Notes on Religion

Wedge Space, HCC-Southeast
​Oct 9 - Nov 12, 2014

Non-Sacred Texts on Plain Paper

Notes on Religion is one of my independent curatorial projects in Wedge Space at Houston Community College in 2014. Wedge Space is a project space for visiting artists and art faculty wanting to engage with first generation college students in new ways.

I culled  works from social media sites, looking for invitees, spending time on Tumblr and Instagram for examples from creatives, technologists, professors, and pastors.  I sent personal notes to people I did not know and asked if they would participate in the exhibition by sending me a particular work I was drawn to for graphic design and message.

Creative Participants

Terri Bubb, an HCC Instructional Designer and Technologist, had developed a daily practice of recording her reading of Bible passages and kept a precise calendar.

Chuck McCarthy, a Hollywood Actor designed a torn paper poem about Jesus.

Justin Murphy, UK professor used the monitor to project his digital native poetry

Salem Pearce, Rabbinical student, sent her class notes.

June Woest, HCC Faculty Artist, wrote hate speech with searching lines using graphite, erased and embossed with gold lines.

Zouilkha Mouffak, Muslim Engineer, sent me hundred's of yellow sticky notes. You can see the archway I created with them in the background of this photo.

Unifying Theme

The unifying theme in this show is the ritualistic nature of mark making.  Words only, no pictures.  The show is about graphic line and religious verve.  The scripts on view represent a variety of faiths,  Jewish, Catholic, Buddhist, Christian, and Muslim, each with their own language system.  The works are personal, handwritten scripts with an eye on aesthetics.  The choice of works with the absence of imagery was intentional on my part. 

Writing to Remember with HCC Students

The exhibition culminated in a workshop in Wedge Space titled, Write to Remember, on Nov 6.  Students brought in notes from any class they were taking, and reconstructed them with pens and colored markers. They were asked to exaggerate their class notes, to take the main idea and exaggerate it with the art element, line. The math notes were the best!