Installation Statement The exhibition is initially inspired by the nursery rhyme and children's song "Row, Row, Row Your Boat", which is often sung in a round. Row, row, your boat Gently down the stream Merrily, merrily, merrily Life is but a dream. The rhyme is both soothing in its illusion to moving merrily down a stream, yet haunting in its existential reference to the possible meaninglessness of life in the phrase, "life is but a dream". Using childhood motifs of boats, pull toys and a treehouse platform, this installation, Betwixt & Between, addresses the psychological state of existing between places. This can mean the experience of being between childhood and adulthood, between youth and aging, between one goal/path or another, and/ or even the essence of existing between a beginning and an end-going somewhere to go nowhere. What does it mean to sit in a boat that doesn't go anywhere, neither on water nor on wheels? At the entry of the gallery the viewer can step onto a pathway, which branches in several directions. The viewer can choose to take any path. (The pathways are constructed from rolled and sewn newspaper "a portion of a year's worth of newspapers never fully read"-the pathways are meant to be walked upon.) The paths take the viewer to "boats" or a treehouse platform that leads to no particular place. At the top of the platform is a flock of wooden bird pulltoys, when pulled upon, their wings flap. Other wooden birds are located above each boat seat. (Birds often represent the spirit or soul in flight. These wooden birds only flap their wings with human interaction, and remain perpetually in the air, without the option to land or escape to a place beyond. They are caught in flight between places.) The three large-scale boats are constructed of wood, metal and woven and sewn yellow book pages (paper). When viewed from the entrance of the gallery they seem to be silhouettes, yet when approached from the other directions the viewer sees the boats' fronts are actually façades, and there are benches for sitting. The boats allow for a variety of number of passengers, depending on the number of benches. Surrounding the entire installation, and placed several feet in front of the walls are paper curtains. The curtains are made from Rives BFK printmaking paper that is sewn together with black thread. Some of the papers have been printed (and embossed) with wing-like forms. These are large-scale monoprints. Some of the objects used to create the prints can also be seen throughout the installation. In places the gallery's walls can been glimpsed through the paper curtains. The overall layout of the installation emphasizes the insular, isolated rectangular shape of the gallery, and the gallery's two levels of the ceiling. To experience this installation in its entirety, the viewer can participate by sitting in the boats and pulling on the cords to make the birds fly. The spaces are meant to be for play and for contemplation. This is key-existing in spaces that are really between places, somewhere, dreamlike, yet isolated and nowhere in conscious reality. close window