's garden

Feb. 1, 2011

Been up since 5AM, awoke with the snow.
Black cats and self portraits abound in studio.
While Egypt is still rioting, this is the biggest storm to hit the Northeast in 30 years.

As the paint dries on another canvas, I clean the studio.
It's in the mud stage...

The reflected light from the snow is almost too much

Cut.Fold.Interrupt.Repeat

Cut.Fold.Interrupt.Repeat
Installation views
Linksoul Lab
San Diego, CA


Morse code translation of Women and Children First
by Ingrid De Kok
Coral, glass, silk, silver


Alternate view


Morse code translation of
Not To Speak Is To Speak
Not To Act Is To Act


Alternate view


Detail


Installation view

Recent work

Recent Paintings
Late 2010-early 2011

Jak na novy rok, tak po cely rok

There is a Czech proverb that states: how on New Years, so too for the rest of the year.

I'm taking time...

to play

to love

to be in sunshine

to de-install and be with the artwork

to reflect

to step-in and speak what I believe

to know I don't know

to feel satisfied

to sit

to drink tea

to connect

Memory Upgrade, Center on Contemporary Art Annual 2010

6413 Seaview Avenue NW ● Seattle, WA 98107 ● 206 728 1980

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

CONTACT:
Ray C. Freeman III, President
(206)349-3147 ray@cocaseattle.org
David Francis, Artist Liason
(206) 851-9641 david@cocaseattle.org
Center on Contemporary Art
(206) 728-1980 info@cocaseattle.org
http://www.cocaseattle.org

CoCA Pioneer Square Presents the 2010 Annual Juried Exhibition,
Memory Upgrade

From December 2, 2010 - January 1, 2011, CoCA Pioneer Square will present Memory Upgrade, a juried exhibition featuring work from 16 emerging as well as established artists in a wide variety of visual media, including 2d, 3d, and video.

Memory Upgrade explores the ways in which artists have responded to the global financial crisis by changing various aspects of their work. Considered collectively, these artists hint at the heightened importance of memory, history, and the role of the artist to affect social change.

Over 180 artists from across the county, Europe, and Australia submitted works for consideration. CoCA has presented the Annual since 1989, each time inviting an independent juror to select the work. For this year's 21st anniversary of the show, CoCA is proud to have Juan Alonso as juror.

Over a career that spans 25 years, Alonso has received numerous grants, awards, and recognition from a wide variety of arts organization in the Seattle area, including the Behnke Foundation, PONCHO (2007 Artist of the Year), 4Culture, Mayors Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, Artist Trust, Pratt Fine Arts Center, and Centrum. Born in Cuba in 1956, Alonso came to the Unites States at an early age, leaving behind his family to learn a new language in a foreign place.

There will be an opening reception on Thursday, December 2, from 6 – 9pm at CoCA’s Pioneer Square location located inside the former Elliott bay Book Company at 310 1st Ave South in Pioneer Square. Juan Alonso will announce prizewinners at the reception and field questions via satellite from Miami / Basel Art Fair.

Participating artists include: Minh Carrico, Laura Castellanos, David French, Douglas Gast,
Sarah Gilbert, Harold Hollingsworth, Phillip Hua, Alma Leiva, Nia Michaels, Nate Orton,
Scott Schuldt, Patti Shaw, Garric Simonsen, Tereza Swanda, Kate Sweeney and Jillian Vento.

CoCA Statement

In Bodies Form, To/From Mothering Alphabet, I leave an imprint, a trace of my movement with another, specifically my child and mother. I explore interconnectedness. I fill the form with what feels more like us rather than the superficial image. We end being a joint body made of the same or similar everyday material, residual dust, hair, cobwebs, lint, bread crumbs, flour, and threads. All of the material is collected through the “mothering” process of tidying up, (keeping home) and exposed within the joint shape instead of discarded. Twenty-six symbols reveal an other’s alphabet. I use everyday matter combined with the people who matter the most in my life to find a language that represents what I embody.

Bio

Tereza Swanda, born Mazurova, in 1978, Jesenik, Czech Republic, has shown her artwork at University of Oregon in Eugene, Berliner Kunstprojekt in Berlin, 450 Broadway Gallery in New York City, online in Storyscale Journal, Anthology One, and elsewhere. She has installed site-specific work at Chemeketa Community College Art Gallery in Through the Eyes of Strangers, artists visit South Africa. She received her M.F.A. in Visual Arts from Vermont College of Fine Arts where she was awarded scholarship. Swanda also holds 2 BFAs in Painting and Sculpture from Massachusetts College of Art and Design as well as an NCME Certificate from Bellevue Montessori. Currently, Tereza lives and teaches in Redmond, WA.

Sweet Studio

I had a remarkable class yesterday.

We started the day talking about theatre. More specifically we talked about making a puppet theatre for the puppets we made last week. We talked about the background, what our character/puppet needs? Where does s/he live? Children were given a large sheet of paper and the class turned into a painting studio. Children painted standing up with their canvas in front of them and painted until most of the paper was covered with paint. The goal was to transform the construction paper into a different world.

From there we moved into painting the theatre itself (a cardboard box.) And for the finale each child (3-6 yrs.) got up in front of their audience (each other) and presented their puppet in his/her world.

Anything is Possible- Film Art21

One of those films that resonates. My condensed list of memorable quotes:

"I'm only an artist. My job is to make drawings. Not to make sense."

He is talking here about the seriousness of play.

"It is in the looseness of trying different things that images and ideas emerge. It's always been in between the things I thought I was doing that the real work has happened."

And perhaps my favorite one,

"I think one does think with one's hands."

between fem and ism (digital sketches)

I have been thinking about the difference between theory and practice and how one falls short without the other.

"Body Language"

(sound bite is that of silence- 10 seconds)

October 29-December 19

at the South Shore Art Center

http://www.ssac.org/

Touch Art

"He met me in the middle.

-primarily it was a verbal exchange (his comfort zone.)
-but he stepped on a limb, Touch Art, he called it.
-knowing that touch made him uncomfortable,
he none-the-less agreed.

We started with hands and discussed ambidexterity,
-how neurological pathways are formed through work with the hand
and more so through the work with two.

I asked of his background, a fellow Massachusettsian.
We also shared same age daughters and the loss of one.

I moved to the back,
-dialogue continued about kids, work, art.
-talking (concurrently) through our bodies.
-talking of the body/mind connection
which he expressed as lacking, (he) consisting of primarily intellectual work.

We talked of movement and the high of feeling good/peaceful through movement.
I moved to his head
-sensing tension, it would not last long."


Passage from a sketchbook entry, August 2010, Me Massaging the President

Continuing

In responce to a feminist question;

how do we continue?

What a difference a month, a year, nine years make,

and still none at all.

Installation Images at VCFA