Verkja Installation view Jeans, wood pellets, twine 6' x 13' x 3' 2011
“Verkja” (Old Norse for “work”) began as a performative process in which the jean bags were filled with wood pellets, tied closed, and then piled. Coming from a blue collar work ethic, I am drawn to the history of objects, and steeped in the mantra- do what you can with what you have. “Verkja” explores the ability to hold onto the (still useful) old and worn, while finding ways to turn them into something new- building from the ashes, in a sense.
Verkja Installation detail Jeans, wood pellets, twine 6' x 13' x 3' 2011
Fan Wool finger-weight yarn, push pins. 77" x 63" x 1" to 8" 2011
Fan Wool finger-weight yarn, push pins. 77" x 63" x 1" to 8" 2011
Center Me (Folded rays gave double warmth and I cheered) Installation view, directly on wall Finger-weight wool yarn, push pins, nail 24" x 43" x 2" (75" x 43" x 2" overall) 2011
Big Head Performance documentation Newspaper, chicken wire, site 2 ½’ diameter x 20” Skagaströnd, Iceland 2011
Big Head Performance documentation Newspaper, chicken wire, site 2 ½’ diameter x 20” Skagaströnd, Iceland 2011
The In Crowd Designed and handmade buttons, self-elected participants 1 1/2" diameter each (button) Overall dimensions variable 2011
Being 'in' is always sought after, is always relative, and nearly always divisive. Popular/unpopular, gay/straight, inclusive/exclusive, entertaining/demeaning, one side/the other. Is life really so clear cut?
The In Crowd questions that idea by inviting anyone who wishes to take a button and wear it. The buttons are free. If you'd like to be In, you're In.
This piece also toys with scale and the shifting boundaries between object, installation, and performance art. When you take a button and put it on, in a sense, you become the sculpture. At any point in time, how many people wear them, and where each person is located, constantly alters the overall sculpture.
Are you In? ------ If you'd like to participate, you are welcome to contact me: naomijfalk@gmail.com
The In Crowd Detail
Castle Plaster cast of packing form, artificial grass, jute twine, night stand 18" x 24" x 30" 2011
Castle Detail
Wherever You Go, There You Are Installation view Fence posts, concrete, plywood, artificial grass, casters 8' x 2' diameter each 2010
Continuing to consider mobility and audience participation, “Wherever You Go, There You Are” contemplates personal space, and relationships between people, as well as between countries. Other sayings that come to mind include: “The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence,” and “Good fences make good neighbors.”
Throughout the exhibition,viewers were invited to move the pieces around as they saw fit.
Wherever You Go, There You Are Detail
The Recall(ed) Quilt Performance and installation Porcelain, flannel, batting, organza, thread 2 1/2” x 1 1/2” x 1” each in 4" flannel squares 2009 - 2010 and ongoing
Continuing with the work I did in Recall(ed), the installation/performance will involve quilting a hand-made porcelain piece between 4" squares and a sheer fabric "backing"-in a sense, laying to rest those who have lost their lives in the Iraq war. The remaining porcelain pieces are piled in a 'nest' next to the rocking chair I work in, with the quilt trailing across my lap and off onto the floor.
The Recall(ed) Quilt Performance detail 2010
The Recall(ed) Quilt Detail
The Recall(ed) Quilt Detail
Recall(ed) Process detail
Small and bone-like, referencing vertebrae or small figures, the porcelain pieces are piled in a nest of blankets, quilts, and afghans. The piece references loss, remembrance, and comfort, connecting the impact of the Iraq war on individuals overseas and here on the 'home front'.
Recall(ed) (4079 as of 5-21-08) Porcelain, quilts, blankets, afghans 2 1/2” x 1 1/2” x 1” each 6' x 3' x 2 ½' total 2007 - 2008
I consider the meaning and etymology of words and phrases in my work. Some of the definitions of recall include: to bring back from memory, to summon to return, to bring (one’s thoughts or attention) back to matters previously considered, to revoke or withdraw, and to revive.
Recall(ed) detail
Recall(ed) began with the Iraq war. I have been thinking about how many people have lost their lives and the ramifications of those losses. Unable to find confirmed numbers of civilian deaths, I chose to use only US troop casualties (4079 as of 5-21-08.) For each death, I made a hand-squeezed porcelain piece, holding the thought of each individual in the palm of my hand.
Filled with saltwater, representing the ocean, as well as tears, each palm-sized porcelain bowl in Swallow(ed) pays tribute to the individuals affected by recent tragedies, beginning with 2004's tsunami in Southeast Asia, and continuing with the hurricanes in the Gulf Coast.
Bridge Paper cutouts 18" x 36" 2008
Aura Installation view Porcelain crucibles, other 6' x 8' x 2" 2009
Aura (Stand) Porcelain crucibles, other 5' x 6' x 3" 2010
Aura (Stand) Porcelain crucibles, other 5' x 6' x 3" 2010
Aura Detail, in the dark 2009
Feed Me Porcelain Approx. 4” x 1 ½” diameter each, overall variable 2007
Alterations (Catch 22) Book, correction tape, 7 1/2” x 9 1/2” x 2 1/2” 2007
At the beginning of Joseph Heller’s satire, we find the main character, Yossarian, in the hospital faking an illness so he doesn’t have to risk his life flying more missions. He isn’t crazy because he doesn’t want to die, so is forced to continue flying. If he was crazy, he wouldn’t mind flying more missions, and would therefore be unfit for service—he’s stuck in a Catch-22. While he’s in the hospital, Yossarian is required to censor letters from the troops to their loved ones back home. He gets bored and starts playing- sometimes crossing out everything but Love, John, or taking out all the participles or pronouns.
In honor of Heller and Yossarian, I decided to censor Catch-22, making it my own.
Alterations (Catch 22) Detail The text now reads: Ripe spring turned thoughts to nutritious crumbs, feeding an uncooperative craving good faith.
(De)fence Performance detail Clay, gravel, twine, 7 work shirts, 6’ x 5’ x 4’ 2004
(De)fence Installation view & performance remnant
In (de)fence, I tore down a wall of my own making. I tore down my fence. Wrapping each stone in a piece of my shirt, I gave myself away.
Field Installation view and performance remnant Clay (25 lbs. each), 16’ diameter 2003
The Field performance continued the extension of self. Through the repetitive gesture and obsessive task of throwing large blocks of clay, I outlined the circumference of the area under my influence.
Yellow Pot from Remembering Grandma series Installation view Framed digital photograph, 10” x 8” Allegheny Cemetery Mausoleum, Pittsburgh, PA 2003
Yellow Pot from Remembering Grandma series Detail
I was very close to my grandmother. After her funeral, much was passed on to me. Her furnishings inhabited my house. Their familiarity was comforting. By taking notice of those ordinary objects (a dresser, a stew pot, a robe, a wastebasket, a brooch, a bedspread, and a towel) I hoped to more fully remember her, and to deepen my understanding of the relationships between our belongings and our memories, between the physical and the psychological.
“…and so I sipped my tears slowly…” Installation view Porcelain, salt residue, cloth , 5’ x 2’ x 4’ 2006
“…and so I sipped my tears slowly…” Detail
Breath(e) Installation view 957 paper lunch bags, breath, 6’ x 8’ x 4’ 2001
I attempted to contain my exhalations in paper lunch bags in order to gauge the extension of myself into an enclosed area. This mundane and futile action became methodical, obsessive, and meditative through its repetitiveness. It spoke simultaneously of extension and containment. Within the repetitiveness, within the confinement, I am not contained.
Holding My Breath 2,000 Paper lunch bags, breath 8' x 6' x variable 2009
Holding My Breath Installation view and participation detail 1000 Paper lunch bags, breath 7' x 8' x 5' 2010
The installation is, at times, a performance. I blow my breath into each bag and toss them behind me, eventually filling the space with 'remnants' of myself. Recent installations have solicited viewer participation by posting a sign next to a stack of paper bags, asking to take a bag, blow into it, twist shut, and add it to the pile. The piece then becomes a history of the people passing through the space and a collaborative endeavor.
Shadows Photographic series and short story, 32” x 28” 2005
By the way his gaze fell upon me I could tell he was holding something back. I couldn’t look at him directly. I just stared at his shoes, scuffed and brown, old and dirty compared to the neat cuffs at the bottom of his trousers.
It’s funny how still some moments can be—that moment lasted all day, weeks even. Although I didn’t look at his face, I could feel his expression weighing me down, pushing me into the corner, the warm nap of the carpet quickly turning to daggers in the sweating silence.
My palms burned, pressed against my face, holding taught the tightrope that was my voice. I would not speak first, but held my breath in an effort to contain myself and not disintegrate into the thickening air.
I dove into the darkness behind my eyes, becoming the shadow of myself. The deep velvet of it a surprise. I lounged there trying to get comfortable, but his presence pressed in on me. And so, still, silent, I receded from the darkness.
His shadow passed through mine as I stared at the place his shoes had been, and he was gone without a word one way or another. And I was left holding my breath in the twilight of that room.
(In)visible Video still Looped 2 minute video 2003
(In)visible blurred the present and the absent, the physical and the psychological. I pulled a cover over myself in an effort to blend in with the wall.
Points of Departure: Imaginary Stretch Installation view Plumb bobs, nylon line, 15’ x 15’ x 1” 2003
Points of Departure: Imaginary Stretch Detail
Imaginary Stretch stretched my measurements, imagining my wingspan at two and a half times its normal range. Conceptually, using plumb bobs was important due to their reference to carpentry and construction. They are tools of exacting measurement. Semantically, plumb walls are also ‘true’. The work explored the dichotomy between the physical and perceived space we encompass and the boundaries of presence, absence, and how our limitations shift.
Sphere of Influence Installation view/video still Video triptych 2003
In Sphere of Influence, I spanned the wall, waving my arms up and down, snow angel fashion, as if to encompass as much as I could. I hopped as high as I could reach hoping to gain “territory” and tried to increase my normal range by doing the splits while in a headstand. Absurd? Maybe. But, through these simple motions, I gain experience of my physical limitations and the possibility that my physical and psychological ranges are disparate.
Swing from Highchair Pilot photographic series and artist’s book Photograph, 6” x 4” 2002
Highchair Pilot
I flew. The room flung past, blurred beyond recognition, an instant reaction to gravity.
I don’t remember hitting the floor, my chin gashed, bashed on the avocado linoleum.
I don’t remember how much it hurt, the doctor promising it wouldn’t, as I winced into the blinding lights of the emergency room.
I don’t remember the slow ride home or the days that followed— they’ve streaked into the present.
But, I touch my chin, still numb after twenty-seven years, and recall the breath-taking vertigo of when
I flew. -Naomi J. Falk
Twice My Size (pajamas) Cloud fabric, slippers, 10’6” x 3’ 2002
Twice My Size (pajamas) Detail
What would it be like to be twice my size—size large instead of small, ten foot six instead of five foot three? I doubled every measurement for the pajamas, making the arms, legs and waist twice as wide or long as they were normally.
Two Feet of Personal Space Sisal, jute rope 2003
Ripple Installation view Watercolor crayon on paper, 8” x 8” each Edna St. Vincent Millay Colony, Austerlitz, NY 2005
Ripple Detail
Tendencies One of six from Sunlight Sculpture series Digital photographs, 10” x 8” each Schwabisch Hall, Germany 2002
Handpool Cast bronze 1999 & 2001
Slit Performance detail Industrial felt, spandex, 5'3" x 2'6" x 1'6" 1997-8
Cargobox Installation view Plytwood, steel, foam , 1’5” x 3’ x 3’5” approx. 1999
Hung Out to Dry Installation view, Park blocks, Portland, OR. Dryer sheets, clothesline, clothes pins 5'3" x 15' x 1/8" 1998
Continuing to consider presence and how far we extend beyond ourselves- the smell of the dryer sheets drifted for blocks. You could smell them before you realized where it was coming from. So, in a way, my presence filled a huge area.
