beginning elsewhere

one of the elsewhere unicorns - monica lacey 2013

Well, I'm almost a week into my residency in one of those places in the world that is very difficult to describe. Elsewhere is definitely a place that needs to be experienced to be understood. Imagine taking a time machine to the past but then the past is an abandoned place that artists and time have had they way with...I'm still not doing it justice. An easier thing might be to read about the history of it here. Let's just say that all the horses here are unicorns.

I'm in the early stages of my project at Elsewhere and part of that involves investigating artists who have done similar projects in the past, or things that I might reference, like a lineage my project will join. The first of those I've found is Claire Cronin and her project love songs for lost objects. Her use of psychometry was really inspiring, as were her songs as I listened along, arranging found collection objects and trying to sense their significance.

My project involves fortune telling using objects. It's a fascinating thing, infusing random things with meaning...we spend so much of our lives with stuff. But what life do things have on their own? In so many ways they wouldn't exist without us. Down the rabbit hole of man-made objects and what they mean to us...much more to come :)

dream big, you don't know yet how good you are

flood season - monica lacey 2009

As I prepare this week for my upcoming residency at Elsewhere, I'm letting my creative mind dream big; letting it think up massive installations, projects that would take years and years and teams of people to complete, if they were ever completed. It's a wonderful practice, to let your mind & heart just imagine  the biggest ideas they can, and see where those ideas lead. 

In the meantime I'm really enjoying the projects I have in my studio right now, creating artwork for specific people who have contributed to my crowdfunding campaign. It's one of my favorite ways to work - with a certain person in mind - and I appreciate having the opportunity to infuse the piece with the gratitude I feel for that person, much like you might put love as an 'ingredient' in something you cook. I like to think that energy then becomes a part of the artwork, and a part of the person's home where they display the work. There are many ways to put our energy out into the world, and it's important to remember that it has an effect - often a stronger one than we may realize. This is a wonderful story about such an effect.

Looking, making, thinking, experiencing are our starting point. Art opens worlds, lets us see invisible things, creates new models for thinking, engages in cryptic rituals in public, invents cosmologies, explores consciousness, makes mental maps and taxonomies others can see, and isn’t only something to look at but is something that does things and sometimes makes the mysterious magic of the world palpable. 
~ Jerry Saltz, from this essay.