M. sometimes jokes about “getting your game face on.” These days, I’m trying to keep my game face on. I’m about halfway through a marathon of Prep Life, Art Life, and Curator Life. I’ll do the touchdown dance on Friday, August 7 at 7pm — that’s the opening of This & That Int’l Mail Art Swap, a show within a show at Triple Base Gallery. Here’s a “Previously, in Christine’s Life” re-cap (a la Wofford, and Lost):
On Friday, Wallworks opened at YBCA — my day was a high-energy preparator push, and my night, a sentimental “see you later” with the kick-ass crew that I’d worked alongside for the past three intense weeks.
On Saturday, I dived into a mountain of mail art on my desk, and updated mailartswap.christinewongyap.com with photographs, profiles of the participating artists and a revised curatorial statement. It’s still a work in progress, but it’s really starting to come together. I’m very excited about the show and so proud to exhibit some really outstanding new projects.
Exhibition mock-up
On Sunday, I donned my painter’s pants again for more prep work, this time for This & That. The mail swap features 32 projects — many are small drawings and photos, but there are also some projects that require more crafty exhibition strategies. I spent the day laying out the wall arrangement in Triple Base’s ‘cozy’ back room, then spackling, painting and chatting with Joshua Churchill about his project, which is gonna be awesome.
Yesterday, M and I moved me out of my studio at the Headlands into my new studio in West Oakland. Being a sculptor/installation artist, I’ve managed to acquire enough stuff to fill a 10′ moving van. I’ve graduated to a proper upright storage rack/crate for my framed works; I think my next studio project may be building a workbench for my new miter saw. Pegboard stocked, ready to go. My new studio’s going to be part art studio and part tinkerer’s garage.
Next up: making shelves, cutting some acrylic sheets, and resolving they vinyl signage. Then installing my own work.
Involved Socially — and This & That — opens this Friday, August 7, 7-10 pm at Triple Base Gallery.
R+D 