A Clearing of Measures

In this exhibition at the Eleanor D. Wilson Museum at Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia, I explored the idea of the integral accident, a concept that relates to the unintentional marks created during the printmaking process, but also to the inevitable catastrophes of world events. Using newsprint backing paper collected from my studio practice since 2001, I created a massive grid of accidental events – hollow squares, ghost prints, and dynamic, eruptive marks. Nearby, voices and music emanate from a speaker in a hollow square of benches, a formation used in the American singing tradition of Sacred Harp. Editions of a hand-printed book filled with arresting news images and text explore the intersection of personal and public histories.

A Clearing of Measures was installed and exhibited while I was the 2015 Frances Niederer Artist-in-Residence at Hollins University.

Read the catalog essay by Stephanie Schlaifer here.

PRINTS
104 pigment/inkjet prints on Japanese paper arranged in a grid.

Each print comes from newsprint backing paper that holds a variety of marks from years of re-use in Bulawsky’s printmaking studio used. Each newsprint was scanned on a large-format scanner and printed on an archival inkjet printer. The inkjet print of the newsprint is meant to be as faithful to the original newsprint as possible.

BENCHES
15 benches made from recycled, reclaimed, and new lumber, some with casters.

The benches are arranged in a hollow square, similar to the seating formation used in the singing tradition of Sacred Harp where the four acapella parts – bass, tenor, treble, and alto – each occupy one side of the square. In general, benches are a communal form of seating, at level height, and are non-hierarchical. The benches in this exhibition are intended for use by viewers.

BOOKS
Edition of 6 handmade books, printed on vintage Twil Tone paper using lithography, monotype, letterpress, and laser printing, and then hand bound.

The books, entitled Odes and Epochs, incorporate historical print technology and draw from recent news images, headlines, Sacred Harp song lyrics, and the artist’s journal entries. Each book has 180 pages with the first 50 pages and the last 50 pages printed black on both sides.

SOUND
Audio loop, 3’03”.

The audio piece is comprised of a vocal part singing the shapes on the song Consecration (448t) from the Sacred Harp song book and a recited poem written by Daniel Kelley. Audio engineering and mastering by Bo Bulawsky. The audio can best be experienced by standing directly under the dome speaker in the center of the hollow square.