The online exhibition Call and Response might be one of the best exhibitions of the art decade, never mind that it happened now, was a direct call to our loneliness, our longing, and our collective creativity.
The project was organized through Shoebox PR and Art & Cake; the dedicated art leadership behind it included those organizations’ helmswoman, Kristine Schomaker, as well as Sheli Silverio, S. Vollie Osborn, Emily Wiseman and Susan T. Kurland.
In traditional terms, the exhibition uses the process of randomly chosen collaboration to explore ongoing partnered work reminiscent of both jazz riffs and Exquisite Corpse; as “a way for us to stay connected, to check in with each other and to support each other. This is collaboration at a distance.”
But this show goes beyond that description: beautiful, interesting, expanding artworks created from collaborating; a riveting example of what happens in challenging and cheering each other’s abilities; and a way to truly tap into the zeitgeist of what may very well be not just this year, but this decade.
Creating entirely new works of art inspired by one’s partner’s work of art over a brief course of time is a pretty incredible effort and joy. So too are the formidable amounts of both that the organizers put into mounting the show, on exhibit here:
View it. Sense it. Be submerged in it.
This was truly a formidable and moving project; not in the least because of the often isolation/corona virus related/ elegiac images, but more so in the vastness of the reaching out, the hope and hopefulness in participants voicing plans for future collaborations, feeling heartened by the experience, or confronting their own sense of loss.
In short: in loss there is gain; in waiting there is growth; in stillness, there is a voice; in partnership, the soul is not alone.
This show is a moving, even wonderful, experience. I spent a lot of time enjoying the art works and attended the two hour zoom reception, and each moment spent was a pleasure.
There are too many fine pairings to cite or come close to showing them all, but I wish I could, and I will laundry list the 106 participants by pair at the end of this piece. Rather than reviewing the art – although it is uniformly exceptionally worthy, the amount is overwhelming – I’m offering a taste of the reception, and what the artists felt about the experience.
Go absorb the works online yourself: you will be glad you did.
Cindy Rinne, partnered with Jason Jenn, described their pairing as “exciting…to see that Jason also performed and writes. We did collages and poems every few days, creating with a new perspective. We plan to work together in the future.” Exciting also describes the glow and poetry of their work together, and Jenn adds “It was a great way to stretch.”
Dani Dodge and Stacie Birky Greene’s collaboration “turned out to be awesome… I got images from Stacie, who works in photo montages, and I took what she does and translated that into what I do. To have someone who was so giving and didn’t mind if I got my own image in late… it was a great process to work with her,” Dodge reports. The result was a pairing of haunting, insightful images.
Ashton Phillips and Leora Wien were similarly inspired. Wien was moved to try different mediums with Phillips; likewise, Susan Kurland and Lina Kogan found their partnership to be “inspirational.”
Bibi Davidson stretched her oeuvre as well with a vibrant, moving image collaboration with Jen Snoeyink, whose photographic depictions of site-specific installations vibrate with color. Collaborative work above.
Photographic artists Diane Cockerill and Martin Cox agreed that their collaboration “was something to look forward to…it gave meaning to our day, and we were on the same wavelength with what we wanted to say, many times,” Cockerill reports. Cox agrees “I would rush out to find something, shooting close to home…this forced me to come up with something that made sense.” Cockerill adds “The [photographic] stories were a by-product of our exchange.”
L. Aviva Diamond had been in lockdown mode prior to the county-wide safer at home regulations, and found collaborating with Micke Tong – a process she has never done before, an entirely new experience. “It was hard at first,” she says, “I didn’t have any connection with the installations and thedigital art he was doing. But he taught me how to do masks, and connect to his emotions. I’m really proud of what we came up with.” Tong agrees: “It was a joy to communicate with Aviva. She would react to what I was doing and there was a deeper relationship toward our work at the end of the process.” Their work is a dance, as is that of curators Schomaker and Silverio, who also collaborated on art work as well as the exhibition.
Schomaker relates “The idea for Call and Response came as a way to help artists. Shelli convinced me to do this. We played off each other’s art and emotions, and it got me out of the anxious mind set I was in sometimes.” Silverio adds “A lot of the time we are giving advice to artists, but for myself, I didn’t take my own advice. This was a really good exercise.”
Dwora Fried, working with Jeremy Hight, adds “I was inspired by Jeremy. I had a lot of insecurity at the beginning but then I began to feel that things would more than work out.” Something to remember in general, today.
David Isaacson says of his pairing with Amy Kaps, above “Her art came fast and fun. I was sacred shitless, but I was born to do this. Working with a performing artist like Amy was exciting. We hope to make a future performance art piece together.”
And Kayla Cloonan relates of her work with Misty Mawn, “I typically work in abstraction, while Misty is primarily figurative. She got me out of myself, and it was really rejuvenating.”
Julia Montgomery said of working with Kristine Augustyn. “I didn’t want to stop, I couldn’t stop. This kept me going.” Augustyn adds “She gave me a place to focus, to see her working was so exciting. It was an organic experience, and we built something.”
Building something: the concept of Call and Response as a whole.
Given 24 hours per participant to answer each other’s “call,” these works, are especially profound given this constraint. Some artists built upon each other’s piece; others bounced ideas back and forth. All created work that was important to the spirit: their own, and that of the viewers.
Kimberly Morris, above
In all, those exhibiting include:
Nora Cohen/Emily Wiseman
Jen Snoeyink/ Bibi Davidson
Gini Mann-Deibert/Debbie Carlson
Ashton S. Phillips/Leora Wien
Ashley L. Gnar/Yvonne Jongeling
Kenzie Dickens/Laura Henneforth
Cia Foreman/Kat Nuñez
Paula Goldman/Karen Fisher
Chris Fontaine/Kimberlee Koym-Murteira
Jacki Morie/Zarina Silverman
Kayla Cloonan/ Misty Mawn
Larissa Nickel/Ted Meyer
Jesse Standlea/Dafna Steinberg
Leticia Velasquez/Reneé Fox
Isa Gordon/Robyn Alatorre
Kristine Augustyn/Julia Montgomery
Adrienne Cole/Gina Herrera
Anne M Bray/Sina Evans
Cathy Breslaw/Susan J. Osborn
Dale Voelker/Samantha Fields
Sally Baxter/Karen Hochman Brown
Jason Jenn/Cindy Rinne
Darren McManus/Xu Darocha
S. Vollie Osborn/Alyssa Haley Moon
Micke Tong/L. Aviva Diamond
Laura London/Heather Arndt
Conchi Sanford/Ellen Friedlander
Bee Colman/Cassandra Takeshi
Audrey Coates/Lissa Young
Jeremy Hight/Dwora Fried
Martin Cox/Diane Cockerill
Kimberly Morris/Tom Lasley
Lorraine Bubar/Jody Zellen
Albert Valdez/John Park
David Isakson/Amy Kaps
Carole Silverstein/Heather Lowe
Emily Silver/Angela Brooks
Hillary Ramirez/Sadhana Bhetuwal
Susan Kaufer Carey/Madeline Arnault
Coleman Griffith/Lynn Azali
Jacqueline Bell Johnson/Kris Hodson Moore
Michelle Andrade/Sohani Holland
William Hemmerdinger/Teresa Coates
Lina Kogan/Susan Kurland
Liliana Hueso/Andee Rudloff
Jill D’Agnenica/Victor Wilde
Allison Butcher/Leah Shane Dixon
Kristine Schomaker/Sheli Silverio
Kerrie Smith/Aazam Irilian
Dani Dodge/Stacie Birky Greene
Adeo Las/Diane Linquata
Rebecca Bennett Duke/Leyna Lighman
There is a Round 2 of Call and Response, with an online reception scheduled for May 9th – and in which, I am participating with the written word and the occasional photo image in collaboration with my randomly chosen partner, Adrienne Cole.
Be sure to watch for the invitation to attend the virtual reception, and visit the work. There’s life out there in the void. You’ll want to experience it.
Genie Davis; photos provided by Shoebox Projects; featured image by Ellen M. Friedlander.