Habitat
Downloadable Curator’s Essay for Habitat
AAC’s new season of installations in the Sculpture Park features sculptures that address concepts and questions of human and non-human habitats. Brandon Ballengée created a nest-like wildlife sanctuary of logs and sticks. A series of stools by Austin Thomas that she calls “Patio Perches” creates a woodland sitting room. Elizabeth Demaray and John Walsh created a series of metal bird perches which attract birds with a sound component. Simon Draper constructed a small shed not for storage but rather with seating and a sky view. Knox Cummin’s wildlife blind shelter provides a quiet space for observing nature. A greenhouse was built by Anne Katrin-Spiess to grow healing medicinal plants. The artists in Inside/Outside: Habitat challenge us to answer the questions: Can we learn to value the interdependency of all species and their habitats? Can we come to empathize with the habitat needs of our non-human neighbors?
ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
Brandon Ballengée explores the boundaries between art and science and creates multidisciplinary works out of information generated from ecological field trips and laboratory research. Since 1996, Ballengée has collaborated with numerous scientists to create his artwork. In 2003, he was an artist in residence at the Natural History Museum in London. He participated in the 2004 Geumgang Nature Art Biennale in Gung Ju, South Korea. In 2005, he participated in the Waterways Project installed at the Venice Biennale. He currently is working towards a dual art and science Ph.D. at the University of Applied Sciences and Art, Hochschule für Gestaltung in Zürich, Switzerland. Ballengée is originally from Ohio and currently resides in New Haven, CT.
The sculptures of Knox Cummin’s have been clustered around three interrelated themes: bridges, houses and boats. For the artist, these three structures are metaphors for the varying combinations of safety and mobility that human beings require for survival. Cummin has exhibited his work extensively in museums, galleries, sculpture parks, nature centers and public spaces since 1985. He is the Founding Member and Vice President of Philadelphia Sculptors and he lives and works in Philadelphia and Vermont. Cummin’s residency at Abington Art Center is funded by the Pennsylvania Historical Museum Commission. Downloadable curator’s essay about Knox Cummin’s residency
Elizabeth Demaray is an artist whose work transcends traditional practice. As a conceptually-based sculptor, she domesticates the great outdoors by knitting sweaters for plants, upholstering stones and manufacturing alternative forms of housing for hermit crabs out of plastic. Demaray is the recipient of the 2005 NYFA Fellowship in Sculpture, the 2003 Aldrich Emerging Artist Award at The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, the 2003 Emerging Artist Fellowship at Socrates Sculpture Park, the NYMOMA / P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center 2001 National Studio Award, and the 2002 California Artist in Residence Award at Headlands Center for the Art. A northern California native, Demaray currently resides in Brooklyn, NY.
James Walsh was born, lives, and works in Brooklyn, NY. He works in a variety of media including video and audio installation, and he has a keen interest in natural history. He is the author of Foundations (1997) and Solvitur ambulando (2002), both from Left Hand Books, Kingston, NY. He has exhibited his works in solo and group exhibitions including at Bard Center for Curatorial Studies, Annandale, NY; Peekskill Project, Peekskill, NY; Southworth Planetarium, Portland, ME; and University of Southern Maine, Portland, ME.
Simon Draper was born in Wales and currently resides in Cold Spring, New York. The reuse of materials and objects has been a recurring theme in Draper’s work, and recently he has started to incorporate older artworks and other artist’s works into his own. He believes his shed pieces embody more lyrical ideas and allow people the opportunity to dream. Draper studied at the Bath Academy of Art in Wiltshire, England and also at the Cooper Union in New York. He has exhibited his works in numerous solo and group exhibitions including Meditation, Dedication, and Prayer at Van Brunt Gallery in Beacon, New York and Six American Artists at Anna Carnadona Gallery in Alba, Italy.
Anne-Katrin Spiess is an artist working in the field of “Land Art”. She creates site-specific temporary installations in wide-open, solitary and remote landscapes such as deserts and prairies, and her works are increasingly calling attention to environmental issues. Over the past 10 years Spiess has exhibited her work in galleries and museums across the country and abroad. She has been included in the 2006 exhibition for the International United Nations Environment Program in Algiers, Algeria, the 2005 exhibition “ WATER” at the Maine Center for Contemporary Arts, and the 2001 exhibition “Artists respond to the closure of Fresh Kills Landfill” at Snug Harbor Cultural Center in New York. She is the founder and publisher of LAND, an online environmental art journal (www.landviews.org). A native of Lugano, Switzerland, Spiess currently resides in New York City.
Austin Thomas creates architectural structures called “perches.” Her intention for them is to be used and enjoyed. She says they are “not complete unless they draw people in and onto them.” Thomas’ perches promote contemplation, interaction of all kinds, and offer a new point of view from which to take in one’s surroundings. She has exhibited sculptures and drawings widely in solo and group exhibitions. Her work was included in The 48th Corcoran Biennial, Corcoran Museum, Washington, DC; Playpen, The Drawing Center, New York, NY; Float, Socrates Sculpture Park, Queens, NY; and High Desert Test Sites, Joshua Tree, CA.
