Artist s Statement Leila Daw

Artist s Statement Leila Daw I am fascinated by mapping, as a way of representing the convergence of place and movement, as a means of imposing human ideas over the contours of the natural world, as a system of filters through which we see the landscape. We try to exert control over our environment by mapping, and think we're not lost if we can pinpoint our location on a map. But mapping is subjective: how do we know where we are, when what we're looking for determines what we see? Culture transforms not only the sites we inhabit, but the ways in which we see those sites. We change the land by the ways we occupy it, but the land in turn changes us, so we know longer know which way we're going, which is past and which future, or how to get from here to where we think we belong. This is not to say I make completely factual maps (if there were such a thing); mapping is a metaphor, something to think about while working. I'm always trying to find the way, determine my location, my sense of site, my direction, trying for an overview, sometimes an aerial view, trying to make sense out of mixed cultural nonsense. There are obscuring clouds in our minds as well as over the Earth. Tremendous romance attaches to travel and journeying (for which we consult maps), but sometimes the most exciting adventures are metaphysical, taking place entirely disconnected from physical reality. And so, I map all this experience. Recently my work has taken a turn into -- what? -- the underworld? -- cataclysmic disasters, ruins evoking civilizations past and future, the remains of fragile human endeavors on the surface of the planet. Right now in the studio, I'm working on an image / view / map of a flood, wiping the world clean. And, that's not so bad; in fact it opens up newborn opportunities... Once, while teaching my "Myth and Ritual" class at Mass Art, we had a discussion about deeply-held myths underlying our own culture. We discovered that each of us believes some kind of Armageddon will occur in our lifetimes -- and that we will survive, coming out the other side to create a new map for our existence. Those are the "maps" I hope I'm making. Leila Daw

Artist s Statement Keith Johnson New Work: Grids, Typologies, Topologies, and the Extended Image My new work is about extending the photographic document beyond the single print using multiple images. I started doing work like this in the early 80s and it has periodically shown up over the years. Extended imagery is similar to what a poet might do when combining paragraphs, or a filmmaker does when splicing film into a montage. Recently though, I have devoted my energies to investigating both the grid and linear multiple presentations. The camera documents better than any device the detail and surface of objects, places, and ideas, but sometimes the involvement with an idea goes on to look at multiple facets; consider what cubist painters accomplished early in the 20th century. Sometimes extended viewing of a visual idea would reveal not only the idea but additionally time, light, color, and comparison would change during the extended time spent looking. This is what has become compelling to me. Typology, topology and recording have become the reason that I might stop to make a picture. When presenting multiple images on a single piece of paper or arrange multiple framed prints on a wall in a grid or linear presentation the viewer is given a bunch of picture ideas with be involved with just as I had when I made the pictures. With a multiple image pictures a narrative, time study or comparison creates a visual experience larger than the sum of individual parts. Keith Johnson 17 Bedford Avenue Hamden, CT 06517 203-288-2336 kj@keithjohnsonphotographs.com www.keithjohnsonphotographs.com

Artist s Statement John Mullin The photographic work presented here is defined by the night. I approach the landscape at nighttime with awe and an awareness that such places where people are seldom present nonetheless reflects the psychodrama of human existence. I look for that zone between public and private, the mood instigated by the nocturnal environment feeling the vulnerability of the voyeur. In the Venice Alley series I try to document how places designated for passage or refuge by day take on a sinister but radiant impression under the semi-darkness of the urban night. I am interested in the tension between sanctuary and susceptibility, invitation and apprehension. Another picture altogether emerges at nightfall. In the Sky series the existing light reveals both the temporality and the spirit of a place. It is through this synthetic light there is produced a stronger presence of the implausible. By blending abstraction and representation I try to get at a sense of the imaginary, letting the physics of the photographic process allude to the cosmos. When encountering the either body of work, the viewer may ask if this is factual evidence or illusory appearance.

Artist s Statement Suzan Scott The Weather Project is a perfect vehicle for me. It enables me to explore my lifelong interests in art, nature, and science, and to direct my attention to the present moment in order to deepen my perception and my powers of observation. I am a painter. I paint sky. I am awed by its beauty and complexity. Observed changes in weather fronts, cloud formations, and shifts in light and color inform my work. I use photography and meteorological readings to record the days. Atmospheric conditions constantly change; countless, precise, invisible, adjustments are ceaselessly processed, balanced, and realigned. These systems are vital and alive to me. Each piece is an attempt to capture a moment in time and record both the change and the changeless in this vast system. My work is also about process. I have created a method of working that combines my interests in art, nature and science. It is a two-step process of fieldwork and studio time. In the field, I use direct observation, photography, personal notations, weather statistics, and digital recordings. Then, in my studio, I explore the process of production through manipulation of physical materials, drawing, painting in, painting out, layering, re-drawing, and glazing. Elements of time, motion, and sequence are addressed in this process. When I begin to work I always have a specific day and time in mind, as reference. I usually eliminate all reference to landscape, to remove distraction and focus the viewer s eye. However, once I begin to work, I paint intuitively, slipping into a space that is in-between the visible and the invisible, the now and then. Painting becomes a process of mark making and response. The finished work is the result of the dialogue between myself and the day,representing a specific, unique and irreplaceable segment of time: a piece of sky. The work of both photographers and painters figure have influenced my work and my way of seeing and thinking. Photographic influences include Muybridge s motion studies, Stieglitz s Equivalents series, and the landscapes of Ansell Adams. Monet s haystacks, Constable s cloud studies, O Keefe s strong, simple forms, and the seriality and conceptual nature of LeWitt are among the other influences that inform my work.

The Weather Project is an ongoing body of work which represents the fusion of my lifelong interests in art, nature, and science. I have a deep appreciation and respect for the natural world and all living things. There is one sky, one earth, one people; each of these three exists simultaneously and in amazing variety. I hope to be part of the movement to raise people's awareness of the environment and our delicate connection to it through the creation of art and media that is based on appreciation of nature and the diversity of life.