Scapegoat Services and other Exhibition Updates

This weekend, September 19, my performative installation MODERN DAY SCAPEGOAT SERVICES will take place at the X Initiative. It will take place from 3-6 PM. The X Initiative is located at 548 West 22nd Street in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York. MODERN DAY SCAPEGOAT SERVICES and the X Initiative are both free and open to the public.

In other news, BOOK BOMBS, the project I am collaborating on with Mary Tasillo, has been selected for the Welcome House Project. We will be inhabiting the space on October 9, where will be inviting passers-by to make paper and turn the inside of the House into a daylong community installation about Love Park.

I also will be participating in two upcoming exhibitions - Paperworks, in Art in City Hall, on display from October 1 - January 1, 2010, with an opening reception on October 8th from 5-7 PM, and Bodies in Motion, A Running Commentary, an exhibition of works and a fundraiser for the Girls Gotta Run Foundation at the Holy Family University Gallery, from October 1-30, with an opening reception on October 7 from 6-8 PM.

Wheatpasting in Chelsea

Click on images to see them large (and read their text).

Modern Day Scapegoat Services

August News: Book Bombs and Upcoming Exhibitions

As part of the upcoming Philagrafika 2010 Festival, I will be collaborating with Mary Tasillo on a project called BOOK BOMBS. Our project is just in its infancy, please keep your eyes peeled as it develops.

Upcoming Exhibitions:

This fall the Migratory Books Project will be part of an exhibition at Visual Studies Workshop called The Democratic Multiple, curated by my Book Bombs collaborator, Mary Tasillo. I will also be exhibiting with the Philadelphia Women's Caucus for Art at the Holy Family University Gallery in a show called A Running Commentary: Bodies in Motion, a benefit exhibition for the Girls Gotta Run Foundation.

Finally, my solo exhibition, Las Montañas Secas, will be on display in the Kunst Vault Space at Pyramid Atlantic Art Center in November. More details to come....

The Hybrid Book Fair

On Friday, June 5, and Saturday, June 6, from 1-6 PM, I will be offering handmade paper and my artists books for sale at the Hybrid Book Fair.

The Hybrid Book Fair will take place at the Gershman Y, located at 401 South Broad Street, on the corner of Spruce and South Broad, in Center City, Philadelphia. Visitors get in free!

I am just one of 100 vendors who are coming from all over the world to participate. Hope some of you can make it out.

Also on display during the fair is Art To Be Read, UArts MFA Book Arts/Printmaking Alumni Exhibition, which is open June 1-30, and will be open to the public during the Hybrid Book Fair. Please feel welcome to check it out.

Vueles in Artist Book News

This past year, I received the Artist Book News Grant, which provided some partial funding for my book Vueles (Flights) to be featured in Artist Book News, both online and in print. To check out my page on their site, please visit here.

Reverse Archaeology

The Brain Constructing the World

The Bryn Mawr College Collective Serendip is collaborating with the Painted Bride Art Center in an online exhibit, The Brain Constructing the World, associated with the Synesthesia exhibition. To check out my profile, visit here. To see the rest of the online exhibition, please visit here.

Upcoming April Exhibitions

In April, I will be having two exhibitions. The first is a solo installation titled Reverse Archaeology at The Moore Art Shop. The Moore Art Shop is located at Moore College of Art and Design, at 20th and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia. Stay tuned for future posts with details for opening reception.

I will also be part of the group exhibition Synesthesia, curated by Anabelle Rodriguez. This exhibition will be at the Painted Bride Art Center, and will run from April 3-May 16, with opening receptions on First Friday, April 3, and First Friday, May 1, both from 5-7 PM. The Painted Bride Art Center is located at 230 Vine Street in Old City Philadelphia. This show will feature my Shroud series, a group of photopolymer images printed on thermochromatic fabric. Viewers are invited to touch these pieces, in order to see how their hands transform their appearance.

Upcoming March Exhibitions and Events

This March, I will have work in two exhibitions.

Locally, my work is part of PLASTIC AT THE PLASTIC, an exhibition of work by members of the Philadelphia Women's Caucus for Art taking place at the historic Plastic Club of Philadelphia. The Plastic Club is located at 247 South Camac Street in Philadelphia, and the show will run from March 1-29. The exhibition is open to the public on Tuesdays from 12-3, Wednesdays from 9:30-12:30 and 1-4, Thursdays from 10-3 and 6:30-9:30, Fridays from 6:30-9:30, and Sundays from 2-5. A opening reception will take place Sunday, March 1, from 2-5. There will also be a performance event, at which I will be reading from some of my artist books, on Sunday, March 15, from 2-4.

I am also part of the exhibition WOMEN AND ENVIRONMENT, taking place in the Florisant Valley Contemporary Art Gallery at Saint Louis Community College from March 2-31, in St Louis, MO. Gallery hours are Monday-Friday, 10-4, and Saturdays from 10-3. In April, the exhibition travels to the Riverside Gallery of Woody Groves, MO, for the month. Also featured in this exhibiion is Women Helping Women, Stitch by Stitch, the WCA and Rubia Collaborative Quilt.

I am also officially starting my residency at Vineland High School South through Appel Farm Arts and Music Center. In order to help document and promote the project and the discussions around it, I have launched The Paper Soldier Project, my newest blog.

It's a busy month for me, but I hope some of you can come out and see the shows and check out The Paper Soldier Project as it progresses!

Artist Book News Grant

I am very excited to say that I was one of two artists selected by Artist Book News to receive their Artist Book News Grant for 2009.

The grant covers part of the cost of advertising my book Vueles in their Spring 2009 Newsletter. The story of Vueles is a pair intersecting narratives, the first focused on the migration of the endangered Red Knot, whose travels take it between where I live in the Delaware Bay Area and where my family lives in Argentina. The second story focuses on Argentina's Guerra Sucia and the genocides that were organized by the military regime at that time. At the crossroads of these two stories is where I stand. The book was printed with screen prints, lithographs, and letterpress, on handmade paper made from the clothing of my family members.

Recent Work by Alumni of the MFA Book Arts/Printmaking Program

The first print of my newest series, Body Maps, has been selected for the exhibition Recent Work by Alumni of the MFA Book Arts/Printmaking Program, part of The Hybrid Book series of events taking place in June 2009. The first print, Body Maps (Triptych), a detail of which can be seen here, is also my first venture into fine digital printing, and will be printed by Silicon Gallery.

This series of prints are based on projections of maps from specific locations that were projected onto my own body. They are an exploration of how travel and place affect who we are, both physically and spiritually.

Stay tuned for more information about this exhibition and my participation in the Hybrid Book Fair in June 2009!

Michelle Wilson and Rocinante Press on NEXUS Radio

On February 1, from 2-4 PM, I will be participating in a Zine Reading on Nexus Radio, the current project at Nexus Foundation for Today's Art. Organized by Katie Haegele of The Lala Theory, I will be reading from both the Spanish and English versions of the Migratory Books.

Other readers will be in attendance, including Bonnie MacAllister. Nexus Foundation for Today's Art is located at 1400 North American Street, on the first floor of the Crane Arts Building, in Philadelphia's Kensington neighborhood. Hope to see some of you there!

Aquifer - New Book for 2009

As an exercise in bringing more spontaneity into my studio, my first book of the new year, Aquifer, is now complete. This unique accordion book is made from lithographs hand-painted with watercolor, gouache, acrylic, and carborundum. Text tip-ins are ink jet printed on handmade Japanese Gampi made by the artist in the nagashizuki method. More handmade paper, an abaca blend with subtle metallic pigment, has been used for the cover.

Upcoming Residency through Appel Farm

This spring I have been invited to be the Artist-In-Residence at Vineland High School in Vineland, NJ, through the Appel Farm Artist-In-Residence Program. The students and I will be collaborating on an installation that will premier at the Vineland Public Library, and then tour to various other sites in New Jersey.

This residency will focus on students reactions to war both past and present. It will involve interviews with veterans from WWII and our current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Check back here for updates as this project progresses!