(MALDEN, MA - - April 16, 2007) - - storyLINES, artSPACE@16’s latest event, features three visual artists and two storytellers from Malden. The common thread shared among the five participants is that they have employed a basic communication element that relates to, and/or resembles “LINES" in the delivery of each story, be it visual or oral. The desire to tell stories has been one essential reason for humans to communicate with one another. Whether the method of communication is through spoken word, written text, photography, or other materials, each story is conveyed to the audience.
Brian Doan presents Dreamland, a documentary photography series profiling the diverse identity, intimacy, and family relationships of the Vietnamese-American communities via large format camera. Pamela Sheridan exposes her experience as a cancer survivor in her intricate sculpture constructed with cords and text. Sam Tan shows Mindful Landscape, a series of linear paintings and small scale drawings that reference internal human contours; a sort of mapping of the vascular system. Kevin Brooks will be storytelling tales from his urban childhood of the 1960´s to his current status as a parent of adolescents. Laura Packer will tell a number of stories influenced by the oldest myths and everyday occurrences.
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION OF FIVE PARTICIPANTS:
Image: storyteller Kevin BrooksKevin Brooks specializes in telling personal tales from his urban childhood of the 60´s to parenthood of today. His stories for both adults and family audiences resonate with humor and poignancy. Brooks has been a featured performer and story teacher at many storytelling festivals, conferences and other venues worldwide.
Brooks also performs as part of the Tongue-In-Cheek Storytellers – a group of three awesome performers who don't talk about diversity, but embody it in their presence and their stories. Brooks’ new CD – “A Kiss of Summer” – a collection of summer stories with heart and soul, is available at CDBaby.com and the iTunes Music Store.
Image: storyteller Laura PackerLaura Packer has been telling stories her whole life. Her deep love of folktales led her to obtain a degree in Folklore and Mythology from Boston University. Packer’s stories range from the most ancient of myths to modern original stories. She has performed around the world, at venues such as First Night Boston (with the Tongue-in-Cheek Storytellers), Three Apples Storytelling Festival, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Sharing the Fire Storytelling Conference.
Packer hosts two Boston area storytelling venues: Storytelling for Grown-ups at Medford’s Bestsellers Café, and StoryLab at Club Passim, in Harvard Square. When she isn’t busy telling stories Laura helps organizations and individuals find their voices.
Image: Quinn, photograph by Brian DoanBrian Doan was born in Vietnam and immigrated to the United States in 1991. Doan has been photographing and collecting oral histories to document two Vietnamese communities in California 30 years after the end of the Vietnam War. His monograph The Forgotten Ones, a Vietnamese Diaspora documentary photography project, was published by Vietnamese American Arts & Letters Association with support by the California Council for the Humanities and the Rockefeller Fellowship for the Humanities in 2004.
Currently a photography faculty member at the Massachusetts College of Art, Brian Doan presents his latest photography series Dreamland. This series reveals issues of identity, sexuality, intimacy and family relationships of the Vietnamese American communities in their dreamland America. The images are made with a large format 4x5 view camera, scanned by a high-end optics scanner and printed with Epson 9800. Brian's work has been exhibited internationally, including the Museum of Photography in Riverside, California, the ICP in New York, and the Victoria & Albert Museums in London.
Image: Paradox, sculpture by Pamela SheridanPamela Sheridan’s dynamic conceptual sculpture conveys life experience with vibrant energy. The materials Sheridan chooses wire, twine, cotton piping, barbed wire, steel and other materials that are strong linear forms. Her process is very "obsessive" and time consuming.
Sheridan’s piece titled Paradox portrays her fight with cancer and the realization that life holds both positive and negative aspects. Sheridan, who won various awards at Montserrat College of Art including an award in Art Education says, “It is not only about my battle with cancer, but also about others who have, in the face of adversity, used that energy to propel to a better place. The more one looks into the twists and turns, the more one will see.”
The other two pieces by Sheridan, Obsessing and Us, tackle different aspects of relationships, with Obsessing focusing on the end of a relationship, and Us centering on the beginning and the intricacies that ensue. The sculpture Us also uses text from Indiana poet Theresa Jenkins. Her recent exhibits including a thesis show Bloom at Montserrat College of Art, as well as Malden Contemporary at the Elm Street Gallery in Malden.
Image: Tidal drawing series by Sam Tan - graphite and acrylic on watercolor paperSam Tan makes abstract paintings and small scale drawings which contain biomorphic forms. Specifically in Mindful Landscape, his latest series, the gestural mark making within his work references internal human contours – often at the cellular level, form, and perspective. These meticulously detailed works invite us to ponder our own vulnerability and mortality.
Tan, who is one of the selected artists for The Viewing Program’s Slide Registry at the Drawing Center in New York and Pierogi Flat Files in Brooklyn states, “I find the human body a site ripe for exploration as it is a locus where compelling human paradoxes – vulnerability and strength, hope and betrayal, desire and revulsion – are played out.” He also participates in the reputed Boston Drawing Project at the Bernard Toale Gallery in Boston, MA. His most recent solo exhibit Mindful, was held at the Gallery at Boston Biomedical Research Institute in Watertown, MA.
Exhibition runs from May 12 thru June 9, 2007. Gallery open these Saturdays: May 12 and 19. June 2 and 9, from 12 noon to 5pm. All other days are by appointment. Gallery closed for intermission May 26. This event is supported, in part, by a grant from the Malden Cultural Council, a local agency supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency. For more information, please visit www.artSPACEat16.com. artSPACE@16 is located at 16 Princeton Road, Malden, near the Orange line Oak Grove MBTA station. For driving directions visit www.artSPACEat16.com/contactus.htm
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SPECIAL HOURS: Wednesday, 5/16, 3 - 5pm. The Filming of artist's talk at artSPACE@16 for "Malden: My Hometown" - a documentary film by Channel Surfing students of the Public Schools. "Since Sept 2006 the students of Channel Surfing have been filming in Malden. They have filmed their schools, their neighborhoods, city and schools officials, sporting events, art resources and attributes. The students have been responsible for developing interview questions and interview those in the film. This is a work that shows the creativity and perseverance of our youth, and what that they can accomplish with guidance and direction."
"A portion of this documentary focuses on Malden's art resources and attributes. Lead by Jeremy Stamas, project director/documentary video instructor, the students record a talk by storyLINES artist Pamela Sheridan in the artSPACE@16 gallery on May 16. The premier of this documentary video "Malden: My Hometown", was screened at the Beebe School's Auditorium on Thursday June 7, 2007, at 6pm.
"This film will be most valuable to show how wonderful our city is, and we hope that many people will benefit from its production." For more info about this project call Partnership for Community Schools in Malden 781-397-7320 to get in touch with Karen Steele - Director, PCSM, Linda Kelley - Channel Surfing Director, and/or Jeremy Stamas - Project Director
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This event is supported, in part, by a grant from the Malden Cultural Council, a local agency supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency. It also received in-kind support from the artist-volunteers of artSPACE@16
