Land Lines
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Authors
Newman, Ann
Issue Date
5/5/2025
Type
Thesis
Language
en_US
Keywords
Sculpture , Installation , Fiber Art , Performance , Photography , Sand Dunes , Nevada , Big Dune , Sand Mountain , Scarab Beetle , Wool , Redwood , Telephone , Reading
Alternative Title
Abstract
Our personal and collective histories are not only transmitted by our communication tools but shaped by them. Once we phoned, corresponded, and read the paper; today we text, follow, and stream. We measure the mysterious mycorrhizal exchange of trees and record the songs of bats, birds, and whales and their full meanings elude us. We struggle to make deep connections with each other despite a growing rubbish pile of promising devices. My project Land Lines questions the cost of our relentless drive to solve communication problems via technology and explores the value of embodied communication. Does a human touch add meaning to communication? I embrace the handmade, engage directly with the more than human world. I hike sand dunes examining tracks and traces. I wash, card, felt, braid, and dye raw wool. I collect objects that are forgotten but not gone, and I join all these stories with mine. Low tech processes and materials connect me to other histories, communities, and traditions. Communicating well is neither quick nor easy. Some voices of human and more than human communities are soft, even mysterious. Yet meaning is made, since long before cables gridded the sky, landscape, and ocean floor. I invite viewers to slow down, listen carefully, and consider the complexity of communication, perhaps even make some new connections.
Description
I like to tell stories through undervalued materials. In Land Lines I created sculpture and installations from found objects and obsolete technologies to explore the costs of our relentless drive to solve problems via technology. My exhibit used reclaimed utility posts, industrial wool insulation batts, hand processed wool, analog telephones, photos, upcycled furniture, and many found objects. The first gallery room contained large sculptures ("Land Lines," "Unknown Caller" and "Disconnected") and an installation of sand and large format b&w digital photos printed on plain printer paper displaying tracks and traces of animals at the Nevada giant sand dunes: Sand Mountain, Lava Dune and Big Dune ("Hourglass"). The middle gallery room "Busy Signal", was an installation of noisy, obsolete analog telephones and other communication devices surrounding a floor to ceiling sculpture made of stacked industrial wool insulation batts and braided wool. "Listening Lounge," a performative installation and community space, filled the final room, and female-identifying visitors read aloud from female writings in the areas of natural science, history and art. A female "silent reader" also read constantly in the room. The Listening Lounge contained books related my research, carpets, mounted plant specimens, and a selection of scarab beetle specimens. I work to create impactful installations that engage my viewers. I direct my viewers' path, and envelop the viewer in artwork throughout the exhibit. Viewers were encouraged to touch, explore and play with the elements of the exhibit, especially the analog phones, which rang constantly and enabled visitors to communicate between rooms.