Featured Artists: Carolyn Healy & John Phillips

Carolyn Healy and John Phillip's work and methodology could not be better suited for this show and the exhibition space.  As collaborators of site-specific multimedia installations, Carolyn is the sculptor while John considers the environment that she creates and adds the sound and video components.  Their process begins by spending a lot of time in the space; Carolyn has discussed the importance of the smell and the vibe while John described his interest in researching the history of the place - in this case mainly workers and their traditions.  Their work begins with concrete ideas and becomes abstract in form.  

Fig. 1. Carolyn and John in their raw space for the Catagenesis show.

Carolyn has been scavenging the Globe for objects to use in their installation.  Below are carts full of spools of thread that were dyed at the Globe Dye facility which Carolyn has collected for potential use in the show.  Their artist statement expresses a strive to keep the technology that they use invisible and describes what they create as a "nonverbal 'theater' of the mind."  By merging these heady ideas with their visual and audible creations Carolyn and John will no doubt merge a complex, sensual wonderland into the Globe Dye Works.

Fig. 2. Items that Carolyn has set aside to potentially use in their installation.

Featured Artist: Gandalf Gavan

"I am attracted to art that has that sense of humour and tension between seriousness, ambivalence and play." Gandalf Gavan, (Phong Bui, Brooklyn Rail, May 2010)

Gandalf Gavan is trying to keep things simple these days.  He moves quickly, almost joltingly around Globe Dye Works, but it is clear that when it comes to art making, Gavan is able to trust his instincts.  Upon entering the exhibition space he had an immediate attraction to a big tub of zeolite and decided to hone right in.  

Gandalf Gavan, Daedelus's Song, Oaxaca, Mexico, 2003.

Gavan's ability to transform a space without entirely taking it over is due to his utilization of surroundings without nullifying them.  He invites his media to employ light as an additive rather than a costume.  His past work has involved many media, notably here are neon and mirror, and often express his interest in light.  In terms of the zeolite, he is excited about its quality of refracting light as well as its ability to shift our perception of the material.  

Gandalf Gavan, Infinite Infinities, P.S.1., Long Island City, NY, 2007.

Zeolite, a water softener, has been a focus for many visitors into the Globe Dye Works.  I would credit it's luring texture as it's most seductive attribute, but its constant shifting of color and light have been just as powerful in honing us in.  Gavan filled a baggie of zeolite to bring back to his Brooklyn studio; I can't wait to see what he does with the stuff.

Globe Dye Works, Tub of Zeolite.

Featured Artist, Scott Pellnat

This weekend I was fortunate to meet Scott Pellnat, one of our invited artists for Catagenesis, at the Globe Dye Works exhibition space.  Described by local art blogger Don Brewer as an "accomplished woodworker and avid dumpster diver," Scott's quirky constructions are a perfect match for this exhibition.

In chatting with Scott, his ability to reconfigure and transform space immediately surfaced.  Scott is currently living and working in Somerset, NJ (though he has previously hailed from NY and Philadelphia).  He described his current surroundings as decidedly suburban, and it seems that he has peeked the interest of both his neighbors and local police with the decidedly un-conventional studio he has built on his property.  Local interest was peeked several years ago with the studio/home he created (tower and all!) in south Philly.

Scott talked about his process as starting out abstract and becoming concrete in form.  His connection to the space at Globe Dye Works was both definitive and amorphous.  His current work is with boats, and he immediately observed a direct parallel between the roof of the building and the hull of a ship.  However, he also discussed his response to the space as being layered - another layer involving the historical narratives surrounding the space (not necessarily historical facts).  

It's doubtful that even Scott has a palpable idea of how all these layers will emerge in his final installation.  I am particularly excited to see how his work will manifest in the exhibition space; without a doubt, these boats will have depth.

Globe Dye Works with the Greenwood Family

A couple of Saturdays ago I had the tickling experience of walking through the exhibition space at the Globe Dye Works with a handful of energetic, proud and knowledgeable men.  

Three of these men were Bill, Craig and Tim Greenwood.  The Greenwood family (Bill is Craig's father, and Tim is his cousin) have owned and operated the Globe Dye Works since it was opened by Richard Greenwood in 1865.  That the Greenwoods managed to run the textile dying operation for 140 years without selling the business or encountering any major familial feuds seems absolutely remarkable, until you meet these men.  The enthusiasm that the Greenwood's have for their family's business flows out of their easy smiles and eager storytelling.  But that enthusiasm is most evident in Bill, who is 89 years old and "going through adolescence."  His stories are filled with pride and humor, particularly in talking about the companies employees.  

George Ditzel (our other tour guide - shown below at left with Bill and Craig) was one of those employees.  He began working for Globe Dye at 18, along with all of his brothers (he says he doesn't know how many he has, and Bill guesses 46) as well as their wives.  George is a "neighborhood boy," as were essentially all Globe Dye employees.  The Greenwoods say they never remember looking for employees - most of the neighborhood families just worked for them.  Or really I should say with them, as it seems evident that at least these two generations of Greenwoods did plenty of work.  Below Craig reminisces how George taught him that you should always walk around carrying a tool so people will assume you are either headed to fix something or have just fixed something.

Craig was the last owner/operator of the Globe Dye Works, along with Billy Greenwood (the family kept only two members in charge of the business at a time).  They closed the facility in 2005, after the market had been slumping for years due to foreign competition.  They waited to close until three 40+ year employees reached retirement.  

There were a few sad years after the business closed and the neighborhood began to head downhill, but the Greenwoods could not be happier about the direction this historic warehouse is headed.  The building is now being slowly renovated and transformed into artist's studios, amongst other things.  Tim told me about one of the organizations now operating at the Globe, the Philadelphia Wooden Boat Factory, an experimental group attempting to engage city kids with maritime related activities.  Hearing Tim's excitement about the exhibition as well really brought home just how perfect this space is for Catagenesis.

photos: 

top - Bill points to where the giant dye vats would have been, while Tim and Craig look on.

bottom - Left to right, George Ditzel, Bill and Craig Greenwood. 

Blue Red Yellow Natural Dye Workshop

In hopes of gaining a better understanding of what took place at Globe Dye Works (primarily indigo dyeing), I recently attended a workshop at the Temple Art Gallery about natural dye processes.  Elissa Gwen Meyers and Mira Sophia Adornetto (of BlueRedYellow) were wonderful teachers, very energetic and open about their processes.

BlueRedYellow is the name of their design/dye house (based in South Philadelphia), but these are also the only colors with which they dye.  As Elissa explained, secondary colors are created only through an overdye process (you would dye something first blue and then yellow to create green, and so on..).  Apparently this is for chemical reasons, the dye adheres to the fibers on a specific basis and mixing colors in the dye vats would mess up the fundamentals.  In this way, they described creating color in textiles to be very different than mixing paint.

In this workshop, our red dye was made of boiled madder (a plant root).  We had two shades of yellow - boiled marigolds made a bright yellow and boiled onion leaves created a deeper golden hue.  Creating indigo, on the other hand, is much more complex.  Indigo pigment, madder root powder, wheat bran and soda ash are all added to a big bucket of warm water; it is stirred (daily), covered and left to ferment.  The indigo we were using had been prepared at the previous workshop and had been fermenting for two weeks.  It had a pungent fishy smell.  Actually, the whole gallery had a deliciously strong odor with the boiling onion leaves, the sweetness of the marigold heads and the rich earthy smell of the madder root all mingling with that fishy indigo.  At some point during the workshop a hungry boy came in to see if we were making soup.

With the red and yellow dyes, the chemical process that causes adherence happens to the fabric before it is dyed.  The fabric is scoured (cleaned) and then mordanted (there are hundreds of mordant processes, but basically this is where the soda ash comes in).  So the dye vats consist of only the plant and a lot of hot water.  With indigo, the soda ash is in the dye and the fabric does not need mordanting.

And we were ready to dye.  We began by arranging our fabric in different ways to cause resist (areas where the fabric would not pick up dye); there was a lot of good old fashioned tie-dying (by twisting and tying the fabric so the folds resist the dye), stiching (so that the sewn thread would be the resister), as well as screen printing gum tragacanth (Mira and Elissa get this from a local bakery).  With the red and yellow we put the fabric in the vats, agitated it some, removed it and rinsed it vinegar.  And again, the indigo process was more complicated/interesting.  The dye itself is a muddy greenish color (except at the top, where air has interacted with the dye), and it is only when it mingles with oxygen that it becomes indigo in hue.  The oxidation process of indigo is absolutely beautiful to watch; we would pull out the greenish fabric and watch as it would slowly transform into a rich blue color.

There was also some expression of the heartiness of indigo dye - it was the only color that we didn't have to measure our fabric usage of (it seemed impossible to dilute), and everyone was most interested in dying with it.  Mira and Elissa were giddy about the strength of one particular batch - apparently the fermentation process was rapid and very successful.

We were working on a plastic tarp that was partially covering the gallery floor.  The area was quickly covered with drying fabric swatches, and we had to carefully navigate the space by hopping over dye vats and fabric.  I had a great deal of sympathy for the nervous gallery guide who was constantly wiping indigo splashes and footprints off of the gallery floor with a sponge.

Indigo is one complex color, and I can only imagine the kind of beautiful messes that must have been made at Globe Dye Works.

Recommended Reading:
Harvesting Color: How to Find Plants and Make Natural Dyes, Rebecca Burgess

First Visit to Globe Dye Works

Yesterday was my first visit to the exhibition space at Globe Dye Works. Wow.  This place is huge, raw, and jam packed with possibility.  My walk through was with Leslie Kaufman (Director of Philadelphia Sculptors) and about ten artists who are planning to submit proposals for jury selection (five artists have been chosen to participate and another ten will be selected by our jury).

We walked through with slack jaws and cameras flashing.  Many of the artists were giddy - inspiration visible in their excited eyes and the air thick with ideas.

The space has intricate wooden rafters and the ground is strewn with abandoned equipment (this building was actively dying fabric until 2005).  Beams of light stream in through the roof; it feels like both an industrial wasteland and an enchanted playground.

I was struck by the contrast between vast open space and intimate niches - surely this show will invite artists to work both large and small.  The sheer largeness of the space is coupled by boundless details.  We all took a few minutes to run our hands through a vat of what looked like rusty sand - Leslie explained it was Zeolite, a water softener.  It felt like velvet.

I could go on to attempt to describe this place, but it really must be seen to be believed.  Leslie put it well when she said, "If you're into texture, than this is the place to be."

This is going to be a great show.

Welcome to the Blog!

This is a blog about the process of putting together Catagenesis, an exhibition of site specific installations in the Frankford area of Philadelphia.  The exhibition is sponsored by Philadelphia Sculptors (namely Director Leslie Kaufman, Independent Curator Cheryl Harper, a few interns and an array of devoted volunteers) and it will take place at the Globe Dye Works.

Five artists have been invited to participate and ten more will be chosen through a juried process.  The exhibition will open on September 9, 2012, and there is much work to be done to get us there.  I hope you will enjoy hearing about the process.