EXPO ‘Amy Tavern: I Live Here Now / In Between ‘ – Gallery Velvet da Vinci (USA) – 17-30 Oct. 2014

Amy Tavern:  I Live Here Now / In Between

 

In conjunction with her artist residency at the California College of the Arts, Amy Tavern will give a special lecture about her recent body of work “I Live Here Now” and her site specific installation “In Between” at Velvet da Vinci.

Artist Talk: Saturday, October 18, 7pm

Opening Reception: Saturday, October 25, 6-8pm

Amy Tavern, I Can Only Stay Away for So Long No. 1-7, 2014, Icelandic wool

I’ve been without a home by circumstance and by choice for several years. In 2012, I began traveling in the US and abroad for my work, rarely spending extended periods of time in any one location. This new lifestyle made me realize I don’t know where I want to live, and I find myself searching for this seemingly elusive place today. While I am content to be without a home, I long for that one place where I feel most myself, a place where I want to stay. In an effort to find what I’m looking for, I was compelled to define and redefine home through research, writing and object making, as well as examining my past, my present and my future. 
Over the past year, I have explored ideas of home in three distinctive places. Arriving in Iceland for the first time, I felt attune with myself and with my surroundings in a way I had never felt before. The pieces I made in a two-month residency there illustrate feelings of belonging and of being found. In my childhood home in New York, I reflected on my relationships with my family as well as relationships with the places I’ve lived in the United States. The foundation of my artistic sources and countless other details were revealed as I considered individual people and locations. Further, through all the places I have traveled, I have become keenly aware of my ability to find home in the unknown. In all of these places, Iceland, the US and countries abroad, I examined memories and focused on things that carry emotional weight. I also relied on the language of jewelry, looking to a variety of historical forms for guidance. 
“I Live Here Now” represents what home means to me as well as the memories and emotions associated with the different places that are a part of my collective home. Jewelry, objects, text, photographs, ritual, arrangements and installation serve to demonstrate my ideas and to establish a unique narrative. Ultimately, I know my home is the place where I am truly myself, and, essentially, I know now that I don’t need a physical location to call home; my home is me and it is wherever I am. – - Amy Tavern, 2014

Amy Tavern, Since 1882, Since 1976, 2014, Stones from the foundation of my childhood home, sterling silver, vintage velvet jewelry box

Amy Tavern, Since 1882, Since 1976, 2014, Stones from the foundation of my childhood home, sterling silver

Amy Tavern, We Walk on the Same Ground, 2014, Brass, sterling silver, dirt, porcelain spoons, acrylic

Amy Tavern, Silently (I Saw a Robin Today), 2014, The lining of the artist’s mother’s wedding dress, cotton string, sterling silver, spray paint, 2.4m x 22.86cm x 10.16cm

 

 

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