Photo: Julia Barstow

November 28, 2021
The Quarry Project Update

This month, I want to share with you two creative details of The Quarry Project:
1. Why I choose certain set elements, and
2. The importance and significance of touch.

Photo: Julia Barstow

SUITCASES
I love these old cardboard suitcases, discovered by Leslie and me in a hidden attic of an abandoned warehouse in Burlington in 1995. Part of the detritus of a novelty company that shared the warehouse, they had their debut in The Rose Street Bakery Project and since then have been an element in many of my pieces.

They join the House/Table/Chairs/Bed as deeply familiar, known objects, holding a unique place in the memory for each person watching or within The Quarry Project. Finding the dynamic tension between literal associations and abstract symbols is my task with each of these set elements. If I succeed, the piece will be absorbed through the lens of everyone’s entirely personal interpretation

TOUCH
Lukas is beginning work on the project’s 2021 film. Previewing all the footage, I have seen and heard (and remembered) how much this past period of time has affected those of us in the body- centered arts. Here is what I wrote to him for the storyboard outline:

These sessions on the water were both investigations of a specific movement or concept, and the first opportunity in 16 months that the ensemble was physically together. Everyone, each in a slightly different manner, has been hungry for in-person proximity in this shared creative space, and when it came it was potent and profound.

 

Touch, when given with care and consideration is like a complete food. Because of COVID, we have had to invent ways to connect and be satisfied, for the time being, with keeping a safe distance. Coming together again in August on the quarry water within the container of this project, we took ineffable joy in the simple yet meaningful touch of another.

This month, we commence our final year fundraising efforts. Your donation makes a real difference, because every donation to this art project brings us closer to our goal of ensuring the ensemble is fully compensated. Here is the link to Cradle to Grave Arts’ secure site.

For your enjoyment and a flash of August, here is a short, unedited clip from this summer’s film shoot.

Until December,