Voices in the Shadow, 2020 - Present
Voices in the Shadow is an ongoing collaborative project with current and former detainees of Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center which has taken the form of two exhibitions and one publication. Photo credits to Alex de la Pena (Bakersfield, CA) and Melissa Kagerer (Seattle, WA)
Border Patrol, 2017 - Present
Border Patrol is a curatorial collective that explores the intersection of contemporary art and corporate aesthetics. From 2017 - 2019, I curated exhibitions and events with my collaborators Jared Haug and Meg Hahn in a former dentist's office, burrito shop, cemetery and shopping mall. Our ongoing project, R.I.P. explores the aesthetics and politics of death. A comprehensive overview of each exhibition and event can be found at border-patrol.net.
SPACE, 2016 - 2019
For three years, I served as the Visual Arts Programmer at SPACE in Portland, ME. During my tenure, I curated exhibitions in three spaces and one flagpole, ran a residency program dedicated to highlighting the contributions of queer artists and artists of color, and I administered the Kindling Fund, the only statewide grant program in the Andy Warhol Foundation's Regional Regranting Network. I also helped organize construction in the gallery when the organization closed temporarily for renovations. More information about all of these programs, including a comprehensive overview of each exhibition can be found at space538.org.
Exhibitions
Kindling Fund Grant
The Kindling Fund Grant is part of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Art's Regional Re-granting Network. One of sixteen programs across the United States, the Kindling Fund is the only state-wide grant program in the Re-granting cohort. The Kindling Fund supports experimental, artist-centered projects that engage the arts and audiences in innovative ways. I administered the Kindling Fund while I worked at SPACE and helped steward artists' projects through the grant writing process, in addition to hosting info sessions and grant workshops across the state. While I was a champion for artists across Maine, I did not have voting privileges on the jury, which includes a group of guest jurors that changes annually. The selected projects below represent the scope of and artist and their work that the Kindling Fund supports. For more information about the Kindling Fund and the projects it funds, please visit space538.org/kindling-fund
Space Artist Residency
These are the artists and writers with whom I've had the privilege of working with at SPACE's Artist Residency program. For more information about the program and former attendees, please visit www.space538.org/residency
Grandpa Carl Vibes, 2016
In the winter of 2016, I lived in my late grandfather, Carl Spavento's house for a couple months. During that time I collaborated with Seattle-based sound artist and composer, Nat Evans, to create an installation called Grandpa Carl Vibes (GCV). The work featured 40 lbs. of loose tobacco leaves scattered throughout the house and an original soundwork that incorporated old recordings of my grandfather's voice from his days as a radio announcer.
Nat created the soundwork by playing the recording of my grandfather's voice into a gong and recording its resonant tones. That track was played back to the gong and recorded over and over again until the sound of Carl's voice faded into droning tones. I installed speakers in the chimney of the house so at the apex of the recording, the entire house shook with the same frequency of the gong during the listening process. GCV was created as an homage to Carl and aimed to create presence without form using sound and smell. Listen to the track below, or check out more from Nat Evans here.
Nat created the soundwork by playing the recording of my grandfather's voice into a gong and recording its resonant tones. That track was played back to the gong and recorded over and over again until the sound of Carl's voice faded into droning tones. I installed speakers in the chimney of the house so at the apex of the recording, the entire house shook with the same frequency of the gong during the listening process. GCV was created as an homage to Carl and aimed to create presence without form using sound and smell. Listen to the track below, or check out more from Nat Evans here.
last_resort, 2016
I was invited to be a guest curator at Interstitial Theatre in early 2016 and organized an exhibition called last_resort, a solo show of works by Mario Lemafa. last_resort sees Lemafa investigating themes of erasure, whiteness, colonization and the physical/metaphorical qualities of cleansing through an indigenous digital Dasein (felt presence). The exhibition poses the question of whether or not the death of inequality would render vacations obsolete as it envisions tropical locals as utopian space. _last_resort_ generates new visual elements towards a radical, futuristic redefinition of the travel lifestyle that are both brutal and tender. The essay I wrote for the exhibition can be read here.
ALL RISE, 2013 - 2015
ALL RISE was a temporary public art series on an empty acre of land in the middle of downtown Seattle that I co-curated with Meagan Atiyeh from 2013 - 2015. With a total project budget of $280,000, Megan and I commissioned over 15 artists to make large-scale sculptures including a 50 ft. light sculpture and 40,000 sq. ft. earthwork. Dance residencies, community movie screenings, concerts, poetry, cello flash mobs and sound installations counterpointed the works. ALL RISE was included in the inaugural Seattle Art Fair with Robert Montgomery's The Stars Pulled Down For Real, which was later featured in a fashion editorial on Barneys New York's website. Americans for the Arts Public Art Network recognized ALL RISE as one of the country's outstanding public art projects two years in a row. More information about ALL RISE including detailed descriptions of each project can be found at allriseseattle.org.