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Nature Transported/ Collaborative Sukkah
Nature Transported is a collaborative project made for City Wide Open Studio’s Alternative Space Weekend. The weekend coincided with the Jewish holiday of Sukkot; when we literally, and figuratively, transport ourselves to live outside in huts. We leave the security of our homes, to be in the uncertainty of nature. To prepare for this project, artists met with Rabbi Yossi Yaffe of Chabad of the Shoreline to study texts related to the meaning of Sukkah; in particular how it paradoxically helps us find comfort, light, and joy within transition, displacement, and the temporary. Among other themes and symbolism, the sukkah is like a bird's nest--an outdoor impermanent structure that protects, shelters, and nurtures. And like a nest, the roof of the sukkah (the skhakh) is made of natural materials that grow from the earth. This sukkah is a pentagon covered in canvas; it is more circular and encompassing. The artwork hanging in the sukkah is made of cyanotype on cloth; cyanotype is an early photographic printing process, also known as blueprints, that was used to record nature. Leah Caroline gave workshops to make the cyanotype cloths. The imagery is from actual plant cuttings, photographs of birds, and texts that relate to Sukkah. There is also an actual bird’s nest and cyanotype on eggs. The sukkah and artworks are made by: Corina Alverezdelugo, Leah Caroline, Hayward Gatling, Gitel Chana Levin, Shevy Levin, Chaya Sara Naiditch, Susan Rogol, Chaskie Rogol, Haston Family, and the 5th Grade of SCHA. It is curated by Leah Caroline. A project of the CT Artists’ Beit Midrash. Commissioned by Artspace, Inc, for City-Wide Open Studios with support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Connecticut Office of the Arts, and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Materials donated by Lowes Home Improvement of Derby. |