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skin.rock.bone.

Body Blog: RAW

Attn friends --
Feeling raw and needing to breathe with others. To make warm green food with others To make music , to sit still , to dance with others. To listen to and support others.

I, like you, feel dis ease about being in my body
I, like you, feel dis ease about the color of my black body
I, like you, feel the dis ease of the Earth and her body

Life is an oh so scary, dramatic , abundant, unpredictable, perfect, beautiful, abusive, diseaseful, colorful GIFT.

love, 
Christie

Thank you, Christie, for being brave enough to share your feelings and your body with me.  Let us keep asking for what we need.  Let us keep connecting.  Let us keep fighting for what is right. 

#BODYPROJECT  

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BODY BLOG: In a familiar place

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I had the honor of being artist in resident last week at Luther College, where I've taught many times before.  But it was my first time teaching there since the spring of 2015.  So, I was excited, nervous, curious to how things would go... And I wasn't just teaching "Contact Improvisation," my usual go-to discipline.  I decided to combine my love for body and beauty in what I'm calling "Beauty Aesthetics"

SKIN.ROCK.BONE: selfie taken in Decorah, IA

Here's what I hoped to touch on: An exploration of the intersection between visual aesthetics and somatic dance improvisation. My primary/current interest lies between our culture's beauty standards and my re-evaluation of that standard through the body, touch, nature and dance (specifically Contact Improvisation, Four Phases - a Jane Hawley created practice, & Photography).  I would like to investigate how we make "beautiful" art that fits or confronts our culture's norms.  (AND WHAT THE HECK IS BEAUTIFUL ANYWAY?!)  

Here's what I'm asking:

Who defines beauty? What makes you beautiful? Can we resist labeling art as beautiful/not? What are we drawn to with our eyes and other senses?  How can we offer more beauty to this world? And how can we increase our capacity to see beauty among us? 

Blake_Decorah_Skinrockbone-8980.jpg
Is there a certain texture/color that pulls you in? 

Is there a certain texture/color that pulls you in? 

Can you re-frame what you've seen many times before? 

Can you re-frame what you've seen many times before? 

Is the way I look what makes me beautiful?  Can I change what others see in me?  What if something stops being beautiful to me? 

When I was a student at Luther College, more than a decade ago, I asked many of these same questions.  And returning to Luther brought them all flooding back.  I'm constantly rearranging my beauty standards and finding new things that I'm drawn to.  Yet it's still so easy to judge, critique and search for the standard "beauties" out there.  

Nature is my partner and my teacher. 

*when each student was asked to chose an image they found beautiful from my website, these eight were chosen & reasons varied for each.  Many of them explained they chose the image for sentimental or emotional value.  We then constructed short solos inspired by these photos.      

MY PRACTICE: I find with a little introspection, breath and human touch I lose track and redefine my world through sensation.  It's the body that sees/feels beauty.  It's not up to someone else to decide my beauty standards.  It's constantly shifting.  It's surprising.  It's honest.  I know what's beautiful.  And I hope to share it, now more than ever.  

you're beautiful
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Skin.Rock.Bone, countdown

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"Skin.Rock.Bone" photo series at Homewood Studios - through January 13th.  

Skin.Rock.Bone.

These photographs EXPLORE

my CONNECTION and appreciation for the human body,

the EARTH

and

all the visual, visceral connections BETWEEN the two.

I hope you see

my BODY and the BODY of the earth.

my friend Ben taking a personal tour of the gallery, and taking his time 

I'll be there tomorrow, Tuesday January 12th, from 5-9pm.  I'll be looking at those images on the wall.  I put them there (with the help of so many people: Jack, Leah, George, my mom!).  I'm so grateful, to every model, and every person who became part of this series.

The series will be taken down Thursday.  But until then, there's still time!  For everyone who wants another look and for those who missed the premiere last week, come and snag one of these for your home.  They're priced to sell.   (And if I'm at the studio, we can watch "Mad Minute Films" and talk about future art-making!!) 

Hope to see you tomorrow.  (Homewood Studios, 2400 Plymouth Ave N. Mpls) 

Artist Statement

I relate and respond

I search and re-search

I am bound and re-bound

Balanced between here and now

Dancing and waiting to dance

Physical instincts arise and fall

Expectations fade

Energy recycles

And I am an artist

Still

Smooth fluid

Earthbound

Caught flow

Bones go

Skin go

Info upload

Quicken breath

Track response

Interact

React

Touch

Play

Click

Find

Warp

Evolve

Repeat

 

I am the rock.  

I am the body.

I am the artist.  

I am an artist, educator and improviser who makes work around the many fears, pleasures and mysteries we experience through the human body.  My work is deeply rooted in human connection, physical touch and shared emotion.  Perfect timing, authentic expression and virtuosic surprise are my goals.  

I embody a personal relationship to gravity, move with idiosyncratic rhythm, entertain the imagination and empathize with my creative partners and audiences alike.  I design movement, space, sound, and image.

My personal goal as an artist is to shed light on the connections we often overlook and to offer a reminder that simple, honest movements of the body can be insightful, inspiring and powerful.