Drought/Fire/Ash - Marjorie Moore, Opening Reception

Drought/Fire/Ash

New works by  Marjorie Moore

Opening Reception Friday December 9th, 7-10pm

Free Admission, Complimentary Beverages

On view through Dec. 18th Saturdays & Sundays 1pm-5pm

Or by appointment through December 28th

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A R T I S T   S T A T E M E N T

This exhibit involves landscape and artifacts of the catastrophic drought and ensuing forest wild fires in Bastrop County, Texas which began on September 3, 2011 and were 90% contained by September 17, 2011.

 I live in central Austin, but my relationship to Bastrop is intimate. I have three horses that live on a ranch in Bastrop County and much of my previous artwork has relied on the natural artifacts that I collect on the ranch to use as drawing, painting and found object installations.

 During the time the fires raged, I was actively involved in horse rescue as the fires loomed closer and closer. We evacuated over 40 horses to safe places in six hours. I was fortunate to not lose any of my animals, but I know so many people whose loss is overwhelming.

 As a result of the wildfires, over 1500 homes were lost and over 35,000 acres were burned to ash.  One house is particularly close to my participation in Bastrop’s communities.

 As an artist I contemplate loss and attempt to reclaim beauty. On Saturday, September 17, I spent the day at a friend’s homestead that was completely devastated in a neighborhood close to Bastrop State Park.

I spent time documenting the loss through photography and then got down on my hands and knees to sift through the ash to find anything that could perhaps be saved. As I collected fused glass, broken bits of pottery, melted dishware, scarred toys, and many other broken charred articles, thoughts of how the reassembly of these remnants might contribute to the reassembly of lives began to churn.

The next day I went through the ritual process of washing each item and placing them in categories on my studio floor. As this process unfolded I understood that it is important to display these pieces and for me to create a narrative of what was and what can be.  Each piece of charred material became an object of interest transformed from its original form and recast through fire into ethereal object of haunting beauty.

The drawings depict both the draught and the aftermath of the fires. The artifacts are remnants of a personal loss. Disasters occur, memories live on, reformation begins, and art can be healing.

My intention is to donate 100 % of artist net sales of this work to Bastrop Fire Relief Funds.

B I O G R A P H Y

I have been a practicing artist for over three decades. My career began in Maine where I had numerous exhibitions and was the recipient of three regional National Endowment Fellowships in mixed medias. I was active in producing solo works and collaborative projects involving other artists.

In 1993 I relocated to Texas, first living in Houston and in 1997 settling in Austin. I have continued to exhibit in both commercial and alternative spaces. My work has been shown in numerous one person shows in Texas, including Women and their Work in Austin, The Art League in Houston, The Galveston Art Center in Galveston, and O2 A Contemporary Space for Art at Flatbed Press, Austin, TX. Most recently I created an installation, Labyrinth: Categories under Construction at Texas State University Galleries, San Marcos, Texas.

I have been the recipient of many awards including a MacDowell Fellowship, Earthwatch Fellowship to travel and study in Venezuela and a Creative Artist Program Award in the visual arts from the Cultural Arts Council of Houston. I was recently short-listed for the Texas Art Prize at Arthouse, Austin and Pace Foundation/Texas Artist Program, San Antonio.  In January of 2012 I will travel to India with a grant from Art Collaborations Worldwide to study the techniques of Thanjavur painting with a master painter in Tamil Nadu. I will then be the recipient of a Sanskriti Foundation fellowship for two weeks in Delhi.

I am currently employed by The Austin Museum of Art School at Laguna Gloria where I teach drawing, painting, and mixed media to adult students. I have a long history of teaching, including adjunct at University of Texas, High School for the Visual and Performing Arts, Houston, Upward Bound at Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine, and Haystack School, Deer Isle, Maine. My teaching career began as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Iran.

The path of this current exhibition, Drought/Fire/Ash follows the direction of my work over several decades.  I have a profound interest in the process of creating beauty from retrieved objects, both natural and human made. The categorization of objects in new kinds of taxonomy creates a narrative for artistic pursuit and art audience. This particular project with its tragedy and nearness is provocative to me both as an artist and a citizen of the world.