Fashion(ing) A.D. 2020 to 2021

Close to ten years after putting the journal, Ecco Eco, on pause, I decided in 2020 to reopen select conversations with the launch of a new project that aims to explore artifacts, objects, and ideas related to fashion(ing) materials in response to environmental phenomena and terrain narratives.

The previous archives (from 2008 to 2012) reflect documentation and writing from this period, although in many instances the content does not reflect our current era. That said, there are threads in these postings that I find useful in reflecting on where we might collectively venture. 

Please join me on this new journey at Fashion(ing) A.D. for future projects and writings. Specific features include notes, terrain (monthly postings), and collaborative projects.

Additionally, this (blogger) studio journal (2007 - 2020) will now be archived. 

Please visit www.abigaildoan.com for updates and news. 

Walking Libraries Interview in Moowon Journal

“Walking is often viewed as an act of resistance, at least in terms of the individual feeling empowered to shed societal expectations, identify tendencies to subjugate nature, and assess the status quo.”

– Abigail Doan, Environmental artist and researcher

So honored to have Walking Libraries (2016-2020) featured in Moowon Journal this month. Mona Kim, Moowon's founder, asked some wonderful questions as part of an interview feature in the article. 


All featured photos are from my on-foot travels in rural regions of the U.S. as well as Europe. Studio artifacts and objects were created as part of my documentation of  traces of atmospheric conditions and acts of resilience while out on the trail. "The development of Walking Libraries as an archiving concept and movement practice was a way for me to confront my own layers of mental stasis, and in turn, come into contact with my surroundings in ways that might reveal solutions for greater resiliency and connectedness moving forward."

Learn more about Moowon here and become a part of their community here.

PHOTOGRAPHY: COPYRIGHT © ABIGAIL DOAN. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
TEXT: COPYRIGHT © MONA KIM / MOOWON MAGAZINE. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Prairie Editions | 2019

woven palm raffia vessel by Monica Hofstadter | photo: Abigail Doan

Several months have passed since my May artist residency at The Jennings Hotel in Joseph, Oregon, but the slower summer tempo has allowed for some reflection on my time out west and the documentation of materials and project ideas leading up to my stay and the days thereafter.

fusing ideas + materials for the prairie vessel and Walking Libraries artifacts

Walking Libraries artifacts documented in room 4 at The Jennings Hotel

My idea to commission the above prairie vessel from Brooklyn artist/designer, Monica Hofstadter, proved to be an ideal way to further my Walking Libraries investigations.

Monica offered brilliant ideas re: the creation of a hand-woven vessel (wearable art object) that was to help me store gathered materials while out on the prairie or visiting ghost towns.

We looked closely at tule mat weavings and cordage methods, storage vessels and baskets from native traditions in the region, as well as delving into Monica's previous collections and designs highlighting tactile experiments and soft forms. Our final solution for this edition was a distillation of/homage to these sources, and also the embodiment of a dialogue between creatives and places.

Abigail Doan | residency workspace at The Jennings Hotel

For more information on Monica Hofstadter's work, visit her website and Instagram. 

Zumwalt Prairie | Artist Residency

Prairie Kit | Abigail Doan studio

I am excited to share that I will be traveling to Eastern Oregon in early May for a residency at The Jennings Hotel. This opportunity will allow me to further my environmental documentation project, Walking Libraries, as well as survey the region's Zumwalt Prairie.

In preparation for these travels, I am creating a kit of materials that will be used during walking excursions on the prairie as well as for future grassland and regional terrain editions. 

construction of a tule mat via Primitive Ways

Research for my trip has included tule mat weaving history and methods, 'prairie queen' quilt patterns, agricultural and traditional crafting methods/materials of the Nimiipuu (Nez Perce) people, studies on what constitutes an intact or sustainable prairie system, like the Zumwalt, and writings by author, Marcy Houle. Her book, The Prairie Keepers: Secrets of the Zumwalt, exquisitely and often humorously, describes the blend of interwoven local characters and the unique plant and animal species that make up the prairie ecosystem.

I wanted to send a special thanks in advance to The Jennings Hotel, as their artist residency program coupled with the spirit of the Prairie Mountain Folk School has inspired me to look beyond my usual methods for investigating the spirit of place and site specific histories.

2018 to 2019 | Restoration AD

Walking Libraries 'artifacts' | Abigail Doan | 2018

I want to take a moment to thank all of the talented individuals and key organizations who I collaborated with or who helped me to further ideas for the growth of this past year's studio projects.  

It was a year filled with learning from others, slowing down (still), and going deeper into what might better sustain me/us for 2019 and beyond. I will be further fine-tuning my efforts in the new year, perhaps making less, but observing and quietly documenting more. I have loosely tagged 2019 as a year of 'restoration' [ #restorationAD ], as I work to rebuild what is in my immediate sphere and also reframe existing ideas as experiential, restorative initiatives. 

Kraftmaking the Future | Transylvania

Walking Libraries at 'Kraftmaking the Future' in Transylvania

I am so thrilled to announce my participation in a mid-summer workshop in Cincu, Brasov County, Romania. This week long gathering in Transylvania has been organized by KraftMade cultural preservation and craft/textiles studio. In addition to other workshops, my Walking Libraries project will be shared as an immersive experience for place-making observation and rural documentation.

KraftMaking the Future: Fibers and Foraging Heritage in Transylvania is a workshop taking place during 29 July – 5 August in Cincu for a selection of the best MA students of the Fashion Design Department/University of Arts and Design, Cluj-Napoca. This workshop aims to show, theoretically and practically, how sustainable practices and connection to culture and place narratives can be integrated in the fashion industry and creation of textiles. Results of the workshop and documentary will be presented first at Textile Arts Center (New York) and University of Arts and Design (Cluj-Napoca).

Workshop concept and host: Soxen Association, KraftMade. 

Lecturers and workshop materials: Abigail Doan (USA), Zayaan Khan (South Africa), Victoria Manganiello (USA), Marlene Stanciu (Romania). Filmmaker: Kristin Kremers (USA). Project coordination on behalf of University of Arts and Design/Fashion Design Department: Prof.univ.dr. Elena Basso Stănescu and Conf.univ.dr. Lucian Broscățean.

Cultural project co-funded by AFCN. *The project does not necessarily represent the position of the Administration of the National Cultural Fund. AFCN is neither responsible for the content of the project, nor the way in which the results of the project can be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the funding beneficiary.

A special thank you also to our event sponsor: Domeniile Averești.

Workshop partners include: the Textile Arts Center in Brooklyn/NYC Fashion Design Department/ Universitatea de Artă şi Design din Cluj-Napoca / UAD, Evangelic CA Parish Cincu, Primaria Comunei Cincu, Mesteshukar ButiQ - MBQ.

'Kraftmaking the Future' workshop announcement artwork by Aitch 

2017 to 2018 | Shedding Light

Traces of an Imaginary Walk | Abigail Doan (2017)

Today, on the Winter Solstice, there is a transition both celestially as well as practically, regarding our outlook and vision for the days to come. In this spirit, I am sharing several highlights from the past year as I look ahead to an even more resolved understanding of the placement (role) of objects and materials in my creative practice.

This past year found me experimenting with new materials: clay, print, scent (essences), as well as revisiting fiber as more of a connective tool rather than a sculptural endpoint.

I was also fortunate to collaborate with creatives like Beau Rhee of Atelier de Geste, Brece Honeycutt of On a Colonial Farm, Elizabeth Hohimer of APYNB, Elizabeth Brunner of Piece x Piece, Janis Stemmerman of Russell Janis, and Katrina Rodabaugh (during her residency at Instar Lodge) as well as examining my studio process more closely with a Succurro fellowship, An Artist Residency in Motherhood, and a Spring 2017 community gathering for environmental activism and movement practice at MoMA PS1.

Pioneer | Scent Exploration + Activism

PIONEER worktable documentation | photo: Abigail Doan, 2017

Project PIONEER, seasons 01 + 02, was conceived as a sensory-based tool to be used in conjunction with Walking Libraries 2016–2019. I commissioned Brooklyn-based studio, Atelier de Geste, to design a two part scent kit that might be utilized in both urban and open rural spaces to facilitate centeredness and navigational clarity in relation to environmental art strategies. 

I commissioned studio Atelier de Geste, to design a two part scent kit that could be utilized in both urban and open rural spaces as well as interior zones to help prompt a feeling of centeredness as well as clarity regarding environmental (art) activist strategies. PIONEER will be released during the late winter of 2018, paired with images from Walking Libraries and the atmospheric observations that surfaced.

The Longing for 'Environmental Togetherness'

'Cure for Nostalgia 01' with a home remedy, black walnut, and field linen

It is officially autumn now. 

Autumn always makes me nostalgic, perhaps more so than spring or summer. It might be the waning atmospheric light or the poignant scents that are associated with a composting harvest on the now fallow fields of our own fecundity. Everything begins to feel more internalized and the land knows this, too.

Wetland vegetation near our former family farm in the Hudson Valley

With every passing season, I am making a practice of returning to the familiar plots and fence lines of my childhood farm in the Hudson Valley. We no longer own this land, but because I still long for its atmosphere and sustaining climate of layered memories, I continue to check in seasonally to survey any changes. 

The plantings and fence lines of childhood wanderings | Hudson Valley (2017)

My senses feel both deadened and heightened during these visits. Sometimes the links seem broken, and often one has to listen more intently to connect through the fog. Why is it that the entire world feels so different from last season? How quickly are the crops rotating? In what manner is the earth's rich soil continually revealing what we need to see but still cannot grasp?

Catskills | Summer Sanctuary

The flowing Esopus Creek with Queen Anne's Lace in the Catskills Mountains

August is typically the quiet month. The one when folks either decide to go off-grid or when wanderlust travelers opt to share the beauty and nuances of every exquisite detail of their findings on the road.

I have been fortunate to spend the first portion of my August in the Catskill Park of New York State, not far from the farmland where I grew up and became sensitive to the atmospheric details of local seasons and the terrain of rural landscapes.

The porch at Cedar Grove | Thomas Cole Site in Catskill, New York,

a viewing portal to the mountains and Hudson River

Both the Catskill Mountains and the Hudson River Valley have a shared tradition of regional landscape painting, seasonal travel, as well as serene moments for deep reflection in nature. Every time I visit, I learn more about how attuned painters of the Hudson River School were to the specifics of botanical species as well as geological formations. It is always so inspirational to decode their layered drawings and paintings. 

Early morning at Scribner's Lodge, like gentle fog rolling through the mountains

____

Please enjoy more photos and discoveries from the Catskills, here.

Also of note, the arts/events programming at the Thomas Cole Site in Catskill, New York.

Follow my new Instagram as well for upcoming news and future travel.

In The Steps of Folly Cove | Exhibition Catalogue

Detail of a my 96" x 48" block print on linen panel | on view In The Steps of Folly Cove

I am pleased to announce that Russell Janis Gallery has recently published an exquisite catalogue featuring exhibition and working photos as well as an essay by Elena Sarni on the critical context of the project, In The Steps of Folly Cove – Artist Print Invitational. 

Installation of printed artist panels at Russell Janis in Brooklyn

Artist, printmaker, and project curator, Janis Stemmermann, did a remarkable job of reviving the Folly Cove collaborative design spirit with her outreach to contemporary artists who may or may not have extensive printmaking experience. The range of linoleum block print design and hand-carving approaches was quite diverse, and reflective of both craft, pattern, and personal investigations.

Folly Cove Artist Print Invitational | Russell Janis

test print panel on the studio wall at Russell Janis in Brooklyn

I am thrilled to announce news of the upcoming exhibition and invitational print project, In The Steps of Folly Cove, organized by Russell Janis gallery and studio in Brooklyn, NY. My repeat print botanical design is based on an early scientific drawing by Ernst Haeckel, a German biologist, naturalist, and philosopher. I had not done any carving on linoleum block since junior high school, so my goal was to reintroduce myself to this process but in the spirit of a contemporary sketch and not a precise illustration of the plant form.

Block printing on Belgian linen double panel at Russell Janis studio

Janis Stemmermann of Russell Janis: "The Folly Cove Designers were an art and design collective that operated from 1939 to 1968 in Cape Ann, Massachusetts. I came across their archive when visiting the Cape Ann Museum in Gloucester, Massachusetts. As a collaborative printmaker, I was intrigued by how their simple format of carving and printing single color linoleum block prints brought together a community of artists and craftspeople that sustained them for so many years. I was very excited by this discovery and decided to invite a diverse group of creative practitioners from my own community to use the same approach at Russell Janis studio."

Block printed panels coming off the press at Russell Janis studio

To learn more about the unique prints created by participating artists – using the same approach as the historic Folly Cove Collective, follow this link to the project's campaign. 

Participating artists/printmakers include Peter Bregoli, Jean-Jacques Du Plessis, Louise Eastman, Jonathan Fabricant, Elise Ferguson, Susan Martin, Joe Peppe, Mylene Pionilla, Wendy Small, Barb Smith, Russell Steinert, Janis Stemmermann, Andy Yoder, and Abigail Doan.

In the Steps of Folly Cove

Print and Pattern Artist Invitational

June 17 - July 30, 2017
opening from 6 to 9pm

Russell Janis Gallery

292 Manhattan Avenue

Brooklyn, NY

(Graham Avenue, L Stop)

Russell Janis | Instagram

A Day of Activism + Movement | MoMA PS1

Sustainable Bodies | workshop materials at MoMA PS1

(contributors: Abigail Doan, Atelier de Geste, and XCRT Lab)

It was an honor to recently present work in 'A Day of Movement' at MoMA PS1 as a visiting artist/guest of Atelier de Geste. AdG's director and choreographer, Beau Rhee, created the event's Sustainable Bodies workshop as a way to examine ecological solutions and activist steps – with movement as a basis for environmental connection and sensory awareness. I presented materials and notes from my Walking Libraries project as well as participating in an interactive performance that evolved in the gallery space.

The Day of Movement line up was in conjunction with For Freedoms' month-long residency in the museum's designated gallery space and sharing lab zone.

Ideas that circulated during the Sustainable Bodies workshop included the following:

– waste reduction as a local act, with ripple effects from the home to the ecological fabric and soil of the community.

– materials and research that examines bioremediation, water conservation and recycling via the implementation of low-tech solutions that are both affordable and impactful.

– visual tools that serve as ecological aids on a daily basis. this includes personal kits (as demonstrated by Walking Libraries), where gathered finds are archived and referenced as atmospheric awareness prompts. think also, environmental immersion and drifting as a way of surveying for solutions.

– movement (first) as a connection to place, old/new terrain, and inner/outer reactions; objects (second) as documentation or manifestation of the former.

Learn more about Atelier de Geste's studio practice here. Also not to be missed, XCRT Lab by Nancy Kim. Here's to even more synergy between (ecological) design, the movement arts, and time for closer (deeper) observation.

Walking Libraries | Archiving 2016 to 2017

Walking Libraries | February 2017 | NYC

I am thrilled to announce that I will be participating in an Artist Residency in Motherhood (ARIM) as of March 1, 2017. ARIM is the open source residency project of artist, Lenka Clayton.

For a two month period, I will continue to work on archiving images and materials from my Walking Libraries (WL) project initiated in 2016. The original vision for WL was the following:

"This art initiative will involve my archiving of the granular aspects of landscape exploration and tactile finds out on the trail. My goal is to incorporate more movement into my work as means to further explore personal mapping concepts as well as fluidity between materials and documentation methods." (March 2016)

Since then I have walked numerous trails and the open terrain of the Hudson Valley, coastal northern California, off the beaten pathways in Bulgaria, as well as urban NYC. ARIM will be a framework for me to better archive materials gathered to date while also reflecting on how I identify textural details in the landscape as a parent, mother, and environmental artist focused on preserving and protecting the natural world.

Walking Libraries | May 2016 | Pescadero, California

In addition to an updated library of images, I hope to edit materials for printing small volumes and editions that I will pass on to my own children and others as a record for addressing the need to see more, examine more, and connect more.

Learn more about the materials for ARIM's residency kit here.

Marisa Merz | The Sky Is A Great Space

A selection of images from 'Marisa Merz: The Sky Is a Great Space' at The Met Breuer.

The Noguchi Museum | Winter 2017

Select quotes by Isamu Noguchi:

It is weight that gives meaning to weightlessness.

The attractions of ceramics lie partly in its contradictions. It is both difficult and easy, with an element beyond our control. It is both extremely fragile and durable. Like 'Sumi' ink painting, it does not lend itself to erasures and indecision. 

When the time came for me to work with larger spaces, I conceived them as gardens, not as sites with objects but as relationships to a whole.

Friends of Fire | Artifacts + Ceramics Exhibition

Installation view of Friends of Fire: Ceramic Art by Delores Coan

and Hotchkiss Alumni at The Tremaine Gallery | photo by Abigail Doan, Hotchkiss 1984

I am pleased to share news of this current group exhibition that I am participating in with ceramic artist, Delores Coan, and invited Hotchkiss School alumni. 'Friends of Fire' is a tribute to my former art teacher and creative mentor, Delores – who is completing her final year of teaching at Hotchkiss after thirty five years of sharing her talents and wisdom.

Vessels by Delores Coan | created during her travels in China | photo by Abigail Doan

"Coan chose to show her work along with the work of former students to highlight the central role teaching has played in her career and the lasting relationships she has forged because of it."  – Tremaine Gallery

"Teaching ceramic art has been a humbling and exhilarating part of my life," she says. "I've made lifelong links with many students through sharing the creative process. The joy I've derived from passing on this ageless art has been one of my life's greatest gifts." Coan adds, "We can all make a big difference by continuing to support art programs so that students may learn and explore varied disciplines to fulfill their artistic destiny."  – D.C.

Home Vessels | Seasons

Home Vessel 01 | Abigail Doan (2016)

The transition from season to season is not always easy for me. Possibly because seasons seem so short these days, or rather, are increasingly indistinguishable in terms of temperatures and evidence of drought and foliage shock. It makes me feel nostalgic in an unsettling way.

Our return to NYC after close to two months in Europe left me pining for the long mountain walks of summer and serendipitous notations for Walking Libraries (WL) documentation. 

As autumn slowly seeps in, I am examining what it means to (re)occupy my home vessel – in part because of the need to have a foundation that our family operates from and also because I am delving into new (old) materials as a way to return to ideas that I had decades ago. I am gently letting go of working with fiber (cord, string, thread) and shifting the balance so that my vocabulary might become stronger and more focused.

Hover Craft 01 | Abigail Doan (2016)

A vessel feels like the right concept or sentiment to explore, i.e. a container, a ship, a hollow tube through which liquid or simply a new life force might flow. A raft for staying afloat. This is where you will now find me. Not the textile artist you once knew but the aggregator and documenter of stray (travel) materials and seasonal reflections.

Lost in Fiber interview | Anny Crane

a materials collaboration between artists Anny Crane and Abigail Doan

It is such a pleasure to finally profile the work of artist friend and collaborator, Anny Crane. I originally met Anny during her time at the Textile Arts Center in Brooklyn/Manhattan and subsequently continued a creative dialogue with her after her move south.  

Anny Crane's Invasive mixed media installation at the Textile Arts Center in Manhattan

Anny works magic with thread and paper, but in a manner that challenges more obedient ways of embroidery stitching and hand illustration. Her intuitive drawing process peels away layers of memory while also anchoring oneself in pockets of textured vulnerability. Anny's thread-heavy works and meandering ink trails are emotionally charged and rich with personal memories, narratives, and internal byways.