(STOCKBRIDGE, Mass.) – Starting Thursday, April 12, 2012, mixed-media and installation artists Anne Roecklein and Derek Parker will create a collaborative installation, electro-synthetic, at IS183 Art School of the Berkshires. The installation is part of the art school’s Citizen’s Hall residency project, which invites local artists to produce and install work on-site in IS183’s Stairwell Gallery.
Sharing a preoccupation with the processes, order, and beauty of the natural world, Roecklein and Parker will work in two overlapping stages. In the initial stage, Parker, drawing inspiration from the processes used by industrial electricians, will create a new electrical system that responds to the unique architectural space of IS183. Roecklein, working in collage and assemblage, will respond to Parker’s industrial installation by creating a quasi-organic system made from materials including faux flower parts, plastic aquarium plants, and items used to make fishing lures – materials that attempt to replicate nature in order to serve a variety of human desires.
An installation that by its very nature evolves over time, electro-synthetic will explore the harmony and discord that arise in symbiotic (and parasitic) relationships, where it is difficult to know where one organism, process, or idea begins, and the other ends.
The construction of electro-synthetic will commence alongside the April 12 Tricks of the Trade event Opportunities for Environmental Residencies, with Roecklein and Parker working on-site from 6 pm to 8 pm. Construction will be completed for the exhibition opening Thursday, May 3, from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm, featuring a talk by the artists, and will remain on view through June 8.
The public is invited to view the artists at work throughout the installation’s progress during their open studio hours:
— Friday April 20, 10 am to 12 pm
— Saturday April 21, 11 am to 1 pm
— Tuesday April 24, 10 am to 12 pm
— Thursday April 26, 6 pm to 7 pm, concurrent with doors open for Live Music Café Songwriters on Songwriting showcase — an intimate evening of performance and discussion with local musicians invited back from previous Live Music Café evenings.
— Sunday April 29, 1 pm to 3 pm
Derek Parker is a mixed-media installation artist whose work is an ongoing exploration of how we perceive and interact with the things and places that surround us. His current work questions the nature of use, exposing alternate realities for objects whose functions were once thought to be fixed. Derek holds an MFA in Sculpture and Expanded Formats from Indiana University.
Anne Roecklein is a contemporary collage artist living and working in North Adams, Mass., whose work explores systems, strategies, and spaces of desire. She holds a BA from Carleton College, MPS from Pratt Institute, and MFA from Indiana University.
The Citizen’s Hall residency project activates the space of IS183 during the fall and spring, ensuring continuity of creative programming throughout the year. Citizen’s Hall artists work in pairs to transform functional space into an interactive installation piece, hosting open work hours for the public to view the project as it progresses. As IS183 itself metamorphoses into a living, breathing piece of art, the public is able to step into the process, garnering greater exposure to creative production as well as spotlighting the work of local talent.
IS183 Art School is a not-for-profit community art school located in the Interlaken village of Stockbridge, Mass., whose mission is to encourage people of all ages, means and skill levels to enrich their lives through hands-on experience in the visual arts. IS183 offers year-round programs in ceramics, painting, drawing, fiber arts, sculpture, animation, mixed media and more for children, teens and adults — both onsite in the studios of its historic landmark home in Stockbridge, as well as offsite at various locations throughout Berkshire County through collaborative partnerships with schools and other cultural organizations. Programs are offered daytime, evenings and weekends, for all levels – from the absolute beginner to the professional artist.