The Paseo Project: Artist Talk
27Apr5:30 pm7:00 pmThe Paseo Project: Artist Talkw/ Jemila MacEwan
Event Details
The Paseo Project, is pleased to announce their first Artist in Residence for 2023, Jemila MacEwan. For four weeks, MacEwan will be in Taos sharing with
Event Details
The Paseo Project, is pleased to announce their first Artist in Residence for 2023, Jemila MacEwan. For four weeks, MacEwan will be in Taos sharing with the community their participatory project, “Sun Seeds”. The Paseo Project has a full schedule of events with MacEwan that include community kite-making events, youth workshops, an artist talk, and a public kite flying day.
Join The Paseo Project for this artist talk featuring their April Artist in Residence, Jemila MacEwan. The artist will talk about their project Sun Seeds, and the greater body of work.
FREE – donations suggested.
About the Artist
Jemila MacEwan is known for their intimately interwoven earthworks, created through slow acts of physical endurance and meditation. MacEwan has performed and exhibited extensively internationally including at; ARoS Museum (Denmark), The Australian Consulate-General (NYC), Pioneer Works (NYC), The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts (NYC), NYCXDESIGN (USA), Skaftfell Center for Visual Art (Iceland) and Castlemaine State Festival (Australia). In 2022 MacEwan was awarded the NYSCA/NYFA Fellowship in Architecture/Environmental Structures/Design, The BigCi Environmental Art Award and was invited by TEDxBoston to give a presentation as a Planetary Fellow. They have been invited to attend many residencies notably; Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture (USA) BANFF Center (Canada), NARS Foundation (NYC), and Ox-Bow School of Painting (MI). Their work has been published in Art in America, Boston Globe, SFMoMA Open Space, MONDO Arc and Artist Profile Magazine. MacEwan has been generously supported by Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Australia Council for the Arts, The New York Foundation for the Arts, The New York State Council on the Arts, The Dame Joan Sutherland Fund, The Ian Potter Cultural Council and is a recipient of The Marten Bequest Traveling Scholarship.
About the Project
Sun Seeds is a participatory project wherein MacEwan will work with the community of Taos to collectively create many small, silver, light-catching kites. Once the kites have been created a community event is planned to come together to fly them. The kites will catch and reflect the sun back to earth, appearing as though the stars had suddenly come out in the day. The kites are like seeds in that they depend on the light of the sun and the power of the wind to come ‘alive’. Each individual kite flier holds a string tethering their Sun Seed to the earth, and is responsible for taking care of it. The collectivity of all of the kite-flyers together create the possibility of a whole shimmering spectacle of light.
“My work lives in the emotional complexity of humanity’s destructive impact, to the planet and to itself,” states MacEwan in their artist statement. “I create mythological narratives around meteorites, volcanoes, fault-lines and melting glaciers, where conversations with landscapes mirror specific emotional states brought on by a world in change. Understanding these natural phenomena is only possible through vast time-scales and the elemental and material forces capable of dramatically reshaping the environment. In my work, these forces act as a counterpoint to the unconscious and intentional impacts that humans have on the planet. Shedding the layers of denial that separate humans from the natural environment reveals nature as a diverse network of powerful and animated forces that deserve our attention, trust and respect.”
About The Paseo Project
The PASEO was founded in 2014 as a project of Taos Fall Arts Festival. J. Matt Thomas, Agnes Chavez, Janet Webb, Molly Robertson, Anita McKeown and David Mapes formed a core team and together they established the enduring mission, guidelines and ethos. Its original purpose was to connect the multiple venues of Fall Arts’ exhibitions with street activities to keep visitors engaged and moving. Over the years the event has grown, from one night to two nights, hosting dozens of artists regionally, nationally, and internationally. In 2016, the PASEO team took the leap into a more sustainable model and became a 501c-3 nonprofit, The Paseo Project. The Paseo Project offers year-round programs and events in addition to hosting the annual fall PASEO festival.
The Paseo Project’s Artist in Residence Program brings artists from all over the world to Taos to work with our community on a public art project. The program is an opportunity for working artists to activate their projects within the community of Taos, while exposing our community to new technologies, processes, and ideas.
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Time
April 27, 2023 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm
Location
Harwood Museum of Art
238 Ledoux Street