In Ari Bird's Oakland Studio.
Earlier this past Fall I met local artist Ari Bird through our mutual friend Mia Christopher when Ari was hosting a one night pop-up art show in her SF studio. Ari invited a few friends to show their art work, in a casual and safe environment to experiment and be together. There was a visual display on the table by the entrance covered with a plexi box. The display and painting caught my attention, and when I realized it was Ari's work I knew I really like it. Ari was also creating individual parcels for anyone that wanted one from her. In them she hand wrote a personal secret about herself, she cut colored paper in different fun shapes and, folded and glued paper to make an envelop. I only stayed briefly, but before I left Ari made sure I got an envelop for her. It was one of the nicest ways I've ever met a person or artist.
Ari is in an upcoming two person show with Alyssa Block, titled Interiors, which opens December 3, 6-8pm at 1015 Pacific Ave, in SF.
Recently I visited Ari's new Oakland studio to talk about her upcoming show and her work.
Recently I visited Ari's new Oakland studio to talk about her upcoming show and her work.
SFACC: You are in a two person show this week with Alyssa Block, can you tell us about you two became friends through art?
Ari Bird: Alyssa and I met at City Limits when she was co-directing there, maybe a year and a half or two years ago. I had gone for the first time to see a show there and we started talking. I just remember instantly relating to her! We both studied art in undergrad at the exact same time at UC Santa Cruz, but neither of us quite remembers how or when we met originally…It’s still a mystery! But now we are friends!
What is it about interiors that you are interested in?
What is it about interiors that you are interested in?
I’m interested in how interior spaces and the objects within them-whether it’s your room or studio or any other sacred space-mirror and affect your mood. You can reveal/conceal what you want in a private space, You can invite friends, loved ones, ideas that are supportive and healing elements in that space. To me, ‘interiors’ also represents ways that you can self curate or set boundaries. Not everything that is inside needs to be outside.
Ari installing a painting for Interiors. Photo courtesy of Ari/Alyssa.
Are you and Alyssa collaborating in anyways for this show?
Yes! We totally are! But it was the type of collaborating that just happens naturally…We knew we wanted to have a show together and we came up with the theme pretty mutually… and then she encouraged me to work in a certain direction off of a large painting she liked in my studio because it reminded her of wallpaper…so then when I painted I thought about how weird it is when you sleep in a room with ornate wallpaper and different images start to pop out. And then I’d show her photos of what I was working on, and she’d show her ceramic pieces in process, and then I’d have her structures in mind while painting, etc…so It was a removed yet close collaboration. We took more like subtle hints from each other than verbal cues. It’s been very natural and quiet to collaborate with Alyssa.
Compatibly, there are several secret elements to our show.
Compatibly, there are several secret elements to our show.
In what ways are you works compatible together and working in this show?
From my perspective, my new paintings kind of float and her ceramics seem to ground my paintings because they are anchored and structurally sound objects. She also produced an awesome painting, and together we made a minimal mural that interacts with it. Both our work has recognizable, functional, everyday components that are either abstracted or obscured. In my work, I do a lot of whiting out, covering up, and reduction, and she does that too but in a different way.
Detail of a painting in Ari's studio.
During one of the last days at your SF studio you hosted a pop-up show with friends to show their work, and invited people to come and participate. You were making small notes and packages for people, writing down your own personal secrets they would later open on their own. Can you talk about how intimacy and closeness come into you work, with your parcels and your paintings?
Yes, I hosted a show called Two Hours Only that was open to the public for only two hours as you might assume. Alyssa Block, Mia Christopher, Chelsea Wong, and I had pieces in the show. For my part in the show, I had a large painting that was suspended from the ceiling and I decided to wrap secrets in handmade envelopes with paper shapes. The secrets were my own secrets, just whatever came to my mind at the time. I wanted to do something kind and intimate since I thought it would be mostly my friends there. It was gratifying because I got positive feedback for engaging with others in a direct manner from both friends and strangers. I think people respond well to having to sit next to someone intentionally, have a one-on-one-conversation, look someone in the eyes, and watch that person make a little object for them. It’s an experience we don’t necessarily expect in a gallery or exhibition-setting, and it can be a relief from the social interactions at art openings. I like making parcels for people, which are intricate little art packages with lots of steps and things to open. It’s a removed yet intimate way to be close with someone and have a dialog with them, and I really enjoy that type of interaction.
In Ari's Studio.
How has your work changed over time in different spaces, from working in your room, to your SF studio, and now having an Oakland studio closer to where you live? How have those places informed your work and work ethic?
When I was primarily a printmaking student, I worked in a collective-like setting since everyone had to share expensive presses and tools. After school, I made art from home, and I notice now that my work was influenced by the objects and occurrences directly around me. When I moved into my first “real” art studio in the Dogpatch in San Francisco, I almost immediately started to work much larger. I also got to think about how to create a more immersive experience for myself/audience as I had a white box to fill. I began thinking a lot more about creating an environment with my work, which is something I want to continue to explore. Now that I’ve moved from the City to Oakland, and my new studio is 15 minutes away from my house, that too has changed the way I work. Going to the studio is much more integrated into my everyday life-I go to my studio essentially every day.
You use the a large variety of paper in your work, from colored papers to make shapes, different Japanese papers, and you use semi transparent papers to make envelops, Can you talk about the functions of these different papers in your work? And how you started to explore that?
I have a printmaking background. After school, I interned under Master Printer Unai San Martin at Kala Art Institute in Berkeley. It was such an amazing experience, and I learned so much, including that high precision print making of exact multiples is fun/obsessive to me, but not necessarily my path as an artist. Printmaking was my introduction to many materials that I love-especially paper! I discovered my love for handmade Japanese papers like Mulberry and Gampi-both delicate papers that look like different shades of the moon and come to you with such a long history-first in nature and then through the paper making process. While printmaking, I used the technique of chine collé, where thin pieces of paper are adhered to the heavier paper below a print to create a background. I transferred this technique to my painting, and was super excited to find that it created subtle layers where you could still see remnants of what was beneath. I like working with paper because it’s such a resilient, versatile material but it’s also delicate and ephemeral.
Ari in her Oakland studio.
Most of the work you show now are compositions of different gestural mark making, but you do figurative work with watercolors too. We've talked about these two different modes of working are healing for you, can you explain that a bit?
I like to work in a freeing, intuitive manner and in a precision-based manner. I like the feeling I get when doing both things, and I think the balance of the two leads to a more successful or more finished piece. It’s satisfying to let another force paint for you, and it’s also fun to hone in and feel like you have complete control of your hands and the marks you’re making and the medium.
You are going to be participating in Wintershop the following week after Interiors at Alyssa's place. What will you be showing/doing there?
I’ll have a zine that I made earlier this year called Fountains that explains some of the recent projects I’ve been working on. I’ll also have some tiny envelopes with things inside, a few ceramics, and art parcels.
Is there anything that you'll be working on after, for the rest of the year?
After Wintershop, I’ll be focusing on finishing a magazine I started a few months ago about irl communication vs digital communication, and how artists interpret that idea. I’ve conducted “parcel interviews”, where I’ve mailed other artists interviews and then they have to send me their response. Their interaction with the parcel and the remnants of what is sent back to me is what will be the content for the interviews. It’s an involved project!
I’ll also have an edition of riso print-packet-things in East Bay Print Sale the same weekend as Wintershop.
Do you have any projects in early 2016 you can tell us about?
On February 13th, I’ll be in a group show at Session Space in Oakland. I don’t know many details about the show yet except the title, which is #me -- as in hashtagme haha.
Huge thanks to Ari for opening up her studio and talking about her work with us.
Follow Ari on instagram for more updates, @AriiBiird.
