when i don't want things to be too thin

Two good books are swallowing me whole—anam cara and beauty the invisible embrace both by John O’Donohue. Each was loaned to me by one of my beloved grand girlfriends because she’s been watching me wavering between wallowing in the funk of aging and basking in a joy I’ve not know which seems to infuse me as I shuffle down this path.

A couple of quotes are helping me find my footing…I’ve smushed them into one.

“when you accumulate experience at such a tempo [were greed for destination obliterates the journey] everything becomes thin.”

How do I obliterate? What are the destinations I obliterate? What is it that I am trading for destination? What is the fear that accelerates me to my destination and therefore bypass the journey? Will I blink and be done?

i weep

the caress of blue, bluer
the kiss of the wind, richer
the depth of the pools
in the shadows of remnant souls
in which i swim
more liquid with sounds
laughter and grief

again i weep
where is this well
of the rivulets of salt
that stream hot
spring

i am ice
how is it
that i melt
that i become
less vacant
less lost

making stems
from my angst
if i slide
into the embrace
of the beautiful
that is so swift
to steal me
into its arms
of sheer grace,
that breathes
open my heart
so unexpectedly

if it awakens in me, joy
where then will
my work manifest
who will i be
who am i
the ground shifts
below my feet
how is this so

i weep
so afraid
of striping
this thing
i’ve found
of its goodness

yet
my life
is better
for this
ache

The Empty BOX event images

Dean and Mari took great shots...check out the gallery

...once unthinkable

...once unthinkable. 9' x 4' x 6'. ~400 pds. remnant windows, tubes, baling wire, thread. 2008. on view at the Houston Arts Alliance, space 125 gallery, through August 8, 2008.

Latest BOX 13 project

We are beginning to take the BOX back to some of it's original 1948 colors, like a minty institutional hospital green--just lovely.

the mysterious spousal unit many have assumed to be fictitious

he thinks artists are weird and yet here he is covered in oatmeal.
go figure. performance art perhaps. Awe, but he is a good man. :-)

grrrrr.

i NEED to make art or write or do SOMETHING besides think. my hands need to be moving to force me outside of my own head and onto a single doable trail that wont leave a wake of destruction. my feet can't seem to find ground. i am so distracted, it makes it hard to take anything to completion! dang if i am not stuck in my own head and can't get out! Perhaps my T3 is still just a wee bit high (this does not refer to the rise of the machines).

Artist talks and tour of Cohesive Discord @ the Houston Arts Alliance

Cohesive Discord
Artist talks/tours brown bag style.

You are invited to hear the stories behind the art of "Cohesive Discord" when Kathy Kelley, Elaine Bradford and David Waddell host a bring-your-lunch tour of the show at noon today. space125gallery, 3201 Allen Parkway (Houston Arts Alliance). Parking is available in the Houston Center for the Arts lot on D'Amico Street (on the south side of the building) at a rate of $2 per car.

Cohesive Discord
Artist talks and tour (brown bag)
Noon
Houston Arts Alliance
July 1, 2008
11:30 – noon Meet & greet
Noon - Artist Talks/tour

don't ask if you don't want to know

v7

remnant foam, baling wire. ~12" x 4" x 4" each. 2008

H7
carbon, oxygen, water, etc. dimensions vary for each. 2008.
Photos by Katy Anderson

unreasonable art, I make; pretentious artist, I am

soon i shall expound on these topics.
1. differentiating between reasonable and unreasonable art
2. exploring how i became a pretentious maker of unreasonable art.

muchness and manyness

my utter nothingness I mask
in my hunger
for muchness and manyness

-------------------

I am so very small
the fracture between us
yawns as a cavern
so wide I close my eyes to feel
the bruise of soul

Opening June 19 from 6-8 pm

at space125gallery at Houston Arts Alliance
June 19 to August 08, 2008
OPENING RECEPTION : Thursday, June 19, 2008, 6 p.m. - 8 p.m.

Cohesive Discord
Join space125gallery as we host Cohesive Discord, a site-specific installation featuring eleven artists from BOX 13 ArtSpace. Participating artists have created site-specific works that pensively engulf & personify space125gallery. Each artist has individually worked in his or her medium of expertise but within their collaborative teams has articulated his/her work in an unexpected way. This is the first time BOX 13 artists will be exhibiting collectively in Houston. The exhibit opens on June 19 and will remain on view through August 8, 2008.

Participating artists include: Anila Quayyum Agha, Elaine Bradford, Teresa O'Connor, Lisa Marie Godfrey, Woody Golden, Michael Henderson, Kathy Kelley, Jennie Nuttal, Whitney Riley, Mat Wolff and David Waddell

BROWN BAG ARTIST TOUR/TALK WITH
Elaine Bradford, David Waddell and Kathy Kelley
Tuesday, July 1 noon to 1
Bring your own lunch to space125gallery

3201 Allen Parkway (MAP)
Houston, TX 77019

Created to promote dialogue amongst artists and viewers. Please reply if you are planning to attend this event by contacting crystal@haatx.com

this is always about that STILL

week 1

last week (week 2) "this"

this week (week 3) "that"

detail

my bling machine for the bbap pinewood derby

see, i do use color sometimes.

hum. self indulgent.

this is always about that

from here to there





working on elements for Cohesive discord for the BOX 13 Houston Arts Alliance exhibition coming up June 19, 2008 (6-8 pm opening).

desKILLED academy (Eeyore ramblings)

the desKILLED (art) academy results in objects that are only art if they are endowed with
title
date
material
artist name

hum. lucky for me, when i have to work so hard at sewing poorly -- anti-craft, anti-machine -- a production that is purely humanizing, sensuallizing.

how do i avoid moving from artist to strategist, from maker to machine producing just another consumable? how do i not become the very thing i rail against for it is in my nature to be judgmental, hypocritical, and much conflicted...the very thing i hate, i catch glimpses of myself doing.

"every poet and musician and artist, but for grace, is drawn away from the love of the thing he tells, to the love of the telling..." cs lewis.

when is art no longer art?
when is life no longer life?
when am i no longer me?
what happens when i become truly desKILLED?

I leak.

I miss my friend Bill Marshall.
I miss hearing his term of endearment, "damn it, Kathy!"
I miss his laugh.
I miss his teasing.
I miss his wisdom.
I miss his practicality.
I miss his high expectations.
I miss seeing his pleasure at a job well done!
I miss my friend Bill Marshall.

His absence creeps up on me most unexpectedly.

I don't mind my own decay but death sucks.
It leaves a hole in me.
I find that I leak a little more each day.

heaven

cutting auto tires from a loaded 53 foot truck trailer. the trailer filled with truck tires is next. a friend of mine had a couple of his trailers stolen, when they were recovered they were filled with tires JUST FOR ME. i thought i would help him dispose of them via my art. one man's trash is a woman's art...thanks Tom and Trish!

the pleasure of harvesting from the urban waste stream is all mine.



sketching with the remainder



i am still working on how to use this idea in a public setting were the tires don't spill over and hurt someone. when resolved, shazam.

cohesive discord process

for BOX 13 @ space 125 gallery of the Houston Arts Alliance.







These are process shots from one of the pieces for this show that will be site specific collaborative work with Whitney Riley.

ARTSlant interview with Kathy Kelley

I was interviewed by Georgia Fee and the ARTslant team for their San Francisco art community website. The site is similar to Texas' www.glasstire.com.

You can read the interview here: ARTslant SF rackroom

Needless to say my ego and resume are pleased.
kk

Me on the cover

Me on the cover of ArtsHouston magazine, May 2008 edition.
Paint donated by New Living and Photo by Kara Duval.

No the issue isn't all about me or about me even a little, I just happen to be on the cover. I was however featured in this magazine in the article, When art Goes Green in Houston, in the April 2008 edition (ArtsHouston).

Sidenote: You should have seen the funky sunburn I got from doing this...let’s just say paint makes a great sunblock and I forgot to put sunscreen everywhere else.

feet of shadows

in presences
i swoon distance
and am found in the flatness
of a memory not my own
an undifferentiated abyss
of sameness
feet of shadows
trudge this space
of absence.

Be a BOX amigo

WORKDAYS - prepping gallery walls
Saturday, April 12 & 19, 10 am -5 pm

WE NEED HELP prepping the walls for paint in our gallery spaces. Bring your friends, tell your students and come on down to the Box. This is another great opportunity to preview the galleries and studios while getting to know the resident artists and become an official BOX Amigo! Don’t miss the fun!

Saturday, April 12, 10 am - 5pm
We will be wiping down the walls. Also laying plastic and taping off areas to protect from paint splatters.

BRING (if possible): bucket, sponges, towels.
Oh, and cold beer provided.

Saturday, April 19, 10 am - 5pm
We will priming the walls.

BRING (if possible): paint roller and fresh pad for semi smooth/rough surface.
Oh, and cold beer provided.

BOX 13 ArtSpace is a nonprofit artist run innovative environment for the creation and advancement of experimental contemporary art in Houston. BOX 13 artists create this environment through the offering of affordable workspaces for emerging and established artists, dedicating three interior spaces to the exhibition of artistic explorations, a window gallery for installations and an outdoor performance exhibition space. BOX 13 promotes dialogue among artists and the art community on current trends affecting the arts.

The founding members of BOX 13 are Elaine Bradford, Woody Golden, Michael Henderson, Young-Min Kang, Kathy Kelley, Teresa O'Connor, Whitney Riley and Mat Wolff.

BOX 13 is a nonprofit corporation.

BOX 13 at HAA: cohesive discord

Cohesive discord

The melding of process, medium and ego with another in the act of collaboration doesn’t always result in the expected. But to hell with the results, the whole process in and of its self is a bit uncomfortable, unsettling. Why should one chose to participate in this self-infliction of agreed upon ego alliance? An occasional unsettling, a little discomfort, can propel one, whether artist or audience, to think a little different, be a little different. It allows for the unexpected, uncovers alternative slants, dislodges wrong assumptions, moves us outside of our proverbial BOX.

BOX 13 collaborating artists: Elaine Bradford, Lisa Godfry, Woody Golden, Michael Henderson, Kathy Kelley, Teresa O'Connor, Anila Quayyum Agha, Whitney Riley, Mat Wolff, and David Waddell.

Exhibition June-August 2008 (Opening date TBA)
space123gallery
3201 Allen Parkway, Suite 250
Houston, TX 77019

in the process of making

in the space of absence, suckling is continuous.
8' x 10' x 3'. remnant tubes.
consider this a sketch.

DETAIL





gulping.
6' x 9' x 3.5'.
remnant tubes, baling wire, cinder blocks.
IN PROCESS

Time Marker/Time Keeper

H7 exhibition at Lone Star College North Harris
Sculpture Vision XVI
2700 WW Thorne Dr, Houston, TX 77073






The birth of destruction lies within our strength; every tool becomes a weapon when held just right.
16 remnant tires and baling wire. 2008.
Kathy Kelley

slide show

Find more photos like this on ArtsHouston

twas a fun day of suckling!

thanks again to Elaine Bradford of BBAP and Jeff Shell of Green Valentine. it could not have happened without their hard work.



Freed Park Suckling is Continuous installation





18-wheeler tire side walls, inner tubes, baling wire
10' diameter







Kathy and Christopher atop a suckling artifact.
auto tire side walls, baling wire
8' diameter

a big thank you

Gargantuous thanks to Elaine Bradford, JoAnn Park, Troy Stanley and Mat Wolff for helping me with the final installation of suckling is continuous. I am sure all have sore fingers from sewing tire nipple/orifices with baling wire. Though they've all learned my technique, i don't think I have to worry about anyone stealing the method based on the sore fingers that crawled home for a good soaking tonight.

Thanks to Tire International, Ernest's Tires, Refugio Tire Center and Gene Williamson Tires for giving me their old inner tubes and tire scraps.