For my ceramics II class, we are to attend a visiting artist talk that the Art Department at UW offers for students to meet and greet with artists from all over the country and world. I decided to attend the first talk and performance. It was a great excuse to get the assignment out of the way, but it was also a very interesting exhibit. It definitely was of TheChristyBel interest. Here is the paper I wrote about her for my Ceramics II Visiting Artist Assignment. Clearly, after you read about her work, her past experiences, and art practices, you can clearly see why I was so drawn to her visit to UW.
Jaimie Henthorn is an artist that
incorporates the kinetic human structure and movement to architectural
structure. She presented herself and her artistic practice as her creative
research methodology. Jaimie has a diverse background from drawing, painting,
and photography to aerial and contemporary dance, where she incorporates her
dancing background with architectural space in through live performances, still
photo shoots, and video as her mediums.
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| Beginning to Dance in the Visual Arts Foundations Room |
She received her BA from
Northwestern University in Art Theory and Practice in 2000. Then she continued
to receive her MFA through Edinburgh College of Art in Scotland in Art, Space,
and Nature. Through this program, she participated in a grant that allowed a
variety of artists, including Jaimie, to work in workshops in Japan. Currently,
Jaimie is a PhD Candidate through Trinity Laban Conservatoire, London where she
will be presenting a specific piece and written dissertation in Creative
Practice (Dance). Her synopsis for her dissertation research is through
movement interventions that are applied to architectural sites that represent a
few themes: initiation, migration, and reverberation of modernistic
architecture. In her art practices, which she considers her research, she
interrogates the human body and its relationships to modernisms that have the
potential to contribute current building’s architectural design, incorporation
of her choreographic practices and resulting in a visual art piece.
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| Dancing with Mies van der Rohe images in the background |
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| Q&A Session Post-Performance |
Jaimie is not only inspired by the buildings in general or the architectural pieces that make up the spaces, but she uses her past experiences to inspire her as well. In 2010, she retired from being an aerial dance artist due to a falling injury during a performance. This injury was incredibly life-threatening and almost career threatening as an artist for Jaimie. Upon the accident, it resulted in Jaimie breaking her C2-C7 vertebrae and had to be fused together for her recovery. Although she was no longer able to be in the air or on the rope, she resorted back to her art practices to give her hope, support, and comfort for her to continue on with her life and time. It was after her recovery, she created her piece called Articulated that emphasized the sculpture of the Articulated Wall by Herbert Bayer. It was an exploration of the articulation of the wall itself, the body, and the spine, and how they all connected to each other.
Jaimie’s presentation on Tuesday night was very inspiring. As a fellow contemporary dancer, it was a very remarkable integration of dance movement into her architectural and space-aware mindset. She transitioned her artistic timeline at a great pace and allowed us to go on her life’s journey with her during her presentation. She spoke clearly and allowed for questions and comments throughout her entire talk. Through the presentation, she incorporated many photographs and videos into her presentation. She also allotted to a live performance that will take place on the UW campus later in the week. Jaimie helped explain that many people take space and buildings for granite. They come and go within a space, but do not actually explore or use the space to its utmost potential. It made me look at rooms, hallways, buildings, and architecture in general in a much more creative perspective, not to mention, allowed me to fantasize about how an aerial artist or dancer could use the space to their advantage. The 45-minute lectures definitely made me want to see more of her artwork and chat with her more about her dance and art. I am excited to see her performance that she will be having on Thursday afternoon, that I believe is incorporating the space that many of the UW Art students use (a drawing classroom) as well as the Vertical Dance at Vedauwoo performers (who I admire already!)
Visit Jaimie's Website to see more of her work!
The performance definitely left me wanting more. Her direction for the live-piece of art practice/research she presented on Thursday afternoon was very lucid and free-form. Her flexibility while working with the Vedauwoo Vertical Dancers was very hands-off. That is how she approaches many other collaborations with other artists. From what the dancers explained, she would tell them an idea or concept that she had in mind for the piece, but wanted the dancers to have control over the movement and use of the space. Jaimie explained it as the artists performing the movements have better ideas, moves, or techniques that might be beyond Jaimie's experience or knowing; so utilizing the dancer's talents and experiences benefits not just to the piece but for the whole collaboration of the research. I was really impressed that Jaimie also invites the public to view and experience her live-art practices and research. She stated that visitors could come and go as they pleased and were not obligated to stay the entire time. I enjoyed that the performance was completely exploratory and a learning experience for everyone in attendance. I definitely want to learn more about her work and continue following her art practices in whatever she does in the future.
TheChristyBel
PS. I definitely want to do this vertical dance thing...I wonder if my PT would allow this to be incorporated into my Physical Therapy plan!?!
Works Cited
http://www.jaimiehenthorn.com/
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