CITY OF EL PASO OPERATIONAL HOURS:
Mon-Thurs, 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. - Closed Fridays
Special Events
Artists on Art with Christine Foerster
where the artist will discuss the mixed-media
installation Goatwalking, 2013
June 20, 2013
5:30 PM
FREE
The artist’s girls shown in the photograph are Sol and Sabrina.
Marion Rohrleitner is the invited goat-herder with her dog Gatsby.
The goats are Luna and Zenith.
Artists on Art - located at the El Paso Museum of Art (EPMA) provides local artists an opportunity to exhibit one work of art in any media accompanied by a 30 minute discussion on their work and its relation to the Museum’s permanent collection. There are six exhibits per year and the work is exhibited for a two-month period. Artists interested in being featured in Artists on Art are encouraged to contact Christian Gerstheimer, Curator at (915) 532-1707 x 20.
Christine Foerster works in a variety of visual media including textiles, performance, sculptural installation and public art. The artist often creates modular and mobile structures that reshape, if only temporarily, the dynamics and possibilities of exchange within a given space. In some instances, Foerster situates her work in the outer limits of art practice and environmental concern by creating interactive art installations based on green design and permaculture principles. In the best case scenario, this hybrid approach makes it possible for a diverse audience to engage with a public art work in vitally unexpected terms. And, in the process, learn about small scale animal husbandry practices and do-it-yourself agriculture technologies.
Foerster is drawn to the adaptive features of animals in the natural world and in their interactions with humans. Having been an avid explorer of the desert in her childhood, and having lived in El Paso for four years, in her current work, Foerster aspires to use the principles of permaculture to focus the audience's attention to the ecology of the desert, by designing structures that mimic natural systems where animal and plant specimens thrive. To develop that kind of keen attention to the natural world, Foerster is interested in exploring landscapes of the desert through animals that thrive in these environments. But, Foerster is equally interested in the human interaction in those environments. Through a recontextualization of artifacts found in these landscapes, Foerster wants to ask how does their presence affect the narrative of such landscapes? How does the telling of those stories affect our understanding and involvement with that environment?
Goatwalking
Goatwalking invites El Paso residents on a series of walks with goats. Each walk will be documented on the goatwalking blog http://goatwalking.com with images, a map-drawing of the walk inspired and a found artifact that will be cast in goat’s milk.
Foerster received a MFA in Visual Arts and a MA in Latin American Studies from the University of California at San Diego. She has exhibited at national and international venues and festivals such as MIND THE GAP in Istanbul, the Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego, Conflux Festival of Art and Technology in New York City, Version 8 Fest in Chicago, and Estación Tijuana in Mexico. She is most recently the recipient of an Idea Fund grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation and an Artist Incubator grant from the Museum and Cultural Affairs Department of El Paso. In addition to her art practice, Foerster is a lecturer at the University of Texas at El Paso Art Department and Southwestern College.
Artist Statement
Goatwalking is a multi-media public art project that invites El Paso residents on 16 walks with goats. The goatwalks are explored through many instances: a website, GPS maps that become watercolor drawings, artifacts to be cast in goat’s milk, video and photos.
One driving concept behind Goatwalking is to disrupt human control over navigation patterns by allowing the goat to influence the walks. However, I did not anticipate that Luna’s pending labor would influence the walks to such a degree that she would refuse to walk after Goatwalk.08. In keeping with the spirit of the project, I adapted to this new circumstance by doing goatwalks only with Zenith, goat-cycling and goat-sitting with a midwife. Luna's refusal to be part of the goatwalks became in fact an opportunity, as another theme explored in goatwalking is how far we have distanced ourselves from the animals we depend on. Her labor in an urban setting brought these issues to the forefront.
These two concepts ---Luna's influence on the goatwalks, and her labor as a means to breach the gap between us and the animals we depend on--- became integral in the editing of the Goatwalking video. Giving birth is one of the most natural events, but it often feels strange to us because of the separations we create between ourselves and the many normal processes within the cycle of life. Therefore, I interspersed clips of Luna's labor with the goatwalks to not only allude to how much her pregnancy has shaped this project thus far but also to invite the public to share in this experience that became central to Goatwalking.
Workshops for Preschoolers
Introducing Museum Looks and Picture Books – free art sessions for children ages 3-5 and a caregiver.
Join El Paso Museum of Art staff for a one hour session where you will:
closely look at a work of art,
read a related story, and
participate in an activity to promote visual literacy.
Upcoming sessions:
June 27, 10-11 AM
July 11, 10-11 AM
July 25, 10-11 AM
August 8, 10-11 AM
August 22, 10-11 AM
Free, and supplies are included.
Space is limited – please call to pre-register at (915) 532-1707, ext. 65.
The El Paso Museum of Art Museum School and Educational Programs are generously supported by JPMorgan Chase Foundation, Marian Meaker Apteckar Foundation, Wilma D. Moleen Foundation, Moor Foundation, Kirk & Judy Robison, Teresa E. Bustamante and Jorge A. Vergen, The Boeing Company, Shiloff Family Foundation, Texas Commission on the Arts, and Museums & Cultural Affairs Department, City of El Paso.
Museum Looks and Picture Books is free during Summer 2013 through generous support from The Boeing Company.
Desert Weeds
Basic Printmaking Workshop
with Oscar Moya and Lydia Limas
Saturday, July 13, 2013
1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
FREE
Desert Weeds Basic Print Making Workshop
July 13, 1:00-3:00 PM
Free, ages 3 and up. Supplies included.
Space is limited. Pre-registration required.
Painting with Printmaking
Collagraphy is a printmaking process incorporating drawing, painting, and/or relief techniques, in which flat materials such as leaves, weeds, or any other organic and inorganic materials are applied to a rigid surface such as cardboard, wood, or plexiglass. The design is painted, pressed, and transferred onto paper, resulting in a unique collagraph print, or monoprint.
For more information and to register, call (915) 532-1707, ext. 65.
This workshop is sponsored with the support of the City of El Paso Museums and Cultural Affairs Department and the Texas Commission on the Arts.
The El Paso Museum of Art Museum School and Educational Programs are generously supported by JPMorgan Chase Foundation, Marian Meaker Apteckar Foundation, Wilma D. Moleen Foundation, Moor Foundation, Kirk & Judy Robison, Teresa E. Bustamante and Jorge A. Vergen, The Boeing Company, Shiloff Family Foundation, Texas Commission on the Arts, and Museums & Cultural Affairs Department, City of El Paso
