KARA HAMMOND: ITINERANT ARTS

This February in Open Studio, it’s time for a large-scale collage mural construction project, in preparation for Women’s History Month, in March.

This means making preparatory sketches, collecting images, ideas, a gallon of glue, fusing large sheets of paper to lots of smaller pieces of paper, then putting it all together on the wall of Open Studio. Inspirational topics to include the 1968 Democratic Convention, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, and the 2017 Women’s March.

If you would like to contribute your ideas for the Women’s History Month mural, come by the studio and write them down for me at Gallery Hop, February 7, 2020. You may see your idea integrated into the finished piece, which will be on view through April, 2020. Open Studio @ Art Connections, 629 N. Trade Street, Winston-Salem, NC, 27101.

Time again for block printed holiday cards. Lots of different images, several new designs to choose from, including “Sled Dog”, “Xmas Octopus”, and “BAH!”.

Each one is hand pulled, printed on rice paper or card stock and is unique. Sizes 3″ x 5″ to 5″ x 7″, priced $5 to $8 each.

Kara Hammond’s Block Print Cards are sold only through Sunday, December 22, so don’t procrastinate. Come by and check them out!

At Open Studio, 629 North Trade Street, Winston-Salem, NC, 27101.

Some colors I recently made have inspired a few new pieces.

Earlier this fall was poke-berry season, whose fruits ooze an astounding magenta when freshly squeezed, and mellow into a rich russet-burgundy as the ink oxidizes.

Also discovered some nice earth colors in the silty runoff of various parking lots. When combined with the copper oxide, walnut, rust, and acorn iron inks, some nice combinations occur.

• Piney Hollow Walnut
• Winston Winterberry
• Avalon Acorn
• Experimental Hibiscus
• West End White

Each hand made from foraged or found materials.

$7 for 30ml

Come by the studio and try them out!
629 N. Trade Street, Winston-Salem, NC

Open Thursdays and Fridays, 10am – 5pm

Saturdays 11am – 6pm, Sundays 1pm – 6pm

Kara Hammond: Itinerant Arts is located at Art Connections

629 N. Trade Street, Winston-Salem, NC

Open Thursdays and Fridays, 10am – 5pm

Saturdays 11am – 6pm, Sundays 1pm – 6pm

Itinerant Arts’ new space is at 629 N. Trade Street, Winston-Salem, featuring original framed ink wash drawings, archival prints, portable curiosity cabinets, and hand-pulled linocut notecards suitable for framing or mailing.

Holiday hours:

Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays 10am – 2pm

Saturdays and Sundays 11am – 6pm

Downtown Arts District Gallery Hop, Dec. 7, 5 – 9pm.

Sadly, after four years, I will be leaving the Torpedo Factory Art Center, and my fabulous studio on the Potomac. June 30 will be the turnover, when artist Marilynn Spindler will be taking over my half of Studio 306. The illustrious James Dean will be keeping up his half, sharing with her a love of architectural painting.  Please come by and visit, if you’re in Alexandria.

“Dredging The Lethe” is a large-scale drawing occupying the public space in the 3rd Floor North of the Torpedo Factory Art Center,  part of the Torpedo Factory Art Center’s “Art in Public Spaces” project.

Wrapped around the interior wall of a smokestack of the former munitions factory, the mural furthers the intent of the Torpedo Factory Art Center’s original initiative to “beat swords into plowshares,” using recycled book-pages, collage, charcoal, gesso and ink to create large-scale drawings of Greek goddesses amid contemporary human events. At twelve feet high and 26 feet in circumference, the mural’s circular composition allows for an unique viewing experience.

Memnosyne submerging the travelers.

The upper region of the mural depicts Memnosyne, Titan Goddess of Memory, as she submerges travelers in the river Lethe, to unburden them of their past experiences, with the understanding that they may begin life anew only when their memories are laid to rest.

Hazmat-suited Historians with the dredge, and visitors telling their stories to the cosmos.

Her daughter, Clio, the Muse of History, meanwhile, has persuaded a group of hazmat-suited Historians that they might find the source of all human history by traveling to the Underworld to mine the River Lethe in order to collect the memories of all the dead who have journeyed there throughout time. The Historians must take precautions to avoid the soporific nature of the mythic waters, lest they become forgetful themselves, as they attempt to collect and decipher of all the information which they gather and transmit to the their ethereal data center – known as “The Cloud”.

Clio being carried by the Black Swan, children wading in the forgetful waters.

The satellite beaming the Historians’ information to “The Cloud”.

The Cloud, detail

Contemporary figures surround the lower half of the column, making various efforts to have their stories included in the historian’s copious recordings, or try to forget their sufferings in the healing waters of forgetfulness.

Mural view, north side.

Detail

The mural itself is constructed of hundreds of pages of discarded books glued to rolls of brown paper, attached to the historic structure using a large packing strap. No nails, screws, or adhesives were allowed in the hanging of the drawing.

Here are a few photos of the installation process:

The Crew – (left to right) Leslie Mounaime, Veronica Barker-Barzel, Brett Johnson, Guy Jones, Jenn Athanas, Kara Hammond, Alex the visiting artist, Daniel Guzman. Photographer: Val Proudkii.

Thanks everyone!

Studio 306, Torpedo Factory 105 N. Union Street, Old Town Alexandria, VA 22314

The Striking Mill workers, 1912.

Inside the voting booth, with the mill worker.

Mural in progress.