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.