Author Archives: Cynthia Gehrie

About Cynthia Gehrie

As a botanical artist, I am inspired by the natural world, and search for techniques of representation and expression. As a professional documenter, I use photography, video, field notes, and qualitative methods to record naturally occuring events, which I return to for reflection and analysis. My work has expanded over the years to include evaluation of arts integration and early childhood grants in universities and early childhood centers. The purpose of this journal is to record and reflect on the relationship between my work as artist and as documenter/evaluator.

Here come the plants

May 31, 2014 – Bringing all the plants outside.

Today I noticed the plants outside of the building site were very dry. I filled a bucket in the Okada Sculpture Facility and found a cup to dip and pour into the containers. As I worked, Mary came up and said that maybe we should bring outside the plants in the Bemis Center Flock House gallery.

We went into the main building and Mary found dollies. These platforms on wheels allowed us to lift the large plastic containers and roll them out of the Bemis Center, across the paving stones of the street, and into the grassy area.

This was when I realized that the tomatoes were falling over and their cages were not offering enough support. As I studied the cages, I realized that they could be wired together so that they supported one another. This external support was necessary because the soil in the container was not deep enough for the support spikes of the cage to push fully into the ground.

Mary remembered that I had saved the copper wire that we removed from lighting fixtures to make planting containers.

I unwound the braiding and separated 3 wires into strands of two thin wires. It was easy to wind it around the aluminum cage wires. As I worked to connect the cages, they became much stronger.

As I quietly worked to untangle the wires and wind them around the cage wires, I began to feel connected to the place where the Flock House will stand. I became aware how the simple act of participating and contributing was calming and peaceful. I did this simple task with concentration and a keen awareness. Later, when others commented how much better the tomatoes looked, I felt pleasantly satisfied at doing something of service.

Connecting the Pieces, Developing details

May 31, 204 – Connecting the Pieces

Much of the energy has gone into creating the large TRIANGLES assembled from 4 smaller triangles. Now, it is time to piece them together to make the Flock house.

Above you see the base level of the Flock House at Bemis. We attached the large TRIANGLES with hinges. (See below) Next, we build a second roof level of large TRIANGLES to form a 4-sided roof line that comes to a point at the top.

We will use large TRIANGLES to build a larger Flock House at Carver Bank.

There are plastic triangles that will become windows. Below Mary and a design team member study how the framed plastic windows will fit into the opening, and how they might be attached.

Below, Peter and Dwayne from the Design Team reference a paper model of the Flock House the team developed in their early meetings. There is an atmosphere that is some excitement about moving to the next level, but also confusion about exactly how to handle these details. Participants envision different approaches to the details, and different criteria for efficient design. One person suggests that windows double as exterior tables or supports when they are open to the outside.

Outside the Bemis master carpenter is building a plywood foundation for the Flock House. On Thursday, June 5 we will carry the house to the platform and bolt it down.

We will place the Flock House on thick rubber tiles. Wood flooring will cover the projected porch in front of the house. The plywood, tiles and wood are recycled.

Mohonk Mountain House Gazebos

June 4, 2014 – Journal entry on the impact of a Flock House

When I started to think about a Flock House, my mind turned to another kind of hut that visitors to Mohonk Mountain House built over 140 years, along 25 miles of trails. As you walk around the lake, or along the granite cliffs, or in the woods, or on the mountain crests, you see them. At some time, some visitors picked a spot, their spot, and built one. I think there are more than 50 of them left standing. Made from natural materials at hand, they are not so different from a Flock House made from recycled stuff.

Sometimes, I have stopped, and entered one. It beckoned, and I went. I felt a kind of magic, standing there, or sitting on a built-in bench. Someone long ago carved it out, and now I could just step across the threshold and be there. My mind seemed to grasp a vision defined within the space.

Some startle because that they are cantilevered from the edge of a cliff. Others are perched on a rock. How did just regular visitors build these? It is an act of faith to step into it, trusting that it will hold my weight. A touch of anxiety, like stepping into an elevator.

One day I realized that it was not necessary to actually go in. Just by passing it, seeing it from the trail, its presence evoked a state of mind. Contemplative. Peaceful. Placed along the trails, these invitations to stop supported my ability to envision. Improved my ability to think about whatever was on my mind.

You can see where this is going. The Flock House at Bemis, built improbably next to the Okada building, in the Old Market of Omaha, might have the same impact. Might nudge the mind to turn a few degrees and see things from a new perspective.

Palimpsest II

May 29, 2014 – Meeting with Cassidy to explore ways to work with layers.

We met to explore ways to create visual layers with soft pastel, stencils and black walnut ink.

Cassidy selected colors from a box of half stick Sennelier pastels. She began to work pastel into the paper. The dry media worked as a stain on the surface of the paper, and yet stayed transparent so that earlier marks were still visible. This seemed promising, especially when working over marks on white paper. It opened the possibility to create soft color to replace the white background. The effect might be to make it look like a plaster base, or an ancient wall.

We tried a thin styrofoam, often used with school children to make stamps by pressing in the background area of a stamp image. But the ink ran off the non-porous surface of the paper, leaving a blotchy image.

Instead, we began to cut stencils.

As Cassidy cut a stencil, she realized that she could use the cut out part of the stencil paper as negative space, and paint with the brush around the cut out. Then she realized she could fill in the image space with ink by holding down the stencil and brushing in the ink.

As we began to imagine the possibilities, we considered using stamps and stencils to make geometric marks, and to cut organic forms based on the leaves of plants from the Flock house gardens. The contrast between organic forms and mathematical forms could represent nature in relationship to science.

As we looked at the experimental pages, we wondered if there was a better way to create the stencil. The thickness of the styrofoam made it possible for the ink to leak under the cut out area. Maybe we need different brushes to apply the ink. Maybe we can try making stencils with contact paper, which would be easy to cut (spontaneous) and thinner.

We also want to combine the ink with oil pastel to take advantage of the resist nature of the oil pastel.

Plants growing from seeds

May 24, 2014 – Plastic light fixtures recycled as planters

This winter The Flock House Project selected seeds from the Common Soil Seed Library at the Benson Branch of the Omaha Public Library to start for the Omaha Flock houses.

Common Soil strives to provide a space where local gardeners, farmers and library patrons can share open-pollinated seeds, as well as develop awareness and gain information about gardening and seed saving.

The Flock House exhibit at Bemis has a glass wall along one side. This natural light is augmented with Grow Lights to start and grow seedlings. Tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, arugula, beets and okra are some of the plants that we transplanted into recycled containers as part of a food and water system.

We worked on the edge of an urban meadow where the Bemis Flock House will rest. First we removed the electric wires and tubes from the lighting fixtures. Then we filled them with dirt, transplanted the smaller plants, and added water. One larger container made from a plastic drum holds more soil for larger plants.

We set the planters out on a wood pile to harden off outdoors.

Journal – May 27, Cassidy

Phone conversation

Sketch of Flock house – Omaha with strange objects of infrastructure, plants and flags flying.

We set up a meeting for Thursday, May 29 at 1 pm where we will talk about making paper, pre-cutting block prints, and generally visualize an emergent process.

Cassidy said that the process we are using is different from starting with a piece of paper and then drawing or painting on it.

I thought that it is important to talk about the process we are using and to develop language for it. We seek clarity in how we are making, and the softer process technology that we use.

Some of the things we mentioned right away are:

This process is open-ended. We can set up a situation and invite people into it, but we cannot get too specific until we see how people respond and what they bestow. Then we respond to that and maybe tweak the situation, and so it will go. Normally, artists are much more in control of the process, but even then, they will adjust and make changes when they see how the materials they use respond to the situation they set up, or how they begin to open to new dimensions in response to being in the process and giving it their attention. So most art ends up being very different from the original concept. But this way of working helps to see the stages clearly.

We decided we want to make records of this process, of listening, watching, and seeing how we respond and how things evolve. So we can share how it became, the stages of its coming to life.

This process offers opportunities to set up the situation to invite participation.

We want to harvest language from the writing that people record in the Bemis scroll set up. We need a name for what people are doing in the Bemis area.

We are thinking about making sturdy stamps using key words that come from these contributions, as they think about the prompt. These stamps would be used during the time we are actually in the Flock House, either inside, or outside in a printing area we set up. We are thinking of a series of stamps that develop during the process that we will use to add visual layers.

The stamps will be better in English, Spanish and other languages.

I am also thinking that we will want to photo and video document all the stages, so that the culminating palimpsest is transparent and can be unpacked by seeing clearly how the layers and stages looked at each level.

I would also like photos and video of many people participating.

Cassidy is thinking deeply about the papermaking. She feels that making it from recycled material is very important. She is wondering if we can make recipes of how to make the paper as part of the project. Her idea is to deconstruct how to do each piece, so that visitors can leave inspired and ready to do their own project. As a transparent and instructive process, it is available to all, just as when they visit there is a way to make part of the palimpsest.

What we are realizing is that the more we put into the pre-Flock house residency period, the more we will have to work with when we actually inhabit it. And the more ready we will be to invite others into the process. We will be ready with lots of stuff.

Some other thoughts I have had –

I am seeing a performance area in the urban meadow at Bemis. So that our Wordsmith poet in the Design group, can be invited to present a poem that could be recorded. And this worked into video footage. This would bring in many voices that are sound and motion. It could become a palimpsest that is a sound track to compliment the visual art.

We both like the idea that in the end, the Flock house is an empty vessel (from Alex), ready for the next project. It is not claimed space, but is completely open to new interpretations. Like a basketball player who is so centered that they can move in any direction 360 degrees. We will leave only footprints.

4 triangles = 1 TRIANGLE

May 24, 2014 – Building the basic triangle units for the Flock houses – Omaha

For 2 weeks Bemis staff and Design team members constructed basic triangles. We use recycled metal and wood from a metal board mural and maple flooring. In the wood shop, metal is cut into triangles and wood flooring is reshaped into a frame.

To combine these basic units into the essential TRIANGLES that will form the walls of the Flock houses, we fit two plates on either side of the triangle frames.

A plain plate is on one side and a plate with holes cut for bolts is on the other side. We place them where the wood frames of 3 triangles meet.

Triangular plates bolted to the points of the large TRIANGLE secure the tips.

Palimpsest

May 21, 2014. Meeting with Mary Mattingly and Alex Priest at Bemis Center for Contemporary Art to discuss how I might take part in the Flock house when it is open and ready.

I brought two paintings that came out of my work as Harvest Studio with the Living Loess Tour. I give free mini-art lessons to visitors that take a self-tour to destinations up the Old Lincoln Highway and Loess Hills Trail, starting in Crescent, Iowa. I like to combine a demonstration with an opportunity for people to take part. I am still working this out, but the pieces I brought are examples of what I am working toward. I made them during a tour day which lasts from 9 -3. I hung kraft paper on the wall and worked with terra-cotta, black and brown tempera paint.

This first example is trying to represent a prairie by stamping with real prairie plants. I poured paint into a dish and dipped plants into the paint, then pressed them against the paper on the wall. In some cases I just used stems. The idea was to repeatedly do this to build up a sense of prairie texture, not brush strokes or highly abstracted, alternating light and shadow.

The next time I tried this process I decided I would build up a background first, using geometric stamps. The idea was to create a sense of texture that I could overlay with plant pressings. I brought large amaranth leaves, corn stalks and oats (left to right) to use for the overlay.

Immediately, Alex used a word that was new to me.

Palimpsest

|ˈpalimpˌsest |

(păl′ĭmp-sĕst′)

noun

Something reused or altered but still bearing visible traces of its earlier form:

A manuscript, typically of papyrus or parchment, that has been written on more than once, with the earlier writing incompletely erased and often legible.

I loved the idea of working with stamps, stencils and adding text and images to build layers. I love how it could be about the future while appearing to be something ancient.

I also wanted to develop the idea of Flock. Maybe to create large layered sheets, and then cut them into postcards to mail with messages in a flock. Or cut them into selected triangles and hang them from screens to look like a flock of birds in flight. To turn the Flock house into an exhibit that encased its own flock.

As we talked about these ideas, Alex envisioned the first layers could be made by visitors to the Flock House on public view in Bemis. New layers would be added when I moved into the Flock house for a short residency. To set up this beginning layer, we authored a prompt.

Think of something that used to be healthy, but now is toxic or perceived to be ruined. What could its contribution be? Write and draw your response.

I began to imagine an open-ended process at every stage. Before the Flock house. During the Flock house. And after? It would be dismantled and left ready for the next resident. Or be packed up and transported to its new destination.

What Kind of Flock House?

May 9 – 10, 2014, Bemis Center of Contemporary Arts

In Omaha we will build two Flock houses. One will be in the vest pocket meadow across from the Bemis Center of Contemporary Arts. The second will be at Carver Bank.

Mary shows slides of existing Flock houses, living structures moving around New York City. Floating structures. A Flock house on a barge. We break into groups and begin to Blue Sky, pouring out our visions for the Flock house. Our group tables are right next to the very Flock house first built at the port of New York. Now, part of a growing Flock of houses, it migrated to Omaha, to a Bemis gallery where much of Mary’s stuff stands bundled by twine. All her stuff, including her Apple computer, tied into a perfectly visible burden of modern life. All the stuff we keep and store and move from place to place. Mary balled it up and rolled it along the sidewalk to a van, and in the van to New York Harbor.

There is stuff – recycled material that Mary Mattingly and the Bemis staff and residents have located around the building, in the alley and about the city. Wood flooring, plastic molded lighting, doors – there are many, many doors, and metal panels. There is a workshop in the basement at Bemis and a fabrication/construction space across the street. I am excited to think we would build a structure, a Flock house, from recycled materials. Stuff discovered piled here and there, awaiting a second life.

Flock houses, what are they?

They are self-sustaining. They are portable, easy to break down and move to a new site. Not too heavy. Not boxy, but more organic in design. They should open up, be adjustable and connected to the outside. Planters and plants. They should catch rain and hold it to water plants. They need toilet facilities and waste treatment. Energy from wind and sun. As we speak I am trying to imagine urban agriculture, urban cabins, urban exposed plumbing and energy generation. A world part hippie, part Steam Punk, part technical genius. An infrastructure supporting creative thinking and problem solving, art making, and generative community. An image by Janice Jong of Thekla jumps to mind .

Thekla – Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino

“What is the aim of a city under construction unless it is a city? Where is the plan you are following, the blueprint?”

“We will show it to you as soon as the working day is over; we cannot interrupt our work now,” they answer.

Work stops at sunset. Darkness falls over the building site. The sky is filled with stars. “There is the blueprint,” they say.

At 3 am, Mary, sleepless, began making a model of a blue triangular structure. Inspired. Reflecting triangles that kept surfacing in our first envisioning. We see it and affirm, ours will be triangular.

Flock House – Omaha, Documentation

Cynthia Gehrie's journal of participating in Flock House – Omaha