An 80 year old bookstore is an ANALOGUE island

There are too many things to talk about right now. There are too many things that haven't been discussed on our blog yet. Our 80 year history, the exciting possibilities of the big move, this old space and how we've used it in so many ways to create a fruitful, fluid, dynamic place to experience the written word and art. In curating shows for our gallery on the mezzanine, in creating displays for the front window and throughout the store, we have used both the physical relics of our history and the intangible presence of it to spin something new. Shari Zollinger and I have pursued artists for many of our past exhibitions and challenged them to respond to this place or a certain idea, but artists in the community have also come to us with their own projects. In all cases, this place has carried some magnetic force or gravitational pull for creative people. Of course, when we find the new perfect location, we will continue with this exploration. I just want to address this building and give a tribute to the things we've been cultivating here for the last few years. Forward thinking, beginning with retrospection.
That said, our ANALOGUE island exhibition has been the most experimental of the art shows we have put on here. We brought in sound-based projects, a performance art piece, and works that the viewers could actively engage with. The opening reception was truly a consideration of "the analogue in sound, vision, and human gesture." In looking over the photos of the opening, folks are moving, interacting with art and each other. The whole store was integrated in a sonic way with the sounds created by people activating Trent Alvey's sculptures and Mathieu Ruhlmann's sound installation. People on the street were drawn in by the gestures happening in the front window between Michael Handley and Brandon Garcia. Henry Jones's ongoing site-specific project, Tales on Tape, surprised the viewer in the midst of our fiction section. The recording booth truly embodies an "analogue island" concept, as it stands there a plexi-glass enclosure/display with two tape decks inside -one to play back, and one to record your own story. ANALOGUE island runs through May 8th, so come down and check it out! For more images of the show, please go to our flickr album. There you will also find sets of our past exhibitions and events.
Read more about Tales on Tape in this interview, or go: talesontape.org
To download Mathieu Ruhlmann's sound piece, go here or to learn more about his impressive body of work, visit woodenspinebox.com
We are a non-traditional gallery exhibiting work in all media by emerging and established artists. For more information on our future exhibitions, or directions on how to submit your work or show proposals, please email me at stephanie@samwellers.com