USM-Escape Vines in the Axis Alley show opens Oct 18

USM EscapeVines

USM EscapeVines

Urban Surface Map – EscapeVines
2108 N. Calvert Street, rear facade
Axis Alley
2014-2214 N. Calvert Street
October 18th, 2009 – April 2010
axisalley.wordpress.com

Opening October 18th, 2009, 2-6pm

Please join me for the opening of my latest public project, Urban Surface Map – EscapeVines in conjunction with the Axis Alley public art show on Sunday, October 18th from 2-6pm. USM-EscapeVines is an angular network of colorful lines that playfully follow the path of the fire escape as they mimic the ascendant vines growing up the rear facade of 2108 N. Calvert Street. Participants who climb the fire escape will be welcomed with a close-up of the installation as well as fantastic views of the cityscape!

Urban Surface Map – EscapeVines, October 2009, Baltimore, MD. Variable dimensions, inverted marking paint along fire escape. Installation view.

Click here for full documentation of the installation.

Axis Alley card back Axis Alley card front

Color Path Projections at Tinges Commons

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09 09 20 Tinges Commons Color Paths Projections 01

Color Path Projections
Cyle Metzger and Colin Benjamin
September 20th – October 17th

Tinges Commons is proud to present its second public art show featuring works by Cyle Metzger and Colin Benjamin. Color Path Projections includes two vivid installations that use line, color and space to emphasize movement along the adjacent footpath. On the Tinges Commons Kiosk, Metzger presents us with PS5, a self-described “paintstallation” that uses two-dimensional plains to imply a three-dimensionality of the space within the image. The colors for the billboard-style painting are intended to be integrative yet vibrant, making use of the area’s own palette to emphasize a footpath that naturally emerged from the site and inspired an effort to improve the quality of its common use.

Benjamin offers us Present paths are reflective spaces (here and there), a site-specific, tensile structure of driveway reflectors and bright flagging tape suggesting internal tension and spatial projection within the compact pedestrian zone. The architectural configuration of ephemeral construction materials exists outside of the frame of everyday route and routine, asking the pedestrian to make a mental and physical leap between “here and there”. Through playful color and dynamic spatial relationships, the artists hope to enhance pedestrian experience within Tinges Commons and challenge its users to reconsider their engagement with public space.

Tinges Commons is funded by the Greater Homewood Community Corporation, the Maryland Cooperative Extension, the Maryland State Arts Council, Mayor Sheila Dixon and the Baltimore Office of Promotion and The Arts.

Curated by Graham Coreil-Allen

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New Public Sites/OPTIONS ’09, Sep 17-Oct 31

New Public Sites Walking Tours DC flyer

New Public Sites Walking Tours DC

Join me as we explore a thrilling urban during my New Public Sites – Walking Tours – DC at the thirteenth installment of the Washington Project for the Arts biennial exhibition, OPTIONS ’09, from September 17 – October 31, 2009 at 1358 Florida Avenue NE, second floor, Washington, DC 20002. Curated by Anne Collins Goodyear, Assistant Curator of Prints and Drawings at the National Portrait Gallery, OPTIONS features thirteen emerging artists from the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia.

New Public Sites
Walking Tours – DC
Graham Coreil-Allen
OPTIONS ’09
Washington Project for the Arts
September 17 – October 31
Conner Contemporary, second floor
1358-60 Florida Ave, NE
Washington DC 20002

Opening reception
Thursday, September 17, 2009 6-8pm, walking tour at 7pm

Artists & Curator Talk
Saturday, October 17, 2009 3-4:30pm

Project description

Between a suburban strip mall and its urban surroundings there lies a poetic amalgam of spaces both epic and discrete. Situated within the disparate zone where the Trinidad neighborhood and the Atlas District overlap, the New Public Sites walking tour will investigate some of the invisible sites and overlooked features within our everyday environment. On the surface we will engage pavement, piles, gates and poles. Through the terrain we will explore berms, screens, voids and vistas. The tour will last approximately thirty-five minutes and traverse a wandering path under one mile in length.

All tours meet at the New Public Sites Kiosk in the Conner Contemporary courtyard. Please arrive 15 minutes early, as tours will leave promptly as scheduled.

Tour schedule

September 17th – 7pm – during opening reception
September 26th – 2pm
October 17th – 2pm
October 24th – 2pm

I hope to see you there.

Yours truly,

Graham

New Public Sites Walking Tours DC flyer

“Waverly Pastoral” Public Art Show and Grand Opening Garden Party at Tinges Commons, July 26th

On Sunday, July 26th, from 4-8pm, Tinge Commons will host “Waverly Pastoral”, its first public art opening and garden party featuring installations by Liz Donadio and Clarissa Gregory alongside freshly prepared organic food from the community garden. Tinges Commons is a community garden and collaborative, contemporary public art space at the southeast corner of Frisby and 33rd Streets in Waverly, Baltimore.

Waverly Pastoral will feature two art projects exploring natural spaces within the urban environment. Liz Donadio will present “Hidden Waverly”, a series of large-scale photographs focusing on discrete pockets of wild greenery within Waverly. A neighborhood map will show participants where to find these hidden green spaces. Meanwhile, Clarissa Gregory will set up “Waiting for the birds”, a sculptural forest installation of growth and decay populated by a variety of enchanting trees made out of scavenged materials. Combined, these installations will offer viewers a poetic situation of half reality and half fantasy.

The art opening will be part of a garden party celebrating the grand opening of Tinges Commons as a community green space in Waverly. The party will include free food from the community garden prepared by volunteers on site. Resonating with nearby gardens and the local farmers market, this event will be an opportunity for neighborhood residents and the public at large to get to know each other and learn more about Waverly as an exciting place for sustainable green projects.

Tinges Commons is funded by the Greater Homewood Community Corporation, the Maryland Cooperative Extension, the Maryland State Arts Council, Mayor Sheila Dixon and the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts.

Curated by
Graham Coreil-Allen

Whartscape Tapeway and Tri-Flags

Whartscape Tapeway 01

I had the privilege of setting up two installations during this year’s Whartscape. “Tapeway” was a colorful tape installation along the sidewalk leading into the MICA parking lot. With this piece I hoped to cultivate a sense of visual excitement beginning half-way down the block and culminating at the entrance to Whartscape. Various colors of tape began far apart, moved towards the entrance, started intersecting and became increasingly intense as audience members approached the entrance threshold. The installation was well received and I plan on doing similar public tape installation in the near future.

Click here for full documentation.

Whartscape Tapeway 01

“Tri-Flags” were two pair of bamboo tripods I lashed together that each displayed three colorful flags. Both stages in the Whartscape outdoor lot were framed by these vibrant flag stands. More than just stage decoration, I see these structures as becoming part of my growing collection of temporary public event structures. I plan on re-using the tripods with an array of interchangeable flags alongside other banners and kiosks in future parades and festivals. This collection of nomadic party infrastructure will help to create a sense place within temporal situations of play and celebration.

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Tinges Commons Kiosk preview

Tings Commons Kiosk birds eye

The Tinges Commons Kiosk, or TCK, will be a sign structure and pin-up board for artists setting up outdoor installations and public users interested in distributing information. The kiosk’s three sides will each address separate but overlapping traffic flows: The narrow side will face the Frisby Street sidewalk and be clad in homasote for people to pin up neighborhood flyers. Meanwhile, the south side will face the diagonal path cutting through the commons while the north and widest side will face 33rd Street. These two longer sides will serve as installation surfaces for artists setting up projects in the lot. With this curatorial/community structure, I hope to create an enhanced site of public art, collaboration and neighborhood communication. Info on the first show soon to follow…

Tings Commons Kiosk birds eye Tings Commons Kiosk elevation Tings Commons Kiosk elevation 2 Tings Commons Kiosk above

Mirkwood Estates blog now up!

09 04 30 Mirkwood Performance Night - JJR Bob Calusari Jared Josh 05

MIRKWOOD ESTATES BLOG

Mirkwood Estates is comprised of Mirkwood and Tinges Commons. Mirkwood is a home and performance space. In the last week of each month come enjoy domestic happenings, experimental sound performance, spoken word readings and installation art. Tinges Commons is a community garden and collaborative, contemporary public art space on the vacant lot at the southeast corner of Frisby and 33rd Streets. Mirkwood Estates is located at 701 East 33rd Street, Baltimore, MD 21218.

09 04 30 Mirkwood Performance Night - JJR Bob Calusari Jared Josh 05 09 04 30 Mirkwood Performance Night - JJR Bob Calusari Jared Josh 14

New Public Sites – Symphony Terrace Vista

Symphony Terrace Vista is a continuation of the New Public Sites installation series where I invite participants to explore invisible or unseen public spaces. For NPS-STV I set up neon pink “x”s leading people to the circular, landscape brick terrace structure in front the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra building at Preston Street and Park Avenue. After climbing the odd HVAC structure, one finds three yellow strips of tape that both orient the viewer and frame a fantastic cityscape vista.

This installation was a part of the Wandering: You Are Here show at MICA’s Middendorf gallery that ran December 3-10, 2008.

Click here for full documentation.