Hybrid

Redline
2350 Arapahoe Street, Denver CO 80205
August 11 – September 30, 2012

Initiated by Rian Kerrane, a native of Ireland, Hybrid asks fourteen artists to “cross over”. The artists’ work examines the experience of crossing the Atlantic in the current political climate while acknowledging historic influences from each artist’s perspective; identifying experiences of (dis)placement and immersion in cultural and social surroundings from either side of the Atlantic. RedLine provides the first venue for a pair of exhibitions, the second of which will take place in Ireland, allowing each artist to engage both with “local” proximity and “foreign” distance in turn.

right: Rabbit (detail) - Tar & graphite on paper

Nourish

Nourish is a multifaceted project which seeks to understand the way we grow and consume food.

Starting with the impacts of our industrial food machine, a series of paintings were created to explore the environmental consequences of imposing ourselves on the land. As a counterpoint to the problems caused by industrial agriculture, solutions are presented through educational works about developing technologies built around the ideas of sustainable agriculture. The third arm of this project reflects on the resilience demonstrated by people around the world who are finding ways to maintain traditions in the face of a globalization which tears at the social fabric of their communities.

Grandpa's Garden
Small scale solutions & emerging technologies

Tales of Thatcher Gray
A Year in Grandpa's Garden seeks to educate children with solutions to some of today’s biggest environmental problems which are caused by the industrial food machine. This body of work follows the development of a permaculture garden by Thatcher Gray and Grandpa. Important solutions stem from growing food in a sustainable way that involves the next generation. Exploring the importance of composting, gray water recycling & filtration through wetlands, habitat construction & maintenance, seed saving, biodiversity and nourishment, Thatcher Gray learns to be conscious of impacts we have on our surroundings. Peter T. Leonard (Grandpa) is a master gardener who focuses on a return to tradition while incorporating new developments in polyculture, aquaponics and permaculture. He is writing haiku to compliment the paintings. The work is available online with expanded explanations and links specific to the subjects addressed, and may be viewed at www.TalesOfThatcherGray.com

Grandpa's Garden & Tales of Thatcher Gray educational paintings will be featured on several tours in 2012:

Los Jardineros Garden Tour
Featuring the permaculture, polyculture & aquaponics systems built around the Distillery studio, as well as the paintings which grew from the construction of the gardens.
August 4, 2012

TAO Studio Tour
September 1-3, 2012
Reception: Friday, August 31 at the Mable Dodge Luhan House, Taos

ISEA2012: Machine Wilderness
Taos extension day, September 27, 2012.

right: Carrot - Bee - Zucchini - Ladybug with carrot flowers and seeds (detail) - watermedia, tea, beet & red cabbage stain

Resilience in the face of Globalization

Guatemala

Starting with stone lithographs of lush forest, these mixed media works on paper were truck-tracked with fresh tar, then torn into small squares. They serve as a foundation that speaks to the situation imposed on the Maya: pushed off their land and treated like slaves on plantation style agricultural production facilities owned by multinational corporations. They fill US demands for cheap commodities which comes at a severe cost to both people and the environment. The texture of tar is an echo of the continuing destructive influence of these corporations. Tar is made from oil which also makes up the petrochemicals used in the style of agriculture that is decimating the environment.

Somehow, Mayan culture is not decimated. They maintain an incredible dedication to tradition, working in harmony with the environment. Ancient customs are manifested through the colorful and intricate weavings which are worn with pride. These portraits are of Mayan women from the highlands market in Chichicastenango. Exploring a wide range of human emotion from being weary and hurt to looking forward with hope, the vignettes are intended to explore the breadth and range of emotional textures in this community.

Exhibitions:
Dairy Center for the Arts
April 2013
2590 Walnut Street, Boulder, CO

Biennial of the Americas
2010 - Denver

right: espera - tar, sharpie, watercolor & pencil over torn lithograph

REAP
The Environmental Un-sustainability of the
American Food Machine

Overview

Bitter but beautiful Harvest
Lee Lee's stark style captures anger and elegance among environmental degradation.
by Lennie Bennett, St Petersburg Times

Exhibition Highlights:
Nature:Working! - 910 Arts, Denver, 2011
Vanishing Pollinators - WEAD installation at the Bioneers Conference, 2010
Art & Agriculture - The Columbia Arts Center, 2010
Extinction - Denver Botanic Gardens, 2009
REAP - C Emerson Fine Arts, St Petersburg FL, 2009

right: Rain - Oil Refinery, Commerce City (detail) watercolor, conte & oil

Natural/Constructed Spaces

The Painting Center
547 West 27th Street, Suite 500, New York, NY 10001
July 17 - August 11, 2012
Opening Reception: July 19th

As artists, we are compelled to create and look at images of the natural and man made worlds in which we live. Through these images we are able to express nostalgia for a simpler, more pristine world, bring attention to environmental degradation, or ponder the wonders and despair of today's urban centers.

Catalog Available
Crop will be exhibited in this show

right: Ghost - Abandoned Slaughterhouse, Commerce City
Silo - Abandoned Intercontinental Missile Silo in the American Heartland

Taos Contemporary

Metropolitan State Center for Visual Art
965 Santa Fe Drive, Denver, CO
May 31 - August 11, 2012

Taos Contemporary will offer a view of the current art colony as represented by a variety of artists who call Taos County home. These artists are engaged with current issues and processes of art-making in a way that suggests Taos maintains its tradition of innovation and independence. These artists tap into the energy of place as well as a supportive environment in a way that gives the New Mexico community its own center of gravity.

right: Crop - acrylic on canvas

Consumer Culture

Woman Made
685 North Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago Il 60642
May 4 - June 21, 2012

Consumer Culture addresses the issues surrounding and resulting from the insidious desire for consumption and the waste products produced by full-filling that need.

right: Vrnda (detail) - portrait of a combat medic's mom - pencil & blood on board with collaged shotgunned oil painting & raw silk, burnt with coals

Waves of Change

We have a big problem with plastic pollution in our world now. I’m addressing it through paintings which explore the impact of plastic on our bodies and the environment. Ultimately, my paintings about plastic will be used as an educational tool with the aim of reducing our consumption of single use plastics.

Learn more about the problem of plastics in the oceans by reading about Ocean Gyres & Garbage Patches here

UN Environment Programme
The Plastic Flow: From Waste to Waves

Art from Detritus
Turtles swimming in a Plastic Ocean series included in the Art from Detritus exhibit
Williamsburg Art & Historical Center
135 Broadway - Brooklyn NY
April 24th - May 29th 2011

5.11: A 150,000-Pound Hand-Me-Down. Yay? by Neil Genzlinger, Metropolitan Section of the New York Times

right: turtles swimming in a plastic ocean - watercolor with torched plastic collage

Metropolis

Metropolis is a book of words for children. The words were chosen to reflect the essence of Burning Man. Following Thatcher Gray on his first visit to Black Rock City, the illustrations manifest the event from the perspective of a two year old. He immediately embraced the participatory nature of the community and was delighted to explore the highly interactive art. In the way that children his age are encouraged learn through play, Thatcher Gray seemed to pick up on the fact that the artists and intellectuals who contribute most to the community often present experiments in which they are furthering their own education through play.

E-book edition now available

right: dust - Black Rock City - watercolor