On-Site Artist Projects at Russ Pitman Park

This spring, multiple artists and “integrators” have been chosen to collaborate within the history, ecosystem and environmental structures of the lush 4- acre wooded Russ Pitman (RP) Park. Utilizing a variety of source materials- earth/organic, signage, and environmentally friendly technology- artists will make scientific investigations, explorations, and historical references through installations and time-based events. These on-site artists’ projects hope to highlight the process of collaboration, whether voluntary or involuntary, on all its participants- the artists, community, non- human organisms, and human visitors.

 Our exhibit runs from April 4th – May 13th 2012

April 4th, Wednesday, 7:00 PM- art/walking tour with the curator and some of the artists

**April 7th from 6-8pm is our opening reception**Come join us! The more the merrier!

About the park: RP Park is a unique natural pocket tucked away within the massive concrete jungle that comprises the Houston inner loop. The 4 acres are covered with vast prairie grasses and several varieties of Texas native plants and trees. The park has significant wildlife from a variety of beetles, large beehives and over 80 species of migratory birds. Within historic housing, RP Park maintains a non-profit, The Nature Discovery Center, that employs trained naturalists, who provide guided tours and teach workshops (adult and child).  To learn more please visit: www.naturediscoverycenter.org

 RP’s On-Site Project Based Artists:•

• Lina Dib is a PhD candidate in Anthropology at Rice University and an affiliate artist at the Topological Media Lab in Montreal and TX/RX labs in Houston. She has published articles and given workshops and lectures on the concepts of memory, temporality and design, and on relationships between the sciences and the arts. She has received grants and awards from Canada's Social Science and Humanities Research Council, AMIDA's European training program, and Rice University's Humanities Research Center. Dib’s installations and compositions range from the ethnographic to the experimental, and have been shown in Montreal, New York, New Orleans, Stanford and Houston.

·  Ned Dodington received a Masters in Architecture from Rice University. Ned focuses on ecological design strategies and management. His work has been published inArchitectural Design Magazine, Brkt Magazine, the Columbia University GSAP yearly student review, as well as Rice: Working 06-08, and All things Must Move. He has written for The Architectural League in New York, Manifold Magazine, and the Houstonist and maintains a blogAnimalArchitecture. Ned has been awarded the Technos international traveling fellowship, the Mitchel Travel Fellowship and a Rice Design Alliance Houston Initiative Grant in 2010. Ned is also the co-founder of the Caroline Collective LLC.  www.emdwork.com

• Tobias Fike earned an MFA at The University of Colorado, Boudler, CO. He is currently in the show Luminous at Box 13 Art Space in Houston. He has exhibited nationally and internationally at Future Gallery in Berlin, Germany, Maxhausen Gallery of Art, Concordia University, Seward, Nebraska, Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Boulder, CO and The Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado. Tobias lives and works in Arvada, Colorado. www.tobiasfike.com

 • Allison Hunter earned her first MFA at the Cantonal Art School of Lausanne, Switzerland  and her second MFA at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Hunter participated in residencies at Banff Centre for the Arts in and Hermit Center for Metamedia. Her work has been in numerous exhibitions, including at the Kohler Center (Wisconsin), Project 304 (Bangkok), Künstlerhaus Mousonturm (Frankfurt) and in solo exhibitions at Women & Their Work (Austin), Artspace (North Carolina), and DiverseWorks (“Zoosphere”), 2010. Hunter is the inaugural Artist-in-Residence at the University of Houston, co-sponsored by the Mitchell Center and the Texas Learning and Computation Center, Fall/Spring, 2010-11. www.allisonhunter.com

 • Gabriel Martinez received his MFA from Columbia University in 2009. Martinez has been an artist-in-residence at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Fondazione Ratti, and the Whitney Independent Study Program. He recently worked with Mark Dion's bayou project for the City of Houston. His work has been featured in numerous exhibitions across the United States as well as in Italy and Cuba. He is currently a 2nd-Year Resident in the Core Program at the Glassell School of Art.

• Abinadi Meza received a Master of Architecture degree from Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) in Los Angeles. His installations, performances and spatial fictions have been presented in numerous exhibitions including at Utzon Architectural Centre, Aalborg; Juniradio, Berlin; Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin; ANTI Festival, Kuopio; La Casa Encendida, Madrid; Matadero, Madrid; Full Pull Festival, Malmö; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Biennale of Electronic Arts, Perth; Hipersonica, São Paulo; and Uppsala Art Museum.

 • Emily Sloan received an M.F.A. from the University of Houston (2009) and an M.A. from Stephen F. Austin University. Her site-specific installations include ShadeCloud at Art League, Houston, Burning House located on Hwy 59 in Polk County, TX; Sabine St. Bridge Lamp at Buffalo Bayou Art Park in Houston, and To Whom It May Concern, located on a private lot next to Lawndale Art Center. Her performances include Napping Affects Performance (NAP), as well as her Alta Ego performances as Zarvin Mindler. She has completed residencies at the Vermont Studio Center and Labotanica and The Many Mini Residency at SKYDIVE in Houston, and is currently the Artist-in Residence at 14 Pews in Houston. She has exhibited at venues including the TX State Fair, the Cotton Bowl, the Dallas Contemporary and the Vermont Studio Center, and is currently the Curatorial Director of The Kenmore @ Box13. http://www.emilysloanblog.blogspot.com/

 • Annie Strader received her MFA from The University of Colorado, Boulder, CO. She is an interdisciplinary artist who utilizes sculptural, digital and video processes to create objects, installations and performances. Recently, she co-curated the show Luminous at Box 13 Art Space in Houston. She has had solo exhibitions at The Sculpture Center in Cleveland, OH; The Hartnett Gallery in Rochester, NY; and The Roy G Biv Gallery in Columbus, OH.  Her work has also been shown at The Urban Institute for Contemporary Art in Grand Rapids, MI; The Athens Institute for Contemporary Art in Athens, GA; The Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art in Boulder, CO; and The DAAP Gallery at The University of Cincinnati in OH. Strader is also a member of The Bridge Club Art and Performance Collaborative, which creates site responsive performances and installations. Recent exhibits took place at Lawndale Art Center in Houston, TX; SPACES gallery in Cleveland, OH and 1708 Gallery in Richmond, VA. Strader is currently an Assistant Professor of Art at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas. http://anniestrader.com/

 • Matthew Weedman received an MFA from The University of Colorado, Boulder, CO. He utilizes objects, sound, performance and video to explore a personal and social history of living through the cold-war/space-race era and the implications there-of. Recently, he co-curated the show Luminous at Box 13 Art Space in Houston. Weedman has done solo performances at The Denver Art Museum and The Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art. His video and digital based work has been included at The Bearded Child Film Festival, Myles Reif Performing Arts, Minnesota; Cultural Signs, Instituto de Artes, Medallin, Columbia; Digital Nature, Botanical Gardens Denver Colorado; IUGTE, Bovec, Slovenia, EU, The Lexington Art League, Lexington, KY. He has been a guest lecturer at The Big Feed, Irrigation Research Farm, Yuma, CO and Concordia University.

 Our Funding Needs:

We seek funding to relieve some of the project material costs for participating artists. We’ll also be spending a modest amount on postcards, promotion, reception and documentation for the exhibit.

 About Kickstarter:

If you are not familiar with Kickstarter, it works like this: you receive a reward for a pledge you make in support of our project. The more you pledge, the better the rewards. We both get a strong sense of satisfaction—you for making the project possible, us for being able to complete the project.

We'd love it if you spread the word!

Here's our project url:http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/russpitmanpark/public-art-projects-at-russ-pitman-park?ref=email