Jenga – Alexis Marie Chute

It’s time for the Artist in Residence meet and greet at Harcourt House!

This Thursday night I will be opening my art studio in the Harcourt Annex for visitors. I will also be giving a poetry reading and doing a demo of my woodworking techniques. This coincides with Harcourt’s annual member’s exhibition; this year the theme is Kinetic. It’s going to be a great night! Also in store: a complementary BBQ on the grass in front of the gallery (YUM!) and a free life drawing workshop.

I truly love what I am working on in my studio at Harcourt House. My art is full of color and shape. Come Thursday, June 20th and see for yourself.

The body of art I am creating during my residency is called “The Quiet Rebuild” and is a visual picture of healing and rebuilding one’s life after hardship.

For me, the hardship was losing my second child to a cardiac tumor in 2010. Since then I have been slowly (sometimes extremely slowly) and quietly rebuilding my life. I have found that art became and remains an important tool and expression of my grief and search for hope. Everyone will find meaning in this artwork.

I am working with a lot of wood, both natural and manufactured in “The Quiet Rebuild.” Other materials I am using include yarn, Jenga blocks, paper, and acrylic paint. Oh and photography as well. I feel such an amazing connection with my art and am looking forward to sharing it with our local community within my studio, where all the magic happens!

The poem I will be reading speaks to the time I lost my son, whom we named Zachary. I am currently working on branding (burning) the poem onto wood panels. I will share more about the meaning of the poem and my wood burning technique at the demo.

This is a fish-eye photo of my poem I am branding onto wood panels. Come to the Artist in Residence meet and greet to hear a reading of the poem and see my wood burning techniques first hand.

Artwork and photograph copyright Alexis Marie Chute

Being the Artist in Residence at Harcourt House has allowed me to find my footing within my current body of art and take off running. The time and space they have provided me to develop my creative work is one of the greatest gifts an artist can receive. The people who work at Harcourt House are pretty amazing too!

Truly the time has flown by and with the close of March I tick off my fifth month at the gallery. Five months! On one hand I feel like, ‘Where has the time gone?’ but on the other I am amazed at the gift of time itself.

Art and photography copyright Alexis Marie Chute

What exactly do I spend my time on you ask? Answer: lots of hard work and creative play.

I approach my artwork through experimentation with my chosen materials (wood, glue, yarn, acrylic paint…) while holding my concept loosely in my head (and my heart) to see where it all takes me.

For those of you new to my blog, the greater meaning behind my work is the idea of rebuilding ones life after hardship. My method is very akin to my materials and process themselves; I am experimenting using art to heal.

Art and photograph copyright Alexis Marie Chute

The images in this post are some of my very recent work. I began using Jenga pieces in some of my compositions and found this consumerist approach a fun twist while drawing on the concept of the game itself; build as high as you can until your structure falls over. When it does, which is always the case, you laugh and build again learning from your mistakes and constructing your tower even higher the next time.

I love a comment from Brand on my last Harcourt House Residency update. He said my work reminded him of photographic pixels. That notion blows me a way – I LOVE IT! It totally jives with the photographer in me. I am percolating ideas of how to incorporate that concept into my work and am excited about it.

As always, I LOVE company at my studio so please come for a visit! I purposefully have lots of seating so come talk art, life or whatever is on your mind. Contact me to find a time that works.