Skye Gilkerson's portfolio

About Skye

Skye Gilkerson?s work has been shown in solo, two person, and group exhibitions in museums and galleries across the US including Samsøn Projects in Boston, Temple University Gallery in Philadelphia, and the DUMBO Arts Festival in New York. Skye was a 2011 Trawick Prize Finalist, and she was awarded a First Place Award from the Majestic Gallery, a Chenven Foundation Grant, and Artist Residency Grants with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Anderson Ranch Arts Center, the Kimmel Harding Nelson… more

View Skye's Resume

Portable Horizon

"Landscape shapes place."
Terry Tempest Williams

In this travel sized viewing box, mirrors reflect the sky above and expand it downward, erasing everything in between. The characteristics of different landscapes merge into one view, as mountains, forests, and cities become the familiar, open expanse of the central United States where I was raised.

Sungazing 24/108

Nearly seventy years ago, my grandfather witnessed hundreds of Suns lighting up the sky. That light still exists within me.
Pocket Horizon

Pocket Horizons are a smaller, souvenir version.
Pocket Horizons

Pocket Horizons are a smaller, souvenir version.
Portable Horizon (City View)
Portable Horizon (City)

In this travel sized viewing box, mirrors reflect the sky above and expand it downward, erasing everything in between. The characteristics of different landscapes merge into one view, as mountains, forests, and cities become the familiar, open expanse of the central United States where I was raised.
Portable Horizon (Forest View)
Portable Horizon (Forest)

In this travel sized viewing box, mirrors reflect the sky above and expand it downward, erasing everything in between. The characteristics of different landscapes merge into one view, as mountains, forests, and cities become the familiar, open expanse of the central United States where I was raised.
Portable Horizon (Mountain View)
Portable Horizon (Mountain)

In this travel sized viewing box, mirrors reflect the sky above and expand it downward, erasing everything in between. The characteristics of different landscapes merge into one view, as mountains, forests, and cities become the familiar, open expanse of the central United States where I was raised.

Dislocate

This ongoing project is a response to my experiences living in shrinking cities, and watching as trees inhabit our abandoned structures. Wrapped in lights, these trees now recall their carefully tended counterparts living in parks and by sidewalk cafes, merging the aesthetic of different parts of the city.

421 North Howard

A paper version grows just outside the gallery window at Towson University.
421 North Howard

A paper version grows just outside the gallery window at Towson University.
Dislocate (Baltimore)

This ongoing project is a response to my experiences living in shrinking cities, and watching as trees inhabit our abandoned structures. Wrapped in lights, these trees now recall their carefully tended counterparts living in parks and by sidewalk cafes, merging the aesthetic of different parts of the city.
Dislocate (Detroit)

This ongoing project is a response to my experiences living in shrinking cities, and watching as trees inhabit our abandoned structures. Wrapped in lights, these trees now recall their carefully tended counterparts living in parks and by sidewalk cafes, merging the aesthetic of different parts of the city.
Dislocate (Detroit)

This ongoing project is a response to my experiences living in shrinking cities, and watching as trees inhabit our abandoned structures. Wrapped in lights, these trees now recall their carefully tended counterparts living in parks and by sidewalk cafes, merging the aesthetic of different parts of the city.
Dislocate (Baltimore)

This ongoing project is a response to my experiences living in shrinking cities, and watching as trees inhabit our abandoned structures. Wrapped in lights, these trees now recall their carefully tended counterparts living in parks and by sidewalk cafes, merging the aesthetic of different parts of the city.
Dislocate (Baltimore)

This ongoing project is a response to my experiences living in shrinking cities, and watching as trees inhabit our abandoned structures. Wrapped in lights, these trees now recall their carefully tended counterparts living in parks and by sidewalk cafes, merging the aesthetic of different parts of the city.

Melting Mountains

My response to an unexpected, huge snowfall outside my studio window.

studio window at night
Melting Mountains

My response to an unexpected, huge snowfall that obstructed the view from my studio window.
Melting Mountains

My response to an unexpected, huge snowfall that obstructed the view from my studio window.
Melting Mountains

My response to an unexpected, huge snowfall that obstructed the view from my studio window.
Melting Mountains

My response to an unexpected, huge snowfall that obstructed the view from my studio window.
Melting Mountains

My response to an unexpected, huge snowfall that obstructed the view from my studio window.

Architectural Interventions

In these installations I am exploring our awareness of our immediate surroundings and our sensory connection to architecture. A drawing on the floor correlates directly to the vents on the wall, and the marks of the drawing are made of adhesive. They begin nearly invisible, and grow subtly darker as viewers walk across the floor. Over time, the lines become darker than the grey of the concrete. Because of their subtlety, these pieces ask to be viewed with heightened perception, fusing our intellectual understanding of the work with a sensory experience. Everyday objects and materials are lifted from their context, defamiliarizing the familiar.

Tides

video projected on window
Untitled

library books, rearranged
Naming

library books, rearranged
Switch (detail)

folded vellum, sunlight
Switch

folded vellum, sunlight
Interior

wallpaper on window
Vent Echo

adhesive and dust on gallery floor

Works on Paper (Subtractions)

Works on paper involving erasure and subtraction from 2008-2011.

Agoraphobia

world map, surface sanded and collected
Citizens and Pioneers

This piece is made of the unfolded front pages of newspapers from every place I've lived. Each word is removed one by one, leaving only the space between words. The remaining structures recall blueprints, as the empty spaces become windows or rooms. The stories of a place comprise its cultural landscape, and newspapers are the medium where language and place intersect. I am considering how our experience of a place can affect who we are.
Citizens and Pioneers (detail)

This piece is made of the unfolded front pages of newspapers from every place I've lived. Each word is removed one by one, leaving only the space between words. The remaining structures recall blueprints, as the empty spaces become windows or rooms. The stories of a place comprise its cultural landscape, and newspapers are the medium where language and place intersect. I am considering how our experience of a place can affect who we are.
Installation view of works on paper
693 Spaces

hand-cut, layered magazine pages
Conversation Abstraction

hand-cut magazine pages
Harvest

hand-cut magazine pages
Room

hand-cut magazine page

Works on Paper (Punctuation Series)

From a distance, my works on paper look like quiet abstractions. Upon closer inspection, the drawings reveal themselves to be collages of punctuation marks cut from periodicals and books. I sift through the pages of magazines to isolate a chosen mark of the text like commas or parentheses, remove them one by one, and relocate them one by one to the page of the drawing. The density of marks suggest this passage of time; lifted from their original context, the marks become author-less. The sentences attached to each of these punctuation marks are implied but never revealed, and the basic elements of written communication are transformed into an exploration of structure, referencing architecture and landscape.

More on this work:

http://www.openlettersmonthly.com/an-authorless-chorus/

http://theartblog.org/2011/09/parallel-processes/