Printmaking – Ezra Dickinson

Cardinal (2017)

(2017) Painting. Exhibited at Seattle Art Fair, Out of Sight, Seattle WA.

This painting is a further step in the direction of building my own painting surfaces. For many years I have been building the frames my paintings go on to, and for some time I have wanted to create an asymmetrical frame to better follow the shape of my works. This is the first true venture into this new idea. This involved more than twenty individual parts, both glued and nailed together. Once the frame and surface had been built, sanded, and primed, I then placed the already created vinyl sticker onto the surface of the wood frame. The vinyl sticker had been gradually developed over the previous three years, incorporating both adhesive vinyl, acrylic paint and block print. This is probably not the most efficient way to create this work and in the future I plan to build the frame first then make the painting/mixed media work on the surface. It was very stressful affixing the premade vinyl sticker to the already built frame, there was absolutely no margin for error. With each work, new lessons are learned. I absolutely love how this piece turned out in the end. This work has since been sold.

Listen (2015) film

(2015) Short film (Related project with Mother Film and Performance)

Listen is meant to show the feeling of isolation that can be felt when dealing with a loved one’s mental illness.

Listen is part of an ongoing investigation in creating work for my schizophrenic mother. Footage from Listen has been meshed with footage from the 2013 performance Mother for you I made this.

Collaborators credits:

Filmed by Ryan Adams, Jacob Rosen and Doug Arney.

Sound by Paurl Walsh.

Edited by Doug Arney.

Concept and performance by Ezra Dickinson.

Screenings:

(2016) Film Installation in exhibition The Incredible Intensity of Just Being Human. ArtEast, Issaquah WA.

(2015) Film Installation. The Incredible Intensity of Just Being Human exhibition, City Hall, Seattle WA (premiere)

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