Artist in Residence show at UNK Walker Art Gallery

For the past few months, I have been designing and building several pieces for a collaborative show with Mark Hartman, professor of Visual Communication and Design at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. We threw around loose ideas earlier this year for a show that explores the internal creative processes of an archetypal artist as they explore new possibilities and thoughts brought about by an introduction to the Maker’s Movement and related technologies.

I’m proud to say that after a streak of long days and nights, tons of great conversations and collaboration between students and faculty across several fields, the show is now open for the public!

This show is about the changes that can take place in a traditional artist’s mind when they are introduced to new creative possibilities made possible by modern open-source hardware. The pieces in the show all exist in various parts of the ‘maker’ spectrum, from works that are largely contemplative to works that exhibit a high degree of engineering mentality. Altogether, the show represents a new type of ‘artist in residence,’ one who does not fully subscribe to the art world, yet does not fully participate in the engineering world. In effect, a Maker.

This re-interpretation of the concept of an ‘artist in residence’ implies a certain duality, though some may interpret it as more of a dissonance, wherein the Maker feels equally at home in both artistic and scientific contexts, yet does not claim to be a strict advocate of either. In essence, this show is a synthesis of my own collaboration with Mark Hartman; a combination of two diverse skill sets wherein no individual’s skills are perceived as superior to another’s, but rather complimentary.