Open Studios Are Right Around the Corner!

Happy Spring to everyone!  Spring is a time of renewal for all living things and I personally, am totally feeling it.  This renewal is showing up in my artwork, garden, and daily life.  It has been a crazy couple of months but I think that things are finally coming together.

Following the NCECA madness and it’s pre and post events I feel like I’ve been out of the studio for ever!  It feels really good to be back at it full throttle.  Before sharing more about whats been happening, please enjoy a couple images of from the show opening of, “Sheriff Joe and His Deputies.”  This was the KU Alumni Ceramics show that was up during NCECA.

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On the 24th of March Charlotte Street Foundation opened their second show of the Visiting Curator Series, “The One Thing That Can Save America.”  The show is at Paragraph Gallery and the curator talk will be on April 30th (show closing).  The show includes a good number of the Charlotte Street Residents from various media.  I highly recommend checking out the show before the closing at the end of the month.

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The exhibition, curated by Jessica Baran (Fort Gondo & Beverly Gallery, St Louis, MO) includes new works by visual artists Max Adrian, Hannah Carr, Molly Garrett, Paige Hinshaw and Lara Shipley. The Archive Collective and Paris of the Plains Podcast will occupy Project Space with new media installations made specifically for this exhibition. Writers Jason Preu, Danny Volin, and Lucas Wetzel have poetic and fictional work written during their residency periods collected in the publication “The One Thing That Can Save America,” which was also compiled and designed specifically for this exhibition.

I recently had two pieces in two group shows in Lawrence, KS.  One show is at the Percolator.  It is a fantastic show on climate change called, “Heating Up : Artists Respond to Climate Change.”  The show will be up until April 23rd.  There are many other events coordinated with the show like a panel discussion, poetry reading, environmental choreography and a Haskell Wetlands Restoration Day.  More information can be found here.

https://www.facebook.com/events/234496763552499/

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The piece above is my work from the show, “Heating Up.”  It is made entirely of hemp.  The natural color scheme is created by using undyed hemp in combination with naturally dyed hemp colored with local (Kansas/Missouri) medicinal plants.  Below is a poem that I wrote for the work.

The Earth Doesn’t Need Us : We Need It

each year, the natural environment changes more and more

Earth’s temperatures rise, the climate changes

humans play a part, but some find it a bore

the time to act is now, not for us, but for the ages

even if we don’t, the Earth will still do its thing

it will heat up, melt the ice, and leave us wanting gills

it has done it before, the Earth did sing

humans are only temporary, so are the hills

there are signs already, visible to the naked eye

the South American native cochineal, localizing in our state

the Earth’s work, passionate and pure like the carmine dye

North to South and East to West, we can all relate

we need the Earth in order to survive

helping the Earth to exist, is helping each other to exist

all living things on our planet simply wants to stay alive

supporting the cloth of life should on every list

the time to take action is today

care for the Earth, as if it were our mother

because it is, and she is trying to say

I need your help, I need your care. I don’t want to smother

we can’t continue on the same way

thinking things won’t change

let’s initiate the change, so that future generations can stay

on our beautiful planet with opportunity and range

our problems are water, fuel, food, fiber, shelter, medicine

the way we produce our “necessities” for life, continues to rise the temp

it didn’t happen overnight, the situation that we are in

we need a solution, let’s start with hemp

we must try anything that we can, to slow down the heat

if we don’t, our limited time will be shorter on ever-existent Earth

we must acknowledge the Earth does not need us to exist, sore is it’s teat

without a livable Earth, the human race will end…what is that worth?

 

The second group show that I have a piece in is the annual Lawrence Arts Center Benefit Art Auction.  The auction event is coming up on April 23rd.  There are over 150 works in the show from regional and national artists of all media.  It is a great one to check out, don’t miss stopping by the Lawrence Arts Center!  The featured artist this year is Kris Kuksi.

Move Birch : Leaving a Mark                 hemp, wool, alpaca, bamboo

I just went out to San Francisco to visit my brother, sister-in-law and nephew.  While I was out there I went to revisit an installation that I did during the Medicinal Art Tour over the summer.  The photos below show the piece installed on the first day and how it is in its current state.  I feel very humbled that it has been embraced and welcomed by the community there.  I will be doing another one or two installations in San Francisco coming up in May.

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Right before I left for San Francisco I was featured in a national knitting magazine, Knit.wear.  I was the artist for the magazine’s “Finishing” article.  I feel very honored to have been featured in this wonderful magazine.  The photo that was featured was taken in Charlotte Street’s very own Paragraph Gallery.  More information about the magazine, digital copies and tangible copies can be found at the following link.

http://www.interweavestore.com/knitwear-springsummer-2016

Right before heading back from San Francisco I heard back from Alex Anderson from KCMetropolis, Kansas City’s Online Journal of the Arts.  He updated me that the interview he did with me was edited and uploaded to their website.  I feel very good about the writing he did in response to our interview together.  Please take a moment and read the article he wrote.  I am very proud of it and excited to share it with you all.  The article can be found at this link.

http://kcmetropolis.org/issue/march-30-2016/article/at-one-with-nature

Yesterday I installed one of weavings in Downtown KC at a site that I pass every day I go to the Charlotte Street Foundation Studios.  Here are a couple images of the piece installed.  It is made of hemp and wool that is either natural in color or colored with natural dyes.  Go see the piece while you can, 7th and Walnut!

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For now, it is back to the grind.  Today until July is going to be crazy busy with many beautiful tasks.  I am looking forward to what the Spring has to bring all of us here at Charlotte Street.  We are all looking forward very much to opening up our studios to you and the general public on April 29th and 30th.  Stay tuned for more information about open studios but mark it down in your calendars.  You won’t want to miss the events scheduled for that weekend!  Thank you so much for your time and reading our blog!

Live and Dye Naturally

Neil Goss

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About liveanddyenaturally

Neil Goss lives in Lawrence, KS where he concentrates his work around natural Earth processes while responding to human impacts upon those processes. In 2012 he received two BFA's in Design with concentrations in Textiles and Ceramics from the University of Kansas School of the Arts. Goss has focused the last 5 years of his life to researching and practicing sustainable arts processes such as natural dyeing, weaving (backstrap weaving), utilizing hand dug clay, and foraging art materials. Goss has taught workshops, completed public art installations and done artist talks from coast to coast in the United States. He currently is a practicing professional artist, artist-in-residence at the Charlotte Street Foundation in Kansas City, MO and teaches pottery and natural dyeing at the Lawrence Arts Center.

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