I'm super excited to share today's post with you guys because it's a real goodie. A few days ago, I visited DC to check out Renwick Gallery's Wonder exhibit. I had already "seen" photos of the installations on instagram so I knew what to expect, but I wanted to see them all in person. I took as many photos as I could, but it was quite a challenge because lighting was a little "eh." I did my best though so hopefully you guys will enjoy looking through my first photo diary!
Here's 411 for y'all to start: nine contemporary artists created site-specific installations, each taking over a different gallery. Together these installations turn the building into a larger-than-life work of art. The nine artists are connected by their interest in creating large-scale installations from unexpected materials like thread, tires, marbles, and blocks of wood - commonplace objects that are assembled, massed, and juxtaposed to transform the spaces and engage visitors in surprising ways.
Patrick Dougherty's Shindig: uses willow osiers & saplings to weave enormous pods that offer discovery and sanctuary.
Janet Echelman's 1.8: explores volume without mass in a suspended net that surges in waves evoking a tsunami.
Gabriel Dawe's Plexus: develops dazzling waves of colored light using miles of embroidery thread spanning floor to ceiling.
John Grade's Middle Fork: is a tribute to the 160-year-old Renwick building. He found a 160-year-old hemlock in the Cascade Mountains, made a plaster cast of it, and then invited hundreds of volunteers to re-create the tree in recycled cedar strips.
Chakaia Booker's ANONYMOUS DONOR: transforms hundreds of recycled rubber tires, splicing and weaving them into a mysterious labyrinth.
Tara Donovan's Untitled: glues thousands of styrene index cards to create ten towers - looming spires that seem like natural accretions.
Jennifer Angus' In the Midnight Garden: creates spiraling designs across the gallery walls from shimmering, brilliantly colored insects, a novel "wallpaper" that displays nature's spectacular range of colors and shapes in small life-forms.
Descriptions courtesy of the Renwick Gallery's Wonder brochure.
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