Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Artifact Archives

As a BFA student at Concordia University (1984-1987) I took part in Artifact Artists Collective. After 30 years we decided to show the archives we stored, and to get together again to remember and celebrate everything we stood for during those formative years. We have all changed and evolved in different directions, but we share a common experience that remains meaningful for each one of us. Here is the blurb and some photos of the show in September 2016.

Blurb for the show Artifact Archives
Drawing on mylar over an archival letter to Artifact 
Drawing on mylar over an archival letter to Artifact
Blink Gallery
The Artifact gang

Where is your heart?

In September I had the show 'Where is your heart?" at Blink Gallery. See the blurb, poster and video. Check for more images at the webpage www.mariagomezumana.com

Where Is Your Heart?

This show is an invitation to experience the beauty and complexity of the internal body. For me it is an exploration of the intricacies of our inner anatomy and the immense aesthetic possibilities of its internal structures. The two human scale cut outs are an invitation for connection to our internal health and balanced inner life. The lymphatic and nervous systems work as metaphors to social, spiritual and environmental connections. The shapes can be read as anatomical configurations, but can also have other meanings in relation to the richness and elaborate depths of the inner life or the way we perceive the world. They can be read as streams of water; as the trajectory of elements under a microscope; or as the path starts leave as the night advances.

The title of this exhibition is an invitation for you to think and feel your own body: to feel your organs, to reflect on your systems. Perhaps in my work you see the connections I intended, and certainly you will see new ones based on your own background. With this art show I hope to challenge your perception of your own body, raise awareness on the instant changes your body is going through, and invite you to experience it with a more open and imaginative way.

Maria Gomez-Umaña
September 2016

Friendship Channel

Friendship Channel was my first collaborative art project with BLINK Art Collective, shown at Chinatown Remixed.

Chinatown Remixed is an initiative by local Ottawa artists to have venues open their doors to artists to show their work along Chinatown venues. This year three BLINK members, Genevieve Cloutier, Jess Alysworth and myself proposed Friendship Channel, project that was selected by the jury. Friendship Channel, is a poem written collaboratively along the silhouette of the water and tributaries of the Ottawa River. We sketched it on paper; designed it using Illustrator, and finally had it CNC cut at Maker Space. Then we painted and and varnished it. We chose red because it is the colour of good luck in China, plus the colour of blood. As Genevieve puts it,

I like red because it's the BLINK Art Collective colour. Also the word red is in the [Friendship Channel] poem... "red oranges"..."  In China, the orange symbolizes life, a new beginning, and prayers and wishes for good fortune"... (…) it also touches on many other symbols that bring up a lot of emotion... love, blood/menstruation, desire...

This piece is shown at the window of Shanghai Restaurant during September and October, as part of the Chinatown Remixed 2016.
Friendship Channel by Blink