Kathryn Drury

Roxaboxen Exhibitions: Mind and Reality

2012-01-19T16:47:00.000-05:00

Roxaboxen is located two blocks from the Damen/Cermak stop on the Pink Line in Pilsen and used to function in the neighborhood as a funeral home

In November, I co-curated an international show and exchange of prints with the artist and curator Ben Rak from Sydney, Australia entitled Mind and Reality and featuring the work of 32 artists which was shown at Roxaboxen Exhibitions in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago.

The artists included are: Alexa Karabin, Jaeyoung Kim, Sarazen Haile, Ramon Miranda- Beltran, Robin Kang, Sterling Lawrence, Christina Mc Clelland, Peter Power, Brian Rush, Jason Schroeder, Alexander Valentine, Matthew Cummings, Caleb Sheridan, Rafael Butron, Quillan Brodie, Tom Rae, Mitchell Kelly, Itzick Fischer, Mark Visione, Max Gosling, Kim Hungerford, Michael Kempson, Jason Pho, Elizabeth Pozega, David Quoy, Paul Rushworth, Fatima Saeed, Ben Soedrajiit, Anne Starling, Daniel Chant in addition to the work of Ben Rak and myself.

The Roxaboxen Show made the Bad At Sports Top 10 Weekend Picks!

Each artist made an edition of 34 11x 15" prints addressing the theme of "Mind and Reality," 32 of them were dispersed among the other contributors to the exchange, one artist proof from each artist was displayed at Roxaboxen Exhibitions in Chicago, IL, in the US on November 18th through December 3rd 2011, and the other set of APs will be exhibited in March 2012 in the COFA space at the University of New South Wales in Sidney, NSW, in Australia.

Catalog Contribution To Mind And Reality Exhibition

The artists proofs that were sent to Sidney will be included in the permanent collection of the University of New South Wales's College of Fine Art following the exhibition. Negotiations are still in process for a permanent home for the other set of artists proofs in Chicago, IL.

Special thanks to Liz Mc Carthy and everyone at Roxaboxen Exhibitions for helping to make this show a success!! Special thanks also goes to Sarazen Haile, Jaeyoung Kim, Alexa Karabin and Robert Odden for helping so much with the installation, the show opening, and publishing of the catalog! Thanks is also due to Danny Miller and Peter Powers, and the SAIC Printmedia department who helped cover shipping costs to Australia.

From left is the work of , Fatima Saeed, Mark Visione, Kathryn Drury

New Year, New Prints

2012-01-18T17:18:00.000-05:00

A short update today: here are some of the stone litho drawings I have done in the past month for printing. The final prints of these stones will be on my website under prints 2012 in the next couple of weeks as I post updates. Contact me via email for more information.

Happy New Year!

Overgrowth- First State Drawing On Stone


Polarity - Drawing on Litho Stone

Shadow Boxers- Drawing on Litho Stone

SCREENING:

2011-07-06T17:34:00.001-04:00

Performance Trap, 2011, 19x24,"
Monotype Screenprint Printed in Gunmetal and Silver Acrylic Ink on Cotton Rag
Edition of 4

WORK IN PROGRESS

2011-06-22T20:42:00.005-04:00

Lake

2011-03-10T20:24:00.002-05:00

New Video: Excerpt from Labyrinth

2011-03-10T00:55:00.001-05:00

This an excerpt from an hour long looping video piece entitled Labyrinth which will be projected on the street when installed.

Untitled from Kathryn Drury on Vimeo.

KD

Display: School of the Art Institute of Chicago

2011-02-09T23:08:00.007-05:00

Work in progress...

2011-01-09T18:20:00.002-05:00

Video Collage Test 1 from Kathryn Drury on Vimeo.

A Review In Imprint Magazine

2011-01-03T05:00:00.022-05:00

Last month two exhibitions and a print portfolio entitled Addiction were reviewed by Ben Rak in Imprint magazine in Sydney, Australia. The trade was among a group of U.S. and Australian artists all of whom were associated with either SUNY NYSCC at Alfred University or COFA at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia.

Below is the piece I created and editioned for this exchange and the resulting exhibitions.

Dusk Darling, 2009, in the Turner Gallery exhibition of the Addiction exchange portfolio in Alfred, NY

The article as it appeared in Imprint Magazine Volume 41 No. 4
Below is a transcription of the copy above for easier reading.
(For a larger version, click on the text)
The text reads:

Some Recent Work.

2011-01-02T02:09:00.025-05:00

The past few months have flown by at a dizzying speed! My first semester of grad school at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago has been full of trials and triumphs. Now that the winter interim is here, I finally have time to post some of the work I have made. More complete and competent documentation of my newest work will be published soon on my website.

Happy New Year!

Thoughts On Winter

2010-10-31T19:53:00.002-04:00

A late-night walk home in winter. from Kathryn Drury on Vimeo.

Looking Optimistically Toward the Future.

2010-06-27T01:26:00.037-04:00

Portrait of Alexandra Courtenay- Clack

(In Progress)

Oil On Wood Panel

This has apparently become a bi-monthly blog! The last two months have again been tumultuous and time consuming to say the least, such is life I suppose, and you have to take what it gives you most of the time. The good news is that time goes on, the only constant is change...blah, blah, blah...

The good news is that in a month I will be living in Chicago, attending the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for MFA and student teaching Offset Lithography!

While traveling to S.A.I.C. in May, I was very impressed by the warm generosity of the professors and admissions counselors, the mind-blowing talent of all of the undergraduate work, as well as the the stellar print facilities.

It seems odd to remark on this, but I really appreciated how organized, enthusiastic, confident, relaxed, and humble everyone seemed to be. Equally impressive were the seminars I attended from the art history and journalism departments which expressed the departments' commitment to developing in a direction set by student research.

Portrait of Elena Grajek

(In Progress)

Oil On Wood Panel

On the last day of the trip, I managed to make time to quickly walk through the museum of the Art Institute of Chicago, which is literally down the hall from the print studio where I will be working.

Chicago reminds me of all of my favorite cities combined, it has a bit of the industrial beauty and variety of New York, as well as beautifully preserved or restored 19th and early 20th century architecture. I also found it is possible to eat and live well with very little money which is an honest necessity of many recent art graduates...myself included.

The final trip to Alfred was rocky but positive, and I felt privileged to have the chance to see the thesis shows and graduations of some of my amazingly talented friends.

For the time being, until I move, I will be packing, applying for employment, finishing up a new incarnation of my professional website, working on small drawings, and for the next few days, the three portraits shown here. In about two weeks I am going back to Chicago to view apartments, which I am, surprisingly, looking forward to as I found three beautiful, well preserved Art Deco buildings in my price range, with heat included in the rent which, I am told, is key to survive Chicago winters with heat as well as food.

Portrait of Jason Blandford

( In Progress)

Oil On Wood Panel

Portrait of Jason Blandford, detail

( In Progress)

Oil On Wood Panel

Well, that just about covers it until next time!

Good Luck!

With the Season, Changes Life

2010-04-08T14:40:00.015-04:00

The events of the past two months have been as inclement as the weather, but with the spring has come new opportunities. Lately I have been working on redesigning my website, writing scholarship and grant applications, as well as searching for a job and apartment in preparation for moving to Chicago to attend the School of the Art Institute of Chicago MFA Printmaking program. Later this month, I plan to travel to the "windy city" to get a better feel for SAIC and Chicago. In May I will be flying back to Alfred, NY where I recently earned a BFA, to attend thesis shows, and visit friends and teachers. A rather short entry today, but here is some new work.

Good Luck

Work in Progress

2010-02-21T18:20:00.003-05:00

This month several people requested to view some of my works in progress.

Because it is looking as though updating my website is not in the stars for a few weeks, I thought I would post some of them here. Unfortunately, I do not have access to a digital camera with a higher resolution, so much of the detail has been lost in wider shots and the paintings appear darker and more chromatically generalized than they actually are...I am working with what I have- my mobile phone and two small spot lights... Such is life! I plan to properly photograph these pieces for my website when they are complete. If you have any questions about the work, you are welcome to message me and I will reply promptly.

Portrait of Elena Grajek
(In Progress- stage 1)
Oil On Wood Panel

Portrait of Jason Blandford
( In Progress)
Oil On Wood Panel

Portrait of Alexandra Courtenay- Clack
(In Progress)
Oil On Wood Panel

Portrait of Alexandra Courtenay-Clack, Detail
(In Progress)

Good Luck,
KD

Travels/ New Projects/ MFA/ New Studio Digs

2010-02-18T00:44:00.052-05:00

Wandering back from the Prado Museum Madrid, Spain

Happy Chinese New Year!

Well It has been a few months. Time to catchup! In December and January I traveled for the first time to Europe and Africa making stops in Barcelona, Madrid, Rome, Izmir, Piraeus, Athens, Cairo, Alexandria, and Valletta (Malta). The trip provided an excellent opportunity to study the fabulous works of art in the collections of the Prado, Thyssen, Picasso Museum, Museu Nacional d' Art de Catalunya, Park Guell, La Sagrada Familia, and The Palacio Real in Spain, The Vatican in Rome, St. Johns Cathedral in Valletta, Malta, and The Egyptian Museum in Cairo. It was wonderful to see so many pieces by Goya, Durer, Bosch, Velazquez and Caravaggio! The work of these artists have fascinated me since I was very young. I was also invaluable to visit the Acropolis, the Pyramids and the Sphinx and to see the contents of Tutankhamun's tomb. To have the chance to be in the physical presence of those objects, to see the brush strokes, the way the light hits the canvas, the workmanship and to experience the actual scale of the works, was truly a moving experience...which felt much like finally meeting a family member after years of separation..

Leona by Durer

Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, Madrid

I have so many memories of faces on the train, children running barefoot in the street, old men in bars, cab drivers, hustlers, women in the market, Cafe bartenders...and infinitely more all living so separately each with uniquely nuanced lives but all essentially trying to make their lives a little better. As naive or as silly as it sounds, for the first time, I realized that all of the subtle differences that humans fight about- culture, religion, politics, degrees of wealth or poverty...that they all fall away when attention is instead paid to the fact that we are all just trying to stay alive, enjoy the time we have, and take care of the people we love. For the first time, I felt an overwhelming sense of well being and comfort in the world, and a felt love, awe and hope for the human race. I don't know why I had to leave the United States to see that, to completely open my eyes... maybe it was the language barrier... or the culture shock... haha.

Tickets

In other news, I am now pursuing an MFA! I have applied for several schools, have been accepted into one program for the Fall 2010, and am waiting to hear back from the rest on my list. I should hear back in March and April, so wish me luck!

Meanwhile, I am working on two bodies of work. One is comprised of (so far) three oil paintings on wood panel derived from collaged photo portraits of close friends painted in a style inspired by early Renaissance and Mannerist paintings. I have also begun a body of screen prints also collage based, have joined a print collective called Tiger Lilly Press in Cincinnati, Ohio and look forward to working there full force in a week or so.

More will be posted as I take documentation photos of my recent work.

Good luck!

New Releases: CD and Book

2009-11-10T19:53:00.022-05:00

IRENE MOON AND THE BEGONIA SOCIETY

TO BE PUBLISHED!

Irene Moon and the Begonia Society is now up for publication by the Institute For Electronic Arts and will be released most likely by the end of December. It includes video and pictorial documentation from Irene Moon's performance at Institute for Electronic Arts in Alfred, NY and the Gallery for Potential Life Studios in Rochester, NY. The book will also include an interview with Moon which I conducted in 2007 discussing Moon's process and the themes which weave throughout her work.

It was a pleasure to work with the Irene Moon and the IEA on this project and I look forward to seeing the books completed!

In other news, Carbon Records has released an album of Irene Moon's work which includes a track of music which I worked on with Moon and a few other students from Alfred University.

It can be purchased here.

Good Luck

August- September Review

2009-10-21T15:34:00.029-04:00

I never was very good at keeping a diary...that I would be an infrequent blogger seems to follow that rule well. So anyway, here is a recap of what I have been up to while not updating my blog...

In August through the beginning of this month, I was in Salem, NY (upstate near Vermont) at the artist commune/farm/sculpture park Salem Art Works.

Summer in Salem was mild, full of flowers, and very beautiful. Taking some time away from the city allowed me to make work without distraction and to learn the basics in iron casting. While at SAW, I worked on the farm gardening, assisted other artists in the creation of their work, prepared the gallery and grounds for benefits, and cooked for the other artists in residence.

At the end of September, a selection of my work was included in a group exhibition. I also had the opportunity to participate in two iron pours, one involving students from several colleges in the area, and the other including several visiting professional sculptors.

The iron was recycled from cast iron Victorian radiators and bathtubs which we smashed apart with sledgehammers, collected with magnets, and melted in a furnace with refined coal (or coke). Our molds were cast from a mixture of resin and sand and then veins (or sprues) and vents were carved for the metal to flow through.

Removing the plasticine positives from my mold felt very much like an excavation of ancient Egyptian artifacts from hardened desert sand. It was an oddly spiritual experience with the fate of each sculptors' piece resting in the hands of the pour teams and the whims of the furnace (which was affectionately named Brighid after the ancient Irish goddess of sacred fire, the sun and rebirth).
One of the members of my pour team mentioned that the swirling phenomena which takes place in the center of a furnace filled with molten metal has been called the "eye of god" by Italian metalsmiths for centuries. There really is something about iron pouring which makes it impossible not to romanticize the process slightly.

After the iron pour I hitched a ride to NYC with a few friends and stayed in another commune in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn called Surrealestate. Surrealestate a collective of about fifty artists, musicians and activists living, working, and protesting together. They are also heavily involved in organizing community projects such as Food Not Bombs which organizes weekly trips to the local park to hand out food to the homeless. Surrealestate also organizes monthly building wide themed parties to raise funds for the collective.

While staying as a guest at Surrealestate, I met a lot of great people and felt as though I had been there a month as opposed to the one week I actually spent there. While in the city I also had the opportunity to see old friends, visit galleries, and Chinatown (one of my favorite neighborhoods). Unfortunately I missed the William Kentridge exhibition which will be a t PS1 (Queens) shortly- so if you are in the city check it out!

More on Surrelestate can be found here

In September my work was included in an exhibition the theme of which was addiction with a group of artists from Sydney, Australia and the States in Turner Gallery in Alfred, NY.

Good Luck

KD

Anais Nin Audio Links

2009-07-18T18:52:00.010-04:00

Lately I have been listening to audio clips of the diarist and novelist Anais Nin some of which are posted at http://www.kiddiegram.net/a-nin/. Though I am already familiar with her diaries and some of her novels, it was interesting to learn she performed in the work of both Kenneth Anger and Maya Deren! It is wonderful to hear, in her own voice, her beautifully articulated insight into the nuances of the creative process, the difficulties that artists face in the creation of work, and the need for art as a strengthening force for humanity. I greatly recommend these audio recordings (and her published works) to anyone who is interested in art, philosophy, introspection, dreams, equality, love, or surviving as an artist. Enjoy.

New Book To Be Published by the IEA

2009-07-15T00:31:00.005-04:00

Welcome to my new blog! Hopefully now that I have moved to lovely user friendly Blogspot I will be making more posts and making fewer excuses for not keeping my hand in the "Blogosphere."

Among other projects, I have been working on a book in collaboration with the performance artist and musician Irene Moon http://www.begoniasociety.org/irenemoon.php which will be published by the Institute For Electronic Arts http://iea.alfred.edu/web/home.html at the New York State College of Ceramics at some point within the next year. The book will include video and photo documentation from two of Irene Moon's collaborative performances with the Begonia Society which took place in the Knight Club in Alfred, NY and The Gallery Of Potential Life Studios in Rochester, NY. Also included will be a full interview with Irene Moon which I conducted in 2007 and transcribed recently for this book.

A sound recording of the performances is also to be released by the Begonia Society.
More information will be posted later when these projects are complete and available for sale.