Company: Zoetic Dance Ensemble
Project: SAINT
Role: Commissioned Artist + Graphic Designer
Project Overview
I was given the opportunity to work with Zoetic Dance Ensemble on their final performance piece of 2019. The performance was based off of a poem that the Artistic Director, Mallory Baxley, wrote entitled, SAINT. The poem speaks to Womanhood as a whole and reflects on the individual and somewhat conflicting elements that make up a woman. The choreography, music compositions, costume design and art installations were to be crafted around the poem, but otherwise, we were allowed full reign over our creations.
The Work
The installation consists of seven different elements of the poem: Speaking Your Name, Holy and Unholy, Holding You, Fog at Your Feet, Late Night Bedside, Woman of the Woods, and Under the Lights.
Each piece was crafted with painted tissue paper and quilted together to illustrate the community of womankind. We are all different. We are all unique. We are separate, but we are also together. Holding one another up and leading each other forward.
I stuck close to primary hues, taking particular advantage of blushes, pale yellows and dark navies. The blushes and pale palettes a reflection of the softness and vulnerability of a woman. The saturated, vibrant splashes representative of a woman’s passions and energy. The dusty yellows and skin tones an illustration of the dependability and reality of a woman. And the dark blues and burgundies a reflection of both a woman’s protectiveness and darkness.
Photos by Christina Massad and Paul McPherson
The Planning
Mallory wanted me to access the whole space I was given and reflect the poem in a dynamic, engaging way. She suggested stretched, free hanging fabric as a medium. Never having used fabric in a large scale and worried about installation, I turned my attention towards crafting a larger than life world out of tissue paper, a material I had used before and one that can resemble fabric while being lighter and more malleable. I knew from past experience that I could play with the colors and patterns of each piece of tissue using acrylic paint, but I wanted to be sure the material would be strong enough to hold together and easy enough to hang. After doing some research, I came across the work of Maya Freelon, whose dynamism takes colored tissue paper to a whole new level. The structures would hold.
Video by Kevin L Ding
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Creative Loafing Article - By EDWARD MCNALLY Monday August 5, 2019
