Virtual Exhibition: Rachel Avena Brown in southXeast contemporary
Born Still, 2014 Knitted Yarn, Interior Wall Paint, Paper. Dimensions may vary. A new installation representing a womb, umbilical cord and placenta through knitted yarn set in relationship to the Hurricane Karen wind-map. Hurricane Karen was a projected hurricane scheduled to hit the Gulf Coast states on October 3, but due to cool gulf waters diminished into a tropical storm by the time it hit land. This project is featured at Florida Atlantic University’s SouthXEast Contemporary exhibition. The installation will be up for three months in the Ritter Gallery. The project is an extension of older works like Faith Wilding’s womb room.
Born Still, 2014 Knitted Yarn, Interior Wall Paint, Paper. Dimensions may vary. A new installation representing a womb, umbilical cord and placenta through knitted yarn set in relationship to the Hurricane Karen wind-map. Hurricane Karen was a projected hurricane scheduled to hit the Gulf Coast states on October 3, but due to cool gulf waters diminished into a tropical storm by the time it hit land. This project is featured at Florida Atlantic University’s SouthXEast Contemporary exhibition. The project is an extension of older works like Faith Wilding’s womb room.
Born Still, 2014 Knitted Yarn, Interior Wall Paint, Paper. Dimensions may vary.
A digital video that was developed around a horrible experience I witnessed. On our honeymoon, my husband and I unfortunately witnessed a girl drowning in the Colorado River after she fell off a rope swing. I videotaped the coast guard searching for her along the river on jet skies for a number of hours. Following this experience I taped Joel, my husband, swinging on a rope swing he hung when he was 15 years old on his mother’s property in Oregon. The videos are about an attempt to hold onto your youth with no avail. The videos were exhibited at The Front in New Orleans
Eye Believe, 2011. Knitted Yarn, Pipe Cleaners, Balloons, Sculpey. Dimensions may vary. This was a formal piece in which I experimented with the knitted yarn, it was new media to me at the time and I was attempting to create a sculpture in the same way an artist would create a painting it was meant to be viewed from one direction. Eye Believe was exhibited in Berlin.
Firework Tears, 2011. Knitted Yarn, Pipe Cleaners. Dimensions may vary. Firework Tears was an installation in which I was representing an emotion, specifically the tears that come from great happiness. This installation was a part of a NOCCA alumni show, in the gallery on NOCCA’s campus. NOCCA is the art high school I attended in New Orleans.
Nuclear Fusion, 2012. Knitted Yarn, Antique Television Shell, Projector, DVD Player. Dimensions may vary. This installation at The Front in New Orleans was a depiction of fusion, a form of nuclear energy generated when lightweight atoms fuse together. I illustrated the fusion reaction that occurs when deuterium and tritium combine to produce helium, a neutron, and excess energy. The protons and electrons were represented through knitted yarn and excess energy in the form of a projected digital video. This was my first and only solo exhibition and I found it to be the most successful experience I have had as of yet merging digital media with my yarn work. This is a continued investigation in which I am researching the two media. The image in a digital video is created through interlaced lines, I have made comparisons between these interlaced lines and the interlaced lines of the knitted yarn tarps. I am also finding a relationship between a stitch and a pixel, and how they merge to create the whole effect. The media draws more similarities in the development of the earliest computers, their operating systems were designed after punch card looms. I continue to dive into this research and hope to draw more comparisons in the future.
Nuclear Fusion, 2012. Knitted Yarn, Antique Television Shell, Projector, DVD Player. Dimensions may vary. This installation at The Front in New Orleans was a depiction of fusion, a form of nuclear energy generated when lightweight atoms fuse together. I illustrated the fusion reaction that occurs when deuterium and tritium combine to produce helium, a neutron, and excess energy. The protons and electrons were represented through knitted yarn and excess energy in the form of a projected digital video. This was my first and only solo exhibition and I found it to be the most successful experience I have had as of yet merging digital media with my yarn work. This is a continued investigation in which I am researching the two media. The image in a digital video is created through interlaced lines, I have made comparisons between these interlaced lines and the interlaced lines of the knitted yarn tarps. I am also finding a relationship between a stitch and a pixel, and how they merge to create the whole effect. The media draws more similarities in the development of the earliest computers, their operating systems were designed after punch card looms. I continue to dive into this research and hope to draw more comparisons in the future.
Nuclear Fusion, 2012. Knitted Yarn, Antique Television Shell, Projector, DVD Player. Dimensions may vary. This installation at The Front in New Orleans was a depiction of fusion, a form of nuclear energy generated when lightweight atoms fuse together. I illustrated the fusion reaction that occurs when deuterium and tritium combine to produce helium, a neutron, and excess energy. The protons and electrons were represented through knitted yarn and excess energy in the form of a projected digital video. This was my first and only solo exhibition and I found it to be the most successful experience I have had as of yet merging digital media with my yarn work. This is a continued investigation in which I am researching the two media. The image in a digital video is created through interlaced lines, I have made comparisons between these interlaced lines and the interlaced lines of the knitted yarn tarps. I am also finding a relationship between a stitch and a pixel, and how they merge to create the whole effect. The media draws more similarities in the development of the earliest computers, their operating systems were designed after punch card looms. I continue to dive into this research and hope to draw more comparisons in the future.
Detail of Nuclear Fusion
Nuclear Fusion, 2012. Knitted Yarn, Antique Television Shell, Projector, DVD Player. Dimensions may vary. This installation at The Front in New Orleans was a depiction of fusion, a form of nuclear energy generated when lightweight atoms fuse together. I illustrated the fusion reaction that occurs when deuterium and tritium combine to produce helium, a neutron, and excess energy. The protons and electrons were represented through knitted yarn and excess energy in the form of a projected digital video. This was my first and only solo exhibition and I found it to be the most successful experience I have had as of yet merging digital media with my yarn work. This is a continued investigation in which I am researching the two media. The image in a digital video is created through interlaced lines, I have made comparisons between these interlaced lines and the interlaced lines of the knitted yarn tarps. I am also finding a relationship between a stitch and a pixel, and how they merge to create the whole effect. The media draws more similarities in the development of the earliest computers, their operating systems were designed after punch card looms.
Nuclear Fusion, 2012. Knitted Yarn, Antique Television Shell, Projector, DVD Player. Dimensions may vary. This installation at The Front in New Orleans was a depiction of fusion, a form of nuclear energy generated when lightweight atoms fuse together. I illustrated the fusion reaction that occurs when deuterium and tritium combine to produce helium, a neutron, and excess energy. The protons and electrons were represented through knitted yarn and excess energy in the form of a projected digital video. This was my first and only solo exhibition and I found it to be the most successful experience I have had as of yet merging digital media with my yarn work. This is a continued investigation in which I am researching the two media. The image in a digital video is created through interlaced lines, I have made comparisons between these interlaced lines and the interlaced lines of the knitted yarn tarps. I am also finding a relationship between a stitch and a pixel, and how they merge to create the whole effect. The media draws more similarities in the development of the earliest computers, their operating systems were designed after punch card looms.
Nuclear Fusion, 2012. Knitted Yarn, Antique Television Shell, Projector, DVD Player. Dimensions may vary. This installation at The Front in New Orleans was a depiction of fusion, a form of nuclear energy generated when lightweight atoms fuse together. I illustrated the fusion reaction that occurs when deuterium and tritium combine to produce helium, a neutron, and excess energy. The protons and electrons were represented through knitted yarn and excess energy in the form of a projected digital video. This was my first and only solo exhibition and I found it to be the most successful experience I have had as of yet merging digital media with my yarn work. This is a continued investigation in which I am researching the two media. The image in a digital video is created through interlaced lines, I have made comparisons between these interlaced lines and the interlaced lines of the knitted yarn tarps. I am also finding a relationship between a stitch and a pixel, and how they merge to create the whole effect. The media draws more similarities in the development of the earliest computers, their operating systems were designed after punch card looms.
Nuclear Fusion, 2012. Knitted Yarn, Antique Television Shell, Projector, DVD Player. Dimensions may vary. This installation at The Front in New Orleans was a depiction of fusion, a form of nuclear energy generated when lightweight atoms fuse together. I illustrated the fusion reaction that occurs when deuterium and tritium combine to produce helium, a neutron, and excess energy. The protons and electrons were represented through knitted yarn and excess energy in the form of a projected digital video. This was my first and only solo exhibition and I found it to be the most successful experience I have had as of yet merging digital media with my yarn work. This is a continued investigation in which I am researching the two media. The image in a digital video is created through interlaced lines, I have made comparisons between these interlaced lines and the interlaced lines of the knitted yarn tarps. I am also finding a relationship between a stitch and a pixel, and how they merge to create the whole effect. The media draws more similarities in the development of the earliest computers, their operating systems were designed after punch card looms.
Kinetics II, 2012. Digital Video Still. Kinetics was a video I created with sound artist Bearbones. We were breaking apart the tools we use to make things, stripping them down, and utilizing the tools as the content for the work. This video was also seen in the, “Spaces” exhibition.
D-CERN Space Crocheted Yarn, Stop Motion Animation, Monitor, Interior Wall Paint. Dimensions may vary. D-Cern Space was a collaborative project with artist James Goedert. The Crocheted work is a representation of the Cern in Geneva. I asked James to create a video to be played on the screen that the crocheted yarn housed. The work was not only a collaboration but it’s content was also about collaborating and creating, the urge to create daily works, bringing us closer to understanding the ultimate creator. This installation was part of The Contemporary Arts Center of New Orleans’ exhibition, “Spaces: Antennae, The Front, Good Children Gallery.”
Collective Thinking II, 2012. Interior Wall Paint. Dimensions may vary. This wall painting was a part of a larger installation entitled, “I and I and I.” It was a shared space with another artist, and I used the knitted tarps to direct traffic flow in the gallery, blocking certain walkways, and forcing longer investigation on works like the wall painting. The wall painting itself came from working within a collective of fourteen artists. This exhibition happened at The Front in New Orleans.
Say You Will, 2010. Knitted Yarn, Sound Installation. Dimensions may vary. The first installation I created using knitted yarn, and my first exhibition at The Front in New Orleans, as a Front collective member. I was nervous to enter the gallery and put my work up, so I used the back steps. I wanted to create a viewing experience that was singular. Most viewed the installation from underneath, and entered it from the back door of the gallery, it is a small space and only a few people can be in it at one time. The sound installation played Jackie Wilson’s song Lonely Teardrops.
Wishing Well, 2011. Knitted Yarn, Spray Paint, Bricks, Sound & Light Installation. Dimensions may vary. Wishing Well was created, in situ, at Parse Gallery, New Orleans. The gallery had thousands of bricks from demolition of a neighboring building in their back yard. With the bricks I created a wishing well, as a earth work, and a means to utilize the materials that were already on site.