Installation in Hood River: Art as Activism

Columbia Center for the Arts in Hood River

This weekend I drove down to Hood River, Oregon to install my Protest Bulbs at the Columbia Center for the Arts for the Raising our Voices: Art as Activism show. The show opens this Friday, March 2 with a reception from 6-8pm.

I took the work down on Saturday at the Yakima Maker Space so that I could take it down to the Hood River show. 

my Protest Bulbs for the Art as Activism show

This was the first opportunity I had to show all the protest bulbs at the same time (except the ones that sold last year at the Larson Gallery Membership show). 

installation view at Columbia Center for the Arts

I planned the shape and size of this particular arrangement when I got to Hood River on Sunday. I was the first person installing work for the new show while a lot of people picked up their work from the previous show. I was initially told to take up whatever space I needed, but later asked to shift my work over to leave more room for others.

installation view of the Protest bulbs

I was surprised to be asked to work around a light switch. I think this is my first time incorporating a light switch into the space. I ended up planning the spacing so that the light switch was in the very middle of a group of four bulbs, but later I got thinking it would be funny to have the light switch stand in for one of the bulbs in the grid.

installation view at Columbia Center for the Arts

The work is up now through the end of the month. I'll be presenting about the work in Pittsburg for the NCECA Conference in a few weeks. Then I hope to get some time to work on some new ideas this spring and summer. I should have another installation happening in Hood River in August, but I want the work to be all new. I was initially planning to make abstract work, but I haven't quite decided. The idea behind the August show is that everyone makes a piece a day for 30 days. 

the full installation, with light switch, in Hood River