TO DO • A MENDING PROJECT: MICHELLE MONTJOY, ANNA O'CAIN & SIOBHÁN ARNOLD
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
To Do • A Mending Project
October 5 - November 6, 2018
Artist Reception: Thursday, October 4, 6-8PM
In Residence: Thursday, October 5 through November 6, 2018
1805 Gallery is pleased to present To Do • A Mending Project, a collaborative residency with artists Michelle Montjoy, Anna O'Cain and Siobhán Arnold. To Do • A Mending Project is a response to the escalating political, social and economic tensions in the United States that has increased divisions within communities.
In support of inclusivity and open communication, To Do will host free workshops focused on acts of repair from October 5 through November 6, 2018 . An artist reception will be held on Thursday, October 4, from 6-8PM. To Do will guide community participants in knitting holes in sweaters, repairing jewelry, changing flat tires, and joining in simple activities like breathing or reading silently together. This project encourages mending actions as a mode of sustainability and creative community engagement. This is what we do. This is what we can do.
As November midterm elections approach, To Do • A Mending Project’s concept of constructive collaboration has the potential to empower individuals to participate in political action. Devoted entirely to interaction and self-empowerment, 1805 Gallery will act as a relational space that brings together diverse individuals to demonstrate the potential of communication and collaboration as a political force.
For more information please contact 1805 Gallery Director Lauren Siry lsiry@1805gallery.com
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Michelle Montjoy is an Oceanside, California based visual artist. She encourages communities to sit together and knit large textile installations, climb in, sit on or dance inside her textile sculptures, and learn how to mend and repair clothing and household items. Her life and art also include activism, parenting and growing vegetables. Michelle is the recipient of California Arts Council and San Diego Foundation grants, was a recent artist resident at IPark Foundation, and currently has a large installation at the San Diego International Airport. She will also be part of Being Here with You/ Estando Aqui Contigo at MCASD in September 2018.
Siobhán Arnold is a visual artist and arts educator living in San Diego, California. She is a mixed media artist who works with photography, textiles, sculpture and installation. Her work has been exhibited nationally including the Charles Wright Museum, Detroit MI, the Carr Center, Detroit MI, Center on Contemporary Art, Seattle, WA; Sherry Frumkin Gallery, Los Angeles CA; SCA Contemporary Art, Albuquerque, NM, the Gallery Project, Toledo, OH, the Ann Arbor Arts Center, and San Diego Space 4 Art. Her work has been featured in several magazines including View Camera, Pacific San Diego, Encaustic Arts Magazine, Detour, the Portland Review, Orange Coast Weekly and reviewed in The Seattle Times and The Stranger. She received a BA in Art and Design from the University of Chicago and an MFA in Art Studio from University of California Santa Barbara.
Anna O’Cain is a San Diego based artist who was born on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. In the seventies she studied ceramics, photo, film, and conceptual art for two years at Oklahoma University, moved to Chicago to continue her studies in art and received a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and in 1983 she received an MFA in Visual Art from the University of California San Diego. Anna is a recipient of a public art commission with artist Richard Keely for Aviara Community Park in Carlsbad, California. She has received grants from the California Arts Council and Art Matters in New York City, and held artist residencies at the Ucross Foundation in Wyoming and the Djerassi Foundation near Palo Alto, California. Anna has developed installation projects with students in the art departments at Oberlin College in Ohio and Southern Oregon State College in Ashland, Oregon. She currently teaches in the Art Department at MiraCosta College in Oceanside, California.
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