Graphic – Page 6 – Ezra Dickinson

Mother Printed Poem (2012)

(2012) Text block printed on muslin, created for Mother for you I made this performance.

In developing my route for the performance of Mother for you I made this, I found myself gravitating towards the Federal Court House because I felt its backdrop during the performance could stand in as a symbol for the machine of America that forgets so many of its parts. I wanted to write a poem speaking to a courtroom and its judge: an only child pleading with the court/country’s constituents to see the forgotten and vulnerable, an only child pleading for the rights of his institutionalised mother. In my short film Listen I read this poem to an empty counsel chamber in Seattle’s City Hall.

Photo Nate Watters

To create this work I first had to measure the length between a desirable grove of trees located in the courtyard of the Court House. Having the exact distances between each tree, I started to create the layout of each word and each sentence. I had to take into consideration the direction that the poem would unfurl from my belly and how the audience was going to be viewing this work as I wrapped this poem through the trees. Once I had these steps completed this allowed me to determine the total length that was going to be needed to both complete the poem and also begin sewing the full length of muslin together. In total this poem is a hundred and fifty feet long. I hand printed each letter of each word, meticulously measuring each sentence so that it fell in the middle of its allotted length. I created a special undershirt that had a built compartment that housed and allowed for the poem to look as though it was being pulled from my belly. When the poem was wrapped in the trees it created a five pointed star, I think of this as not a nod to the stars on the American flag but a ritual space delineation each and every time I completed the task of wrapping. I am truly proud of this particular performance element. I feel this work digs deep to speak truth to power, and for my love of my mother. (from Mother for you I made this performance)

Photo Nate Watters

Photo Nate Watters

Photo Nate Watters

Chin Mayo (2011)

(2011) Mural, FRED Wildlife Refuge Gallery, Seattle WA

Chin Mayo mural installation conceptualised and directed by Ezra Dickinson. This mural was created on the walls and floor of FRED Wildlife Refuge Gallery in Seattle, curated by Sean M. Johnson. Sixteen hours were spent masking out the gallery with painters tape. Sixteen hours were spent splattering paint using a number of different methods. Final touches were rolling out chunks of color, organizing the chaos to create the finished piece.

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Moore Balding (2010)

(2010) Mural, Moore Inside Out, Moore Theatre, Seattle WA

Mural commissioned by the Inside Out Festival, painted in the west exit ramp of the main floor Moore Theatre. Thirty-two hours straight were spent painting, spending the night inside the Moore Theatre, commonly recognised as one of the most haunted buildings in Seattle. This mural was painted with care to not disturb the already existing old paint job peeling away from the walls. With painstaking detail, this one color mural involved numerous instances of paint being delicately applied to already peeling paint chips so that the new design would visually stand uninterrupted, while keeping intact the crumbling visual appearance inside the exit ramp.

Paurl’s gift (2010)

(2010) vinyl painting

I try to do my best to use all of the materials that come across my path. Since about 2006 I have been collecting and cataloguing adhesive vinyl scraps left from acrylic block printing thousands of my stickers. That is how this gift for my dear friend and longtime collaborator Paurl Walsh came to be. The start of this image was taken from a life drawing class I sat in on one day while at Cornish College of the Arts. I never really feel right just doing what’s expected. I don’t intentionally set out to be different, I just use what comes across my path and try my best to have fun along the way. I ended up in this life drawing class with a four by four piece of black foam core, so naturally I used this as my drawing surface for the class. Afterwards, this study came home and was stored away for some time before I started to fill in the study with different colors from my adhesive vinyl collection. Over the course of a few years this work emerged and finally became a gift. Along the way this work also served as album artwork for one of Mindie Lind’s bands Inly.

Street Biennale (2010)

(2010) mural

This mural was commissioned for display at the Bumbershoot festival as part of the exhibit, Seattle Street 2010. Painted in four days, this mural was forty feet wide, and eight feet tall. Organized by a collection of Seattle artists, this exhibit showcased the work of active and contributing street artists/muralists and graffiti artists in Seattle.

Free Sheep Bald (2010)

(2010) mural painted for the Free Sheep Foundation, Seattle

Something that I truly love is solving space through design. For me in this case, this means finding a way to take a space that is undervalued and make the entirety of this space something special. I have a real obsession with confronting the hard to reach spots, wanting to fill every last nook. Leading the viewer on a journey that has uncountable ways that it could be traversed. There is something quite satisfying about using a pen up entirely from start to finish. This mural consisted of an underpainting of spray paint color. Then, fifteen hours continuously of hand drawn work until the pen gave up.

Pride Parade Floats (2009-12)

(2009-12) Painting

I have had the pleasure of helping design and create four Seattle Pride Parade floats over the years. I very much enjoy how the collective power of a team can make big projects and ideas come to life really fast. These have been some of the most fun creative projects I have done, the delirium of building/painting all week and then all night before the day of the parade. Painting right up to the last moment as we are lining up for the parade, then partying our butts off during the parade is the best! To top it off, our first three floats won people’s choice award for Best Float.

Gaywatch (2009)

Gay team (2010)

Ass Cream Truck (2011)

Gay Wettings (2012)

Artopia bald (2008)

(2008) mural painted on semi truck

I was commissioned by PBR and the Georgetown (Seattle) Artopia festival, to paint a mural on the side of a semi truck. This work took all of one day, and was painted with spray paint. The design features the Bald Man, a recurring character in my visual art work.

Bald Man Show (2008)

(2008) solo art show, the Anne Bonny, Seattle

For this, my first solo visual art exhibition, I created fifty new paintings on built and stretched wooden frames. I experimented with a variety of surfaces for painting on, from silk, canvas, wood, vinyl and foam core. Each new work was of the Bald Man, a character I have been developing since 2001. The Bald Man is a tool for experimentation through visual art, murals, posters, printing, and ceramics and has become known amongst local graffiti works in the city. A tool to learn through, I have committed to reproducing this image over the rest of my life.

2X2 (2008)

2X2 Seattle Street Art Show (2008) group show, the Anne Bonny, Seattle

I quite like exquisite corpse style creative experiments. For this group show, the walls were covered in two foot by two foot masonite panels. The collection of artists had a month to come through the gallery and contribute to the panels as they saw fit. Once completed, the public for the opening and subsequent exhibition period could purchase the individual panels that caught their eye. At the end of the month all the sold panels were connected to the buyers and everyone was happy.