exhibition
Jane Ingram Allen, Site Maps, Red Hook, Brooklyn

About the exhibition

Jane Ingram Allen
SITE MAPS – RED HOOK, BROOKLYN

Exhibition Dates: May 24 – June 30, 2003
 
Artist Talk: May 24, 2003, 2pm

Community Art Project: Papermaking Workshops: May 21 & 22, 3:30pm
BROOKLYN PUBLIC LIBRARY, Red Hook Branch


Artist's Statement:
My site-specific gallery installation at Kentler International Drawing Space features new map constructions representing Red Hook created with artist made paper and containing materials collected in Red Hook. The gallery installation also incorporates unique handmade paper and collage map pieces made by students from PS 15 and community participants in workshops I led at the Brooklyn Public Library, Red Hook Branch during a week-long residency project. My residency and the exhibition are supported in part by a grant from the Independence Community Foundation. The mixed media map constructions are created from handmade paper using abaca and other plant fibers along with recycled paper and natural and found materials gathered in Red Hook. The installation focuses on raising awareness about environmental problems and emphasizes the unique place of Red Hook in the world.

About the Artist:
Jane Ingram Allen is an internationally known sculptor/installation artist originally from Alabama and now living in Troy, NY. Allen has received many grant awards including a Fulbright Scholar Award for a six-month residency in Taiwan beginning in January 2004. She has also received two grants from the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation and grants from the Puffin Foundation, Ruth Chenven Foundation, NEA, New York Foundation for the Arts, Empire State Crafts Alliance and Artists Space, among others. Allen has been an artist in residence and created site-specific works in Brazil, Nepal, Japan and the Philippines as well as at environmental centers, nature preserves, sculpture parks, museums and galleries in the U.S. Many of Allen's works focus on environmental issues and involve community participants in a collaborative process to create installations with multiple unique parts. Since 1998 she has been creating installations based on maps of specific places incorporating materials gathered at the site.