Re-Charge: A Nap Around the Table at Project Row Houses

Re-Charge: A Nap Around the Table
12 - 5 PM April 16 + 17
Charge House @ 2507 Holman Street, Project Row Houses

Charge is excited to invite you to 'Re-Charge: A Nap Around the Table' by Emily Sloan.

This 'Nappening' provides artists and culture makers a specially-prepared place and time to slow down, turn off devices, close their eyes, drift, and reset their inner rhythm before approaching the rest of the day. Eye coverings, ear plugs, and a limited number of cots will be provided. Yoga mats and sleeping bags are also welcome.

Re-Charge will be open 12 - 5 PM on April 16 + 17, 2016 at 2507 Holman Street. Drop ins are welcome.

Napping Enrichments:
2 PM Saturday, April 16 - lullabies will be performed by Sybrena Veazie.
12:30 PM Sunday, April 17 - a gong bath performed by Satmitar Khalsa.

This event is free and open to artists and culture makers.

This event is initiated by Charge co-organizer Jennie Ash as part of a series of programs exploring the subject of self-care, with consideration given to what individual, community-based and/or collective self care might look like, entail, require, or provoke for artists, curators, organizers, researchers, and educators in Houston.

The Charge house is part of Project Row Houses Round 44: Shattering the Concrete: Artists, Activists, and Instigators curated by Raquel de Anda @ Project Row Houses March 26 - June 19, 2016. Charge is co-organized by Jennie Ash and Carrie Schneider

ABOUT NAPPING AFFECTS PERFROMANCE

Napping Affects Performance (NAP) is a performance and participation project providing community naps in collaboration with various performances, including (but not limited to) collaborations with sound, word, touch, and the delivery of naps to various sites and/or contexts. In May and June of 2010, Napping Affects Performance operated out of Art League Houston with 6 weeks of continuous performances taking place during Art League’s regular hours of operation. Collaborators with this project included: Mari Omori, Kisa Parker, Beth Secor, Julia Claire Wallace, June Woest, Ruby “Lips” Woodward, Art League Houston, El Rincon Social, the Heart of Texas in Nacogdoches, Lawndale Art Center during The BIG Show, Little Woodrow’s, NOTSUOH, and St. Rose College in Albany, New York.

For more information or to book a naptism or mobile nap, please call 713-582-1198 or email: nappingaffectsperformance@gmail.com or visit: www.nappingaffectsperformance.blogspot.com

The Slow Game by Sebastien Boncy

The Slow Game by Sebastien Boncy just closed! It was hosted by The Kenmore at Art League Houston as a part of FotoFest 2016! Thank you to all who came out to see it and play it! Thank you Sebastien for sharing your work!

The Kenmore: The Slow Game
Sebastien Boncy
Curated by Emily Sloan
Exhibition Dates: March 4 – April 9, 2016
Art League Houston is excited to present The Kenmore: The Slow Game by Sebastien Boncy curated by Emily Sloan in conjunction with FotoFest 2016 Biennial. This exhibition features a selection of small-scale photographs from the artist’s ever growing and uncategorized archive of photographs that find resolution as sequences, installations, publications and other types of image networks. This new work will take the shape of a game, where the audience is asked to Restore the Rules of the Universe by interacting with a set of photographs.

ABOUT SEBASTIEN BONCY
Sebastien Boncy was born and raised in Haiti, and now lives and works in Texas. He received his BFA from the University of Houston, and his MFA from the University of North Texas. Recently, his work has been exhibited at The Oak Cliff cultural center, published in Sugar and Rice magazine, and part of the multi-media presentation Houston No Limits at the Co-Cathedral of The Sacred Heart. His writing currently appears in Not That But This.

ABOUT THE KENMORE
Not just another white cube, The Kenmore is a small, cold, mobile exhibition object measuring approximately 36" x 24"x 24". The Kenmore's mission is to keep ideas fresh through the opportunity of a unique exhibition context and the experience of collaborating with an object.

HCP

Salon des Refusés 2013 at BLUEorange--July 19, July 26, August 2 and August 9

Salon des Refusés 2013 will feature four separate exhibitions curated from artwork rejected from Lawndale Art Center's The BIG Show, at BLUEorange, July 19, July 26, August 2 and August 9.

A Salon des Refusés of artwork rejected from Lawndale Art Center's "The BIG Show” will be curated into four one-night-only shows at BLUEorange, 1208 West Gray St., Houston, Texas 77019 with openings on July 19, July 26, August 2 and August 9 from 6:00pm to 9:00pm. This project is a collaborative effort between BLUEorange and artist Emily Sloan who organized similar projects in 2010 and 2011.

Artists interested in participating are asked to drop off their artwork on Monday, July 1 and Tuesday, July 2 from 10am to 6pm at BLUEorange, 1208 West Gray St., Houston, TX 77019.  Entry guidelines include:  entered artworks must have been rejected from Lawndale Art Center's The BIG Show 2013, one entry per artist, and artworks must be accompanied by their rejection slip/label from The BIG Show which will also serve as the label for their artwork in the Salon des Refusés. 

About the Salon des Refusés 2013:

This exhibiton of artwork rejected from Lawndale Art Center’s The BIG Show is inspired by the Salon des Refusés held in Paris in 1863. The original salon of 1863 consisted of artwork rejected from the official Paris Salon. Exhibiting artists of the Salon des Refusés of 1863 included Paul Cézanne, Édouard Manet, Camille Pissarro, and James Whistler among others. Following in the spirit of a statement from Napolean III about such a salon of "Wishing to let the public judge...," this current day version initiated in 2010 by artist Emily Sloan allows Houston-area artists the opportunity to share their work regardless of a juror's selection choices.

About BLUEorange: 

BLUEorange supports the production and exhibition of innovative art and a range of creative endeavors. As artists and siblings, Jacob Spacek and Megan Spacek, the founders of BLUEorange, seek to foster a supportive community of artists much like a family. For more information, please visit: http://blueorangehouston.com/

Important Information:

BLUEorange

1208 West Gray St.

Houston, TX 77019

http://www.blueorangehouston.com

info@blueorangehouston.com

713-527-0030

Funeral Party 2013

Funeral Party is interactive performance project comprised of the exploration of healing and death rituals to encourage participants towards realizations of the brevity of life and to aid in connecting to the present.

Funeral Party will take place on New Year's Day, Tuesday, January 1, 2013 at 14 Pews. There will be a eulogy writing service at 6pm with the Funeral Party to begin at 7pm. Those needing help with or wanting to explore their eulogies with others prior to the public presentation, please arrive at 6pm. Admission is a $5-$10 offering to offset funeral expenses.

“The last funeral was so enriching and powerful, it really blew me away,” states organizer/curator Emily Sloan. “For at least a year after the first funeral party, people I met for the first time at the event were contacting me and sharing how it affected them. I am appreciative to be invited by 14 Pews to make this journey again.”

The event will include visitation and drinking, eulogy writing assistance, a funeral service open to the public to speak, sing, share, etc., a funeral sound procession created by the audience along with whatever instruments they'd like to bring, and a funeral pyre for burning symbolic items contributed by the public.

Funeral attire is encouraged.Observers are welcome.

A potluck will follow the event.

ABOUT EMILY SLOAN:
Internationally unknown artist Emily Sloan was born outside of Diboll, Texas to John Bartholomew Sloan and Nancy de Norma H. Sloan. She presently survives and practices art in Houston, Texas. She is the founding reverend of the controversial Southern Naptist Convention (not to be confused with the activities to take place at the Funeral Party), chief curator of The Kenmore exhibition object and organizes Hair Washes for fundraising. One of her greatest accomplishments has been learning to dance despite an upbringing in which it was against her family’s religion. For more information, please visit: www.emilysloanblog.blogspot.com

ABOUT 14 PEWS:
Located at 800 Aurora St., Houston, Texas 77009, this Houston landmark is the oldest white wooden church in the Heights. Built in 1924, it has housed the Sunset Heights Church of Christ, Aurora Picture Show, and is now home to 14 Pews. 14 Pews is a non-profit microcinema providing regular screenings of independent documentaries and feature films, along with 4 annual film festivals and several affordable film/video educational classes. For more information, please visit: www.14pews.org

GENERAL INFORMATION:
Location:
14 Pews
800 Aurora St.
Houston, TX 77009

Contact/Questions:
Emily Sloan
emily@emilysloan.com
713-582-1198

City Pimping: Council Meeting, participatory theater (Houston, TX)

This is a little pre-show pimping which was scheduled to go out earlier this week. It was halted due to Superstorm Sandy. I'm happy to report our friends are fine and recovering. I'm sharing it as there is still one more night to see it here in Houston.

City Council Meeting is a participatory theater event taking place at three different venues in Houston, Texas from November 1-3, 2013. The November 1 event will take place at Palm Center, 2^nd floor courtroom, 5300 Griggs Road at 7:30pm. The November 2 event will take place at Project Row Houses’ Eldorado Ballroom, 2310 Elgin St. at 7:30pm. The November 3 event will take place at DiverseWorks, 4102 Fannin St. at 7:30pm. Admission to all events is free. 

The performance is co-presented by the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts where the event was developed during the 2012 research residency of Aaron Landsman and DiverseWorks. City Council Meeting will combine local participants which have selected various roles with transcripts from several cities’ government meetings along with original writings. It even touts a surprise ending.  

According to the press from the event: City Council Meeting was initially commissioned and developed through a residency at HERE Art Center in New York, through the HERE Artist Residency Program (HARP). City Council Meeting was made possible with funding by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Theater Pilot, with lead funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The project also received support from The MAP Fund, a program of Creative Capital supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. City Council Meeting is a National Performance Network (NPN) Creation Fund Project co-commissioned by DiverseWorks Art Space, in partnership with HERE, Zspace and NPN. The Creation Fund is supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Ford Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency). The project also received support from the Puffin Foundation, Jerome Foundation and many individual donors. For more information on City Council Meeting, please visit: citycouncilmeeting.org

Keren Cytter's "Show Real Drama" at DiverseWorks...

This is a short write-up I wrote last month to share about Keren Cytter's vidoe/performance at DiverseWorks. It was not published elsewhere due to a duplicate performance in NYC, so here it is for our local audience. 

 Keren Cytter’s Show Real Drama was performed at DiverseWorks Art Space October 10 through October 13, 2012. This performance is in conjunction with Cytter’s exhibition Video Art Manual about the history and development of video art, on view in DiverseWorks’ galleries.

For Show Real Drama, the actors are in the role of actors who are creating their own scenes following failed attempts at finding work as actors. Each scene is introduced with a projection of the words Show, then Real, then Drama.

For this multimedia performance, the actors and the audience are present in the now, with the performers acting out the drama of their relationship while at times even describing audience members. A video projection of their previous interactions and “drama” adds a time-based element and reveals more of their “real” drama. 

The combination of live performance and the time element of the video, along with acting about acting, make for an experience of decided awareness of someone as they experience an awareness of and interaction with themselves. As in her exhibition on view where video art is examined through watching video footage, we are examining drama through watching real drama. 

Show Real Drama, written and directed by Keren Cytter, came to DiverseWorks Art Space following presentations at The Kitchen, Kunsthall Bergen, and the Tate Modern among other venues. It is the last performance at DiverseWorks’ current location. For more information about exhibitions and their new location, please visit: www.diverseworks.org

Enlight...Residency Exhibition @ Darke Gallery, Friday, August 31, from 6-9pm

DARKE | gallery is pleased to present Enlight, Emily Sloan's solo exhibition.  The opening reception is Labor Day weekend, Friday, August 31, 6-9 PM.  The exhibition continues through Saturday, September 29, 2012.

Emily Sloan is DARKE gallery’s artist in residence for 2012.  Sloan will be using the gallery as a studio, along with a small stipend, to create an exhibition that will open on August 31.  The four Saturdays in August are open studio days, when the public can stop in and see the work in progress.  These open houses may include a simple time to visit, a performance exercise or something inspired by mandalas.

Mandala is a Sanskrit word meaning "circle." In the Buddhist and Hindu religious traditions, art often takes a mandala form. These mandalas, concentric diagrams, are often used as a spiritual teaching tools and as aids to meditation and trance induction in meditation practices.

The psychoanalyst Carl Jung saw the mandala as "a representation of the unconscious self”, and believed his paintings of mandalas enabled him to identify emotional disorders and work towards wholeness in personality.

In common use, mandala has become a generic term for any plan, chart or geometric pattern that represents the cosmos.

The exhibtion will include a series of mandala-inspired shade sculptures and a video Sloan has created with Jonathan Jindra.

Referencing the mandalas, shade and light, the show title will be: "Enlight"

Emily Sloan has an MFA in sculpture and interdisciplinary studies from the University of Houston and an MA from Stephen F. Austin State University. She has participated in many artist residencies, exhibitions, and the New York Studio School's Drawing Marathon in 2004. Sloan's work incorporates drawing, sculpture and painting. Many of her pieces use humor to engage the viewer in a dialogue about the environment and preoccupations with the social. To view more of her artwork visit: www.emilysloanblog.blogspot.com.

Current projects include the Southern Naptist Convention 2012 at Venice Beach, CA; and The Kenmore exhibition object at Skydive Art Space.

Now in its sixth year, DARKE | gallery exhibits contemporary art of the finest quality, with a focus on emerging and established artists with Texas ties.  Located at 320 B Detering @ Feagan, the gallery is open noon to 5:00 PM, Wednesday through Saturday, and by appointment.   For more information call 713-542-3802 or visit www.darkegallery.com.

The Kenmore's Artisit-in-Residence, Sasha Dela

Sasha Dela debuts new work as the Artist-in-Residence of The Kenmore, on view at Darke Gallery, August 31- September 29, 2012.

There will be a reception on Friday, August 31 from 6-9pm. Also, on view: Enlight by Emily Sloan.

Sasha Dela will be debuting a new video for her residency at The Kenmore which is sub-residing at Darke Gallery with its owner Emily Sloan while Sloan has a summer residency at Darke Gallery. For The Kenmore’s sub-residency, Sloan has provided Dela studio space, a portion of her resi

dency’s stipend, and a show to open August 31 along with her residency.

About Sasha Dela:
Dela completed a residency at the Museum of Fine Arts’ Core Program in 2007. She received her Master of Fine Art in San Francisco at California College of the Arts in 2005, and her Bachelor of Fine Art at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in 2000, and was awarded the DeCosse Fellowship, to study at the Accademia Di Belle Arte, Florence, Italy in 2000. Dela is Houston Regional Editor for the Temporary Art Review, St Louis. Sasha Dela is the co-founder and co-director of SKYDIVE, an art space hosting a range of art practices that push the limits of their material forms.

About The Kenmore:
Not just another white cube, The Kenmore is a small, cold artist-run gallery space measuring approximately 36" x 24"x 24". It's mission is to keep ideas fresh through the opportunity of a unique exhibition context. The Kenmore participated in FotoFest 2010, FotoFest 2012 and Lawndale Art Center’s “The BIG Show” (2010) with its debut of “The small Show.”

Location of show:
Darke Gallery
320B Detering (at Feagan)
Houston, TX 77007

Contact:
Emily Sloan
713-582-1198
thekenmore@gmail.com

Recreational Aesthetics @ Darke Gallery

For the month of August, I have DARKE gallery for a studio as their artist in residence for 2012.  During this time, I will be working on "Enlight" an exhibition to open Friday, August, 30 from 6-9pm. 

Additionally, Saturdays in August from 2:00 to 4:00 PM are open residency days for "Recreational Aesthetics".  This is a time the gallery is open to the public both to see what's going on and to be distracted from such.  Refreshments and parking provided.
 
August 4: Please Don't Tell My Parents
August 11: "Water, Water Fresh and Clear" hosted by special guest Carrie A. Nation
August 18: How Galleries Remind Me of Churches 
August 25: Is that a Baby Ruth in the Swimming Pool?!
 

Location:
Darke Gallery
320 B Detering @ Feagan
Houston, TX 77007
713-542-3802
www.darkegallery.com

and The Kenmore's Artist-in-Residence is...

Sasha Dela!

Look for her work on Friday, August 31 from 6-9pm at The Kenmore within Darke Gallery.

Location:
The Kenmore
c/o Darke Gallery
320 B Detering at Feagan
Houston, TX 77007

2012 Southern Naptist Convention to be held in Southern California

The 2012 Southern Naptist Convention will be held the morning of Sunday, June 17 in Southern California at the Venice Boardwalk in Venice, CA.

“Southern California’s and specifically Venice’s abundance of muscle, sand, and proximity to water make it a perfect site for sharing healthful and relaxing blessed rest and immersion if needed,” according to Reverend Emily. “In keeping with our belief: Let s/he who has never fallen asleep in a church cast the first pillow, the convention, as always, is open to all faiths,” added the Reverend.

About the Southern Naptist Convention:

Napping Affects Performance (NAP) and the Southern Naptist Convention are interactive performance projects by Emily Sloan providing community naps in collaboration with various performances, including (but not limited to) collaborations with sound, word, touch, and the delivery of naps to various sites and/or contexts. In May and June of 2010, NAP operated out of Art League Houston with six weeks of continuous performances taking place during Art League’s regular hours of operation. Since then, followers and napophiles began meeting once a month for a Sunday naps and naptisms during NAP Church services. For more information, please visit:  www.nappingaffectsperformance.blogspot.com

About Emily Sloan:
Internationally unknown artist and post-Campbellite Emily Sloan is the founding reverend of the controversial Southern Naptist Convention and chief caretaker and curator of The Kenmore exhibition object. Sloan is based out of Houston, Texas where her practice includes education, performance, public art projects and object making.

For more information, please visit: www.emilysloanblog.blogspot.com

Image:  Restful Leg Blessing, 2010

Karen Brasier Young at The Kenmore

Artist Karen Brasier Young will unveil a new site-specific work of sculptural intervention at The Kenmore, located at Skydive Art Space, with water water everywhere. This one night only event will take place on May 17, 2012 from 7:00pm to 10:00p.m.

Featuring manipulated blue water balloons, some chilled by The Kenmore and some warmed by the sun, water water everywhere is primarily interested in abstract composition, with a hint to material qualities of water, its mechanisms and transformations, and the pure, dripping potential of the material.

When asked about her motives, Brasier Young states, I’m a “disillusioned ex-competitive swimmer and peaceful Galveston Island native, with a personal relationship with water that is conflicted and sometimes leads to ruminating.” While maintaining an allusion to those murkier undercurrents, Karen seeks to redeem the celebratory aspects of water in her mind through an intervention that taps into the youthful nostalgia of water balloon fights and running through sprinklers on a drought-stricken Texas summer day.

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Karen Brasier-Young is an interdisciplinary artist living and working in Houston, TX. She holds a masters degree in architecture from the University of Cincinnati and has also pursued graduate studies in sculpture at the San Francisco Art Institute. Fueled by an interest in the built environment, Karen’s work indirectly explores issues of space, place, social interaction, and assemblage from a perspective of abstract sculptural practice. Karen is a resident artist at Box 13 ArtSpace, teaches art as an adjunct at Houston Community College, and works as an architectural and interior designer.

ABOUT THE KENMORE
Not just another white cube, The Kenmore is a small, cold exhibition object measuring approximately 36" x 24"x 24". The Kenmore's mission is to keep ideas fresh through the opportunity of a unique exhibition context and the experience of collaborating with an object.

ABOUT SKYDIVE ART SPACE
SKYDIVE is an artist run exhibition venue unique to Houston. The aim of SKYDIVE is to host a range of art practices that push the limits of their material forms, including non-traditional methods of sculpture, installation, video, performance, and works that engage the viewer through participation, as well as text and web-based projects.

GENERAL INFORMATION
One night only: Thursday, May 17, 7-10pm

CONTACT:
Emily Sloan
The Kenmore
c/o SKYDIVE Art Space
2041 Norfolk St.
77098
713-582-1198
thekenmore@gmail.com
www.the-kenmore.blogspot.com

The Kenmore proudly presents: David McClain, 2012 FotoFest Bienniel

David McClain, a Houston-based photographer and interdisciplinary artist, debuts new work at The Kenmore at SKYDIVE Art Space on Saturday, March 24. McClain's installation transforms the inside of the refrigerator into a peepshow using "authentic" vintage porn of famous people including Sylvester Stallone, alleged vintage porn of famous people including Marilyn Monroe and recreated porn based on real porn including famous people such as Erin Andrews, the ESPN sportscaster who was surreptitiously filmed in the nude in her hotel room. Questions raised include our voyeuristic urges, our addiction to celebrity culture, and what it means to be authentic in a digital age.

When asked about borrowing vintage porn for his work, McClain borrows Jim Jarmusch’s words: “Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic.” Furthermore, states McClain, “Maybe I was an adult film star in Bulgaria before migrating to the United States…”




ABOUT THE ARTIST:
David McClain holds a MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, a JD from the University of Houston Law Center, and a BA from Rice University. His work has been exhibited in Mission, Texas, Chicago, Illinois, and Houston and published in TimeOut New York, Fifth Wednesday Journal and PhotoNews Magazine (Germany). He is a resident artist at Box 13 ArtSpace. McClain incorporates photography, painting, sculpture, parade floats, and performance in his work. For more information, please visit:

ABOUT THE KENMORE:
Not just another white cube, The Kenmore is a small, cold artist-run exhibition object measuring approximately 36" x 24"x 24". It is mobile and presently located at SKYDIVE Art Space in Houston, Texas. The Kenmore's mission is to keep ideas fresh through the opportunity of a unique exhibition context.

GENERAL INFORMATION:
Opening reception: Saturday, March 24, 7-10pm
On view through April 28, Saturdays from 1-5pm or by appointment.

CONTACT:
Emily Sloan
The Kenmore
c/o SKYDIVE Art Space
2041 Norfolk St. 77098
713-582-1198

Exhibition image: Screen capture from "Erin Andrews Recreation," video by Breton Peterson (2010).