The Winds: Joplin, MO
silkscreen, oil and found objects on canvas, 2011

About this work:
“No one can escape the blight that rides on the wind. We can only pick up what nature has left us and begin again.”
This is the first of a series about the aftermath of natural disasters on the landscape of the “home” & the personal lives of those left behind. Plans for the series are pieces about Louisiana, Japan, Haiti, Indonesia & California.

For the MAAF show “Incomplete Sense”, curated by Thomas McCue:
This exhibition sets out to explore the spectrum of sensory input, and the impact is has on our understanding of reality.  More specifically, how does the impairment, interference, or misunderstanding of a stream of sensory information affect a person’s understanding of the world?  Perception, cognition, and consciousness are intrinsically linked. The extent to which this experience is unique to the individual is profound, and often a matter of perceptual capability, disability, or state of mind.

About this work: “The branding of a society has extended far beyond consumerism, invading into our realm of identity & our reality. We are taught as young children to identify shape and color, as not only a cognitive tool, but as a developmental need for survival. Corporations rely on this ability to make their products part of our automated recognition, and we do so as part of a collective consciousness. The brand is to hold the same perceptions for all of us- to invoke the same universal feelings, smells, sounds, visions. But how do we limit this input, this invasion into our consciousness; how do we “unlearn” what we are programmed to recognize? “

I’d like to one day install this piece on a greater scale in an larger “garden”- either inside a gallery in a living environment that grows with the exhibit, or temporarily outside in an actual green space.

I got to work on 2 shows this Chicago summer- the Milwaukee Ave Arts Festival & BUILT Fest. As mentioned below, I curated a show for MAAF entitled “Calling Home” with some other printers. For the Built Festival, I volunteered with Spudnik Press & shared a storage container gallery with some awesome ladies- the CMYKittens.

With both experiences, I gained the greater realization how hard it is to make art events happen in Chicago and how much the community & the artists are responsible for pulling off these feats- volunteering hours of manpower & skill and pulling from their own coffers- to very little recognition. So, I’d like to take this space to say, thank you. What you do is amazing. What you do is important. It is more important than money, it is more important than a write up in Time Out or The Reader and it is more important than turnout, because there will always be a big chunk of the population who don’t get up & get out to see things. It’s their loss, so thank you for making it our gain.

Big ups to Tracy & the MAAF Team, Tristan for his continued work, all the volunteers who get down & dirty & all the attendees for taking the time to come out & support- we hope we made it as worthwhile for you as it was for us.

“Calling Home” Artists: Liz Born, Corinna Button, Elke Claus, Laura Collins, Miriam Leanne Dubinsky, Hattori Makiko, Michelle Mashon, Matthew Messmer, Jill Nahrstedt, Pablo Philips, Margaret Rogers, Mary Sea, Jennifer Stoneking-Stewart, Itow Takumi, Jen Thomas.

I’m curating a show in Chicago that’s print & print-based works (sculptural & book arts accepted)- the submission form can be found here: http://www.spudnikpress.com/call-for-artists-calling-home/

Calling Home
Curators: Liz Born, Michelle Mashon, Matthew Messmer, Jill Nahrstedt for Spudnik Press

Exhibition Description: What defines “home”? How do we make “home”? Is “home” exclusively a physical place? Must it be permanent or can it be transient? Can it be taken away or rebuilt? We see a common thread through many of today’s current issues that implore us to ask these questions; issues of immigration, foreclosures and natural disasters have led us to redefine & examine our ideas of “home”. In tandem with Spudnik Press, Calling Home will be show of print-based works (books and sculptural print-based works also encouraged) that explore how different artists define & question the identity of home through their experiences.

- How To Redress, an installation proposal and first project in exploring the idea of demographics, focus groups and marketing. For Redress, I screen printed dress patterns and recruited a few artsy women to repurpose/redesign/re-imagine them as an expression of themselves.

Participating Artists are: Megan Klawitter, Sanya Glisic, Lindsey Meyers, Marya Cormier, Rea Koukiou, Katie Nahas, Rachel Ginsberg, Leda Zawacki, Kat Simmons, Morgan Krauss, Kali Davidson, Michelle Mashon, Jaime Roche & Linda Solotaire.

exhibition history:

• HELLO My Name Is… will be on view July 23-25, Friday 4-11pm and Sat/Sun Noon-11pm. This temporary exhibition is part of the 2010 Milwaukee Avenue Arts Festival, at 2515 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago.

Projects I’m working on (and some need your help!):

- it’s almost time for “How To ReDress: The Male”, so see the ReDress project entry & if you’d like to be a man participating in the next phase, let me know!

- NEEDS A HOME! PARTICIPANTS? Lost Soles is a fun, living comic/soap opera story told by those one shoes you see by the side of the road, in parking lots,  castaways in the stage farce we call life. If you see a derelict cast-off shoe, snap a photo on your phone (or camera?) and email me! – one day, the shoe, and it’s untold story, will be memorialized in a sprawling photo community project.

- NEEDS A HOME! An interactive installation of mixed media, oil/print paintings based on:
“It is a mistake to think that the state works within the boundaries of laws. The public does not obey laws. It obeys rules within the boundaries of a triangle, the first side of which is the law. But the triangle has two other sides: common sense and ethics.“  – Moshe Feiglin

- COMMISSIONS for portraits like the below piece in silkscreen & oil on canvas. For yourself or a gift, all I need is a photo- email me.

"Garden" - a portrait for Matt & Gwynne

Currently, I am mostly a printmaker at Spudnik Press in Chicago (www.spudnikpress.com) and am planning more oil and watercolor work this year, as well as pursuing more opportunities for realizing installation & interactive work.

Michelle Mashon Artist Statement

Exhibition History and Artist Resume