WYNDE DYER
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PRESS RELEASE
The Aspens Project (a curatorial collaboration between Nim Wunnan of Research Club, Tori Abernathy of Recess Gallery, Max Odgen, Elizabeth Lamb, and Wynde Dyer of Golden Rule Gallery) is pleased to present
“I Knew You Pt. 1 (Dear James),”
an evolving interactive installation by Wynde Dyer showing now through January 30th, 2011 at Trade Gallery, Pioneer Place Mall, Portland, OR. Gallery hours are Thursday through Sunday, 12-6 p.m. There will be an opening in conjunction with receptions at Place, Store, and People’s Galleries on Saturday, January 15th, from 6-10 p.m.. The public is invited to participate in an informal Q&A session with the artist from 7-9 p.m.
STATEMENT
“I Knew You Pt. 1 (Dear James)”
consists of over 800+ pages of handwritten primary documents authored by Dyer’s deceased mother, Morena Threse Faust, to one of her lovers, James Taylor, while he was in and out of prison between the years of 1983-1997. Written on uniform yellow legal paper, the one-sided correspondence is organized in chronological order from bottom left to top right in a grid across several walls spanning over 800 square feet. Photocopies of the originals (made by the Faust, not the artist) are included with responses from Taylor on the ground in yellow folders along with other interactive ephemera. The installation presents over 4,000 pages of evidence of Faust’s life-long struggles with depression, anxiety, chemical dependency, and co-dependency.
Over the course of the month the installation will evolve in three phases with conceptual parallels to the phases of mourning. Dyer will remove portions of the yellow primary documents from the grid and replace them with white photo copies to spell out across the wall the following statements: (1) I KNEW YOU—a reference to an anonymous note left by an attendee at Faust’s March 2010 memorial, and a reference to the unconditional understanding, love and acceptance Dyer believes her mother always hoped for but never managed to fully attain in life, (2) NEW YOU—a reference to the transformational opportunity Dyer hopes the death of her mother will present as she works to change her relationship to herself, to the narrative of her childhood, to her mother, and to the world, and (3) NO YOU—a move towards ultimately accepting not only the death of her mother, but also moving past the far-reaching effects of childhood trauma.
“I Knew You Pt. 1 (Dear James)” is a part of an ongoing conceptual and visual art series. Using a process Dyer calls “familial archeology” whereby objects, clothing, and ephemera discovered during the excavation and organization of her mother’s estate are re-appropriated along with their associated memories in retail, gallery and in professionally supervised art-therapy contexts. The next installation in the series, “I Knew You Pt. 2 (Strongly Agree/Strongly Disagree),” is slated for exhibition in July 2011. Drawing on Dyer’s academic background as a social science researcher, it will include excerpts from Faust’s letters that are illustrative of her worldviews. These statements will be re-repurposed as items on a survey so that participants can gain self-awareness based on how they rank on a number of faux psychometric scales created by the artist.
Wynde Dyer is a Portland-based artist, curator, entrepreneur, and advocate. She attended Portland State University (PSU) for Communication Studies and Sociology (B.S., 2005), and was a graduate instructor in the PSU Communication Studies Department while studying Linguistics and Social Science Research Methods (M.S., 2008, all but thesis). She is the Creativity/Community Coordinator for Golden Rule, a concept shop/gallery located at 811 E. Burnside, Suite 122, Portland, OR.