Carly Greene’s cardboard meteorites.
When artist and UAlberta alumna Carly Greene (’12 BFA) was trying to think of a visual metaphor for the university experience, she took her inspiration from an unexpected source: science fiction.
Today and Saturday, September 20, Carly will be on-site in the Tuck Shop Tent in Quad at Alumni Weekend leading a Meteorite Makerspace — a participatory art installation where meteorites serve as symbols of students past and present.
“Like meteorites, we have all been pulled to the U of A by the influences and forces that surround us,” she explains. “It’s interesting to think that we have moved along different trajectories that have intersected at this very specific place, for a brief point in time.”
Carly will work with students and alumni to create cardboard meteorites that can then be taken away from the tent, or “return to orbit,” as guests set off on their own trajectories once again.
In addition to Carly’s makerspace, the Faculty of Arts is presenting our first Work of Arts Showcase, a unique line-up of entertainment as part of the Alumni Weekend festivities in the Tuck Shop Tent in Quad. For the full details, see the show preview story by Carmen Rojas on our sister blog, the Work of Arts
About artist Carly Greene:
website: www.carlygreene.com
Bad Words blog: http://carjogreene.wordpress.com/
Instagram: @carlyjococomo
Twitter:
Carly Greene is a visual artist living and working in Edmonton, Alberta. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree majoring in sculpture at the University of Alberta in 2012 and currently maintains a studio practice which includes sculpture, drawing, and photography.
“I have a love/hate relationship with reality, and it shows. My work is my attempt to blur the lines between our perceivable world and the WAAAYYY more interesting one I inhabit in my mind; the one where time travel is real, aliens definitely exist, and life is a perpetual adventure,” says Carly Greene.
Ortona Artist in Residence
Carly Greene is also the Ortona Artist-In-Residence for the months of September and October leading up to the Ortona 100 which is the 100th year anniversary celebration of the Ortona Armoury Arts Building.
The building was originally constructed in 1914 as stables for the Hudson’s Bay Company. Over the years it has housed commercial businesses as well as becoming a major naval training facility, and it is currently home to the Ortona Tenants Association which houses many arts based groups including FAVA, the Edmonton Film School, and many more.
Carly’s piece is based on the current namesake of the building. Following WWII the building was renamed after an important battle in Ortona, Italy. This battle saw great innovation by Canadian soldiers including the Loyal Edmonton Regiment who was once a tenant of the building. They came up with a technique called “mouseholing” where they would blast holes in walls of conjoined buildings in order to move through the city under cover and out of the streets where they would be exposed to enemy fire.
“This work examines how we as a community maintain our connection with a past that seems just out of reach, as well as the relationship between permanence and impermanence in our material culture,” she explains.
Ortona Opening Reception:
Thursday, September 25 at 7 p.m. to late
Ortona Gallery
Ortona Armoury Arts Building
second floor
9722 102 Street, Edmonton