Rebecca Potts
USA (United States)
http://www.rebeccapotts.com
Kunstart: Malerei
Technik: Mischtechnik
Stil: Minimal / Konzeptkunst
Statement:
My impetus is ecological concern and interest in human interaction with land. This interaction is two-sided: we both alter and are altered by the land. As places change, our memories waver and shift, leaving only traces of lost environments. Just as memory builds in layers, I work in layers, physically and metaphorically. Geologic strata and layers of human anatomy help me envision the planet as organism. Computer mapping systems (GIS) use layers of information to create complex interactive map images, while I compile information that burrows into my work. I build images through accumulation of materials including paper, photographs, maps, melting ice, and growing plants. Paper stacks up to become sculptural, photographs form videos, ice leaves waterlines, as if flood and drought had their way with the work.
While I often employ my experience in painting and printmaking, my ideas take precedence in informing my process and media. This makes my practice non-media-specific crossing into sculpture, video, and installation. I put much of my work through a cyclic process of which I am not the only part. I turn the work over to ice, plants, water, or other natural processes to remove my hand and forfeit some control. This process speaks to natural cycles of seasons and tides, while also reflecting the dynamic interaction of human and natural forces in the world.
During the past two years, I have focused on water's role in climate change: melting glaciers, rising sea levels, and the quickening loss of this blue-gold. My current work uses beauty, poetics, humor, and narrative to explore this issue. The work takes the form of ice – as sculpture, printmaking ink, and documented in photo and video. Using melting ice simply and directly recalls the temporal problem of melting glaciers and ice sheets. I utilize the artistic tools of beauty and humor to engage the political. I believe that a poetic approach is vital to changing societal perceptions. As philosopher Jacques Ranciére discusses, art has the power to redistribute the sensible (what is sensed: seen, heard, felt) by creating new forms and ways of seeing. It is through this redistribution of the sensible that change occurs. My photographs, sculptures, drawings and videos take on a pressing and all-encompassing issue using humor, beauty and poetics. As artist and curator Randy Jayne Rosenberg says, “Art allows us to visualize our relationship to the natural world. Art has a rich set of tools to represent our world, from irony to allegory, metaphor to humor.” (1) These are the tools that have the power to change societal perceptions about climate change.
1: Natural World Museum. Art in Action Nature, Creativity, and Our Collective Future. Minneapolis: Earth Aware Editions, 2007.
Vita / Lebenslauf:
EDUCATION:
B.A. Studio Art & Geography, 2004: Middlebury College, Vermont (magna cum laude)
M.F.A. Visual Arts, 2009: Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri
Study Abroad, Printmaking, 2002-2003: University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia
Secondary School, Photography, 1999: Harvard Summer School, Cambridge, Massachusetts
TEACHING EXPERIENCE:
Teaching Assistant, 2009: Printmaking, Design, California State Summer School for the Arts, Valencia, California
Teaching/Technical Assistant, 2009: Graduate Technology & Website, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri
Teaching Assistant, 2008: Urban Books: Imag(en)ing St. Louis, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri
Teaching Assistant, 2008: 2-D Design, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri
Teaching Assistant, 2007: Printmaking Elective: Themed & Boxed, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri
Partnership/Community Coordinator, 2005-2007: The Academy of Business & Community Development (ABCD), Middle School/High School 336, Brooklyn, New York
Campus & Community Organizer, 2004-2005: New Jersey Community Water Watch, Camden, New Jersey
Environmental Mural Coordinator, 2004: Youth Environmental Summit, Fairlee, Vermont
Mural Coordinator, 2004: Marble Valley Correctional Facility, Rutland, Vermont
Workshop Instructor, 2004: Creative Bookbinding, Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vermont
Teacher's Assistant, 2003-2004: Otter Creek Child Center, Middlebury, Vermont
Reading Buddy, 2001-2004: Page 1 Literacy Project, Middlebury, Vermont
GALLERY & CURATORIAL EXPERIENCE:
Visual Arts Editor, 2008-present: www.climatechangeeducation.org, Online
Web Consultant, 2008-present: Mary Pomerantz Fine Art, Los Angeles, California
Museum Liaison, 2009: MFA Thesis Exhibition, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri
Gallery Assistant, 2008: Frank Pictures Gallery, Santa Monica, California
Assistant Exhibit Curator, 2004: VACA, Middlebury, Vermont
Exhibit Curator, 2003-2004: Science Makes Art, Middlebury, Vermont
DESIGN EXPERIENCE:
Freelance Web Design, 2007-present
Design Intern, 2002: Spiker Communications, Missoula, Montana
Marketing/PR Intern, 2001-2002: Frog Hollow State Craft Center, Middlebury, Vermont
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS:
2009
MFA Thesis Exhibition, The Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, St. Louis, MO
Runneth Over: MFA Thesis Exhibition Complement, CBC High, St. Louis, MO
Undefined, Desotorow Gallery, Savannah, GA
Black & White, The Luminary Center for the Arts, St. Louis, MO
2008
MISC: Video and Performance, New York Studio Gallery, New York, NY
Calculating Art: Mathematics in the Visual Field, Therese A. Maloney Gallery: College of Saint Elizabeth, Morristown, NJ
MFA First Year Exhibit: Part 1, Des Lee Gallery, St. Louis, MO
2007
Non-Geologic Maps of Mars, Stain Bar, Brooklyn, NY (solo)
Living Gallery Art Party, 128 W. 72nd, Curated by Heather Christensen, New York, NY
2006
Rebecca Potts, Kush Café, Curated by Dmitry Gubin, Brooklyn, NY (solo)
Playing In Fields, Grand Central Bar, Brooklyn, NY (solo)
Big Art Show, The Cinema, Philadelphia, PA
SONYA Stroll Prelude Exhibit, ElevenTen Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
La Poisson d’Avril, Frying Pan: Pier 63, New York, NY
2005
The Ramble, Draker Solar, Burlington, VT (solo)
Shitcopter, Sputnik, Brooklyn, NY
Art Students League Show: Rutgers University, Camden, New Jersey
2004
We Stole Her Portfolio, The Waiting Room, Burlington, VT (solo)
Waddamana, Community Justice Center, Burlington, VT (solo)
The Ramble, Rose Street Gallery, Burlington, VT
B.A. Studio Art Thesis, Johnson Memorial Gallery: Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT
Nature and Creativity: Center for the Arts Dance Theater: Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vermont
Vitality for the Artistic Community (VACA) Auction: Johnson Memorial Gallery: Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT
2003
Voluminous, Entrepot Gallery: University of Tasmania Centre for the Arts, Hobart, Australia
2000
Rebecca Potts, Eye of the Beholder Gallery, Missoula, MT (solo)
AWARDS & GRANTS:
2007—2008 Laura & William Jens Scholar, Washington University in St. Louis
2004 Committee on Art in Public Places Award, Middlebury College Museum of Art
2000 Discover Card Tribute Award, Scholarship to attend Middlebury College
BIBLIOGRAPHY & LECTURES:
"Freeze/Thaw: Cycles in the American Heartland" Society for Photographic Education Midwest Regional Conference, 2009, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Lecture: “The Blue Gold Thaw."
Jana Harper, "Artists' Books 2.0: DIY with POD.” The Blue Notebook, Vol. 2, No. 2. 2008.
Kemper Art Waves. Prod. Kimberly Singer, Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum. KWUR, St. Louis.
April 28, 2009.
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, 2009 MFA Thesis Exhibition Catalogue. May 2009.
TECHNICAL ABILITIES:
Computer Skills:
Microsoft Office Suite: Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Access, Outlook
Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Final Cut Pro, imovie, After Effects
Web Design: HTML, CSS, Dreamweaver, Flash
Artistic Techniques:
Printmaking: screenprint, etching, collagraph, stone lithography, paper making, bookbinding
Painting: acrylic, watercolor, oil, encaustic, collage
Photography: 35mm camera operation, black & white film development and printing
Sculpture: plaster casting, rubber and silicon mold making, beading and wire wrapping for jewelry
Aktivitäten / Ausstellungen:
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS:
Americans for the Arts, Member
International Sculpture Center, Member
College Art Association, Member
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Treasure
Fotografie
Digitalfotografie
56 x 76 cm
2009
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Time Capsule
Fotografie
Digitalfotografie
56 x 76 cm
2009
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The Blue Gold Thaw
Fotografie
Digitalfotografie
56 x 76 cm
2009
verkäuflich (Preis auf Anfrage)
mehr Informationen
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