Canaries

Felted wool, onion-skin and acid dye, wood. 2013.

The Story

The Canaries are about choice. In interactive installations the Canaries are harbingers of both danger and invisible toxins. They loom above the Reiter Symbols' Key to compel viewers to notice and make the choice to engage with this interactive art.  This is the moment of critical transformation, where the audience changes from viewer to dynamic social actor by engaging with the sculptures in the context of ousting predators.  Canaries challenges the viewer to choose the non-violent activism of engagement with the Reiter Symbols. 

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The Work

This work is interdisciplinary social practice which is a fancy way of saying I am influenced by social subjects relating to community issues. I like to have public interaction in what I do. The Reiter Symbols' poll and the interactive sculptures are two ways of doing that. Canaries is a bit different.  The Canaries are prompts for viewer interaction with both the felt materials and the Reiter Symbols. Workshops in felting the wool introduce the fun of using sustainable materials. With some pre-carded and yellow dyed wool anyone can create a small Canary in an afternoon. Workshops making Canaries offer a way for communities to interact with my art and an opportunity to have a lot of fun while talking about the serious subjects of reporting sexual assault and human trafficking.

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Join the flock and click the pic for the survey.