news and updates

More exciting news

2012-01-28T21:51:00.000-08:00

Wish You Were Here has been selected to be a part of a juried one-year "drawers" exhibit at Blue Sky Gallery in Portland Oregon. Neat!

Infrequent Updates!

2011-11-17T20:34:00.001-08:00

Oouph... I hate news update sites that are not updated.

In October, The Distinction Between Being Grounded and Airborne was screened as part of the show "Whistling in the Dark" in the Shoreditch Town Hall in London. Cool! Except I couldn't be there. :(

I just received word that "Whistling in the Dark" will be screened again at the ARI Kings Gallery in Melbourne, Australia. Yay!

In honor of several proposals I sent out, i finally updated my website (after two years!!). Check out the new Projects on my Project page.

New series: Supplication

2011-11-01T21:44:00.000-07:00

I have been working on a community-relations project with the Montana Women's Prison. Here are the links to the entries about it.

Women's Prison
More time in Jail
Day One Shooting Outside the Prison
Difficult Shoot this Morning
1200 Miles in Three Days (these include images that will become part of the series)
More Landscapes

"I Meant What I Said When I Said It"

2011-09-14T22:57:00.000-07:00

Preparing Installation

Live in the Northcutt Steele Gallery this Friday night, inconjunction with the Faculty Exhibition, Kristen Wilkins will present a newperformance work about anxiety, longing and regret. The performance will takeplace within an installation of failed embroidery linens, drawings, photographsof crayon-drawn portraits, and archaic communication equipment, which willremain on view for the duration of the exhibit. Wilkins’ Friday performancewill add components to the installation in a kind of compulsive creationwithout regard to craft. Using the last overhead projector available from AudioVisual Services, she will attempt to complete drawings her father madefifty-five years ago. Interspersed with these live-projector-drawings, Wilkinswill also type free-form poems inspired by framed drawings of happy children.

Landscape work

2011-04-03T22:36:00.000-07:00

I've been working on a landscape series for the last two years, which has appeared periodically on my various blogs, but isn't cataloged in the website. Here are some new images that would be in that section if I got around to making that section.

The following images are sketches for a new project. There are several artists who have done similar work, but I am interested in the domestic architecture, the voyeurism of the open windows, the variety of color in light, the ability of digital cameras to allow me to hand-hold night shots...

Oakland Show

2010-11-01T23:50:00.000-07:00

My collaborator, Jeff Eisenberg, is having a show at Swarm Gallery. Some of our pieces we made together will also be there. If you're in the Bay area, check it out!

http://www.swarmgallery.com/gallery/exhibitions/JE_SRR.htm

Old News!

2010-03-19T16:55:00.000-07:00

I have failed to update the "updates" section!!

In addition to adding a "Performance" section on the main website, I have had a wonderful exhibition, "Stake Your Claim!!", in collaboration with Jeff Eisenberg, under the name M0bile Pr4ctice. M0bile Pr4ctice will be producing more work in the future, so stay tuned.

One of the showcases of this exhibit (at the Eric Dean Gallery) was a video game installation, programmed by yours truly, and conceived by M0bile Pr4ctice. Above is an installation view. More to come online soon.

Streamin' Dreamin'

2009-06-01T20:22:00.000-07:00

This summer, I will be driving across the country in a 1964 Avion trailer. Follow along as I perform my journey on Twitter and on Streamin' Dreamin'.

Divas Show

2009-03-18T06:35:00.001-07:00

The Divas Show at Robert V. Fullerton Museum has been extended until the end of the school year. Check it out!

Typing Project

2009-02-25T06:41:00.000-08:00

I lift a page from the right and place it in the typewriter.

I type, left to right, from top to bottom.

I remove the paper from the typewriter and stack it, face down to the left.

I resist the urge to reread it. I smile when I see the spelling mistakes.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-12T10:04:00.001-08:00

Another year! What exciting things will happen? Time will tell!

The installation for "All Good Things..." has come down. It took four days to build and two hours to strike. That's show biz!

I am in the process of boxing up and shipping "Rapt in the Nameless Reverie" to Cochran, Georgia to open at the end of the month.

Lexington, Kentucky 2

2008-12-12T13:44:00.000-08:00

Lexington Art League-- Gothic Mansion

We went to Kentucky yesterday, and drove back through Ohio. Three states in one day. Definitely not in California any more.

Lexington, Kentucky

2008-12-12T12:03:00.001-08:00

Apparently, I didn't just make the article-- I made the cover of the Weekend Section!

Installation view of "Distinction Between Being Grounded and Airborne"

Building an art

2008-11-20T11:20:00.000-08:00

Articles

2008-11-07T19:28:00.001-08:00

Here is an article about the Lexington Biennial Show. My image made the article! Hooray!
Here is a link to the curator's statement.

Steve Charles also wrote a lovely piece about my work at Wabash College.

Preview of "All Good Things..."

2008-08-23T20:34:00.000-07:00

See a sneak preview of "All Good Things Will Come to You Soon." Check back later for a description of the project.

Upcoming Shows

2008-08-21T16:01:00.000-07:00

A reminder that Darkroom Divas, the group show at the Robert V. Fullerton Museum will be opening September 25 through December 13.

My video installation, "The Distinction Between Being Grounded and Airborne," will premiere at the upcoming KY7 Biennial in Lexington, Kentucky. The show runs from October 18- December 21.

The series, "Rapt in the Nameless Reverie," will be on display in a solo exhibition at the Peacock Gallery in Cochran, Georgia in January of 2009.

And don't forget the solo exhibition Time is Eternity that will go up October 27 in the Eric Dean Gallery, Crawfordsville, Indiana. This exhibition will feature the photo series "Rapt in the Nameless Reverie" and premiere my new video installation "All Good Things Will Come to You Soon."

Work in progress

2008-06-28T19:47:00.000-07:00

In Progress, no title yet, and this isn't done, but I like it anyway
embroidery, 9" x 6", 2008

Self-Portrait (George Eastman House)

2008-06-28T19:41:00.000-07:00

Three Dimensions of my face for future reconstructions; or Signed Self-Portrait
C-Print, 1" x 8", 2008

Critic's Choice

2008-06-27T10:10:00.000-07:00

On the Saatchi Online Gallery, I was picked by Ana Finel Honigman as her Critic's Choice of the Week! Um... last week. Somehow, I didn't know!

Read more...

Works on paper

2008-06-26T13:56:00.000-07:00

At long last, a new image and statement are on the series of works on paper, titled "I am a house."

Self-Portraits

2008-06-19T20:41:00.001-07:00

Acseticism

2008-06-12T12:31:00.000-07:00

First Image 3

2008-06-10T11:16:00.000-07:00

Window 3
inkjet print, 20" x 16", 2008

What this time is all about

2008-06-08T17:13:00.001-07:00

It pains me to be rescanning these negatives-- I originally made them into C-prints, then used a flatbed scanner (I believe the Epson 10000) to make the files, then I tried using that same Epson to scan the negatives with the optional lightbox attachment thing. As a flatbed, this scanner has done an amazing job on my found photos. The results looked fine. I even made some 16" x 16" inkjet prints from these scans. Here is an example.
The saying goes, No Pain, No Gain. I am rescanning all the images using the Nikon Super Coolscan 9000. While it is a painful process for me to be rescanning all my negatives (at ten minutes or more per scan and thirty to forty images-- ouch), here is why it is worth it.

I hadn't even noticed detail in the sky in the negative and was unable to make it appear in the darkroom print. These are the subtleties I strive for in my images. Just images what other beautiful details will now reveal themselves!

I may not be sold on the validity of digital cameras for my work, but I certainly don't see a reason to print in the darkroom ever again. :(

First Image 2

2008-06-05T07:21:00.001-07:00

Window 2
c-print, 10" x 8", 2008

What cats do

2008-06-05T06:57:00.001-07:00

My first residency image

2008-06-03T12:09:00.000-07:00

Window
pinhole polaroid print, 3.25" x 4.25", 2008

In honor of Talbot's early image.

Residency

2008-05-28T12:46:00.000-07:00

This week, I will be leaving for my residency in Rochester, New York. Normally, I post 'regular' stuff at Here2Indiana, and art stuff here. Of course, my regular life mostly consists of art stuff, so I find myself having trouble deciding what will be posted where. However, as the Here2Indiana site is an Internet performance, and deals with culture shock in the rural midwest, I think my trip to Rochester does not quite fit there. I will still post some things as they come up, but I will be documenting most of the residency here-- projects, art I see, people I meet, progress, etc.

In preparing for the trip, I have been doing a lot of work. I have shoot two more rolls of film this week, and hope to finish off my stash on the trip there. As I am going to the birthplace of Kodak, I have lofty expectations about being able to replenish that stash and develop film whenever I want (have I mentioned, I have to drive 30 miles one way to get film developed here?).

Last night, I finished the video, "The Distinction Between Being Grounded and Airborne," but I am holding off a few days before posting it. It is one of my most ambitious video pieces that I actually succeeded in finishing. Each time I watch it, I do see little things I want to adjust, so that is why the delay. It needs to simmer a little longer.

I have some other, smaller projects I pick up. There will be a new drawing on the site soon, called "Home is Where the Heart Is." I am also doing some sewing-based pieces. What says 'cutting-edge art' more than erratic cross-stitching?

More to come soon!

Book available

2008-05-25T11:05:00.000-07:00

I created a print-on-demand book for the series, "Presence of Absence." Hope you enjoy!

Drawings

2008-05-13T20:32:00.000-07:00

I have been making drawings in response to all the moves I have made recently-- four different houses in eight months. (That is worse that when I was in college!) They all meant different things to me, and came to symbolize my outlook on life and what-not. I finally have had the opportunity to scan and upload them. The statement will come soon, but I think the images speak well for themselves. I hope you enjoy!

I also put some older images from a series "Water Stories" and I will add the explanatory text eventually.

Indiana as Inspiration

2008-05-07T10:10:00.000-07:00

This summer, I am working on a project inspired by the state of Indiana. There are lots of beautiful things here, and strange things. I have been trying to "respond" to these things on the "Here2Indiana" web-piece. I am hoping to have the opportunity to delve more deeply this summer. I have also been taking plan-old, traditional photographs! How nostalgic!

In about three weeks, I will be heading to Rochester, NY for my residency with Visual Studies Workshop. More to come!

Retroreflections: Statement and more images

2008-03-03T10:52:00.001-08:00

Presence of Absence

2008-03-03T08:41:00.000-08:00

New images posted!

Here 2 Indiana

2008-02-03T16:25:00.000-08:00

Keep checking in on the web performance. There are a number of video performances, animated gifs, images, and animations. I am averaging an update every seven days.

Retroreflections

2008-02-03T16:22:00.000-08:00

At long last, Retroreflections is online. "Retroreflections" is my working title for the images I am currently making. This series will have an artist book and written story component that will be published during my residency at Visual Studies Workshop!

Getting Settled

2008-01-01T16:40:00.000-08:00

I have had a chance to sit down and look at the website today. A few things have been updated, but you won't notice them yet. I have decided to pursue the Here 2 Indiana blog as an Internet performance-type art piece. I have posted a statement about it on the site, describing the context of the piece.

In the next few days, I will post two projects, one new, and one older. Check back to see!

Residency

2007-12-19T22:42:00.000-08:00

I have been offered an artist residency in New York next summer.

More on that when I get to Indiana. Feel free to check our progress on the blog.

Leaving California

2007-12-18T01:22:00.002-08:00

We are departing on our road trip today. Follow our progress at this site.

I will have my computer desk back up and running for more updates to this site. I have lots of new images for the new "Retroreflections" section.

Last week, a group show I was in came down. It was a nice one; sorry I didn't let you know! I had two images from the Presence of Absence series. I will post installation shots when I get to Indiana!

It looks like an image from the Manifest Destiny series will go up at the Fullerton Museum in San Bernardino next fall. More on that later.

Long Time, No Blog

2007-11-07T21:50:00.000-08:00

It's true. I have neglected to post information. Alas!

The good news is I have redone the site, with the intent of streamlining the information. Please let me know what you think or if you have any trouble with the interface. In addition to the redesign, there are new sections posted, and new ones coming.

Destiny Manifest, a project I have been working on the last year, has a section devoted to it. I am playing with the literal manifestation of the simulacra in contemporary landscape. If we can't have trees, let's just make them!

There is a new section devoted to a sculptural series of Viewing Devices. This section includes flash 360 degree views of the pieces.

A section of pinhole camera self-portraits (some of which were made with the Viewing Devices).

I added the drawings from the Transitions series.

Also a new image from the Autoportraits series (about time).

Next week, I will be in a CSUSB faculty show at Valley College. See you there!

What I Have Been Doing...

2007-07-20T15:30:00.000-07:00

I have been working, and there are a few surprises coming down the pick. I have also been doing some writing and reflecting. Here are some excerpts:

How do we explain how one person relates to another? How can I put into words what one person means to me, what their relationship is to me? If I say to you, “he was like a father to me,” how do I know what your father was like to you? Maybe your own father was not like a father to you.

So when I think of the loss of my grandmother, and try to explain it, I know there is something missing in the communication. I see blank looks, nods, and there is the underlying tension of misunderstanding. You do not understand my empty space.

When I think of her, to talk about her to “you” (any and all who read this), I say “grandmother.” When I recount her to myself, I say a different word, “gramma,” a child’s misspelling that sticks as her real name. And I never call her “Grandma,” using the relationship as a proper noun, but always in the possessive. She is always named, “my gramma.” It is as if I can only relate to her in terms of my infant body and she is an appendage of me.

Here is another:

The boxes on my patio, and a majority of the furniture from the house, will be sold at a yard sale or given to charity or thrown away. Saturday morning bargain shoppers will not appreciate many of these things. They will not appreciate the frugality, the usefulness, the quaintness of a bygone way of life and culture. Who thinks to buy iron-in hem-repair tape, or spring-based tension rods, or cellophane wrapping paper? What of the novelty of an atlas from forty years ago, a child’s dresser made of real wood, a bag of cedar chips to hang in your closet. These are things I will not own again, once they are gone.

On a different note...

"Light and Lens" will be coming out this October, and features one of my images from the "Autoportraits" series.

General Updates and YARD SALE!

2007-06-26T23:04:00.000-07:00

I have been going through drawers and shelves, throwing things away, giving things away, packing boxes. I will be having another Yard Sale on July 7th. I will not be so formal as last year, but will to invite people to be photographed. If you are interested in participating, please email for directions!

I found a list I wanted to record here (so I can throw it away). It is also for your information, of what goodies I still dream of for this website.

Web Page Wish List:

-Thumbnail details of sculptures
-Pinhole images from ceramic cameras
-Images of new Transitions
-Self-portraits

These are pieces that I have not documented for the Internet (maybe they don't exist?), but there should be plenty there for you to see and enjoy!

Light and Lens

2007-05-28T14:25:00.000-07:00

A new book, Light and Lens: Photography in the Digital Age, by Robert Hirsch will come out in November. It is specifically for learning digital photography in an art context and is packed with examples of contemporary digital photographic art. Included in this is an image by me, from my Autoportraits series. Enjoy!

Update: Destiny Manifest

2007-05-22T22:30:00.000-07:00

I know you have been wondering if I gave up on the cell phone trees. I have not! But I have been having trouble organizing my information into a coherent, easily searchable, central location. Until now!

I have made my very own Google Map, logging all of my known trees. Now I can plan all of my trips to include a lovely landscape photograph!

If you would like to contribute to the map, please add comments to this post... include GPS coordinates, or street addresses and cities.

And one of these days, I will add the cell tree photo gallery to the site. Between the fiber printing and the gold split-toning, however, they take a lot longer to process and create than digital work. But I still love both processes like my own children-- two very different children who fight like Cane and Able!

Video: My Old House!

2007-05-22T22:18:00.000-07:00

My Old House: Reclaimed Table
Kristen S. Wilkins
single channel video, 2'37", 2007

Finally, the video!! I have been fusing with this one for a while. I have been watching a lot of home improvement shows and am fascinated by the strange voyeuristic quality of looking in other people's homes, at their stuff and messes, and how happy everyone seems about it.

In this first episode of "My Old House", I make a piece of furniture (which is just for decoration) out of stuff I find in the garage.

Keep your eye out for more of "My Old House." I have a bathroom episode planned, and am formulating ideas for more over the summer. Let me know if you like it!

Video Archive

2007-05-14T14:11:00.000-07:00

I will admit, I am two shoots away from making the next video. I may have to decrease the frequency to every other week-- once a week may not be enough time to get the quality you and I demand!

I am hoping to have "My Old House: The Sofa Table" ready by the end of the week. In the mean time, here is a treat from my video archive, "Peter Peter." This video is based on a nursery rhyme that I always thought was inappropriate, even as a child.

Peter Peter

Kristen S. Wilkins
single channel video, 2'03", 2002

Two new Presence of Absence images! Untitled #38, and Untitled #37

Indiana

2007-05-08T10:43:00.000-07:00

I have accepted a visiting position at Wabash College as a Digital Artist. In December, I will be packing up and moving to Indiana. I expect to chronicle some interesting cultural differences between suburban life and rural life, such as their lack of cell-phone tree towers.

This summer, I will be packing, photographing, and starting a longer video piece as I prepare to leave California. Check back for new work about the house, as I ready it for sale after 48 years of family ownership.

Video: Websurfing

2007-04-29T19:48:00.000-07:00

Websurfing
Kristen S. Wilkins
single channel video, 53", 2007

Second video. I am posting this one early, as I will be out of town this week. Hope you enjoy!

New Video: Soliloquy

2007-04-25T12:10:00.000-07:00

Soliloquy
Kristen S. Wilkins
single channel video, 2'24", 2007

One of my pet projects that keeps getting pushed aside is my weekly video. I want to make a series of shorts and post a new one every week. Since I have taken so long to make even one, I am worried it is a bit lofty of a goal. But one week at a time, I will give it a shot. The first week's piece is titled "Soliloquy." This video attempts to show how relationships with music reflect those with other people, all while attempting to accomplish something (even when we mean to fail).

Alabama

2007-03-22T00:21:00.000-07:00

Good weather and exotic pets.

Presence of Absence

2007-02-25T18:52:00.000-08:00

I have posted new work in the "Presence of Absence" series, including new images acquired from New York City.

Look at them here.

I should note the online images are cropped. The printed images include the tattered edges / borders of the original photographs. More coming soon.

New York

2007-02-20T08:21:00.000-08:00

I just got back from NYC. It was very cold, but I was assured it was cold even for New Yorkers. I most wanted to see Central Park, though I haven't verbalized why yet. I wish I had more time there, but I did meet and see lots of wonderful and interesting people and things while I was there.

New Images

2007-01-31T15:16:00.000-08:00

I am working on adding new images to "Transitions" and "The Presence of Absence" projects. There are already some new images on Presence. I have also loaded the artist's statement for that series. Hope you like!

Ensenada: Winter Cruise

2007-01-02T23:02:00.000-08:00

One Year Anniversary!

2006-12-18T22:51:00.000-08:00

The one year anniversary of the website is coming up. It's exciting! Hits are going up steadily, from fifteen visitors the first month, to more than a hundred last month.

I had eye surgery recently. It put the importance of my sight into perspective. I sometimes thought I would be fine with being a blind artist, but as a "photophile" ... There is nothing like that sharpness of vision and image. Communication is already vague enough.

Destiny Manifest 2

2006-12-04T23:50:00.000-08:00

"Destiny Manifest: Study for Landscape #4"
8" x 10", fiber silver gelatin print

The images are coming along nicely. It is so cathartic to be in the darkroom, in the chemistry again. Even color photography had removed the magic of the artist-scientist. To actually be mixing chemicals, varying temperatures, tweaking exposures and development... it's fun!

"Don't Be a Downer"

2006-11-14T12:52:00.000-08:00

Though this isn't a recent video, it has never been shown. It makes me laugh and laugh... hope you like it!

Destiny Manifest

2006-11-10T22:09:00.000-08:00

"Manifest Destiny: Study for Landscape #1"
2.25" x 2.25" digitally altered Polaroid

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about the idea of "place" and what it means to belong to the land. I have started a new series, Destiny Manifest, to investigate this relationship.

Some day, I would like to live in a rural community, where I can foster a stronger relationship with the land, make better use of it. The suburban yard that is outside my window as I type this could grow vegetables for two people for several months at least. While it is appealing to turn over my lawns, there is strong peer pressure to conform, not to mention real estate pressure. There are few exceptions of people facing down these pressures and turning their yards into food.

I have been thinking about what people do with their land, their suburban plots. The yard becomes then superficial simulation of a nature they never see and one that doesn't exist. It is filled with exotic and foreign flora that require added nutrients, soil replacements, and hefty amounts of chemicals and water to combat the natural fauna and climate. This simulation has its consequences-- poor soil quality, contaminated ground water, more resilient pests, and the squelching of local ecosystems. We don't see it directly. Thinking about all the ways we have divorced ourselves from the natural processes of nature (ecology, growth, disease, community, food, weather, death, decay), it's no wonder when we are actually confronted by them we freak out. (Image: Cover of "Sunset Lawn and Ground Cover Book," by Sunset, Lane Book Co., 1960.)

In the recent show, Sub-Urbane, the other artists' responses to suburbia focused on its emptiness, its superficiality, its conformity. While I agree with these ideas in theory, in my own life I digress from these opinions. In my work, I responded to suburbia as the only home I had ever known, the home of my parents and grandparents, the home I inherited. I filled it with nostalgia, warmth and longing.

As I am reconciling my feelings about the suburbs, I think about the way they ravage the land. Despite feeling nostalgic about suburbia, I recognize its negative impact on the ecology, economy, and community.

I am going into the fields, or those I can find, looking for the simulations of our connection to land and nature. The cell phone trees seem like the place to start.

"Manifest Destiny: Study for Landscape #2"
2.25" x 2.25" digitally altered Polaroid

Here is an image from the Sub-Urbane Show.

Left: Brian Andrews, "Tools for Survival," 2002
Center: Kristen Wilkins, "The Lamp," "Paneling House," 2004
Right: Amir Zaki, "Family Simpson," "Family Irvine," 2002

Website Update

2006-10-19T13:09:00.000-07:00

I've finally finished my website update. The new improved site features more projects, including some of my video and sculptural work. It's very exciting to be able to share them with you! This blog/news site is also a new feature. I will be using this to post news, events, and announcements about my work.

Upcoming: a mailing list.