MMMM Film preview….
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Tag Archives: Camp Long
Clip from Mater Matrix Mother and Medium Short Film on Flickr….
A film still from the short film that Ian Lucero is working on based on the MMMM performance. I have seen about 3 minutes of a promo, and am so thrilled, and so truly truly grateful to have had the chance to work with such incredible artists, Ian, Morgan and Zoe (and Juniper Shuey and Paul Margolis). All so generous and humble and so full of vision….
The film will premier at Ohge Ltd. Gallery in Seattle in January 2010….stay tuned….
The 3 minute promo will be showing at Dalton Gallery at Agnes Scott College….I am here in Atlanta installing the river as part of “Still Water”….
Clip from Mater Matrix Mother and Medium Short Film on Flickr – Photo Sharing!.
First day of taking the river down
with my friend Inna…
She took the scissors to the first tie, cut it open and a spider the size of a silver dollar crawled out! When I flicked it onto the ground, it sounded like a marble. No other creature encounters…but, my how much faster it is to take down them put up. We carefully rolled it into long cigars and began packing them into bike boxes (so I can take them on the air plane to Atlanta…..the river is heading to Agnes Scott College on Sept. 30th, 2009 through November!)
The River stays up until Aug. 23rd for the Arts-in-Nature Festival!!
Trying to tie up some loose end in the private life…I have neglected wrapping up on the blog about the performance , the response to the performance, and what will happen in the future with MMMM. First, it’s run has been extended! If you have been to Camp Long since July 31st, you will see that it is still up! I check on it often and make little repairs, and still continue to speak with people about it while I am there. And tell everyone that it will stay up for the incredible Arts-in-Nature Festival on Aug. 22 – 23rd, 11-9 and 11-6. I will be doing some sort of crocheting workshop on those days, but don’t have the details yet…I adore Camp Long, every inch of it, and am so excited to see the place transformed into one big art party! Every cabin filled with sound installations and tons of other stuff!! Come say farewell to the river!
I’ve got some deadlines over the weekend , and then will get back to my loose ends with this blog…getting pictures up of the performance!
MMMM Performance gets a mention on “Pacific Standard” blog
The Performance is upon us! 7/16/09 at 6:30 pm
rehearsing
Thursday July 16th, 2009 at 6:30 pm Mater Matrix Mother and Medium will reach its performative culmination with a site-specific performance by Seattle-based and internationally-recognized choreographer/dancer Zoe Scofield, with music for clarinet and megaphone created and performed by musician/composer Morgan Henderson .
Come join in this one-time experience at the Pond at Camp Long in West Seattle, 5200 35th Ave. SW.
The Performance, created by collaboration between myself, Zoe Scofield and Morgan Henderson is a hushed reflection on the subtle dynamics of the Forest embedded in the urban environment, at once organic as it is artificial. All three artists, in our own way, having responded to the quirky overgrown tranquility of Camp Long’s little pond, invite you to sit for a short time in quiet observation of the rhythms of this unusual site, heightening your focus through sound, movement, breath and site-responsive installation.
Mater Matrix Mother and Medium began with the creation of a 200 ft.- long fiber river, created in part through a series of over 30 community events all over Seattle, where I taught anyone willing to learn, how to crochet. I then took the fiber “pools” into the forest of Camp Long and spent nearly six weeks on a ladder crocheting the river into the trees, flowing from 25 feet up in the tree canopy to nearly touching the forest floor.
The River, made up of thousands upon thousands of tiny moments and movements of individual citizens, integrated, linked together and interwoven into the natural environment, will itself embed Zoe Scofield in an exploration of how we ourselves are both literal and metaphoric manifestations of the living essence of water. Our experience of water is both one of ultimate intimacy and also of civic structure. This artwork, a unique blend of community engagement and personal inquiry, site-embedded installation and performance, embodies the ancient human practice of acknowledging our own physicality rooted in the cycles of water and how this forms the very foundation of human community. Water, both mundane and miraculous, mirrors the everyday meeting of strangers and the tiny moments that begin to bond us together.
Please consider bringing a blanket to sit on during the performance but lawn chairs will obstruct others’ view. Come enjoy some tranquility!
This project is part of three temporary public art projects in the Water Calling series, and are commissioned by the Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs with Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) 1% for Art funds. The projects reflect SPU’s management of the complete cycle of hydrology for Seattle’s water resources from drinking water through drainage, and Restore Our Waters, the city’s initiative to protect and restore Seattle’s urban waterways.
Crocheting on a ladder…
I haven’t really been able to keep up with the blog while installing the river in the park, but have lots and lots of pictures…
The Arts | Art and conversation flow from hands and heart of artist Mandy Greer | Seattle Times News
A great article in the Seattle Times! Thank you to all the people who are coming to visit the park because of it!
The Arts | Art and conversation flow from hands and heart of artist Mandy Greer | Seattle Times News.
Crocheting into the Woods!
I have been chomping at the bit to begin the process of installing this giant river form into the woods at Camp Long, so am excited to say I have started. It’s a slow laborious process, like putting together a giant puzzle….but it’s really fun!
And going to take me the full month with my hands full time in the woods. I have so much I wish I could post on this blog, but it will actually have to wait until I get the majority of the river into the trees. Like, I saw a giant owl the other day in Camp Long. A Giant, chilling, mythology-making creature staring at me with dark black eyes like she could eat me if she felt like it…..it was amazing!
Staring at trees and chalk on the sidewalk: the last events! …. for now…
buzzzzz, getting polinated
I am a busy busy bee trying to finish up the wearable element for Zoe to rehearse with, as well as the planning for moving myself into the landscape of Camp Long , but there are a few remaining crochet events, beginning tomorrow. I will be crocheting the afternoon away under the trees near my site, further getting to know the shapes and spaces. I always forget this important part of my process…it feels like wasting time, but I’ve come to realize sitting and staring at my work, in-process, is very valuable.
working out of the studio.....ahhhhh
Usually in the studio, I have armatures in-process that I STARE at forever while I sew or crochet, etc. With the armature here a living environment, as much as I wish this were possible, I haven’t been able to sit for hours under these trees that I will soon get to know very well. Perhaps this can happen for the next outdoor works….
grass and silk
earlier in the spring at Discovery Park
Then later Thursday evening, I’ll be coming home to my beloved neighborhood Columbia City, with the generosity of the Columbia City Gallery hosting me from 6-8. I know there are many art events thursday night, but if you are in the neighborhood, please swing by, even just for a bit. (and whoa! check out the jurors of their latest call for art!!, Jeffry Mitchell, Suzanne Beal, and Lisa Harris)
Columbia City Gallery
Then, this weekend I’ll be at the Morgan Junction Festival in West Seattle for a bit, with Camp Long. It will be my first chance to visit the new interactive public art piece by SuttonBeresCuller at Morgan Junction Park…
Salon, a series of museum-style frames stamped in the sidewalk that borders the neighborhood park. Artist trio SuttonBeresCuller etched and color tinted the “picture frames” that invite the public to create their own works of art. Make a masterpiece and meet the artists!
The guys will be there at the new park, for it’s dedication from 10am – 11am. These guys are doing all sorts of thrilling community-based art right now, I’m inspired!
My schedule w/links!
- 11th of June, Thurs, noon – 4 pm, Camp Long, 5200 35th Ave. SW at Dawson
- 11th of June, Thurs, 6 pm – 8 pm, Columbia City Gallery, 4864 Rainier Ave S.
- 13th of June, Sat, 11 am – 2:30 pm, Morgan Junction Community Festival with Camp Long, 6401 California Ave. S.W.
New events scheduled!! (some of the last…so come join in!)
I’m not quite willing to say these are the last events I’ll be scheduling … it’s all gone by so fast! And I have at least 60 more feet to make! But, these are some of the last events, so if you are curious to experience what this is all about, get out your calendar and see what works!
- 7th of June , Sun, 10 am – 2 pm, SAM Olympic Sculpture Park, outside PACCAR Pavillion (inside if rain), 2901 Western Avenue
- 8th of June, Mon, 11 am – 2 pm, 4Culture Conference Room, 101 Prefontaine Place S.
- 11th of June, Thurs, noon – 4 pm, Camp Long, 5200 35th Ave. SW at Dawson
- 11th of June, Thurs, 6 pm – 8 pm, Columbia City Gallery, 4864 Rainier Ave S.
See all the events here.
130 feet, approx.
Mark your calendars for the MMMM performance and residency at Camp Long, this summer
After much planning, The Performance…..
Mater Matrix Mother and Medium will culminate with a site-specific performance by Seattle-based and internationally-recognized choreographer and dancer Zoe Scofield. Come join in this one-time experience on July 16th, 2009 at 6:30 pm at the pond at Camp Long in West Seattle, 5200 35th Ave. SW. 
This River, made up of thousands upon thousands of tiny moments and movements of individual citizens, integrated, linked together and interwoven into the natural environment, will itself embed Scofield in an exploration of how we ourselves are both literal and metaphoric manifestations of the living essence of water. Our experience of water is both one of ultimate intimacy and also of civic structure. This artwork, a unique blend of community engagement and personal inquiry, site-embedded installation and performance, embodies the ancient human practice of acknowledging our own physicality rooted in the cycles of water and how this forms the very foundation of human community. Water, both mundane and miraculous, mirrors the everyday meeting of strangers and the tiny moments that begin to bond us together.
An outdoor studio for myself, Artist-in-Residence at Camp Long….
deep in the urban forest
The River of Mater Matrix Mother and Medium will be created on site at Camp Long, as I integrate all the fiber parts created over these many months into one form based on the topography and structure of the trees of the park. Please join me, from June 15 – July 9th, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11 am – 2 pm, and watch as this brilliant blue line begins to accumulate and grow in this tiny patch of urban forest. You can watch me work, join in with more crocheting and also explore the trails of this hidden gem of a park in the Longfellow Creek watershed.
Installation Site….Camp Long in West Seattle!
Polly Wog pond (look for salamander egg sacks)
Mater Matrix Mother and Medium finally has a home (a temporary one) for the installation of this fiber water everyone has been helping me make. Camp Long, a City park with a kind of Secret Garden- meets- 194o’s Boy Scout camp feel, is a pretty wonderful place! I feel some excited anticipation to site this work in this delightfully quirky place. I have heard it referred to several times as the “best kept secret”, and come across a lot of Seattleites (even West) who haven’t been to it. You can camp in a little cabin in the middle of the city (you can even see the City skyline from an amazing lower trail). At some point this summer it will be my outdoor studio for about a month, and I’m thrilled. Camp Long has a unique and round-about timely history, which I need to investigate more and post about, but a quick chat with Sheila Brown, the Camp director, revealed that the Camp was built out of a time of economic crisis by the WPA, with much of the Lodge being constructed of salvaged materials, green building before there was Green Building. More on that, later…
Take a quick trip to Camp Long with your sleeping bag…you can still make it to the office in the morning!
mater matrix mother and medium 