November 2020 – June 2021
Janelle Abbott
Marita Dingus
Rumi Koshino
Malcolm Proctor
Laura Wright
At the beginning of 2020, we were working on an untitled exhibition with artist/educator Lily Hotchkiss that connected artists who use soft materials to our reserves of offcuts, factory seconds, and miscellaneous textiles and trims collected over several years of operations.
These materials represent raw power, and we hold them in high regard for the alchemical potential they carry. But negative space is also fundamental to creation.
Sharing that energy, while supporting divergent outcomes, opens a field of possibility.
Our Artist Series was established on those principles. This exhibition intended to revisit them on Earth Day, April 22nd, as a public celebration of the possibilities of our practice in the Pacific Northwest.
Inviting artists into your space will change your perception. Perhaps by forcing you to remain seated inside a woven jacket connected to a chair by Janelle Abbott, or being dared by the living presence of denim acrobats in the corner of the room by Marita Dingus. Constantly rearranging the sculpted rags by Rumi Koshino, a piece that can function as an endless puzzle for composition.
Malcolm Proctor’s core practice of signage, now seen widely throughout Seattle, is symbolic of the place we want to live. It’s an ongoing performance of subjectivity, practical and communicative of resistance.
Laura Wright’s masks, designed to protect and amplify underrepresented voices, are provocatively responsive to site. When the piece was first installed, we began receiving signals that shook the masks from their holders, reminding us of the power of our transmissions and the alignment of our work.
We’ve allowed a rhythm for this exhibit that has prioritized care while acknowledging the risk we must take as a small company to open our doors. Some of the artists invited to participate couldn’t produce work at this time. Others returned to the gallery on multiple occasions, influencing our day-to-day and establishing new community connections. The exhibit will remain on view for another month and online indefinitely.
Janelle Abbott
Nuzzle Chair, 2020
Dream About Us Together Again, 2020
Marita Dingus
Acdobats, 2020
Rumi Koshino
Rags to Clean Up Our Mess, 2020
Malcolm Proctor
Earth Armor #1, 2020
Earth Armor #2, 2020
Laura C. Wright
Narrowcasting- Prototype, 2020
Three rigid cotton face-masks with 4-ohm speakers connected to cell phone/ radio-ready amplifiers.
The 2020 Narrowcasting Prototype is part of a series of explorations in micro-amplification in the service of collective narrowcasting* of underrepresented voices or narratives. In practice, multiple participants wear NC masks at an event, connecting their cellphone to the speaker, and use the NextRadio app on Android FM enabled phones or a pocket radio to broadcast the same audio. NC is an attempt to use the space that more privileged bodies take up in service for underrepresented voices and serves as a meditation for active listening.
*There are multiple definitions of narrowcasting, most of which refer to capitalist goals. The use of the term for this projects stems from this description: “In South India, Deccan Development Society worked with Dalit women’s collectives to start Sangam Radio, the programmes for which were made by the community, but were ‘narrowcast’, i.e. played back to the community over cassette players at group meetings.”
