1 year and 1 day ago

Was the reception of my installation show "Home blank Home".I wanted to create a piece my senior year of undergrad to invite viewers to think about what home is or should be. Two contrasting doors stood at the entrance of the gallery, inviting viewers inside the idea of a home. Half of the walls were unfinished, raw pieces of plywood, the other half were clean and polished. Both held common household objects drawn in 2D on the walls. The only physical pieces inside the installed walls were a chandelier composed of friends' definitions of home, a designed and constructed table and borrowed chairs around that table, all in the center of the room.

Here are some images of the project's progression.


the beginning. My generous, generous friends the Renschlers helped tremendously. I set up shop in their shop for a couple months. Brad, a skilled framer, contributed his skills in the building of the walls that were to be installed in the gallery. I chose to work on seperate walls to allow for time and trial and error. The turn around in the galleries is quite fast, I would have only been given 2 days to paint the gallery, so instead I am thankful I had months to work on the walls before transporting them into the gallery.


only at the minor, intial stage of confusion and exhaustion. Here you see my friend the jumpsuit that accompanied me for around 2 months. It was helpful in the cooler months. And honestly, this jumpsuit became meaningful to me, once putting it on in the morning, I was instantly ready to work. And then I didn't want to take it off until the show was completely finished.





Kind souls Dave, Brad, dad, papa, Reed, Peter and Chris met at 7am Saturday morning to transport the walls from the Renschler shop to the Friesen gallery at NNU. (there were donuts)



There are awkward stairs in the Brandt center that made the walls very scary/difficult to carry, but the determined men did excellent. (I felt bad, but I really couldn't help, besides maybe the opening of doors, so I chose to document)




This shows proportions pretty well.



This is the entrance to the gallery before the temporary doors were installed. You can see that upon entering, you could only see plywood against the glass walls with the exception of two square windows providing a sneak of a peak inside. (and I must clarify, the wood wasn't leaning against the glass once fully installed)





situating walls in gallery


This is the only shot I have of the living room (plywood walls to the right).



Look at that generous work!


The walls were transported and mostly in place by 9am. I think these three went back to bed. The next couple of days I had a lot of work to do that I couldn't perform before installation. I learned a lot about stress management. I hope. I don't think the jumpsuit was taken off until the day before the reception.


Hero framer Brad, doing what he does best!


There are things I would change about the show looking back, but I wouldn't trade what I learned through the process. This show was a needed step in me understanding different aspects of being an artist. And we had a nice party in the end too. Thank you friends who came, it was wonderful having you be a part of the installation!
Here are some photos, courtesy of my friend, Reed Reeder.




























(sorry it took a year to post these Bethany!)


Here is the dirty retired jumpsuit. This photo was taken for an advertisement I was designing but I wanted to show you why we will never see or wear this treasured garmet again.

little chicklet teeth

On our first day back, 4 first graders smiled widely to display their new hole and tell me of their recently missing tooth. They were so excited, this is what they had been waiting for. Some would smile and not say a word, expecting me to of course know what they were communicating, weren't we all waiting for this accomplishment? I am honored to be one to whom they can show their holes in their mouth. I realized this event in their lives is similar to the equivalent of me finding a job (soon?!) or my uncle's first day of fishing season or my friends buying a house or my other friends sending their final little one to school or my grandpa's welcoming of his first lavendar patch of the year. It's nice to enjoy eachother's "firsts" What are yours this spring?

In a completely unrelated manner please enjoy this dialogue between my mother and thirteen year old sister last night.

mom: (passionately) "Kadyn, with your body weight if you were to take three drinks you would have alcohol poisoning!"

kadyn:(pause) " Did you learn that from 'ER'?"

mom: (longer pause) "yes"

ER lives on, I guess those 15 years really impacted her.

back to it

After a wonderful (and the most appreciated in my 10 years of charter school experience) two and a half week spring break, I will go back to work tomorrow. But enough about that, it's still Sunday!

I was reminded on Friday that a clear sign of a good friend is one who chooses to spend an hour or two in target instead of the necessary twenty minutes.

My male co-worker at Anthropologie educated me a bit on how you can tell where someone is from. I will share with you. I guess all you have to do is look at a girl's ponytail. He said "a girl is totally from the west coast if her ponytail is set high on her head. And she is definitely from the east if the ponytail rests at her neck."
Okay. I guess I've seen evidence of this but was not aware of the standard. I then asked him where I am from if I like to wear my ponytail (bad name) pulled back, I guess aligned with my ears.
Without taking more than a second, Brian told me I must be from the midwest.
Niiiice. I like the midwest and you can tell from my ponytail.

After a week of clouds, wind, rain and snow I spent my Saturday outside at my dear friend's second birthday party. It was perfect out. Perfect for chalk and bubbles, the constant grazing of good snacks, a lime in my sparkling water, sitting and closing my eyes in yes, a tank top and actually feeling that sweet sun, and perfect for my friend's favorite activity of the day, twirling and falling down so many times. Ah, yes.

Tonight I heard a beautiful piano recital by a friend who has spent months preparing. Superb. Then my dad bought me peanut butter n' chocolate ice cream at the only acceptable place to eat such a flavor. satisfied and blessed I will head to bed.

yes

I don't know of much better than a toddler you love finding the perfect hammock on your lap. Their relaxed head makes you feel the same and not care about the pull of your shirt or the squirms that come every thirty seconds. It makes you want to read Madeleine or Curious George a whole lot slower.