At Artadia's Spring Benefit UNRESTRICTED with my friends Kathryn Cornelius, Trish Tillman and Nathan Manuel. It was a lovely night and Michael Stipe watched our video, How to Break a Coconut! More photos from the event right here.
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Momenta's Spring Benefit and Artadia's UNRESTRICTED
Come to Momenta's Spring Benefit! Momenta is a wonderful artist-run charitable institution in Brooklyn, NY, and they need your support. The preview party is this Friday, May 10 at 6 PM, and the benefit raffle and silent auction are on Wednesday, May 22 from 6-10 PM. The events will be held at the Momenta Art gallery at 56 Bogart Street. Purchase a raffle ticket for a chance to own my drawing Attempt to Catch a Coyote, or one of the numerous beautiful pieces available by a variety of emerging and established artists. Take a look here.
Attempt to Catch a Coyote, ink on paper, 2013
On Monday, May 13th is Artadia's UNRESTRICTED benefit at Eventi Hotel in Chelsea starting at 6:30 PM. Artadia is an amazing organization that awards unrestricted grants to artists in 5 US cities: Boston, Atlanta, San Francisco, Chicago and Houston. I received an Artadia grant in Chicago in 2006. I was commissioned to make an artwork to be screened at UNRESTRICTED--and that piece is How to Break a Coconut, a video done in collaboration with Trish Tillman. Buy a ticket to enjoy the party and see How to Break a Coconut! You can also see commissioned works by Serena Lin Bush and the Center for Tactical Magic.
How to Break a Coconut (Julia Oldham and Trish Tillman), HD video, 2013
Monday, May 6, 2013
Birdshot: test clips
It has been said that hearts contain many rooms and doors which can be opened and closed. But my heart is a round of birdshot waiting to be fired.
Friday, April 26, 2013
Study in Polka Dots
Wednesdays at Opossum House have recently turned into Sound Experiment Wednesdays (S.E.W.) with lovely artist Sarah Morejohn. This Wednesday we were discussing inappropriate laughter--the kind of laughter that cannot be stifled even though it is at the wrong place and time. The kind of hysterical laughter that bubbles out of me when my mother and sister and I are in a quiet public place and see something quirky. Or the kind of crazed laughter that clamors at the edges of a tragedy or a high stress situation. Spring reminds me of this kind of laughter... not only because I think I get a bit twitterpated.
In early spring of 2008 my grandmother died after having a massive stroke. My aunt and mother and I stayed with her during her last days of life at home with hospice care. Those few days of confronting the loss of a person who had played such an enormous and important role in my life stretched out into a small eternity. We administered her palliative medications, and she drifted away. Her mind was elsewhere almost immediately; I hope that she was in some sort of beautiful dreamland. And her body drifted away more slowly. Over the course of this experience, we three caretakers would vacillate wildly between moaning sobs and strange, explosive laughter. We would begin to laugh at the same time, about something that was indescribably, inexplicably funny... and sometimes about nothing at all. It seemed to me that our laughter was bursting out of a situation of such high pressure that it was a sort of valve release. In a way it was kind of terrifying.
Sarah and I talked about this odd phenomenon with sadness, but we also had a day of wild laughter of the joyous kind that two silly friends can have. A very special sort of painful, gut-busting laughter. Fueled by joyous laughing, we made a video/sound work in which we attempted to keep our laughter at bay: such a difficult challenge. We were laughing so hard that nearly all of the stills we took from the video make us look as if we are crying. (Well, and we are! But the kind of crying that goes along with laughing and not the sobbing sort.) After our exercise, Sarah told me she was worried about me; that I wasn't breathing correctly. It's true that laughing and distress have some serious overlaps. Here is our video.
In early spring of 2008 my grandmother died after having a massive stroke. My aunt and mother and I stayed with her during her last days of life at home with hospice care. Those few days of confronting the loss of a person who had played such an enormous and important role in my life stretched out into a small eternity. We administered her palliative medications, and she drifted away. Her mind was elsewhere almost immediately; I hope that she was in some sort of beautiful dreamland. And her body drifted away more slowly. Over the course of this experience, we three caretakers would vacillate wildly between moaning sobs and strange, explosive laughter. We would begin to laugh at the same time, about something that was indescribably, inexplicably funny... and sometimes about nothing at all. It seemed to me that our laughter was bursting out of a situation of such high pressure that it was a sort of valve release. In a way it was kind of terrifying.
Sarah and I talked about this odd phenomenon with sadness, but we also had a day of wild laughter of the joyous kind that two silly friends can have. A very special sort of painful, gut-busting laughter. Fueled by joyous laughing, we made a video/sound work in which we attempted to keep our laughter at bay: such a difficult challenge. We were laughing so hard that nearly all of the stills we took from the video make us look as if we are crying. (Well, and we are! But the kind of crying that goes along with laughing and not the sobbing sort.) After our exercise, Sarah told me she was worried about me; that I wasn't breathing correctly. It's true that laughing and distress have some serious overlaps. Here is our video.
And here are a few stills taken from Study in Polka Dots, in which we noticed we were frequently mirroring each other exactly:
Monday, April 22, 2013
Momenta Art Spring Benefit: May 22
It's benefit season! One of my favorite artist-run spaces in New York, Momenta Art, will be holding its annual benefit on May 22 from 6-9 PM. (Lots of info right here.) My new drawing Attempt to Catch a Coyote will be available as part of Momenta Art's benefit raffle. Buy a raffle ticket right here, or get a benefit ticket and enjoy the party for only $50.
Attempt to Catch a Coyote
Ink on paper
9" x 12"
2013
Friday, April 12, 2013
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Saturday, March 30, 2013
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