New and News
Transitos Alternos : NYC- GDL
Artistas de Leonard codex en el Ex-Convento del Carmen
Guadalajara, Mexico
September 2008
Anima Mundi with Nellie Appleby, Amanda Sauer amd Vita LItvak
Flashpoint Gallery, Washington DC
February, 2008
my piece, under water sunshine,
in the show, ‘thick as thieves’ curated by AJ LIberto
at SKYDIVE in Houston, Texas, December 2008.
HUNT OR GATHER new work by nellie appleby and michael lease at saville gallery in cumberland maryland.
october 24- november 20, 2009
I am so pleased to be having a show with Michael K Lease.
NOVEMBER 2009
I am thrilled to be spending the month of November at The Studios of Key West for an artist
residency.
BIOPHILIA: MM0
Nellie Appleby, Artist in Residency Project
November 2009 at The Studios of Key West
I am looking forward to my first residency at Mile Marker 0! My
projects for TSKW, unfolding in November, will revolve around two
of my most darling muses—plants and swimming.
The term ‘biophilia’ was coined by professor and conservationist
E.O Wilson and essentially refers to ‘the innately emotional
affiliation of human beings to other living organisms.’ As I continue
my explorations of flora—a thread throughout my recent work—I
feel a love, an emotional pull from plants. This one lures me over
with its feathery leaves; another makes me laugh, having just
cracked a silent joke, with its green and yellow spots.
This love affair with plant life leads me to talk to other folks about
their relationships with plants. Over tea or walks in the gardens, up
in trees, among sea grasses, or whatever suits the occasion, I will
try to tease out of people how they FEEL about the plants around
them. In Key West, conversations will be recorded with audio, video
and or photos, and allowed to take form as the project grows. The
Biophilia Project will ask the island’s residents and visitors to reflect
on the plant kingdom they live among, and express their
relationship to it.
And then part two: the clear waters beckon. After researching with
some local experts on the matter, I will be swimming to the
mangroves and nearby hammocks. Using an underwater video
camera, I will record the swim, above and below the water, and
focus on the unique environment. Along the way, I will also engage
folks in boats, on the beach, free diving, relaxing on remote isles.
They will be asked to perform with me various moves from a
synchronized swimming routine, which will pieced together in post-
production. The completed work will become a short looping video
for presentation at TSKW. Join me in November, when I launch this
project at Mile Marker 0.
On the artwork of Nellie Appleby
Nellie Appleby is an explorer, an adventurer and most importantly a cartographer, whose mission it seems, is to discover and record the topography of a magical and verdant land. The intricate maps Appleby creates often take the form of multimedia installations and reveal the rich world of interconnections between plant life and everyday life.
Set against the deep blue glow of large cyanotypes and buried in the midst of crawling house plants is the flicker of looping videos that capture moments of joy and wonder - like the feet of lovers entwined in the act of love making, or fireworks lighting the night sky in a frantic exuberance of color. The rhythm and repetition of these moving images seem to mimic the pulsation of beating hearts, maybe even the hearts of the magnificent Spider plant, the hardy Aloe, and the lush Avocado tree amongst which they live. Photographs that accompany her installations often depict scenarios of quirky coexistence, in which Appleby, through clever and humorous disguises becomes part of the plant kingdom, or transforms a nocturnal pasture into a magical world of glowing star bursts. As these installations spread across the gallery floor in their meandering fashion, they weave together stories that uplift, amuse and enliven our spirits. In the end it is Appleby's capacity to wonder at the simple beauties of the organic and the human world that bring to us a refreshingly optimistic perspective, a point of view wholly infused with the belief in the potential of things to grow and flourish.
Vita Litvak, San Francisco, July 2009
Thanks to Vita Litvak for writing this wonderful essay about my work.