Memories and Musings
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My "Home : Peace" community-engaged installation at Toucan Gallery continues to grow with additions by the Billings Public School's Quest Program's 4th, 5th, and 6th graders (with whom I spent a week discussing community-engaged and environmental art), attendees at the Billings Art Walk, attendees at my discussion about community-engaged art at Kirk's Grocery and preschool visitors from St. Luke's Enrichment Center (who field-tripped to the gallery). ! Here are some shots of the many responses to concepts of home, be it a physical space, loved ones, events, emotions . . . I love that I overheard comments about the painted cushion in front looking like the ripples in the river and the ovals on the wall as partially submerged river rocks!
"Home Grove" is a set of mixed-media sculptures designed to invoke thoughts of peace, comfort, rest and ease. Similar to my public art piece, Thicket, installed under the Sky Point in downtown Billings, these sculptures use the structure of groves of willows and red twig dogwood, which grow along our river and form protective spaces for insects and animals, as symbolic of how our community provides haven for our many and diverse citizens.
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 Thank you to Dixie Rieger and Bonny Beth Luhman for including eight of my works in the "Wood You Could You" exhibition at Waterworks Art Museum in Miles City,October 11-November 8, and featuring sculpture and furniture. Intriguing shadows within the gallery. [from upper left in top image] "Inflamed" (freedom series) 2019 steel, copper, river rocks 94 x 35 x 24 "Rushing Grotto" (from Grottoes series) 34 x 38 x 22 inches 2011 steel, video screen, copper wire, rope, vinyl "Uncorked" (freedom series) 2018 recycled, repurposed steel and copper 83 x 36 x 36 inches "Yellowstone River Grotto" (from Grottoes series) 35 x 24 x 15 inches 2012 recycled steel rod, video screen, steel wire, recycled steel mesh, recycled bicycle tires, recycled nylon rope, recycled guitar strings, balloons, nylon hose, trash bags, transparent tape, electrical tape, recycled shower curtain, recycled nylon yarn, recycled VHS tape, wax paper, plastic wrap, organza ribbon, nylon undergarments "Erupted" (freedom series) 2018 steel, cedar post, deck stain, glue 84 x 28 x 24 "Unfettered" (freedom series) 2019 steel, cedar, chains, wire, zip ties, steel fittings 81 x 48 x 36 inches "The Answers Await in the Chrysalis" (from Chrysalis series) 2007 84 x 34 x 16 inches steel, copper, wood, kiln-formed glass "Iridescence Grotto" (from Grottoes series) 2012 37 x 28 x 18 inches Steel, copper wire, aluminum foil, aluminum sheeting shards, fabric, video screen, paint Also including works by: Melissa Burns, Thomas Coulhourst, Bob Janssen, Jake Klamm, Robert Kramer, Rex Luhman, Gifford Wood  So lush, such variety of vegetation and so moist that, unlike at his installations at Tippet Rise Art Center and Blackfoot Pathways: Sculpture in the Wild, the branches in Patrick Dougherty’s “Lopo de Loop” have been reborn and are sprouting, giving another sweet aspect to his enticing environments.
Thank you to Ann and Scott Botel-Barnard for taking me to Morris Arboretum A 2 hour immersion into the astonishing story of the Barnes Collection. One man collecting more Renoirs (181) then any international museum, 69 Cezannes, and on and on and displaying them in ensembles with other objects to encourage his students to look for visual relationships. Of the 59 Mattises, many were of his Odalisques, and, since the collection was so massive (and I have named my teardrop trailer “Oda” - the Turkish word for room or chamber and the root word of Odalisque, which is often used for reclining nudes, or the relaxing posture required in my not-so-tall trailer)... I decided to focus on the many paintings referencing this posture. Many were from Mattise, but also Renoir, Modigliani, Picasso and Pascin.
I am grateful to Jo Hamilton for introducing me to this collection and do hope to return so I can focus on other aspects. Trippy, meditative, disorienting, mind-expanding... MACHINE HALLUCINATION
by Refik Anadol created with thousands of public access photos of NYC. “At the crossroads of art, science and technology, ARTECHOUSE brings true 21st century art experience as the first innovative platform for experiential, genre-bending, one-of-a-kind multimedia art exhibitions and explorations. “ I will not be in Billings for the 406 Pride event, so, today, I am spending some time in the lovely Stonewall National Monument across from the Stonewall Inn. Here is a link to the Stonewall augmented reality app (you don’t have to be here to use most of it) for history and much more https://stonewallforever.org/app/
The US Dept of the Interior memorialized this galvanizing event which set in motion 50 years of Pride.#stonewallforever #406Pride Feeling smug because I finally, again, after many years, beat the deer and birds to the grapes that shade my reading hammock arbor that Collin built for me. Unfortunately, little actual reading or hanging out in the hammock occurs, but seeing the hammock, with its potential, makes me happy and now I have fresh grape juice.
Weird Al Yankovic - still as clever and energetic (high kicks!) as ever - took me back, with his parody "The Saga Begins" , to a sweet memory from 1971, when Don McLean's song "American Pie" came out. I was the annoying kid who called up - frequently - the Atlanta radio station and asked them to play "America Pie", yet again, so that I could eventually write down all the lyrics. I learned them all and would sing them out loud when the song came on, twirling my newly purchased, round radio above my head or by my side - somewhat dangerously - for all 8+ minutes - until the connection between the radio and the chain inevitably broke, causing my friends to duck to avoid the suddenly formed missile.
The Saga Begins https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEcjgJSqSRU parody of Don McLean's American Pie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj0LxFjgAjg And the Billings Symphony Orchestra was stellar throughout with their intro of John William's music and then, particularly, the parody of Gangsta's Paradise: Amish Paradise https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOfZLb33uCg #wierdalyankovic #billingssymphonyorchestra  Many things to consider on this morning's Supermajority webinar with Dr. Imbram Kendi (Director, Antiracist Research & Policy Center at American University and author of "How To Be An Anti-Racist") and Alicia Garza (Co-founder of Black Lives Matter and Special Projects Director for the National Domestic Workers Alliance) and 500 of us listeners.
Join The Supermajority to participate in future webinars and view past, recorded ones, including this one. https://supermajority.com/ Here are just a few of the highlights: Denial ("I am not a racist") is at the heart of racism: American neo-Nazi and white supremacist Richard Spencer encouraged the equivalency of the idea of being called a racist and being called a bad person, that "racist" is a racial slur ... thus, enabling people to deny being a racist, as in "but I am not a bad person." Being a racist is: expressing or supporting, through action or non-action, racist policies. People who do nothing allow racial inequality and racial injustice to persist. Being an anti-racist is expressing and supporting anti-racist policies. There is nothing superior/inferior about racial groups. Anti-racists agree to embark on a journey of unlearning, to take an accounting of their behaviors or inaction and to contribute (with time and/or money) to anti-racist organizations, to look at where they are racist and anti-racist. Anti-racists leave room for people of color, are willing to give up a seat so that a room/gathering/conversation/etc. has more space for people of color. Is a policy racist? Look at the outcome. If it increases racial inequality and racial injustice, it is racist. How do we talk to people with extreme ideas on race? How do we bring others on the journey with us? Build and nurture relationships with them, to establish trust so that they can be vulnerable with us and therefore be vulnerable about their racism. Research and talk about how white supremacy ends up hurting white people as white supremacists fight against policies that they deem only supportive of people of color, when white women, white children, white males, struggling white people often benefit from those same social policies. What gives Alica and Ibram hope? People telling the truth. People who keep showing up even when they make mistakes. People willing to do the hard work to examine their own lives and behaviors and words. Every mind that is awakening. And ... that us, mulitiplied, can change this country #TheSupermajority https://www.ibramxkendi.com/how-to-be-an-antiracist-1 Such a stimulating, community-infused day at Back Alley Arts Festival - BAAF yesterday! Conversations about creativity while I worked on my "Home : Peace" sculpture (to be completed this week while it resides at Toucan through September), conversations about thoughts and feelings and memories of home as visitors wrote and drew on the painted, canvas panels which will displayed around "Home: Peace", and conversations about continuing the conversation about how we recognize and encourage more comfort in our and others' lives.
My vision for "Home : Peace" evolved as I was working on it ... the nests within the protective alcove of branches, each providing a peaceful haven or home and collectively providing a larger, peaceful home or community. It is part of my Home Grove series: https://www.sherricornett.com/home-grove.html Thank you again to Samantha, Allison and Mark for inviting me to participate. As of yesterday’s refreshing hike, I am adding this spot to my Beartooth favorites. Snow-melt soaked expanses of high altitude, miniature flowers, far reaching views and that ever present perspective that we are just small beings in a huge and beautiful world.
 We installed “Unearthed” from my Freedom Series today in our parking lot (High Plains Architects and Sherri Cornett Studio), corner of 28th and Minnesota! Signage coming soon. Thank you to Molly Schiltz and Joe Stout and crew of the DBA for the support and power tools! Come to Green Drinks at our building, 2720 Minnesota Ave, Tuesday, 7/30, 5-7, for an official unveiling, chat about public art and, of course, all things environmental! And bring your cup for wine & beer.
Thinking about walls this morning as I ponder a piece of the Berlin wall my mother brought home after it fell and a piece of Doerte Weber's woven version of the US/Mexico border wall recently installed at the 48 Stunden Neukölln Festival in Berlin. (Thank you, Doerte!) And, hoping that our own version of unification - a common humanity, compassion, love over hate, peace over fear - will rise up and tear down the walls that separate us. Photo 2: Doerte's piece in Berlin Photo 3: Doerte's piece, "Checkpoint Carlos" in Karen Gutfreund and my exhibition at Santa Clara University, "Beyond Borders: Stories of im/Migration" (https://www.gutfreundcornettart.com/info-beyond-borders.html) Doerte's statement about "Checkpoint Carlos" "When the border wall between the US and Mexico was built, memories of my home country's border division (Germany 1961-1989) surfaced. Checkpoint Carlos forms ten passageways - woven plastic bags from from newspapers given to me by a vast number of people in San Antonio, TX. They symbolized our common humanity, support for human rights, and immigration reform." (This piece is the US and Mexican flags separated by a border) https://48-stunden-neukoelln.de/de/event/wall-wall
Thank you to Mel Barbour Downtown Billings for these lovely photos of my “Thicket” under SkyPoint!
Thicket: •ubiquitous to our waterways •broken, nibbled willow and dogwood branches softened by wild clematis vine and connected by entwined roots •shelter for seeds, nests and small creatures • lush, precious weaving together of ideas, beliefs, cultures, children, families and vulnerable communities within a protective haven New sculpture installed under Skypoint in downtown BillingsPosted: 8:32 PM, Jun 07, 2019 Updated: 12:48 PM, Jul 17, 2019 By: Mitch Lagge https://www.ktvq.com/news/2019/06/07/new-sculpture-installed-under-skypoint-in-downtown-billings/?fbclid=IwAR067_01FQ1VzTltyo66tqo1URnrCcOcprpDn6hSOqjqJEDhRKaEnA6MveM  This is the time of year when the seasons of garden experiments with xeric and hardy perennials and avoidance of garden chemicals begin to payoff. The many birds, and butterflies and, within the span of ten minutes, bumble bees and a hummingbird sipping on my Nepeta "Walker's Low" Catmint.
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