A collection of collaborations
SHAKEN OUT OF THE SCREEN
July 2020
SHAKEN OUT OF THE SCREEN is a text/image collaboration that seeks to document the psychic terrain of national unrest through community participation. For this project, I partnered with poet, Lily Greenberg, to spark and gathered individual expressions, and use these to create a series of books and screen prints. Over the course of July 2020, we gather physical visual art submissions, as well as textual art via google form- an overwhelming 82 people participated. With these submissions, I was able to create 12 handmade books made completely out of the visual art that was submitted, and Lily was able to create 12 collaborative master poems. SHAKEN OUT OF THE SCREEN asked its participants to see through the lens of this particular moment and respond as candidly as possible — the final product reflects beyond “what happened” and into the feelings of being shaken, stretched, and woken up.
You can view the POEMS HERE.
THANK YOU to those who participated: Emma Difani, Bryon Perdue, Sarah Enoch, Faye Miller, Joy Andrews, Malcolm Zachariah, Alyssa Howery, Christa Moody, Mycah Higley, Mia Pons, Hallie Edwards, Riley Joseph, Elizabeth Richards, Katherine Hanks, Chandler Domingos, Theresa Hultberg, Laura L. Pons, Liz Boudroux, Laura Kent, Nathan Kent, Teddi Fokas, Aimee Eischen, Bianca Roland, Evan Ward, Jasmine Jones, Ariana Weir, Evan Beasely, Sara Cowan, Emily Madden, Mirella Martinez, Gabriel Rojas, Krista Mustain, Katelynn Noel Knick, Danley Romero, Alexa Goetzinger, Peter Welch, Shelby Colburn, McKenlee Foote, Michaela Savell, Katherine Hanks, Megan Lee, Via D’Agostino, Grant McKown, Jake Rioux, Megan Wimberley, Mark Moody, Kenny Greenberg, Pamela Goodspeed, Camelia Stout, Sonya Mueller, Charlotte Gross, Brittney Wooley, Maranda, Maggie Wallace, Emma Moody, Timothy Bradford, Elizabeth Richards, Laura, Preston Pettigrew, Ryan Lemp, Zach Lewis, Becca Medvin, Anastasia, Garrett Williams, Jasmine Jones, Kate Moody, Samb, Jenna, Frances Eliot, Ashley Cleveland, Henry Greenberg, Betsy Retallack, Luke Worcester, Grace Sitzes, Lukas Bernhardt, Micaela, Chris, Sophia, Emily Murtoff
THANK YOU to Oklahoma Contemporary for providing this remote residency + micro grant, and Lily Greenberg for the always mind blowing word arranging. Without their help, this project would not exist.
Together (Apart)
April 2020
Together (Apart) is a collaborative project created in the face of isolation. In the midst of COVID-19, I am interested in togetherness and unity, how there is strength in numbers, and how parts of different stories and different times can come together to make something beautiful. I invited artists to mail in scraps of previous projects or sketches. This piece became larger, stronger, and more impactful with each additional piece that was added. The end result consisted of 30 different artists representing 7 states (CO, FL, NH, OK, TN, TX, WA).
THANK YOU to those who participated: Agnes Stadler, Alexa Goetzinger, Alyssa Underwood, Audrey Gleason, Bianca Roland, Chandler Domingos, Christa Moody, Elizabeth Richards, Ellen Moershell, Emily Madden, Emma Difani, Gentry Lach, Jasmine Jones, Katelynn Knick, Katherine Hanks, Kendall Schulz, Krista Mustain, KT Murray, Lacy Gustafson, Lily Greenberg, Malcolm Zachariah, Mycah Higley, Olivia Harris, Paige Powell, Reagan Liddell, Ric Miller, Riley Joseph, Sarah Atlee, Susan Sitzes
THANK YOU to The Laboratory for providing this residency opportunity + micro grant. Without that opportunity this project would not exist.
In The Bear, a Canyon
July 2019
In The Bear, A Canyon is a collaborative poem written by Lily Greenberg and rendered visually by Virginia Sitzes. We understand In The Bear, A Canyon to be an original image manifested and multiplied through combinations of paper, dye, paint, thread, and ink.
Our intention was to work out of our lived experiences in the canyon, the “stuff” of which (the memories, landscapes, wildlife) became our primary materials. We then began searching for a container. The bear—a living animal, stranger in the Texas desert, symbol of resurrection—became our vehicle. The final product of “In The Bear, A Canyon” includes all parts of the process: Lily drew phrases from our conversations on enormous sketchpads, and over a series of drafts, began to see stanzas emerge. Virginia colored the stanzas, then made small books from a combination of dying, screen-printing, and sewing papers. Each stanza has its own book, a self-contained part of a whole. For our larger piece, Virginia repeated the combining process, I wrote out the poem on rice paper, and we glued on the stanzas together. Then we had what looked like a very colorful, informational poster (the likes of which one might find at a science fair). So we kept going. Virginia added more dye and paint, and the words became a new element of texture. We continued adding and subtracting (including a sudden rainstorm, a welcome participation from the Canyon itself) until the paper had taken all it could hold.
THANK YOU to Laity Lodge for providing the perfect space and opportunity for this project to happen.
Rock Rainbow
May 2019
Rock Rainbow is a collaboration between Virginia Sitzes and Katelynn Noel Knick. This installation fuses and highlights the fun and lyrical designs of Sitzes and the organic, weightless forms of Knick. Collectively, the sculptures function as a spatial installation allowing the viewers to move between the plush, rock-like forms and get up close to immerse themselves in the hand printed designs.
