Press Release: High-Tech Art in an Old-Fashioned Setting

One of our goals at McLeod Residence is to encourage and exhibit artists working with high-tech materials and computer programming. Maggie Orth and Paul Rucker are two local artists doing just that in really interesting and fun ways. Keep reading to learn more, then come to McLeod to check it out for yourself!

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Maggie Santolla McLeod, Press Relations
maggie.santolla@gmail.com

Lele McLeod, Gallery
leleblixa@gmail.com
206-441-3314

High-Tech Art in an Old-Fashioned Setting
Interactive Fabric and Innovative Instruments are Exhibited at McLeod Residence

SEATTLE  --  March 29, 2007 --  The wallpaper may be old-fashioned, but the art certainly isn’t—two artists creating high-tech interactive art are showing at McLeod Residence through April 30. Seattle artists Maggie Orth and Paul Rucker create very different work, but they both combine traditional techniques and practices with new media to create art that is participatory and humorous, providing a sense of warmth and humanity to the often-cold world of technology and computer programming.

On display currently in the McLeod Room are Bullseye and Moving Target, interactive textiles by artist, technologist and entrepreneur Maggie Orth. Considered a pioneer in the emerging field of electronic textiles, interactive fashions, wearable computing and interface design, Maggie was recently nominated for a $50,000 artist fellowship from United States Artists. Her work has been published and exhibited in a range of venues worldwide, and McLeod Residence is proud to represent her in Seattle. Maggie will also show several pieces at McLeod Residence during the July-August exhibit cycle, which will be dedicated to interactive art.

Maggie’s works are an ironic blend of traditional arts and crafts with high-tech computer programming, juxtaposing a practice that is usually considered feminine with one that is usually considered male. When the viewer confronts a computer that is soft, intimate and removed from its customary plastic box, they question their assumptions about the roles of decorative arts and technology, of form and function.

Bullseye and Moving Target are pieces of programmable fabric woven with an electronic circuit and printed with Thermochromic ink. When current is sent through certain parts of the textile, resistive yarns in the fabric heat up and the ink responds by changing color. Maggie is able to program certain parts of the fabric to turn on and off at different intervals, creating changeable patterns on a static canvas.  The viewer activates the artwork with just a press of a button on a panel that hangs next to the art.

McLeod Residence’s Conservatory contains Happy Ending Machine, an interactive music and film installation by interdisciplinary artist Paul Rucker. A bassist, cellist and composer, Paul emphasizes musical composition and sound in his visual art. He was a recent Rockefeller Study Center Fellowship recipient in Bellagio, Italy, where he expanded his use of polytempos. Paul won “Best Emerging Artist of 2004” from Earshot, and “Jazz Artist of the Year 2005” from the Seattle Music Awards. His interactive installation “Wall of Pieces” was recently on display at Consolidated Works, and he will have a residency at the Jack Straw New Media Gallery in May of this year.

Happy Ending Machine is a “new interactive instrument—“ a four-channel sound installation that incorporates lasers and video. A smoke-filled Plexiglas container holds four lasers that are each associated with one of four musical tracks making up a new composition by Paul. Visitors are able to manipulate the composition by breaking any one of the red laser beams with their hand. This action turns the musical track on or off and allows the viewer to re-arrange the song in real time. At the same time, video footage of a butterfly is projected on the wall in front of the piece. The butterfly is a tribute to motivational speaker Tom Terrific, who sees the Monarch butterfly as a symbol of personal growth, perseverance and change. Happy Ending Machine is intended to be a motivational piece and a way for participants to experiment with change, creation and constant metamorphosis.

Also at McLeod Residence through April 30 is Seattle Notables, a multimedia project celebrating famous figures of Seattle, featuring photographs by Adam L. Weintraub and Alice Wheeler, as well as a painting exhibit curated by Laurie Kearney; neon by Jeremy Bert and Jen Elek; and an exhibit of Northwest paintings that includes an early work by Chuck Close.

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McLeod Residence, located at 2209 Second Avenue in Seattle, Washington, is a home for extraordinary living through art, technology and collaboration. Proprietors Buster McLeod and Lele McLeod founded McLeod Residence in 2006. McLeod Residence is open Tuesday-Saturday from 10 am to 6 pm. For more information, contact McLeod Residence at 206-441-3314 or visit www.mcleodresidence.com.