Performance & Collaboration
Working in New York with The Mighty Oaks Theater Service, a group created by the late Marcia Tucker and her then partner Tim Jahn, I created two performance pieces that were shown at The Kitchen: Ace and Signifying. In Ace, members of the group wrapped themselves as they wished in ace bandages (they were otherwise naked). Clustered together, they emitted weird, absurd, and pathetic sounds of angst. Tucker entered and wrapped the entire group in an even larger bandage, and they then toddled off, their neuroses and anxieties silenced. In Signifying, each performer wore monochromatic, brightly colored pants and tops. Upon a command, they moved into and then froze various actions. Examples of some of the poses are: Kissing, Climbing, Running, Loving, Hating, etc. Color and action merged into living sculptures.
Absolute Cow T.W. Wood Gallery, Vermont College, 1988, was a collaborative, multimedia project that drew attention to the loss of the family farm. It involved poetry, sculpture, paintings, original choreography (a dance with a live cow), a musical composition (all cow bells), and animated steel, bovine talking heads, in which local farmers spoke poignantly of their distress and anger at the difficulties they faced an the loss of their farms.
The Wild Bird Project, 2013. Five artists were invited to The Wild Bird Fund, a wildlife rehabilitator, on the west side of Manhattan, to draw and paint injured birds during their recovery. It was a moving and intimate experience. The results of our efforts culminated in a successful art auction to raise money for the sanctuary, and in a set of note cards that were produced for sale by the Fund to generate additional funds.
