What’s up - news and updates 2019

juried exhibition - Fierce: Women in Iron
Prairie Center for the Arts, East Peoria, Illinois
juried by Kristen Tordella-Williams and Jam Lovell
November 1-30, 2019

Fierce: Women in Iron showcases female-identified contemporary artists working in iron and is an extension of the all-women iron pour taking place on November, 2, 2019 as part of the Citywide Celebration of Women in the Arts.

This exhibition features artwork that incorporates iron, a historically industrial and tough material, created by women identified artists from across the nation. A dedicated community of artists cast iron outside of commercial or fine art foundries; these individuals tap into a 5,000 year old ritual. Since the 60s, the iron community has included women and men working together to build furnaces, break iron and coke (unrefined coal), make molds, and perform the dirty, physical labor to craft the sculptures and artworks out of iron, our beloved shared medium.

The iron community is a tight knit family of individuals who support and educate each other in spaces where everyone is welcome as long as they work hard and contribute. The cast iron community embodies the optimism we need to unify and grow. The American studio cast iron movement began in the 60s and women have been involved since the beginning either mentoring men or vice versa. There is a beautiful fluidity of learning through making in iron and the iron community is a shining example of how we all can thrive together outside of a male-dominated culture. One hundred years ago, women would never have been able to participate in an iron pour. Fierce: Women in Iron focuses on female identified artists working with iron to celebrate our transition over the past one hundred years from objectification, to taking control of our likenesses, to now being experts of our craft from top to bottom.

My artwork selected to be in this exhibition:

Tighten Your Belt: Ranch, 2019
Cast Iron, Styrofoam, artificial turf, steel, and adhesive
29"x27"x27"

The mission of New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art is to provide a not-for-profit (non-commercial) exhibition space for current Midwestern artists and to promote discourse about and access to contemporary art in the southern Indiana region. Since its inception in 1975, New Harmony Gallery has provided an exhibition space for young and mid-career artists to show their work in a professional setting; and further, to provide a venue for contemporary art to the general public. The cornerstone of the Gallery’s mission is education and access through a carefully planned series of eight exhibitions per year. The exhibition series, which explores contemporary art concepts, is intended to provide increased opportunity for artists and the public to engage in discourse on and about the arts and culture.

group exhibition -  ID.Entities Filipinx
KCKCC Art Gallery, Kansas City, Kansas, curated by Shai Perry, Director of the KCKCC Art Gallery
October 11 - December 10, 2019
Reception - November 14, 2019

My artwork selected to be in this exhibition:

Daily Soaps
Original 2001, updated with new soaps, text, and installation
Steel, cast bronze, cast fiberglass, wood, cast rose-scented soap, and water
Dimensions of stand: H 28” x W 20” x D 25”
Dimensions of adjacent soap display: H 5” x W 7” x D 4”

solo exhibition - Ad Infinitum
Hall Art Gallery, Millsaps College, Jackson, Mississippi
October 9 - November 8, 2019
Opening Reception and Lecture - Wednesday, October 9, 2019

Juried exhibition - State Wide
Houston Baptist University’s Contemporary Art Gallery, Gallery 220, Houston TX
Juried by Jim Edwards, director and curator of the Contemporary Art Gallery of HBU
Saturday, September 21-Saturday, December 7, 2019
Closing Reception and Panel Discussion on Saturday, December 7

My artwork selected to be in this exhibition:

The Not So Little Engine: Yield
2018
Cast Bronze, Wood, and Artificial Turf
11" x 6" x 6"

Group exhibition - ENID: Generations of Women Sculptors Exhibit
Louisville Free Public Library, Bernheim Gallery, Louisville, Kentucky
August 17 -October 8, 2019

My artwork which will be on exhibit alongside fellow ENID’s:

Royal
2013
Graphite on wood
H 13” x W 17” x D 1.5”

Juried Outdoor Public Art Installation - Psych Out!!!
Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild, located in Woodstock, NY
Juror and Curator: Alan Baer
July 13, 2019 through November 3, 2019

The PSYCH OUT!!! outdoor group exhibition will take place on the grounds of Byrdcliffe, founded in 1902 and the site of the original Woodstock art colony. The exhibition commemorates the 50th anniversary of the legendary Woodstock Music Festival: "An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music," which was held August 15 to August 18, 1969.

This project was supported by a grant from the Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi Division of Research and Innovation.

Public Art Installation - Frequency
Performing Arts Center, Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi
Site-specific indoor ceiling installation

In collaboration with the TAMU-CC Performing Arts Center, I have designed and installed a new sculpture made of used CDs and DVDs. Titled Frequency, this installation includes a theremin on the second floor welcoming audience interaction filling the PAC with sound as one looks out to the bay.

If you would like to donate CD/DVD’s to this and future artworks, bring/send discs to the PAC box office and they will make sure I get them.
6300 Ocean Dr # 5723, Corpus Christi, TX 78412

Listen to the Theremin inside the sculpture

Group exhibition - Confluence: TAMU-CC Art Faculty Biennial 2019
Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, Texas
April 19 - August 11, 2019

In the fifth incarnation of this exhibition series, Confluence, AMST emphasizes the caliber of art expertise located here in South Texas. Works include painting, sculpture, photography, ceramics, printmaking, graphics, and design work by contributing artists: Meg Aubrey, Leticia Bajuyo, Jennifer Garza-Cuen, Rich Gere, Andrea Hempstead, David Hill, Louis Katz, Nancy Miller, Ryan O’Malley, Joe Peña, Laura Petican, Barbra Riley, Greg Reuter, and Lars Roeder. Guest lecture by Carey Rote, Ph.D.

My artworks included in this exhibition:

The Extreme America, 2018
Compact Disc and Digital Versatile Disc fragments, adhesive, and acrylic display cube
7"x7"x7"

Turf Roll III, 2017
Artificial grass, wood, paint, steel, and miniature houses
21"x 14" x variable length

Tighten Your Belt: Ranch, 2019
Cast Iron, Styrofoam, artificial turf, steel, and adhesive
29"x27"x27"

Art Museum of South Texas
1902 N. Shoreline Blvd. 
Corpus Christi, TX 78401

Group exhibition- Terra Splendora
Splendora Gardens
June 1 – July 26, 2019

The 2019 Texas Sculpture Group show with over 50 artists and over 80 works will be on exhibit at the Splendora Gardens June 1 – July 26. The opening reception on Saturday, June 1st will begin at 11am with the panel discussion titled MATERIAL MATTERS co-moderated by Lynn Castle and Mariah Rockefeller, director and curator of Art Museum of Southeast Texas (AMSET). Panelists include: Danville Chadbourne, Alton DuLaney, Sherry Owens, Sabine Senft and Gary Webernick.

My artworks included in this exhibition:

Turf Roll, 2017
Artificial grass, wood, paint, steel, and miniature houses
52"x 14" x variable length

Interest Only, 2017
Bronze, steel, wood, paint, acrylic, artificial grass, and 52 soaps
43” x 7.5” x 7.5”

Splendora Gardens
26041 Midline Rd.
Cleveland, Texas 77328

Juried exhibition - The Rare Few: Contemporary Curator’s Juried Exhibition
National Conference on Contemporary Cast Iron Art & Practices, Birmingham, Alabama
juried by Carrie Johnson, Curator, Rockford Art Museum, Illinois
April 3-6, 2019

My artworks included in this exhibition:

The Not So Little Engine: Yield, 2018
Cast Bronze, Wood, and Artificial Turf
11" x 6" x 6"

Juried exhibition - Practitioner’s Juried Exhibition
National Conference on Contemporary Cast Iron Art & Practices, Birmingham, Alabama
juried by Tobias Flores, Associate Professor of Sculpture, Fort Hays State University, Kansas
April 3-6, 2019

My artworks included in this exhibition:

Tighten Your Belt: Ranch, 2019
Cast Iron, Styrofoam, artificial turf, steel, and adhesive
29"x27"x27"

The Not So Little Engine: Divide, 2018
Cast Bronze, Wood, and Artificial Turf
11" x 4.5" x 4" each

Leticia Bajuyo’s work is fueled by compassion and a critique of capitalism, as she explores perceptions of value in order to foster an awareness of the role of social amnesia on consumer behavior. (Texas)

Jason Brown considers the politics of mountaintop removal in his construction of objects and installations while also creating playful formal assemblages. (Tennessee)

Brian Jobe typically creates schemes for public interaction through the delineation of pathways or through site-specific focal points. (Tennessee)

David Jones responds to desert environments with experimental interactions, model scale sculpture, and large scale outdoor works. (Wyoming)

Patrick Kikut incorporates a lifelong interest in the horizon line in a series of paintings with flat Midwestern landscapes as his muse. (Wyoming)

Shelby Shadwell views the landscape from a non-traditional lens, responding to ephemeral images from highway road cameras, monumental mining operations and the optical nature of the salt flats through drawing, sculpture and video installation. (Wyoming)

YoungArts Miami 2019, National YoungArts Foundation, Miami, Florida

I am honored I was able to be part of the YOUNGARTS MIAMI 2019 Lead Faculty & Creative Team! YoungArts is a wonderful foundation and I am grateful to be a part of the 2019 team that got to work with and witness the commitment, hard work, and layers of story and expression by these selected high school students. The impact of the National YoungArts foundation is evident. 

The National YoungArts Foundation (YoungArts) was established in 1981 by Lin and Ted Arison to identify and nurture the most accomplished young artists in the visual, literary, design and performing arts, and assist them at critical junctures in their educational and professional development. Through a wide range of annual programs, performances, and partnerships with some of the nation’s leading cultural institutions, YoungArts aspires to create a strong community of alumni and a platform for a lifetime of encouragement, opportunity and support.

Conference Panel Session: Land Art Reconsidered: land use, water rights, and indigenous sovereignty
College Art Association 2019 Annual Conference, New York City, New York
Co-Chairs: Leticia R. Bajuyo - Texas A&M University Corpus Christi and Jason S. Brown - University of Tennessee Knoxville
Friday, February 15, 10:30 am - 12:00 pm, at the Hilton Midtown 2nd floor Gramercy East

Land Art or Earthworks gained attention in the 1960s and 1970s as artists used the natural landscape to create site-specific structures, art forms, and sculptures. In many respects, this work borrowed heavily from ancient cultures and civilizations that created art on a monumental scale in the landscape. Contemporary artists who work in the landscape often extend their interventions and investigations beyond formal aesthetic elements to include conceptual, historical and contextual references. What are the challenges and opportunities facing artists working in the field today who are following in the footsteps of Land Art from earlier time periods?

This panel will highlight the work and research of artists, activists, critics and curators who are engaged in practices that explore land use, water rights and issues of indigenous sovereignty. We are interested in how this dialogue can transcend borders that typically reinforce nationalism and privatization. Indigenous artists are creating very innovative work in response to landscape through a process of truth and reconciliation – can a post-colonial critique effectively challenge globalization through Land Art? How might artists work with local communities to resist socio-economic systems that favor private property? Do forms of social practice and creative place making offer new models for civic engagement to transform public property and the commons? As issues of water rights become more critical to the conversation, how are the fields of environmental and ecological art merging with Land Art?

Panelists:
Dr. Anya Montiel, Assistant Professor, University of Arizona, “From the Center of the Earth: The Land Art of the Pueblo Artist Nora Naranjo-Morse“
Alexis Elton, independent artist, farmer and educator, “Expressions of the Land“
Audrey Molloy, independent art critic, educator, and writer, “(De)Centralized Public Space“
Chris Taylor, Associate Professor of Architecture at Texas Tech University and director of Land Arts of the American West, “Pedagogy of Weather: Learning with Earthworks, Duration and Difference”

Public art -Shiny Entropy 
LaPalmera Mall in Corpus Christi, Texas
On display beginning June 2018

​Thanks to a collaboration between KSpace Contemporary and LaPalmera Mall in Corpus Christi, Texas, my artworks Shiny Entropy: Vortex and Rectangles were selected to be two of the first five public art installations at the LaPalmera Mall. The selection of artists was done by the staff at K Space Contemporary in partnership with the LaPalmera Mall.

June 21 and 22, 2018 were installation days for Shiny Entropy pieces at the LaPalmera Mall in Corpus Christi, Texas. Thanks to the mall team especially Danielle, Bill, and Robert, both installations went well and by noon on June 22, both sites were audience and mall walker ready! 

Shiny Entropy: Vortex
7ft x 7ft x 4ft

Shiny Entropy: Rectangles
six panels each 7ft x 3.5ft x 1in

Glasstire article, K Space Contemporary at La Palmera, by Hannah Dean, July 7, 2018
“...sprawling malls, like any other profit-driven commercial space, are hyper-political spaces. And of course the indoor malls are becoming the ruins left behind by a growing online-economy.“

“The most visually compelling of the works, Leticia R. Bajuyo’s Shiny Entropy, which is a vortex of CDs, reads like a black hole of outdated personal information, from computer backups to wedding videos to mix tapes. If you read the recent articles about Facebook and Google’s data on you, and how it never really goes away, Bajuyo’s archaic tide of technology could be the kind of physical manifestation of this notion that makes you shit your britches.”

14th Annual Sculpture Garden Exhibit
Kemp Center For The Arts, Wichita Falls, Texas
May 10, 2018 - May 9, 2019  

I am honored that Gaze-bo(ught) was selected to be one of the ten outdoor sculptures which will be installed for this year-long exhibition of Art On The Green Sculpture Garden at the Kemp Center for the Arts.  

Gaze-bo(ught) is a gazebo in a gazebo in a gazebo.  Each gazebo form is shaped like a gem and painted a saturated pink.  The roof is made of pink resin panels that become a rose colored lens that when underneath, one is then bathed in pink light. The interior of the sculpture is covered in thick artificial grass, which is always the perfect green and never needs to be mowed.   

Pop Goes the Weasel, 2017
Franconia Sculpture Park, Minnesota
2017 Open Studio Fellowship and Residency
Materials: Chain-link fencing, chain, steel, hardware, and paint.
Dimensions: 6ft 6in H x 12ft W x 12 ft D
October 1, 2017 - November 2, 2019

A brief statement about Pop Goes the Weasel, 2017:

In my artwork, I utilize recognizable and seemingly neutral commonplace objects that invite audiences to name, compare, and participate in theatrical re-arbitrations of value.  Reminiscent of a Jack-in-the-box toy, the turnstile in the center appears to be winding up the chains and thus adding tension to the fence.  The fence, in turn, attempts to fulfill its role in maintaining boundaries and restricting movement; but the impasse between fence and turnstile results in a distorted stasis that suggests the unsustainability of the tense situation.

By using chain-link fencing, the audience is placed outside this small yard and can witness the effect of the turnstile on the fence.  Can a Jack-in-the-box go backwards?  Can the box be removed? How can this tug-of-war be resolved?

Crank, crank, crank
Turn, turn, turn
Just a little more
Watch and discern.

For more information about Franconia's fellowships and deadlines, visit http://www.franconia.org/ArtistOpportunities.html