September 2020

On April 1st, we suspended our regular exhibition programming due to COVID-19; and converted our gallery into a studio residency program in order to support our local arts community. Through the Norton Experimental Residency Series, we have supported 7 artists in our region over 6 months. We encouraged experimental approaches to making, sharing, and viewing work in an era of distance, vulnerability, and isolation.

Janelle Abbott
April 1 - 13

The Norton Residency came to me at a time when a large body of work I had been pushing to release was delayed due to the pandemic. Having the time and space to reassess how I desired to present this work, and even question whether or not the work was ready for presentation, came to feel like a gift I would have otherwise missed. I am now continuing to invest time in creating new and more cohesive works that surround the initial concept I had been investigating, that is: the intersectionality of clothing and furniture, and how wearable art pieces can orient the body in a unique position for rest and self-exploration. 

I found executing my proposed residency at the Specialist to be both challenging, in that the stillness I demanded of myself dug me deeper into unprocessed emotions that I've long been ignoring--but it was also somewhat restorative, in that I gained new perspective about myself and my work as I utilized an open, unobstructed, pure white space for organizing and reorganizing my ideas, as opposed to the dusty, jam packed studio space where I work otherwise.

I am hopeful that as this collection comes together, I will find perhaps another opportunity to showcase the work in the gallery, when the general public is able once again to interact and engage with one another, as well as with this highly tactile and body oriented art. 

Janelle Abbott was born into the fashion industry—her parents owned a clothing company, Amanda Gray, based in Seattle for 20 years. She pursued a BFA in fashion design at Parsons School of Design (2012). Concerned about the ethical failure/ ecological damage caused by the fashion industry at large, Janelle decided to carve her own path—one committed to upcycling, sustainability, hand craft, and the zero waste design methodology.

In 2013, Janelle began FEMAIL: a ‘reactive collaboration’ with Camilla Carper (LA)—the two mail work back and forth to create art together, though from afar. Their work has been featured in Teen Vogue, Interview Magazine and the Bellevue Arts Museum (“AMPM 2.0” 2018).

Janelle’s solo work as JRAT has been featured at Seattle’s Museum of History and Industry, Party Hat, Specialist, TUF Festival, and more. She offers a garment reinvention experience for private clients called Wardrobe Therapy. In addition, Janelle works as chair weaver/assistant to Del Webber, tour guide for Beneath the Streets, and yoga instructor at We Yoga Co. Janelle and her husband met in preschool – they currently live in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood.

Allyce Wood
April 15 - 27

During her time at Norton, Wood focused on her project, S W I F T M I S T. This still-evolving collection of works showcases many processes the artist found herself drawn to during her self-quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic. Each of her tapestries, knits, mends, and drawings, where suction-cupped to the inside of Specialist's window upon completion. The more she worked, the more the work shone through her reflection in the glass; her image and perspective becoming a foggy collage of reflections and actions.

Through this project, she aimed to speak to the multitude of what women do, what artists do, and how actions can obscure an identity. The repetitive loops of thread, stitches, and bound arrangements will explore ideas of determination, tension, and focus during a strange and dangerous time.

Allyce Wood received her MFA from the Oslo National Academy of the Arts (KHiO) in 2018 and her BFA from Cornish College of Art in 2010. She expanded her education by studying at the University of Bergen in 2017 and 2018; she also studied abroad at the Glasgow School of Art in 2009.

She has exhibited her work in solo and group shows locally and internationally in the Pacific Northwest, Glasgow, Milan, Caracas, and Oslo. Her work has been featured in New American Painting, The Stranger, and The Makers Podcast (USA) and reviewed by Kunstkritikk, Subject, and Dagsvisen (Norway). Wood is the gracious recipient of the City Artist Award, 4Culture GAP Grant, and City Art Walk Award in the USA. She received the Diversestipend For Nyutdannede Kunstnere (2018) and the from the Arts Council Norway and the 1-year Artist Grant from Bildende Kunstneres Hjelpefond, Oslo, in 2020.

Zoe Reid
May 5 - 17

During my Norton residency I was interested in bringing the outside to the inside. Each day during my residency I built a cloud and suspended it in the gallery. The clouds are made by attaching recycled polyethylene foam over sculpted wire armatures. I enjoyed having passersby watch the progress of this project; it was like watching the weather change. Clouds are fascinating forms because they are so unstable and ever-changing. The act of building a cloud is akin to taking a photograph, capturing a shape-shifter at one moment in time. I consider this to be a useful metaphor to embody while navigating this destabilizing era.

While working inside the gallery I soon realized this work had two audiences, the art community on instagram and the people living outside or in the shelters in the Pioneer Square neighborhood. The former experienced the work through images that I captured and the latter experienced the work in-person through the window everyday. I tried to find a balance between my audiences' needs. The shelf I put outside the gallery provided free essential items to the neighbors such as snacks, water, masks, and socks. I also held an instagram live event in the space featuring live, long distances performances by Ryan McKeever (DC), An Authentic Skid Mark (Chicago), PEDRO PEDRO (LA), and Myla (Seattle). The clouds were for sale, with all proceeds going to Chief Seattle Club.

Zoe Reid lives and works in Seattle, WA. She was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska. She graduated with a BFA in New Genres from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2017. Since then she has participated in residencies in Roswell, NM and Stockholm, SWE and has shown work in San Francisco, New York, and Seattle.  

Zoe’s work engages with materials and ideas through the evolutions of multiple physical stages; liquid to solid, light to data, and so on. It unfolds as ceaseless permutations of encounters… all undergirded by formal and narrative logics, giving shape to a carefully arranged constellation of time, memory and other recorded (and, somehow, not-recorded) data. Embodied in her labor-intensive process is a profound level of devotion toward this constellation… a structure of loving, a remembering of systems, a nurturing of the infinite.

Aurora San Miguel
May 19 - 31

For this residency, I treated the gallery space as a 9-5, using the time to write, make new prints, and distribute media. Throughout, I found myself making clay worm sculptures, burning novelty candles, and intermittently thinking. During this period I thought a lot about my own precarity. I became hyper-aware of the bootstrap-isms coming from a handful of pundits and gleeful language used in job postings while millions were losing employment. 

I turned my apathy into attention toward positive sloganeering in workplaces, making altered reproductions of two posters on transparency film. The first is based on a crumpled GREAT PLACE TO WORK rights reserved trademark logo, an entity with a vision for all people to be working at a Great Place to Work - Certified workplace by 2030. Each year they hand out certification to companies that demonstrate high levels of trust in their leaders, pride in their jobs, and that demonstrate rampant intra-corporate enjoyment among colleagues. It is suggested by Great Place to Work® to not use their name as a descriptive phrase so as to not weaken their trademark protection and protect their brand. 

The second print is based on the original “Hang in there, baby” poster made by Victor Baldwin in 1970. Many variations of this image, where a kitten hangs from a branch, have since circulated. Baldwin maintained copyright, suing as many infringers as he could find. For my rendition, I changed the motivational text to a more patronizing phrase, facing the poster in toward the gallery whenever I came in and out toward the street when I left.

Each night of the residency, I hosted a remote screening of Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Dekalog, a 10 hour film broken into 1 hour segments intended to parallel certain aspects of the 10 commandments. Anyone who requested the files would receive them and the public was invited to discuss each installment over the gallery’s instagram. It was a nice distraction, but I still believe there is something meaningful in shared viewing. 

w/r/t my experience and a conclusion:

I will not make my artwork a full time job, I do not wish to grind, and reject the stringent professionalism associated with being an exhibiting artist.

San Miguel is an artist, writer, and filmmaker in Seattle.

Ruth Kazmerzak
June 2 - 14

During the Norton residency I researched soil sciences and human perception of soil. In the United States, soil is classified and further valued based on its classification set by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) using Soil Surveys. This method of studying soil has a high focus on monetary value of land in utilizing the survey’s empirical data. I created works that aimed to subvert the data-based understanding of soils by incorporating intimate modes of interacting with the soil. These works included sculptures, instillations and a 30-minute sound performance amplified using audio transducers on an aquarium filled with soil. In light of Black Lives Matter protests around the world, I also utilized my residency time to research and learn more about Black Farmers in the United States (in doing so I built a small library of materials for reference). 

Ruth Kazmerzak is an artist living and working in Seattle, born in Iowa. They earned a BFA in Photomedia and a BS in Aquatic and Fishery Sciences from the University of Washington (2016). Kazmerzak employs the strategies of critical theory, sculpture, photography, and installation in their art practice. Kazmerzak is the Administrative Services Coordinator at the School of Art + Art History + Design at the University of Washington and the photographer for EVOECO.

Chloe King
July 3 - August 3

My practice utilizes collage, photography and painting to explore the intersections of process, materials and identity. Growing up as a mixed Spanish, Welsh and Liberian woman- child of a culturally “white” mother and immigrant Liberian father- in a predominantly white, religious town, I quickly learned all the ways in which I was considered an uncategorizable “other”. Working across different media and disciplines, my work is an exploration of othered racial, cultural, and queer identites. I use personal and collective experiences as a catalyst to create intentionally misleading narratives in my work, complicating and questioning African, Black and white cultural stereotypes.

Anastacia-Reneé: Alice is Spinning

August 11 - September 20

Anastacia-Reneé (American, b. 1972, Kansas City, Missouri) (@Anastaciarenee5) is an award-winning writer, TEDx Speaker, Deep End Podcast co-host, and interdisciplinary artist. A 2020 Arc Fellow (Artist Trust) and 2020 Jack Straw Fellows Curator, Anastacia-Reneé was the Seattle Civic Poet (2017–19), and Poet-in-Residence at Hugo House (2015–17), she has received fellowships and residencies from Cave Canem, Hedgebrook, VONA, Artist Trust, Jack Straw, Ragdale, Mineral School, Hypatia in the Woods, and The New Orleans Writers Residency. Anastacia-Renee's work has been published widely.

Anastacia-Reneé received the 2018 James W. Ray Distinguished Artist Award, which is funded by the Raynier Institute & Foundation through the Frye Art Museum | Artist Trust Consortium. The award supports and advances the creative work of outstanding artists living and working in Washington State and culminates in a presentation at the Frye Art Museum.

She will be working from our physical gallery space, from August 11-September 20, to continue developing her upcoming exhibition at Frye Art Museum, opening in January 2021, titled "(Don’t be Absurd) Alice in Parts."

An excerpt from the exhibition press release reads:

"Through her writing, performances, and installations, Anastacia-Reneé counteracts the erasure of marginalized identities in American society with an unflinching gaze directed toward collective liberation. She plumbs the depths of everyday experiences and emotions, charting the messy intricacies and difficulties that too often go unspoken as a way of transforming silence into language and action. In this exhibition, Anastacia-Reneé offers a rageful mediation on gentrification—of neighborhoods and its insidious effects on the body—as seen through the eyes of her multilayered and witty character Alice Metropolis."

During her NORTON residency, Anastacia will channel Alice via words, doodles of resistance, incomplete lists, confessions and paintings. 

See Alice in 9 Ounces here: https://youtu.be/mUWcwEPpNV8

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