A Day of Activism + Movement | MoMA PS1

Sustainable Bodies | workshop materials at MoMA PS1

(contributors: Abigail Doan, Atelier de Geste, and XCRT Lab)

It was an honor to recently present work in 'A Day of Movement' at MoMA PS1 as a visiting artist/guest of Atelier de Geste. AdG's director and choreographer, Beau Rhee, created the event's Sustainable Bodies workshop as a way to examine ecological solutions and activist steps – with movement as a basis for environmental connection and sensory awareness. I presented materials and notes from my Walking Libraries project as well as participating in an interactive performance that evolved in the gallery space.

The Day of Movement line up was in conjunction with For Freedoms' month-long residency in the museum's designated gallery space and sharing lab zone.

Ideas that circulated during the Sustainable Bodies workshop included the following:

– waste reduction as a local act, with ripple effects from the home to the ecological fabric and soil of the community.

– materials and research that examines bioremediation, water conservation and recycling via the implementation of low-tech solutions that are both affordable and impactful.

– visual tools that serve as ecological aids on a daily basis. this includes personal kits (as demonstrated by Walking Libraries), where gathered finds are archived and referenced as atmospheric awareness prompts. think also, environmental immersion and drifting as a way of surveying for solutions.

– movement (first) as a connection to place, old/new terrain, and inner/outer reactions; objects (second) as documentation or manifestation of the former.

Learn more about Atelier de Geste's studio practice here. Also not to be missed, XCRT Lab by Nancy Kim. Here's to even more synergy between (ecological) design, the movement arts, and time for closer (deeper) observation.

Walking Libraries | Archiving 2016 to 2017

Walking Libraries | February 2017 | NYC

I am thrilled to announce that I will be participating in an Artist Residency in Motherhood (ARIM) as of March 1, 2017. ARIM is the open source residency project of artist, Lenka Clayton.

For a two month period, I will continue to work on archiving images and materials from my Walking Libraries (WL) project initiated in 2016. The original vision for WL was the following:

"This art initiative will involve my archiving of the granular aspects of landscape exploration and tactile finds out on the trail. My goal is to incorporate more movement into my work as means to further explore personal mapping concepts as well as fluidity between materials and documentation methods." (March 2016)

Since then I have walked numerous trails and the open terrain of the Hudson Valley, coastal northern California, off the beaten pathways in Bulgaria, as well as urban NYC. ARIM will be a framework for me to better archive materials gathered to date while also reflecting on how I identify textural details in the landscape as a parent, mother, and environmental artist focused on preserving and protecting the natural world.

Walking Libraries | May 2016 | Pescadero, California

In addition to an updated library of images, I hope to edit materials for printing small volumes and editions that I will pass on to my own children and others as a record for addressing the need to see more, examine more, and connect more.

Learn more about the materials for ARIM's residency kit here.

Marisa Merz | The Sky Is A Great Space

A selection of images from 'Marisa Merz: The Sky Is a Great Space' at The Met Breuer.

All photo by Abigail Doan | January to February 2017.

The Noguchi Museum | Winter 2017

Select quotes by Isamu Noguchi:

It is weight that gives meaning to weightlessness.

The attractions of ceramics lie partly in its contradictions. It is both difficult and easy, with an element beyond our control. It is both extremely fragile and durable. Like 'Sumi' ink painting, it does not lend itself to erasures and indecision. 

When the time came for me to work with larger spaces, I conceived them as gardens, not as sites with objects but as relationships to a whole.

A beautiful snowy Saturday at The Noguchi Museum in Queens. Photos by Abigail Doan.

2016 | Exhibition + Project Highlights

'Warp Weighted Loom (2016)' by Janis Stemmermann on view at Russell Janis 

As 2016 comes to a close, I would like to take the time to thank and also highlight those artists + designers who generously shared their work and creative studio time with me during the past year. 

In an era where 'sharing' is often fueled by the instant gratification of social media tools, it has been fortifying and truly energizing for me to make direct contact with individuals whose work I admire and whose projects I feel are vital to the art + environment + materials dialogue.

Even though there are many others who have helped to shape my artistic thinking during 2016, I offer this sampling in gratitude for the hard work and devotion to unique fabrication methods sustained by these unique creatives.

All photos featured are by Abigail Doan.

________

Sasha Duerr | Natural Color | September book signing at the Textile Arts Center

Louise Eastman | 'Wallflowers' at Planthouse Gallery (May 2016)

Correspondence Course | Norte Maar

detail of Correspondence Course exchange with Abigail Doan + Brece Honeycutt

“Founded on the ideas of collaboration among artists, Norte Maar is always excited to learn about independent projects that take form when two or more artists create, respond and explore the world together. One such project, initiated during the Autumn of 2015, features artists Abigail Doan (@lostinfiber) and Brece Honeycutt (@onacolonialfarm) who began a parallel process of collecting, diagramming, and altering select materials in an urban to rural dialogue intended to examine modern and historic connections in their daily lives. The results of this dialogue have evolved into #CorrespondenceCourse: a collaborative, materials exchange project between artists Abigail Doan and Brece Honeycutt.”

Thank you, Norte Maar, for this kind feature on #CorrespondenceCourse, an urban to rural dialogue with artist friend, Brece Honeycutt.

To learn more about Norte Maar and their current #MakeMoreArt initiative, visit their website and fundraising campaign. More news on #CorrespondenceCourse in early 2017.