Gloria Lamson

Return - New Installation beginning Solstice 2011, Port Townsend, WA

2011-12-21T16:43:00.000-08:00

Return

The sun moves toward us now,

Returning.

I think of life as a spiral path.

Experience keeps coming around,

We change and remain the same.

Like the tides,

Like our breath,

Changing the landscape of our perspective.

What is possible at one time is not possible in another,

As if we travel in a maze of invisible doorways,

Passages,

And stepping stones.

Their appearance depends upon our choices,

And actions.

A phrase posted on a wall reads,

The main thing is to keep the main thing, the main thing.

Later, I can’t remember the exact words,

So it becomes,

The main thing is to remember the main thing.

I’ve heard it said, that when we argue with reality,

We will never win.

But some things are true.

Everything changes.

The sun returns.

And to this window,

I, along with materials, return.

Rubbing up against each other differently,

Creating a another story,

An evolving story,

In this path of Return.

Creative/Reflective Workshop, New Years Eve, 1-5pm, Port Townsend, WA

2011-12-19T21:21:00.000-08:00

Create a Totem &

Illuminate your New Year

Using Art and Writing

In this supportive workshop environment I will invite you to:

Review your past year...

Shake out any remaining nutrients...

Let the past go with appreciation & kindness...

Begin your year with fresh insight.

Create a symbolic object,

As a container & reminder of your intentions for 2012.

In this process you will have the opportunity to

Imagine your year to come,

Explore your wishes,

Determine your vision &

Embolden your intentions through art making.

Stoke up your creativity for the New Year &

Bring Art to Life.

Contact me for more info and to reserve your space.

Saturday, December 31, 2011

1-5 pm

Fort Worden State Park, Port Townsend, WA

FALL -- New Installation at Badd Habit, Port Townsend, WA

2011-11-23T22:11:00.000-08:00

Falling

We fall in,

Fall out,

Fall over.

Leaves fall.
Antlers fall.
Darkness falls.

We say:

We fall asleep,
Fall from grace,
Fall off the wagon.

Things fall between the cracks,
We wait for the other shoe to fall,

United we stand, divided we fall,

The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

The sky is falling.
Music rises and falls.

And as for ladders,
They give us a choice.

'Forks'. New installation. Uptown at Badd Habit in Port Townsend, WA

2011-09-25T22:23:00.000-07:00

'Forks'. Night view.

Weaving between memory and possibility, imagination and actuality; a visual metaphor regarding questions in our choice of direction.

(slides of past artwork)

9 Images Available for Sale

2011-07-18T19:03:00.000-07:00

Ed Riddell is a wonderful photographer and friend (from the black and white film and darkroom days) who recently launched this great site making high quality photographic images available very inexpensively. See what you think at http://www.lefotografie.com

They also have a online magazine and articles about the photographs and photographers with whom they work. I'm honored to be included.

The nine images below are now available at lefotografie

Stone Figure, AK

The Blue Rope, AK

String circle on leaves, HI

A show of hands, WA

Floating stones on broken ice, WY

Survey tape to hole in stone, HI

Mussel shells with incoming tide, AK

Floating string circle, HI

Hose spiral, CA

WakeFull

2011-07-10T21:04:00.000-07:00

An installation for Port Angeles Fine Art Center, Art Outside

Ivy vines creep up the trees and 1,300 red pipe cleaners hang down.

What's Sleeping?

2011-07-10T19:21:00.000-07:00

Installation created for BaddHabit, April, 2011
1005 Lawrence Street, Port Townsend, WA

GuestHouse - ThreadSong

2011-03-05T17:43:00.000-08:00

What is important for us in our role of ‘being human’?  

How do we navigate within a sea of constant change?  

I imagine that we are much larger than the thoughts and emotions

that pass through our inner landscape.

And I envision an invisible thread

weaving through the whole length of our life.
~
This installation grew out of these questions and the desire
to create a visual metaphor. I draw
reference from the poems of

 “The Guest House” by Rumi” and

“The Way It Is” by William Stafford".  

This window display was created for BaddHabit, February 2011
1005 Lawrence Street, Port Townsend, WA

Indra's Net & A Harvest of Falls

2010-10-09T10:05:00.000-07:00

Indra's Net & A Harvest of Falls

A window installation at BaddHabit

1005 Lawrence Street, Port Townsend, WA

The experience of falling apart and coming together makes up the territory of 'change', with the potential for transformation poised to create new form. During this 'fall' season, this installation intends to put the idea of a "harvest of falls" in a mythic context. Within each of the jigsaw puzzle pieces on the wall, resides a small mirror which catches the light and glitters at the crossing lines, inviting viewers to see themselves as a part of Indra's Net.

“Far away in the heavenly abode of the great god Indra, there is a wonderful net which has been hung by some cunning artificer in such a manner that it stretches out infinitely in all directions. In accordance with the extravagant tastes of deities, the artificer has hung a single glittering jewel in each "eye" of the net, and since the net itself is infinite in dimension, the jewels are infinite in number. There hang the jewels, glittering like stars in the first magnitude, a wonderful sight to behold. If we now arbitrarily select one of these jewels for inspection and look closely at it, we will discover that in its polished surface there are reflected all the other jewels in the net, infinite in number. Not only that, but each of the jewels reflected in this one jewel is also reflecting all the other jewels, so that there is an infinite reflecting process occurring.”

by Francis Harold Cook
from the book Hua-Yen Buddhism: The Jewel Net of Indra

~~~

http://www.glorialamson.com

Threads - Portland Building Installation

2010-08-13T20:20:00.001-07:00

Threads
Installation by Gloria Lamson

Everything changes.
Structures and frameworks fall apart and come together;
relationships begin and end, shift and transform.
Our vision of what we want is challenged by the actuality of what is.
I question how we find our way amidst the confusion
of shifting ground within and around us.
How does new life grow out of broken forms of the past?
What is important now? What is needed?
What can be, a next step?
I imagine our questions circle us around the dark unknowing
to stir new realities into being.
And in this process fresh vision and form begin to grow.
In the words of William Stafford,

The Way It Is
There's a thread you follow.
It goes among things that change. But it doesn't change.
People wonder about what you are pursuing.
You have to explain about the thread.
But it is hard for others to see.
While you hold it you can't get lost.
Tragedies happen; people get hurt
or die; and you suffer and get old.
Nothing you do can stop time's unfolding.
You don't ever let go of the thread.
William Stafford

For more information use link below.
http://www.racc.org/public-art/threads-installation-artist-gloria-lamson-portland-building-august-9-%E2%80%93-september-3-2010

This installation through September 3 (6pm)
Viewing hours: 7 am to 6 pm, Monday – Friday. The Portland Building is located at 1120 SW 5th Avenue in downtown Portland. For more information and a website that provides images, proposals and statements of all the Portland Building installations featured since 1994 go to http://racc.org/public-art/installation-space or call the installation space project manager
Keith Lachowicz at 503-823-5404.

Glimpses of Illumination - Port Townsend Public Library Installation through July

2010-07-06T20:29:00.000-07:00

Installation - Windsong at Port Angeles Fine Art Center - Art Outside

2010-06-22T13:05:00.000-07:00

Windsong
An installation at Port Angeles Fine Art Center for Art Outside

http://www.pafac.org/exhibitions/art-outside.html

One of the hallmarks of Art Outside has always been to strive for a balance between sculptural objects and site interventions, with both approaches highly sensitive to the natural environment. The five and a half acres of second-growth forest has been a friendly host to artists’ imaginations.

Ecotones closes after June 26 - Vashon Island, WA

2010-06-22T12:20:00.000-07:00

Coagulatio
Installation for "Ecotones"

VALISE 4W Event, Vashon Island, WA
Saturday, June 26, 7 to 8:30 pm

Event: VALISE member Heather Joy and Port Townsend artist Gloria Lamson invite the community to participate in a discussion about the June exhibition "Ecotones" at VALISE Gallery. Hear from the artists about their process and bring your questions and insights.

"Ecotones" exhibit: Joy and Lamson both draw on the natural world as a source of material and inspiration for their artwork, exploring ideas of art as "social sculpture". Both artists see art as a way to shape a more humane and ecologically viable society. Both question their experience and response to the changes taking place in the world, and hope their work may illuminate these questions for others. More about the show at: www.valisegallery.org/Current.html

4W: VALISE hosts free activities inside and outside the gallery each month, as part of the collective's 4W program: events that take place during, or close to, the fourth week of the month.
For more information, contact Heather Joy at 206/551-3180.

INFO: VALISE Artist Collective & Gallery
17633 Vashon Hwy SW, Vashon, WA
www.VALISEgallery.org

-- -- -- -- --
You're welcome to stop by, I will be at Valise, on Vashon 11-1pm and 2-5pm on Saturday, June 26th.
June 26th will be the last day of "Ecotones" with artist talk from 7-8:30pm .

Port Angeles Fine Art Center Installation through May 9

2010-05-01T18:20:00.000-07:00

Falling Apart and Coming Together

Jigsaw puzzle pieces on the floor, teabags on the wall.

A version of this installation will be installed in the Portland Building in downtown Portland, Oregon the month of August 2010.

Installation for '33 IDEAS' at Denver Airport **extended until August 24th - Videos

2010-05-01T17:38:00.000-07:00

The video from DIA is now online:
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=387383494724&ref=mf
AND
Here's a cool video filmed by a passenger who LOVED 33 IDEAS!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfohpYVk0lw

Statement for installation:

'Falling Apart and Coming Together'

Rarely do we joyfully greet the times when our life falls apart.

It seems far easier to sense what is lost than what wants to be born. In hindsight we might see how new possibilities grew out of the uncertain space of the chaotic fertile ground; like plants emerging from the earth made rich with the decay of past growth.

How is it possible to generate some small antidote to our fears and resistance to change?

Perhaps by…

- Kindly holding others and ourselves, in our disarray.

- Practicing curiosity during the often-disconcerting transformative process, which defies our attempts at control.

- Understanding we are more than the structures, which have previously contained us.

- Remembering that we too are part of the natural world, subject to the laws of regeneration and time.

I offer this visual metaphor that we might better know ourselves as more than the changes which dismantle our lives.

Installation is part of this exhibit:

33 IDEAS!
ART EXHIBIT AT DENVER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

33 IDEAS! showcases innovative artists and writers focusing on land and social issues in a variety of mediums. DIA has teamed up with Colorado Art Ranch, a “nomadic arts organization founded on the belief that the arts are a catalyst for change,” for this exhibition that will run through August 2010 in The Charles Ansbacher Hall: The Art of Colorado on the walkway between Jeppesen Terminal and Concourse A. Colorado Art Ranch travels to two or more Colorado towns each year to sponsor one-month residencies for visual and literary artists from around the world. During each residency, Colorado Art Ranch hosts a public forum to promote conversations on how art and science intersect with land and social issues. For more information on Colorado Art Ranch, go to www.coloradoartranch.org .

What is Art For?

2009-09-14T08:37:00.000-07:00

How we question?

2009-09-11T11:39:00.000-07:00

Today I am struck by the impact of the choice of my words within a question.
How many times I've asked, "Where and what is my place in the world?" and what a different sense I get from asking, "In how many ways can I experience a sense of belonging to the world."

"Rather than asking, "Who am I?" we might ask, "In how many ways can I be myself?"
With thanks to Gregg Levoy and his book "Callings - Finding and Following an authentic Life"

Bringing Art to Life ~ Workshops

2009-08-16T17:38:00.000-07:00

Engaging your Essential Nature

Vashon Island, Washington. January 2010
Port Townsend, Washington. May 2010

Send email for notification when more details are available.

Discover your Essential Nature, May 1-3, 2009

2009-03-13T19:44:00.001-07:00

2009-03-13T19:41:00.000-07:00

Gloria Lamson interviewed for "Art is Moving" blog

2008-08-12T14:19:00.000-07:00

Q: Can you tell us a little about your art and its process?

I engage time, place, experience, and the changing forces of nature. Natural or simple human materials are used to create temporary, site-specific installations and interactions in nature and various architectural environments. The process and results are documented photographically.

Frequently working with rope, twine, string or branches I “draw in” the landscape, like drawing in breath and marking on paper. I am fascinated by the simplicity of how a line activates space and interacts with specific sites. I utilize tension to construct symbolic forms with taut lines and, at other times, allow the material to seek its own form on land or water.

The initial stimulus to make art comes from a desire to understand and create meaning in life. The creative process gives me a way to balance, contain and transform experience. In essence, art is the tool and life the medium. My work provides a way to integrate physical and non-physical reality, rendering the results as signposts along the way. My intention is to create images and spaces that awaken and refresh us to the worlds within and around us.

Q: Does anything happen to you emotionally, mentally or physically when you are working on a piece? If so what?

Art making shifts my sense of self and the world in an essential way. My work is a point of entrance into a deeper level of engagement with self and other. For me, art is a vehicle that can transform mundane actions and materials into enchanting, even sacred experiences.

I work in a meditative state of mind, focused on the intimate details at the intersection of my experience (of mind, body, and spirit), the location of the particular time/place, the material in my hands and the immediate need to realize a particular vision. When I begin working I am often impressed with the turmoil of my chattering mind … I am thinking, thinking,…talking to myself…”I am here, it is there…what do I need to do?....” In the best of times, creative work leads me into a state of “grace” where my dualistic mind becomes peaceful and quiet.

Q: Has your work with environment changed since you moved your art practice outside? If so
how?

My art practice was shaped by years of black and white photography in the 1970’s. I observed closely and photographed…but did not physically change the way the world presented itself to me. I studied the world “as installation” with light being the activating force. After years of working in this manner I wanted to engage more actively with the world around me. Now there are images and ideas that present themselves in my mind. They snag my curiosity and incite me to provide the labor to see them realized.

After photography, I spent a number of years making hand bound artist books and painting. When I went back to school, near San Francisco, to get an MFA, I wanted to find a way to integrate my love of being next to the ocean with the need to do “studio work”. So again I was drawn outside and began exploring nature as material, and studio, with the idea of conversation as a creative model. I wanted my art to take me where I wanted to go (the beach). Wanting to make art that was part of the “real” world and not dependent upon a human architectural construct. I wanted to engage place and space, with ”where” I was internally and physically. And I wanted to experience myself as an integral part of nature rather than perceiving humans as separate.

The first five years of my outdoor work were shaped by large expanses of sandy beach, bodies of salt water, and the changing tides. The next seven years I was drawn to work in the presence of trees. More recently I am moved to bring the spaciousness of the sky into frames on the ground, exploring ideas about the potential to reframe our perceptions.

Q: Do you consider yourself an environmentalist or an art activist?

I don’t think of myself in those terms but would rather consider myself in the broader category of artist. This word appeals to me in its truth (it is what I do), inclusiveness and vagueness. I might consider myself an environmentalist and or an art activist, dependent on a specific context.

Q: What have you learned about yourself and the world from working in nature?

I’ve learned that my work can create physical and metaphoric doorways, which allow entrance into a more intimate awareness and connection with the natural world. My art grows out of questions that I find important. By locating my responses in the natural world I anticipate that our answers can be found in partnership with nature. Understanding that work is love made visible; I hope to stimulate our affection in regards to nature.

Q: What does art mean to you?

Art is the way I dialogue with the world within and around me. I am fond of work that has the power to move me/us without the need to call it art. For example, work that does not require specialized knowledge to be appreciated such as ancient handprints made by human breath on cave walls. I have a frequently shifting appreciation of art. At worst it seems an invented, imposed human construct, created to strengthen the domain of the human ego. At best art is a vehicle to provoke awareness and connect us with some levels of truth. It can connect us with who we are and where we are while offering clues as to what is important in any particular time and place. It forms a bridge between the known and unknown.

Q: Could you tell us about your current projects?

Recently I’ve finished several temporary outdoor installations in Washington and Oregon, including “The Rope Prayer Curtain”, an interactive installation for the Anacortes Arts Festival, “Being Here” for The Port Angeles Fine Arts Center, “Hole to Whole” at Bellevue Sculpture Exhibition in Washington and “One” at Tryon Creek State Park in Portland. I am currently teaching for Artist Trust in their professional development program while exploring other forms of coaching and mentoring.

Q: Lastly, do have an ultimate goal or ideal as an artist?

Recently I admitted that what I really want is “enlightenment” for all; that is, for people to recognize that we are all part of an interconnected whole, and that we find ways to live in that knowledge.