Stephanie HouseThis month we take a look at two pieces by California-based artist Virginia Katz, Off-shore Flow, 10 Hours of Observation, Gold and Copper, 10/7/08 and On-shore Flow, 7 Hours of Observation, Green and Blue, 3/28/08, currently on display on the fourth floor of Beckman Hall.
Virginia Katz is a California based artist who received her MFA at California State Long Beach. In her work, Katz seeks to explore earthly processes and the powerful forces that shape the natural world but are invisible to the human eye, such as ocean tides and wind streams.
Using systems and materials that are closely related to the content of the work, I have investigated a variety of natural phenomena underpinned with an awareness of the laws of physics and philosophical inquiries. – Virginia Katz
About the Art
The two pieces currently on display on the fourth floor of Beckman Hall are part of Katz’s Wind series (2000-2009) in which she “collaborates” with the wind to create the finished artwork. To do this, she ties strings to tree branches and tapes pens to the end of those strings so that they mark the paper that is weighted on the ground below the tree. In doing so, Katz was able to record two major wind events in Southern California: Sana Ana wind conditions, or Off-shore Flows when the winds are hot, dry, and gusty originating inland and pushing off-shore, and the On-shore Flows that originate from the Pacific Ocean and flow into coastal areas. These “collaborations” sometimes take 17 or more hours to complete; the date, time spent, and type of air flow are all documented in the titles of each work.
Explore Chapman University’s Escalette Collection
The Phyllis and Ross Escalette Permanent Collection of Art is an academic unit of Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences that installs, researches, stores and cares for the artwork in the collection, and organizes exhibitions and community outreach throughout Chapman’s campus. We are committed to the development of a focused permanent collection of art that meets teaching and research needs on campus, reflects the multi-cultural nature of Southern California, promotes new artistic talent in the region, and participates in current global artistic discourse.
Display Image at Top/ Virginia Katz, Off-shore Flow, 10 Hours of Observation, Gold and Copper, 10/7/08 and On-shore Flow, 7 Hours of Observation, Green and Blue, 3/28/08, Metallic ink on black paper, 2008. Purchased with funds from the Escalette Endowment. 2019.4.1-2
