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a of the show!
We’re writing to let you know about our upcoming April/May 2008
exhibitions, "Jane D. Marsching: Test Site, Experiments
at Blue Hill Observatory," and in the Mini Skirt, “Deb
Todd Wheeler: Consumer Garden,” with free public opening
receptions on the First Friday in April, April 4, 5-8 pm, and also
on the First Friday in May, May 2, 5-8 pm. The shows will be on view
April 4-May 17, 2008. Gallery hours: Wednesday-Saturday, 11 am-5 pm.
www.allstonskirt.com
This
past winter, Boston-based new media artist and ICA Prize 2006 Finalist
Jane D. Marsching served as Artist-in-Residence at Blue Hill Observatory
in Milton, MA, where she created a new series of works in response
to the rich history and current activities of the century-old observatory
and weather station. These works form the basis for her exhibition
“Jane D. Marsching: Test Site, Experiments at Blue Hill Observatory,”
opening in the Main Gallery at Allston Skirt on April 4.
Blue Hill Observatory is the oldest continuously operating weather
observatory in the United States, and is famed for its historical
weather experiments, including its late nineteenth century research
into the first 'atmospheric sounding' using man-made aerodynamic kites.
The ongoing activities at the Observatory – air pollution monitoring,
upper atmosphere sensing, careful archiving of data, and daily weather
bulletins – provided Marsching with ideas about interweaving
our human affect on the climate with the history and landscape of
the observatory.
The centerpiece of her exhibition at Allston Skirt Gallery will be
a large, intricate kite that she designed in collaboration with Blue
Hill Program Director and kite expert Don McCasland. This unique kite
has been specially outfitted with equipment enabling it to broadcast
a story to the sky while in flight. During a special public performance
taking place at Blue Hill Observatory on May 1st, a poetic text by
Mark Alice Durant will be “read” aloud to the sky, while
the sound of the reading, along with the sound of the wind and the
kite in the air, will be transmitted live via FM transmitter to the
audience below. [Contact the gallery or visit our website for more
details about the May 1st performance/kite launch. Rain date: April
30.] In the gallery is a video of an earlier experiment where the
kite read a text by Jules Verne to the sky.
The exhibition will also include the artist’s redesign of traditional
historical weather flags, originally made to broadcast current weather
conditions to the surrounding area, a community service performed
by Blue Hill and at post offices and observatories throughout the
country in the early twentieth century (This clearly pre-dates www.wunderground.com
!!) Marsching’s flags will be hung in the gallery, with the
appropriate flags signaling the weather forecast (based on observations
taken at the Observatory) hanging outside the gallery.
And in the Mini Skirt, “Deb Todd Wheeler: Consumer Garden”
presents a selection of photographs created in conjunction with Wheeler’s
interactive exhibition at the Gallery at Green Street in Jamaica Plain,
MA in 2006, called “Live Experiments in Human Energy Exchange.”
In that exhibition, Wheeler – who is known for her exploration
of the role of science in relation to life, and history – made
colorful plastic shopping bags and wire available for visitors to
the exhibition, who were in turn invited to arrange this material
into flora, or fauna, or anything inbetween. Wheeler then “planted”
the resulting creations into a wild and joyous garden. Wheeler’s
exhibition at Green Street gave new life to the used plastic bags,
and her exhibition at Allston Skirt, which features alluring photographs
of these delicate “flowers,” allows another cycle of life
to bloom for these fascinating creations.
We
hope you’ll come take a look. Please contact us for images and/or
more information.
Best,
Randi & Beth
allston skirt gallery
65 thayer street (@ harrison avenue)
boston, ma 02118
617 482 3652
hours: wednesday through saturday, 11 am – 5 pm
