In-Closures

Art Museum Installation by Grace Leal and Nancy Seib

The Brevard Art Museum invited my friend, Grace, and me to do a collaborative installation.   We were excited about it and brain-stormed for weeks, but there seemed to be no merging of minds.  We finally came to the conclusion that we were two (too) strong artists that might be better off doing our own thing, dividing the long room into two spaces.  Our name for the show would need to encompass our varied ideas, and since both of us were dealing with enclosed spaces, we finally decided on “In-Closures”.  This name seemed inspired at the time, but turned out to be not so memorable.  I asked her the other day if she remembered the name of our installation, since I could not recall – but neither could she.

As a double major in religion and philosophy, as well as art, I felt the need to deal with the big questions of life, as though I might actually solve them.  I took a photo of myself with a blindfold and my hands up, which I wanted enlarged to the size of the wall.  In those days (2002) that was not nearly as easy as it might be today.  If I recall, an architectural firm made it for me.  I had mirrors all along one wall with multiple filled garbage bags roped off behind a crime scene tape. There was a ladder directed upward.

My color scheme was black and white and grey, with a touch of red.

Grace, on the other hand, created beautiful white cocoon like shapes that she floated from the ceiling and lit with spot-lights.  Her daughter helped her with a haunting sound track.  My audio was a poem that I had written and recorded in my own southern twang.  As a part of the show, each of us gave a short talk and I believe it was all considered a success.  Upon looking back, we realized that she had dealt with the light and I, with the dark.  Perhaps that is one reason we are good friends.