site-specific NM contd.

SiteWorks, a series of commissioned site projects organized by Kathleen Shields , explored issues of place and change in temporary art works. Kathleen describes Anne Cooper’s project: “…Her dedication to Anderson Field, which she helped save from development in the mid-1990s, made it an obvious choice for her installation Anitya, which honors the notion of impermanence despite efforts to preserve what we love. As part of this project, she negotiated the use of the land among the community gardens there, documented her ongoing relationship with it as a place to visit and walk everyday, and through the changes that occurred in the work since its installation—dissolution of the clay bowls, sprouting of the seeds, becoming invisible due to the weeds—the essence of time and its natural cycles was embodied."

From Steve Peters', The Very Rich Hours. A site-specific sound piece for "SiteWorks", organized by Kathleen Shields Contemporary Art Projects, Recording session with poet Lisa Gill, Photo by Steve Peters

About Steve Peters’ sound installation for SiteWorks, she says, “The Very Rich Hours in Corrales’ deconsecrated Old San Ysidro Church conveyed the devotional aspect of a relationship to place and the land. Made of the earth itself and dedicated to the patron saint of farmers, the church embodies the life of this historically agricultural community, and the chorus of voices we heard through Peters’ recordings brought further individual affinities for places around northern New Mexico.” The voices of many New Mexico artists, poets and filmmakers were incorporated into this sound piece, including Lisa Gill, JB Bryan, Jeffrey Lee, Loren Kahn, Basia Irland and Mary Lance among others.

SiteWorks also included “Lost and Found” by Jaune Quick-to-See Smith and Neal Ambrose-Smith, and Bill Gilbert’s “Matter of Fact: Walk to Work”.

Basia Irland receding / reseeding 2009, 300-pound ice book sculpture with cottonwood seed text, Featured in Second Site at 516 ARTS, Photograph from a public ice book launch event at Tingley Beach along the Rio Grande in Albuquerque, during the LAND/ART Symposium Weekend, June 28, 2009, Photo by Claire Long

Basia Irland’s site project titled receding / reseeding, presented by the Center for Contemporary Arts, involved a series of ice book sculptures embedded with “text” in the form of native seeds. The public participated in a “launching” of the ice books at Tingley Beach along the Rio Grande in Albuquerque, during the LAND/ART Symposium Weekend. Documentation of this event was featured in a display in Second Site, an exhibition and reference site at 516 ARTS for many of the site projects for LAND/ART.

Robert Wilson, Cube, A site project at the City of Albuquerque Open Space

Artist Robert Wilson describes his temporary site project at the City of Albuquerque Open Space: “Cube was made from a segment of fallen cottonwood trunk, resurrected and surrounded by rectangular blocks made from coiled lengths of heavy-guage wire, reclaimed from the jetty jacks along the Rio Grande and constructed into an eight-foot cube. This piece represented the relationship between the Albuquerque Metropolitan Area and the Rio Grande Bosque, a preserved natural corridor coursing through the center of our city.”

Jason Pressgrove and Rebekah Lynn Potter’s Tumbleweed Assembly, A site project on the grounds of The Harwood Art Center in Albuquerque

Among the many other outdoor site projects of note were: Nina Dubois and Jeannete Hart-Mann’s Culture Digeste(s), a composting sculpture on the campus of the University of New Mexico; Jason Pressgrove and Rebekah Lynn Potter’s changing architectural structure Tumbleweed Assembly on the grounds of the Harwood Art Center; Patrick Dougherty’s community sculpture project Here's Looking at You on the grounds of Bosque School; Marc Schmitz’s Spaces for Open Minds at Tiguex Park; and Stuart Frost’s Portable Grove along Mountain Road. - Suzanne Sbarge

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