Eviction Quilts Exhibit Opening

All nine Eviction Quilts will be on display at the Arts & Science Center for Southeast Arkansas in Pine Bluff. The show opens this Thursday, June 27 (with a reception from 5–7 p.m.) and will run through September 28.

“The quilts in this series by James Matthews are all made from clothes and bedding left curbside after local evictions — each quilt representing a single eviction in Little Rock. The found material was washed, pieced, and sewn into quilt tops, which were then backed and hand-tied with cotton yarn. The quilts serve as a sort of material archive, documenting the personal and physical loss of the eviction, while also transforming the fragments into something that speaks to function and comfort.”

Read more.

Delta 60 Premiere

DELTA 60, an Arkansas Arts Center original documentary film, is set to premiere at a special event on June 28. The hour-long documentary explores the innovative work featured in the 60th Annual Delta Exhibition through the eyes of 10 Arkansas artists, following these artists as they create work that addresses place, identity, representation and history.

Ann Hamilton

From her Body Objects Series.

body object series #17 | toothpick suit.

body object series #13 | toothpick suit/chair.

Food Mural, North Little Rock

This incomplete mural – I’m not sure if it has been abandoned or just not yet finished – certainly aims at inclusiveness. I’m guessing the unoccupied building it sits behind will be/was intended to be a restaurant.

BLUE Show in Memphis

The BLUE show opened last weekend at Crosstown in Memphis: “Artists were asked to design traditional, modern or art-focused quilts. These range from appliquéd, pieced, collaged, fused, engineered, hand- or machine-stitched, 3-D, painted, sculpted, and any variation in between. The only thing they have in common: 3 layers and stitching.” Below are the two mini-quilts I submitted.

Made from clothing gathered after an eviction.

Reclaimed quilt, cut to size, spray-painted blue.

Truck with Covered Load

John Divola's Vandalism

“Between 1974 and 1975, the American photographer John Divola – then in his mid-twenties and without a studio of his own – traveled across Los Angeles in search of dilapidated properties in which to make photographs. Armed with a camera, spray paint, string and cardboard, the artist would produce one of his most significant photographic projects entitled Vandalism. …”

from Juxtapoz

Anni Albers from "Tactile Sensibility"

"We touch things to assure ourselves of reality. We touch the objects of our love. We touch the things we form."