Marian April Glebes

matter battle

.
.
.

The Mobile Community Brick Factory & Monument

The Baltimore Mobile Community Brick Factory produces handmade bricks from local Maryland clay using historic waterstruck wooden mold methods. We invite the people of Baltimore to join us in making the bricks and personalizing them by inscribing stories and ideas about home, place, history and personal experience. The bricks made by the Baltimore Mobile Community Brick Factory, after firing, become a part of a series of public art installations. This exhibition at Baltimore Clayworks is the first installation of the wood-fired bricks. The Baltimore Mobile Community Brick Factory is Marian April Glebes in collaboration with Josh Copus and you.

Brickmaking occurred during the Spring and Summer of 2016.

The Baltimore Mobile Community Brick Factory is made possible, in part, by a 2015 Rubys Artist Project Grant, an initiative conceived with start-up funding from the Robert W. Deutsch Foundation and is a program of the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance.

The Baltimore Mobile Community Brick Factory Bricks

Baltimore Clayworks, Project Space

October 14, 2016 - November 13, 2016

This installation at Baltimore Clayworks included over 650 bricks from the first woodfiring of the bricks we made as the Baltimore Mobile Community Brick Factory. The floor configuration was installed in the project space and occupied 160 square feet. Visitors we invited to walk on the bricks to read the inscriptions.

.
Bricks made by Baltimore Mobile Community Brick Factory

The Baltimore Mobile Community Brick Factory Bricks Baltimore Clayworks, Project Space October 14, 2016 - November 13, 2016 This installation at Baltimore Clayworks included over 650 bricks from the first woodfiring of the bricks we made as the Baltimore Mobile Community Brick Factory. The floor configuration was installed in the project space and occupied 160 square feet. Visitors we invited to walk on the bricks to read the inscriptions.
.
Baltimore Mobile Community Brick Factory Brick Installation View

The Baltimore Mobile Community Brick Factory Bricks Baltimore Clayworks, Project Space October 14, 2016 - November 13, 2016 This installation at Baltimore Clayworks included over 650 bricks from the first woodfiring of the bricks we made as the Baltimore Mobile Community Brick Factory. The floor configuration was installed in the project space and occupied 160 square feet. Visitors we invited to walk on the bricks to read the inscriptions.
Bricks made by the Baltimore mobile Community Brick Factory

The Baltimore Mobile Community Brick Factory Bricks Baltimore Clayworks, Project Space October 14, 2016 - November 13, 2016 This installation at Baltimore Clayworks included over 650 bricks from the first woodfiring of the bricks we made as the Baltimore Mobile Community Brick Factory. The floor configuration was installed in the project space and occupied 160 square feet. Visitors we invited to walk on the bricks to read the inscriptions. The Baltimore Mobile Community Brick Factory produces handmade bricks from local Maryland clay using historic waterstruck wooden mold methods. We invite the people of Baltimore to join us in making the bricks and personalizing them by inscribing stories and ideas about home, place, history and personal experience. The bricks made by the Baltimore Mobile Community Brick Factory, after firing, become a part of a series of public art installations. This exhibition at Baltimore Clayworks is the first installation of the bricks. The Baltimore Mobile Community Brick Factory is Marian April Glebes with Josh Copus and you. The Baltimore Mobile Community Brick Factory is made possible, in part, by a 2015 Rubys Artist Project Grant, an initiative conceived with start-up funding from the Robert W. Deutsch Foundation and is a program of the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance
Baltimore Mobile Community Brick Factory on the Spring House Lawn at the BMA
Telling stories in bricks at the Brick Factory
Welcome to the Baltimore Mobile Community Brick Factory's Brickmaking Station
Margaret Brent Middle School 4th Graders visit the Brick Factory
Making bricks at the Baltimore Mobile Community Brick Factory

THIS BRICK IS HISTORIC PRESERVATION; THIS BRICK IS NOT A DEAD WHITE GUY ON A HORSE: BALTIMORE CITY ARTIST-RUN SPATIAL PRACTICES AND RESPONSES TO CONFEDERATE MONUMENTS AS EXPERIMENTAL PRESERVATION

In order to remain relevant, the field of historic preservation must evolve. This evolution has already been taking place for some time. The concept of experimental preservation, popularized by Jorge Otero-Pailos, Young and Osbourne’s notion of counter-monumentality, Lee and Upton’s work resisting the “heritage not hate” narrative, Dolores Hayden’s “power of place,” and Laura Jane Smith’s work on the “authorized heritage discourse” all contribute to the ongoing development of a field that has always had a complicated relationship to change.

I bring these concepts and others to bear on events since 2016 that turned the attention of preservationists - and the public at large – back towards urgent questions about the nature of monumentality. Monuments to the American Confederacy and to hate were critiqued and toppled by artists and activists faster that the field of preservation could respond. These events and case studies in Baltimore City show us that new models and practices are still possible and necessary.

This thesis uses archival material, embedded site visits, interviews with protagonists, and institutional critique to work towards some visions of what those new models might be. I introduce the concept of “artist-run spatial practice” to describe the work that cultural producers do at every level to engage with material that was otherwise under the purview of preservationists. I show that institutions and government agencies already have the capacity to change and adapt latent within their current modes. In closing, I advocate on behalf of a “5th tool,” reinvention, that will be a necessary addition to the arsenal of those who practice preservation in any capacity going forward into the future.

.
.
THIS BRICK IS HISTORIC PRESERVATION; THIS BRICK IS NOT A DEAD WHITE GUY ON A HORSE: BALTIMORE CITY ARTIST-RUN SPATIAL PRACTICES AND RESPONSES TO CONFEDERATE MONUMENTS AS EXPERIMENTAL PRESERVATION
.

Preservation | Restoration | Rehabilitation | Reconstruction | Reinvention

West North Avenue Historic Conditions
Derive
Derive
Crosssection
The Village Further Afield
The Village Further Afield
These Were Not Fancy Houses; The Rest Remains
.

The Brick Hill Plant Lab

Baltimore-based art practice experiment in growing, cultivating, & tending.

Cultivation as conceptual art.

The Brick Hill Plant Lab
The Brick Hill Plant Lab
The Brick Hill Plant Lab

Guesthouse by The Brick Hill Plant Lab
The Brick Hill Plant Lab
The Brick Hill Plant Lab
Guesthouse by The Brick Hill Plant Lab
The Brick Hill Plant Lab
The Brick Hill Plant Lab
The Brick Hill Plant Lab
Guesthouse by The Brick Hill Plant Lab

"Three Sheds for Three Sites, Shed I: Home Shed (...)

TITLE: Three Sheds for Three Sites, Shed I: Home Shed
(One is at the Museum and Performs the Functions of Home, One is at the Salvage Material Re-Use Center and Performs the Functions of the Museum, One is at the Home of the Artist and performs the Functions of A Collection)

DATE: 2015

MATERIALS: Mixed Media & Audience Participation

DIMENSIONS: Dimensions Variable

Three Sheds for Three Sites, Shed I: Home Shed (...)

TITLE: Three Sheds for Three Sites, Shed I: Home Shed (One is at the Museum and Performs the Functions of Home, One is at the Salvage Material Re-Use Center and Performs the Functions of the Museum, One is at the Home of the Artist and performs the Functions of A Collection) DATE: 2015 MATERIALS: Mixed Media & Audience Participation DIMENSIONS: Dimensions Variable
Three Sheds for Three Sites, Shed I: Home Shed (...)

TITLE: Three Sheds for Three Sites, Shed I: Home Shed (One is at the Museum and Performs the Functions of Home, One is at the Salvage Material Re-Use Center and Performs the Functions of the Museum, One is at the Home of the Artist and performs the Functions of A Collection) DATE: 2015 MATERIALS: Mixed Media & Audience Participation DIMENSIONS: Dimensions Variable
Three Sheds for Three Sites, Shed I: Home Shed (...)

TITLE: Three Sheds for Three Sites, Shed I: Home Shed (One is at the Museum and Performs the Functions of Home, One is at the Salvage Material Re-Use Center and Performs the Functions of the Museum, One is at the Home of the Artist and performs the Functions of A Collection) DATE: 2015 MATERIALS: Mixed Media & Audience Participation DIMENSIONS: Dimensions Variable
Three Sheds for Three Sites, Shed I: Home Shed (...)

TITLE: Three Sheds for Three Sites, Shed I: Home Shed (One is at the Museum and Performs the Functions of Home, One is at the Salvage Material Re-Use Center and Performs the Functions of the Museum, One is at the Home of the Artist and performs the Functions of A Collection) DATE: 2015 MATERIALS: Mixed Media & Audience Participation DIMENSIONS: Dimensions Variable
Three Sheds for Three Sites, Shed I: Home Shed (...)

TITLE: Three Sheds for Three Sites, Shed I: Home Shed (One is at the Museum and Performs the Functions of Home, One is at the Salvage Material Re-Use Center and Performs the Functions of the Museum, One is at the Home of the Artist and performs the Functions of A Collection) DATE: 2015 MATERIALS: Mixed Media & Audience Participation DIMENSIONS: Dimensions Variable
Three Sheds for Three Sites, Shed I: Home Shed (...)

TITLE: Three Sheds for Three Sites, Shed I: Home Shed (One is at the Museum and Performs the Functions of Home, One is at the Salvage Material Re-Use Center and Performs the Functions of the Museum, One is at the Home of the Artist and performs the Functions of A Collection) DATE: 2015 MATERIALS: Mixed Media & Audience Participation DIMENSIONS: Dimensions Variable
Three Sheds for Three Sites, Shed I: Home Shed (...)

TITLE: Three Sheds for Three Sites, Shed I: Home Shed (One is at the Museum and Performs the Functions of Home, One is at the Salvage Material Re-Use Center and Performs the Functions of the Museum, One is at the Home of the Artist and performs the Functions of A Collection) DATE: 2015 MATERIALS: Mixed Media & Audience Participation DIMENSIONS: Dimensions Variable
Three Sheds for Three Sites, Shed I: Home Shed (...)

TITLE: Three Sheds for Three Sites, Shed I: Home Shed (One is at the Museum and Performs the Functions of Home, One is at the Salvage Material Re-Use Center and Performs the Functions of the Museum, One is at the Home of the Artist and performs the Functions of A Collection) DATE: 2015 MATERIALS: Mixed Media & Audience Participation DIMENSIONS: Dimensions Variable
Three Sheds for Three Sites, Shed I: Home Shed (...)

TITLE: Three Sheds for Three Sites, Shed I: Home Shed (One is at the Museum and Performs the Functions of Home, One is at the Salvage Material Re-Use Center and Performs the Functions of the Museum, One is at the Home of the Artist and performs the Functions of A Collection) DATE: 2015 MATERIALS: Mixed Media & Audience Participation DIMENSIONS: Dimensions Variable
Three Sheds for Three Sites, Shed I: Home Shed (...)

TITLE: Three Sheds for Three Sites, Shed I: Home Shed (One is at the Museum and Performs the Functions of Home, One is at the Salvage Material Re-Use Center and Performs the Functions of the Museum, One is at the Home of the Artist and performs the Functions of A Collection) DATE: 2015 MATERIALS: Mixed Media & Audience Participation DIMENSIONS: Dimensions Variable

from the series "Material Studies"

The Materials Studies series aggregates scientific, environmental, and historic research of the artist’s home as a labour-intensive performance, artifacts of which are exhibited as part of the exhibition "Commons Collaboration: Marian April Glebes with The Loading Dock," the inaugural Community Commons exhibition in the Patricia and Mark Joseph Center for Education at the Baltimore Museum of Art. This series will accumulate over the course of the exhibition, and begins an ongoing project.

Untitled Study in Brick and Mortar (Foundation Turned Sand)

DATE: 2015 MATERIALS: Brick and mortar dust collected from 10 locations in the artist's basement that evidence failure of the foundation, Silkscreen on Arches 88, Edition of 10 DIMENSIONS: 22"x30" unframed, 25 1/4"x 35 1/2" framed
Untitled Study in Brick and Mortar (Foundation Turned Sand)

DATE: 2015 MATERIALS: Brick and mortar dust collected from 10 locations in the artist's basement that evidence failure of the foundation, Silkscreen on Arches 88, Edition of 10 DIMENSIONS: 22"x30" unframed, 25 1/4"x 35 1/2" framed
Untitled Study in Brick and Mortar (Foundation Turned Sand)

DATE: 2015 MATERIALS: Brick and mortar dust collected from 10 locations in the artist's basement that evidence failure of the foundation, Silkscreen on Arches 88, Edition of 10 DIMENSIONS: 22"x30" unframed, 25 1/4"x 35 1/2" framed
Untitled Studies in Lead-Based Paint, Installation View

"Untitled Studies in Lead-Based Paint" Installation View, from the series "Material Studies"exhibited at the Baltimore Museum of Art, 2015-2016
Untitled Study in Lead-based Paint I (Presence)

DATE: 2015 MATERIALS: Lead-based Oil Ground, applied directly to gallery wall DIMENSIONS: 1' 9" x 1' 9" - Dimensions variable to 1% of painted wall surface
Untitled Study in Lead-based Paint IV (Alligatoring)

DATE: 2015 MATERIALS: Lead-paint Contaminated Door Frame DIMENSIONS: 16 3/4"x16 1/4" unframed, 22" x 22" framed
Untitled Study in Lead-based Paint II (Positive Risk Reduction Test) & Untitled Study in Lead-based Paint I (Presence)

INSTALLATION VIEW: Untitled Study in Lead-based Paint II (Positive Risk Reduction Test) & Untitled Study in Lead-based Paint I (Presence)
Untitled Study in Lead-based Paint II (Positive Risk Reduction Test)

DATE: 2015 MATERIALS: Ghost Wipe, Lead-paint dust DIMENSIONS: 3"x3" unframed, 12"x12" framed
Untitled Study in Wood II (Core)

DATE: 2015 MATERIALS: Core Sample from Joists in Artist's Home DIMENSIONS: 1 1/2" "x3" unframed, 15"x15" framed
Untitled (A Collection of Attempts to Answer Open Questions Regarding Origin, Integrity, and Site Specificity)

MATERIALS: 3 Ring Binder, Copy Paper DIMENSIONS: 12"x9"x2"

"Three Sheds for Three Sites, Shed III: Collection Shed (...)"

TITLE: Three Sheds for Three Sites, Shed III: Collection Shed

(One is at the Museum and Performs the Functions of Home, One is at the Salvage Material Re-Use Center and Performs the Functions of the Museum, One is at the Home of the Artist and performs the Functions of A Collection)

DATE: 2015

MATERIALS: Mixed Media & Audience Participation

DIMENSIONS: Dimensions Variable

Three Sheds for Three Sites, Shed III: Collection Shed

TITLE: Three Sheds for Three Sites, Shed III: Collection Shed (One is at the Museum and Performs the Functions of Home, One is at the Salvage Material Re-Use Center and Performs the Functions of the Museum, One is at the Home of the Artist and performs the Functions of A Collection) ARTIST:Marian April Glebes DATE: 2015 MATERIALS: Mixed Media & Audience Participation DIMENSIONS: Dimensions Variable
Three Sheds for Three Sites, Shed III: Collection Shed
Three Sheds for Three Sites, Shed III: Collection Shed
Three Sheds for Three Sites, Shed III: Collection Shed
Three Sheds for Three Sites, Shed III: Collection Shed
Three Sheds for Three Sites, Shed III: Collection Shed
Three Sheds for Three Sites, Shed III: Collection Shed
Three Sheds for Three Sites, Shed III: Collection Shed at Home
Three Sheds for Three Sites, Shed III: Collection Shed at Home
Three Sheds for Three Sites, Shed III: Collection Shed at Home

from the series "Model Homes"

For the series "Model Homes," materials were selected to examine the performative public/private nature of domestic space and values. The majority of the series "Model Homes" was created by compression casting. The casts are not held together by a binding agent, they are monolithic and rely on the properties of each material to maintain their form. The 2 drywall forms were constructed, not cast. The materials for "Model Homes" were collected over an extended period of time by the artist from suburban lawns. (Dandelions were collected over a 3 year period. Lint collected over 6 month period. Grass, 2 months, for example.) Once enough material was collected, it was inserted into the mold. The force to cast the material was applied using a mechanical pressure system designed by the artist. The glass house is sand-cast glass, annealed over 4 days from a liquid glass temperature of 1100 degrees. The pedestals were built by the artist using MDF. The vitrines are plexiglass.

Model Homes, Installation View

The majority of the series "Model Homes" was created by compression casting. The casts are not held together by a binding agent, they are monolithic and rely on the properties of each material to maintain their form. The 2 drywall forms were constructed, not cast. The materials for "Model Homes" were collected over an extended period of time by the artist from suburban lawns. (Dandelions were collected over a 3 year period. Lint collected over 6 month period. Grass, 2 months, for example.) Once enough material was collected, it was inserted into the mold. The force to cast the material was applied using a mechanical pressure system designed by the artist. The glass house is sand-cast glass, annealed over 4 days from a liquid glass temperature of 1100 degrees. The pedestals were built by the artist using MDF. The vitrines are plexiglass.
Model Home (Glass)

material: Sand-cast Glass "Model Home (Glass)" is sand-cast glass, annealed over 4 days from a liquid glass temperature of 1100 degrees. *made with the assistance of Jeremy Lepisto and Scott Schroeder
Model Home (Dust)

material: Dryer Lint Dryer lint was collected over a period of 6 months from the home of the artist and others, blended, then compression cast to form "Model Home (Dust)"
Model Home (Dandelion III)

material: Dandelion seeds The artist collected Dandelion seeds from neighborhood lawns over a 3 year period. The Dandelion house is monolithic, relying only on the properties of the material to maintain its form.
Model Home (Birdseed, Model I)

materials: birdseed The birdseed house is in a constant state of entropy. As the material maintains its edibility in cast form, it is consumed by moths as it is exhibited. This ecology is sealed in the vitrine.
Model Home (Earth, Model VII)

material: Rammed Earth
Model Home (Soil IIX)

materials: Potting Soil, Baby's Breath and Chamomile Plants, UV Light Cast potting soil was embedded with plant seeds and kept moist, enabling the plants to sprout and grow. As the plants developed, their root structure eroded the legibility of the house form. The ecology was sealed under the vitrine.
Model Home (Drywall) - installation view

materials: Drywall, Joint Compound, Mold A model home was built out of drywall, mudded, and sanded to a perfect finish. The final model was enclosed in an airtight plastic container in a bath of water and left to grow mold for three months.
Model Home (Drywall IV)

material: Drywall, Joint Compound, Latex Housepaint

"In Defense of Native Soil"

Glebes's Exhibition entitled "In Defense of Native Soil" was installed at University of Maryland Baltimore County's Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture in the spring of 2009. The work used the seemingly benign dandelion to address issues of the suburban environment, our received and circumscribed routines, the use of the art object as a tool for social change, and the control of the uncontrollable.

Installation View: In Defense of Native Soil
Installation: â??Water, collected from leaking faucets, is used to facilitate the printing of 1 (one) unfixed salt print, recollected, and then used to water dandelions.â?

materials: water, buckets, wood, dirt, latex paint, light, paper, dandelions
In this work, Glebes collected leaking water from faucets in Baltimore City. THe water was then distilled and used to print one unfixed salt print. The water was then recollected and displayed in the gallery and used to water a crop of dandelions for the duration of the exhibition. The salt print was displayed with the water and faded to invisibility over the month.
Installation, Detail: â??Water, collected from leaking faucets, is used to facilitate the printing of 1 (one) unfixed salt print, recollected, and then used to water dandelions.â?

In this work, Glebes collected leaking water from faucets in Baltimore City. THe water was then distilled and used to print one unfixed salt print. The water was then recollected and displayed in the gallery and used to water a crop of dandelions for the duration of the exhibition. The salt print was displayed with the water and faded to invisibility over the month.
Installation, Detail: â??Water, collected from leaking faucets, is used to facilitate the printing of 1 (one) unfixed salt print, recollected, and then used to water dandelions.â?

In this work, Glebes collected leaking water from faucets in Baltimore City. THe water was then distilled and used to print one unfixed salt print. The water was then recollected and displayed in the gallery and used to water a crop of dandelions for the duration of the exhibition. The salt print was displayed with the water and faded to invisibility over the month.
Installation, Detail: 1000 Dandelion Seeds, Harvested on an Early Day in Fall from the Front Yardâ?

materials: 1000 scintillation vials, 1000 dandelion seeds, wood, brackets
Installation, Detail: "1000 Dandelion Seeds, Harvested on an Early Day in Fall from the Front Yard"

materials: 1000 scintillation vials, 1000 dandelion seeds, wood, brackets
Sculpture, Detail: "Wish Machine"

materials: seeds of one dandelion, glass dome, fans, button
In "Wish Machine," the seeds of one dandelion are sealed atop a pedestal under a glass dome. Viewers may push a button on the pedestal, activating fans which blow the seeds around the dome. This enables them to wish on the dandelion repeatedly without fear of the seeds populating manicured lawns.
Tethered

materials: seeds of one (1) Dandelion, embroidery thread, needles

Dimensions Variable, approx. 8"x16'

In "Tethered" dandelion seeds are glued to the ends of embroidery thread, which is suspended from needles pinned to the wall. The piece allows the viewer to "wish" on the dandelion seeds as a child would, without the danger of the seeds escaping to contaminate lawns and gardens. The work addresses the futility of repair and the desire to control the uncontrollable. This piece is a solution to the American fear of the unmanicured lawn, and our attempts to perfect nature and it's unpredictable elements.
"Treading on Sea, on Sky"

dimensions variable, approx. 4'x7'

project description: In "Treading on Sea, on Sky," Glebes photographed the sky above and the water contained in the reservoirs around Baltimore City. Over the course of several months, Glebes wore the prints of the photographs on the soles of her shoes as she attended to her day to day. The resulting artifacts are accompanied by ambiguous descriptions of her activities and her most frequently worn pair of shoes.
Three Wishes

materials: seeds of three dandelions, arches 88

In "Three Wishes," Glebes made a wish on a dandelion. The seeds from the wish were allowed to land only on one sheet of paper. She then affixed them to the paper exactly as they landed. The process was repeated three times.