Author: Ezra Dickinson

Bowls of Words (2019-present)

(2019-present) Ongoing project of ceramic bowls

 

One thing that has always attracted me to pottery is the potential permanence that clay possesses. In the first stage, I threw, fired and glazed thirtythree soup bowls, decorated with one of three phrases ( I WAS BORN A WOMAN, IT IS A SERIOUS THING JUST TO BE, MASTERS WERE FEARFUL) I felt spoke of who we are as a society at this time. Inspired by ancient texts, ceramic law cones and the discovery of these artifacts in modern day. With these Bowls of Words I aim to create a document that could be discovered in the future by another civilization. 

 

 

For 2020 I threw over 100 bowls, some porcelain, some terracotta, with the three phrases ( I LOVE YOU, WE ARE ANIMALS, FREE THE FUTURE). Also see, Bowls for Sale.

 

For 2021 I chose the three phrases, SPACE ANNIHILATORS, YOU AND I ARE EARTH, and TIME IS MEMORY. Here’s a little explanation of the three phrases: SPACE ANNIHILATORS, in reference to humans, comes from Paramahansa Yogananda; YOU AND I ARE EARTH, was written on a plate discovered in the sewer of England also accompanied by the date of 1661; and TIME IS MEMORY, is the creative mantra of my good friend. Bowls for Sale

 

For 2022 the three phrases I chose were, NADIE ES ILEGAL, GIVE TAKE, and MOONAGE DAYDREAM. With each bowl I’m planting a seed that looks to grow into a future revelation about who we are at this time. Someone or something may unearth a broken piece or an intact bowl in an archaeological dig, and learn about humans of the 21st century. I also like the idea of inanimate objects having a voice, kind of beautiful I think.

I chose these words because I feel that we have a lot to learn about how to be kind humans. We have allowed artificial lines to be drawn, we give power to “leaders” who capitalize on these imaginary lines to demonize people fleeing climate catastrophe, and political upheaval. NADIE ES ILEGAL, no one is illegal. 

GIVE TAKE can be applied in so many ways in our lives. I specifically left out the more traditional & in the middle because I wanted to make plain my interest in the act of giving and taking. 

What do you think of when you imagine a MOONAGE DAYDREAM? David Bowie’s iconic title on an iconic album is just the beginning. MOONAGE DAYDREAM feels like a limitless possibility in my imagination. Bowls for Sale

 

For 2023 I added in a few new phrases, WHATEVER, QUESTION EVERYTHING, and THEY WERE LIKE GODS. I took a look back at past phrases that still feel present to me and mixed in a few new fonts. Alongside this work I also made time to explore more complicated ideas and possibilities with big bowls and the layering of text and designs. I’m thinking for 2024 I want to continue to broaden this big bowl project in two ways, collaborating with living writers to capture words that speak to our current state of humanity, and to share my own personal truths about familial relationships. I make this work from the stance of creating bowls that both serve the use of vessels and as a voice in the future. Bowls for sale.

Mother Father (2019)

(2019) Commissioned public art mural, Mosquito MT, Leadville CO.

 

Painted with the assistance of artist NKO while in residence at Artville in Leadville CO. 13,000 feet up in the mountains on an old abandoned radio shack, this message speaks to past generations asking them how have they cared for the world that is being handed off to younger generations? Painted with Enamel paint, the message will stand as a visual voice in the cold high land of the mountains. 

 

Bring Back The Salmon (2019)

(2019) Commissioned public art mural, Art in Parks, Seattle WA.

 

Working together, Nahaan and I designed a native formline salmon, as a rain-activated, ground stencil. Working with the Office of Arts and Culture Art in Parks, we settled on Alki Beach Park as our project site. We used RainWorks to stencil a temporary non toxic clear coating which is only visible during Seattle’s rainy weather. The stencil design we created was roughly 4’ long and 2’ tall. This installation is meant to bring attention to the loss of native salmon in this region as a result of overfishing, dam’s blocking salmon runs and pollution. We possess the power to change the fate of the northwest salmon.
 

Ecolibrium Farms Mural (2019)

(2019) Commissioned private art mural, Ecolibrium Farms, Redmond WA.

 

Beautifying the exterior of refrigerator containers located on the farm, creating a vibrant clear beacon for folks driving into the farm. Painted with rollers and brush, acrylic and enamel paint.

 

Core 14 (2019)

(2019) Improvised performance. Zebulon. Los Angeles CA

 

Asked to perform in Chantael Duke’s improvised performance score, movement artists were paired with musicians in different duets and other combinations and given a set amount of time to improvise together. Photography by Rebecca Green.

 

$tate of Emergency (2019)

(2019) Visual art poster exhibition, The BLDG, Seattle WA.

 

Painted with funding from 4culture Art Projects, this was the culmination of a grant I received supporting Rent Control postering. Three large posters (this one measured 14’x7’) were created, two classes/lectures were presented to highschool kids along with one poster making demonstration. A run of rent control T-shirts was also created with this funding.

 

 

Artist Lecture on practice and current projects. University Prep, Seattle WA 

If you would like one of these WE DESERVE RENT CONTROL T-Shirts. Email Ezra at: baldieoner@hotmail.com
Funds from T-Shirt sales go towards Sawhorse Revolution, and printing future messages on T-Shirts.

SODO Express (2019-20) film

(2019-2020) short film

 

I’m always looking to find new paths and new collaborators. In my random surfing of Instagram one day I stumbled upon black and white photography of graffiti taken in Seattle that caught my eye. I looked at the bio on the profile and in short, it said that the photographer was in the beginning stages of making a film about family troubles and mental health. I felt compelled to reach out as I could see there were multiple areas of shared interest between the two of us. This is how Shaz and I first met. I soon realised that Shaz was married to a woman who was the sister of a guy I spent my childhood into teenage years dancing with at ballet school.

SODO EXPRESS SHORT FILM

 

It didn’t take long for Shaz and I to get deep into this film he was thinking about. Our conversations started to reshape the seed ideas for Shaz, and before too long he had asked me if I would like to star in his film. A new direction had emerged, of following a street artist trying to achieve fame and getting overtaken by the demons of social media addiction. This collaboration was really easy, Shaz and I both layed out what we wanted and needed. I let Shaz know when I was going to be putting art up in the streets, both my own or for friends, so he could come with and get the footage. We started talking about wanted locations and Shaz story boarded out the shots he wanted to collect. Step by step we checked off our shot list, and just a few months before covid exploded on the world we completed filming.

 

I’m only beginning to realise that Shaz has a long and full collaborative history with many very talented artists. This is where our film SODO Express gets really interesting and exciting. Since we finished filming Shaz has been updating me on all the artists involved in the post production, animation, editing, music, design, all folks who I have never met. The little bits I have seen of these artists’ works have been very encouraging to say the least. We now have a completed short film, SODO Express has been accepted to screen at festivals around the world, and we are laying the groundwork for future gallery shows and film screenings in multiple countries.

 

All in all I have both made a new friend in Shaz and found a new collaborator who I know will be cooking up ideas for the both of us long into the future. 

 

Abortion is Freedom (2019)

(2019) designed and hand painted poster

 

In anticapation of the LA Women’s March, Shout Your Abortion commissioned No Touching Ground and I to create this large two section poster to be displayed in Pershing Square nearby the start of the march. We designed and hand painted this work to fit perfectly into the media advert display case shown here. It is an unquestionable right that women have access to legal abortions and be able to choose for themselves what’s best for their body. Men and religious beliefs have no place imposing their expectations on any woman’s ability to make a choice.

 

photo NTG

Give us a voice (2019)

(2019) commissioned choreography

 

Choreography set on ten young women in North Star Ballet School’s advanced level. This work was created in collaboration with the students. I’ve been interested in exploring different ways of integrating text, voice, and clear messaging into my choreographic works. This interest began with creating gifts of performance for my mother. When I arrived at North Star, I had decided that I wanted to ask my cast of ten young women the question, “what do you have to say to the generation that is leaving you this earth”. We spent a good portion of our first rehearsal time talking about this question. I wrote down each answer, after hearing all the thoughts, I explained that I wanted to build the choreography around the words that we had just discussed. Collectively we settled on “give us a voice” as the text and title for the piece.
My aim was to push these young performers to not only realise my movement ideas, I wanted them to realise their voices individually and as a collective by building vocalised text into the choreography from the very start of rehearsals. I had decided beforehand that the sound used in this work was to come directly from the performers live. Exploration of repetition, abstraction, volume, and exhaustion was the ideas I built, and shaped this work vocally, around. I feel that younger performers often have to be shown how to learn a section of choreography so that they can know this movement sequence without having to think about what step comes next. When this effortlessness is found, the next step is to run this movement sequence to the edge of exhaustion so that the dancer’s ego is shed. When this is found ten dancers can perform as one, their awareness of the ensemble grows and is able to collectively lift each other up. A clear image of the body being propelled by muscle is the intended result. This is quite a lot to ask of young performers, I feel though that this is the most important concept to have been introduced to in the development of a young professional dancer. I was quite proud of what these ten young women accomplished in our time together in rehearsal. This work was set to premier in Fairbanks in April 2020, unfortunately Covid-19 had other plans, so for now the premier is on hold.

 

Sweet Rotten Sweet (2019)

(2019) Illustrations, set design, publication

 

While working with Peggy Piachenza on her last performance/installation I created a hand drawn design that was featured in the book Peggy created to document the show. In addition to dancing, I also designed the set, fabricated and installed it as directed by Peggy. This involved building hanging video screen boxes, wall mounted video boxes, wall mounted microphones, printing and prepping and installing two wall to wall floor to ceiling posters one 11’x14’ the other 27’x14’, all the while performing in the month run of the performance component of the shows installation.