ripple effect
ripple effect is a dedicated space for site-specific art installations, located on the campus of Santa Fe Community College. Part laboratory, part public venue, part teaching tool, the space hosts a range of local and regional artists. Launched in spring 2018 by Cary Cluett with the support of SFCC and Meow Wolf, ripple effect provides a desperately needed platform for creative exchange in a learning community suffering from a loss of funding and a dearth of young students.
OPEN HOURS
6401 Richards Ave., Room 723D
Santa Fe, NM 87508
ripple effect primarily serves the SFCC community but is open to the public. Access hours are Monday - Friday 7am - 10pm, Saturday 8am - 8pm, and Sunday 12pm - 5pm. There is no admission fee.
ABOUT THE SPACE
Built inside of an disused sculpture studio ripple effect is a 10.5’ x 8.5’ x 6.5’ room which features a hardwood floor set at a diagonal, wood-backed walls, and recessed track lighting. It also features a weight-bearing metal ceiling with acoustical treatment, speakers and ventilation. Outside the room are three small niches behind safety glass that face the hallway; each approximately 20” x 16” x 17”. A defining element is the lack of a door, which has been intentionally removed; thus, the space is open to all with the stipulation that nothing harmful or of inherent value can be placed inside. Another distinctive feature is the room’s curved corners that have been constructed with a 5” radius to remove visual space definition.
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
Each installation runs on a 5-week cycle, allowing a few days for install and a few days for de-install on either side of a month-long exhibition. Each exhibition involves an opening reception, an artist talk, and the option to visit with SFCC students and faculty. Artists are scheduled through February 2019.
Proposals are now being accepting, prioritizing the work of installation and emerging artists.
NOVEMBER 2022
Hills Snyder: Steam
ARTIST TALKS: Wednesday, November 9 at 11am and Saturday, November 12 at noon
OPENING RECEPTIONS: Wednesday, November 9 at noon and Saturday, November 12 from noon - 6pm *
Visitors to this interactive work are invited to don headphones and recline blindfolded for 74 minutes within an audio environment derived from sounds gathered in Amsterdam. The recordings were made while walking through the city, scanning the streets for lost bicycle parts. Several dozen of the found parts were used to create wooden cut-outs mounted prints of sky and passing clouds. These objects populate ripple effect and its adjacent spaces, which will also feature the audio for those not currently in the chair. The experience invites vulnerability, trust, relaxation, and drift into an alternate terrain.
This project was made possible by an Artpace Travel Grant and a residency at Banff Centre for The Arts. The project has appeared in several different versions in Amsterdam, Miami, San Antonio, and San Marcos, Texas.
* 74-minute appointments will be available Wednesday, November 9 through Saturday, November 12 from noon to 6pm as well as Wednesday, November 16 and 30 from noon to 6pm.
NOVEMBER 2019
Hisa Ota: Awakening
OCTOBER 2019
Cary Cluett: Parthenogenesis
The first installation by ripple effect creator Cary Cluett explores the space as a receptacle for his latest bread crumbs in New Mexico. With a background in sculpture, he’s inspired by concept, content, and context. His approach to sculpture utilizes both environment and materials to engage the viewer. He says that “Materials have a nature that becomes part of the narrative; the materials need to support the concept.” Incorporating materials as diverse as zip-ties, forged steel, push pins and found objects his minimalist wall constructions playfully evoke linear poems through the use of light and shadow.
As the title suggests, this installation plays with the idea of reproduction without fertilization, especially as it relates to a normal process in some invertebrates and lower plants, as this relates to the materials and their use.
SEPTEMBER 2019
Shirley Klinghoffer: Choice
Gently swaying twisted wire hangers cast sinister shadows…ghosts from the past…while a giant gavel with far-reaching roots, sits on a pedestal readied for viewers to show their rage against the face of injustice.
“It is with profound sadness that I have to revisit work which I did decades ago. But revisit I must! The subject of Choice is a very personal concern as I have experienced what happened to my friends who were blocked from legally choosing their own destiny before Roe v. Wade was passed by a US Supreme Court decision.” Says artist Shirley Klinghoffer.
SUMMER 2019
Jessica Bryce Holland: Estuary Reliquary
APRIL 2019
Victoria Seale: Dirt
“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”
-Annie Dillard
MARCH 2019
Leah Naxon: Swollen and Overgrown
Swollen and Overgrown is a meditative exercise exploring the fine line between curiosity and unease. Familiar materials and their organic color palette are pushed to their extremes, blurring the line between formand emotion. It is meant to engulf viewers in something ordinary yet alien.
FEBRUARY 2019
Danielle Rae Miller: The Miracle of Oneness
This installation was made with dried seed pods collected nearby. They reminded the artist of stars and were installed in a very loose mapping of constellations. The title is from the Hermetic Emerald Tablet that, translated and simplified, says -- the ways earth and sky reflect each other, in concept and form, is evidence of the miracle of oneness.
DECEMBER 2018
DeeAnn Wager: Shelter
In this first installation by a student at SFCC, Shelter deals starkly with the world refugee crisis. Small structures made of steel and handmade paper fill the hauntingly-lit space. Above the installation are excerpts from a poem called “No One Leaves Home Unless Home is the Mouth of a Shark.”
OCTOBER 2018
Charlotte Thurman: How to Make Sein Net
Charlotte’s installation process involved a performative element that created a natural intimacy. On an old fashioned TV, a video shows the artist making prints of her body parts on paper. The prints were hung in the exhibition space like large scrolls.
SEPTEMBER 2018
Karen Billard: Assumption Projection
This piece consisted of a white tent camouflage tent inside which stood two life-sized, plaster figures with lights in their face openings. The figures and the attendant niche installations created a sense of interruption or confrontation, exploring how we present ourselves through the ways we dress. Assumption Projection is Karen’s first exhibition in Santa Fe.
JUNE 2018
Michael Schippling: Before Dropped Once or Twice From a Great Height with One Eye Closed For Over an Hour
In this inaugural installation, Michael used a small motor to slowly lift and drop a readymade object into the middle of the space. Between durations of suspense and sudden surprise, a line drawing is created in mid-air. Also on view was a triptych involving a programmed 64-LED matrix called Random Neural Fireflies.
