Twenty-five years ago the art collective DDDD/01 and Virginia Cannon launched HOME01, a Live Art Event at ruby green contemporary art foundation in Nashville. My mom and dad traveled from Beckley, WV to attend. The performers and exhibitors were impressive, including Grammy winner Jon Randall and sculptor Celeste Roberge. Here's a sample of photos shot that night. See more at AFH Flickr.

Home01 2001

by art for humans

From Press Release:

ruby green, a non-profit contemporary arts foundation, is pleased to announce "Home", an 01 production, on view February 3-24, 2001. In this exhibit, 01 will explore the artist's relationship with her or his home, the body as home for the spirit and the art gallery as home for art. The program, guest curated by 01 lead artist Paul McLean, will also include a "Live Art Series", to be held each Saturday (February 3, 10, 17 & 24), at 8PM. ruby green is located at 514 5th Avenue South.

The exhibit program for "Home" will consist of 2D, 3D, audio, installation and New Media art. Most (though not all) of the 01 artists participating in the exhibit are based in Nashville. The Live Art series will include dance, dramatic and musical performances, New Media events, poetry readings, lectures and a home-wear fashion show.

From the exhibit materials:

HOME
@ruby green

DDDD
Paul McLean (Lead Artist)

O1 is an organic assemblage of accomplished creative individuals from diverse backgrounds and disciplines, brought together by lead artist Paul McLean. The focus of 01 has been the sharpening of perception (formula: art>life<art<life) through the technology/media of communication and culture. The formal approach of 01 involves the presentation of a multi-layered, multi-disciplinary exploration of a facet of human experience (like birth, death, conflict, storytelling, etc.). The presentation is intended to provide the viewer, whatever his or her level of visual literacy, with a compelling and encompassing sensory experience.

Home
Curator's Statement

"Home is where the heart is."

"There's no place like home."

Acknowledgements

I'd like to express my gratitude to ruby green Foundation for inviting me to act as guest curator for "Home", an 01 production opening February 3 in ruby green's exhibition space. ruby green is a vital part of Nashville's visual arts scene. Their efforts - presenting work by excellent contemporary artists, many of whom are exploring mediums and modes of expression outside the "mainstream" - are to be commended. ruby green relies on the community to support its mission and physical presence at the edge of downtown Nashville. It is my hope that "Home" will help raise the awareness within the community of ruby green's value as an institution and gallery. It is also my hope that ruby green's value will be acknowledged through the financial contributions of individuals and businesses that directly or indirectly benefit from the foundation's existence.

01 and DddD have received, since 1997, generous support from many local art-friendly entities. "Home" would not be possible without the support of these fine establishments. MCSi, The Mac Authority, Sensored Magazine, Ground Zero, TruColor Litho, Fido, Sign It Quick, Dury's, MCA Universal, Emerald Post Digital, Carissa's Armoires & Antiques, Pangaea, Six Degrees, Isle of Printing, Virago, Body Conscious and Yoga Source. Our ability to present the highest quality New Media Art, to produce associated documentation and marketing packages, and to provide our viewers with a pleasant viewing environment hinges on the assistance and patronage of culture-conscious Nashvillians like these.

Exhibit Concept

"Home" is a three-phase exhibit, featuring new and pre-existing work by contemporary artists based in Nashville, Gainesville, Florida and New York City, New York. These artists represent a broad range of disciplines, including traditional 2D and 3D object-based media, New Media (Internet, digital media, video and audio), architecture, graphic design, performance and installation media. Some will contribute elements to the exhibit, which might be described as found objects. These elements will further elucidate the exhibit concept.

The exhibit structure will consist of a three-phase installation and four Live Art events. The installation will change each week, in order to provide the artwork exhibited with adequate presentation space and focus, and to encourage viewers to return to the exhibit more than once. The Live Events will consist of lectures, multi-media presentations, performances and a fashion show. These events will serve as artists' receptions, entertainment and fundraising opportunities.

The concept for the exhibit is "Home". Each participating artist will produce new or pre-existing work, which will explore some aspect of this concept. The correlation of the work to the concept will be overt and direct in some cases, and more subjective and oblique in others. The interpretive diversity within the exhibited collection is a function of the freedom of vision afforded the participating artists and the conceptual agenda of the curator.

The conceptual agenda for "Home" is fourfold. 01 will explore the "house" as home for the family, the art gallery as home for art, the body as home for the spirit and the Earth as home for humanity.

The Live Art series will begin on February 3, with an unveiling of Garth William's Myriad project and a performance by sculptor Erin Hewgley. Lectures will also take place that evening, featuring artists involved in the exhibit and other speakers TBA. On February 10 and 17, we will premier an original dance composition by Andrew Krichels, lectures by visiting artists and others, a dance piece by Margaret Tolbert, audio work by Matt Hamilton and a multi-media poetry reading by Amy Hoskins. On February 24, we will present a fashion show/performance art presentation called "Homewear". Refreshments will be provided by Virago and Six Degrees.

The first phase of the installation will feature the sculpture of Erin Hewgley, a photograph by Michael Durham, photographs by William McLean, presented in scrapbooks displayed on antique furniture (provided by Carissa's Armoire's and Antiques), a video piece by Brent Stewart, a video piece by Paul McLean, paintings by Dane Carder and a painting by Adam Landry. The installation aesthetic for this and the second and third phases will be spacious and clean.

The second phase of the installation will feature an installation/sculpture collaboration by Bryce McCloud, Eric Snowden and Paul McLean. Eric Snowden will also produce a sculpture, text and sketchbook for the 2nd phase. Hewgley's sculpture and Stewart's video piece will remain in the space. Michael Durham will hang another photograph from his "Kiss" series. McLean will present a series of lightboxes and a painting by an artist TBA will be installed in the gallery for this phase. The Myriad will remain in place.

The third phase of the installation will feature paintings by Margaret Tolbert, sculptures by Celeste Roberge, sculptures by Nitin Jayaswal and an on-site wall painting by Glenn Goldberg. The Myriad will remain in place, as will Hewgley's and Stewart's works. Durham will hang another photograph from his "Kiss" series.

The curator wishes to maintain flexibility in the order of presentation. The necessity of this flexibility is based on his desire to provide the viewer with the best possible viewing experience. He must be able to respond to the relationships between pieces/artists in order to create the optimum installation configuration.

Artists

Erin Hewgley
Erin is a graduate of Pfizer College (B.A. Art), who also studied at the University of Zimbabwe and San Francisco State University. Her sculpture "Flatlinings" was the centerpiece for 01's "A Cold Empty Feelin'", performed at ruby green on December 16 of last year. Her contribution to "Home" is "Furniture for the Blended Family". The piece will incorporate process and performance into the presentation of a sculptural installation. Says, Hewgley of her piece,"'Furniture for the Blended Family' is inspired by my own experiences with divorce as a child, and the constant progression of patchwork and patience it takes to mend into a successful blended family. The piece will be set into motion with a performance. Dressed in the garb of a little girl, I'll metaphorically divorce the families by chainsawing two couches in half. Over the exhibit duration, the piece will take on the transformation of divorce-to-blended-family that takes us years to manage. I will physically mend the couches in the space."

Eric Snowden
Architect Eric Snowden (Manuel Zeitlin & Assoc., Lead Architect for restaurant Six Degrees) will contribute a sculptural piece, text, a sketchbook and images, describing his exploration of the human body's influence on architecture.

Garth Williams
Nashville native Multi-media/Internet Artist Garth Williams will unveil "The Myriad" (www.themyriad.com), a world-class Web-based artwork of infinite variations. The mesmerizing self-configuring and/or interactive Myriad takes combinative art to the 5th Dimension, incorporating audio, moving images, graphics, text and viewer-directed assemblage into a powerful and encompassing sensory experience. Williams has concocted a visual/pop culture gumbo that can be stirred infinitely by any viewer with a high-speed internet connection and a mouse.

Dane Carder
Painter Dane Carder will present his "Home Series", depictions of single haybales in an impressionist/decorative style. These works are simple, lovely and potent allegories, using the shaping of the natural world into a usable form as a jumping-off point for a meditative study of individuality, nature/nurture, isolation and the 01 construct.

Adam Landry/King Williams
Adam Landry (John Paul Keith guitarist) will contribute a figurative/abstract painting, made using house paint on roofing paper. He'll also collaborate on an audio piece, entitled "Home in 4 Movements" with King Williams (Head Engineer, MCA Universal).

Dr William D. McLean
Dr. William D. McLean (father of 01 Lead Artist Paul McLean), has been keeping a photographic record of our family, friends, home and hometown for forty years. His scrapbooks will be included in the show, in a presentation called "My Life is an Open Book, Thanks to Kodak & my Dad".

Michael Durham
Photographer Michael Durham whose work has become known for it's intense colors and almost painterly blurring effects presents KISS, the first series from his latest project featuring beautifully eroticized polyester prints. Images from KISS were shot as extreme closeups at slow shutter speeds of a male-female couple kissing. Their vibrant red tongues appear to become liquid melting into each other to form a single tongue against bright gold skin tones.

Virginia Cannon, Margaret Tolbert, Celeste Roberge and Nitin Jayaswal
Newly relocated to Nashville, art dealer Virginia Cannon will introduce three artists to visual arts scene here: Margaret Ross Tolbert (margaretrosstolbert.com), Celeste Roberge and Nitin Jayaswal, all outstanding mid-late career artists will travel to Nashville to install their work for the "Home" show. In 1997, Roberge exhibited a 10-year retrospective at Leo Castelli, which went on to tour at several institutions across the country including the Portland Museum of Art and the University of Maryland. Tolbert will lecture and perform at one of the Live Events for the "Home" show. She will also create a nomad's home environment in the gallery, and install her accomplished paintings in the space, meditations on Turkish doorways. Jayaswal will contribute two sculptural pieces, evocative of aviaries, which are evocative of Mediterranean culture.

Jonathon Morse
Jonathon Morse (road manager for Bela Fleck)adds an audio piece drawn from answering machine messages from friends, family and lovers.

Amy Hoskins
Through her accomplished poetry and elegant 2D work (presented through multi-media), Amy Hoskins will share an intensely personal, at times painful home experience.

Andrew Krichels
Distinguished choreographer, teacher and dancer Andrew Krichels will premier a new work based on the "Home" concept at ruby green, with the help of his young "body genius" assistants, James and Lilly.

Matt Hamilton
Matt Hamilton (Voight Kampf) will create a reflective audio environment in ruby green, using a system of microphones and speakers, manipulating the ambient sound produced by viewers and artworks in the space.

Brent Stewart
Filmmaker Brent Stewart's (8 Productions) offering for "Home" will be "Even More Flames to Fall in Love With", a three-hour video fireplace. The piece will include audio and brief glimpses of two lovers, shot in the visual texture of the home movie.

Miriam Dwyer, Jane Derryberry
Miriam Dwyer and Jane Derryberry (Posh Girl 2001)will produce a fashion show of "Homewear", initially juxtaposing the realities of girls' at-home fashion with the trappings of the fashion world. "Homewear" progresses, however, into the realm of the dream, exploring the girls' vision of beauty, costume and presentation, ultimately manifesting in the transformation of the body into a work of art.

Paul McLean
Paul McLean will contribute a series of lightboxes exploring yoga, the home, energy and art. He will also include a "Home Video", shot on his visit to his family's home in West Virginia over the 2000 holidays.

Bryce McCloud
Wood block printer and artist Bryce McCloud (Isle of Printing)will produce a special edition poster for the event and will also contribute a sculptural "camera", through which to view a Home World.