Our deconstructed geodesic dome required lots of triangles made by each of us. In mine, my ink drawings of trees meet my nocturnal portraits of the animals who live among them. Composing in triangles is not actually all that easy. What complicates the process? A cat.

Click HERE to see some of my triangles, experiments all.

Kyle Bravo, Jenny LeBlanc, Jonathan Traviesa, Claire Rau, and Dave Greber created our installation on site in Raleigh. Dave Greber directed, produced, and edited our collaborative video.

Our description of the show: The Front’s installation is inspired by the Drop City artist commune and the geodesic domes they built on their parcel of land to function as both their living and workspaces. Like Drop City, The Front was founded by artists in a spirit of idealism and grassroots innovation. Building a sustainable space for art is hard; Drop City initially flourished, but was abandoned after a few short years. The Front, established in 2008, has endured both growing pains and exciting successes. Its sustainability relies on its members to contribute both as individuals and as symbiotic parts to a larger organism. Drop City is both an inspiration and a cautionary example.

Their installation is built from triangular pieces made by individual members and installed as if a geodesic dome were peeling apart and sprouting new offshoots. The dome becomes less primarily structural and more like a crystalline multicellular organism. Built from discrete, individualized units in an array of styles, forms, and media to reflect the diverse, even cacophonous individual voices within The Front, the piece is conceived as a true symbiotic collaboration in service of a greater whole.

The Front is also creating a zine called “The Good Art Guide” which is a playful attempt to define the indefinable qualities that make “good” art good. With individual contributions from Front members, it is an absurd instruction manual from artists, to artists, with strategies, formulas, and approaches for making “good” art as well as a survey of the widely varied and contradictory opinions and insights of their practicing member artists. Thus, at its core, “The Good Art Guide” is an impossible exercise in making concrete the intangible and elusive.

Front members include: Kyle Bravo, Lee Deigaard, Rachel Detrinis, Andrea Ferguson, Dave Greber, Rachel Jones, Morgana King, Jenny LeBlanc, Stephanie Patton, Julie Pieri, Alex Podesta, Claire Rau, Megan Roniger, and Jonathan Traviesa.

Team Lump will be exhibiting an assemblage made of tornado debris, scrap material, cardboard and various objects alongside video of shattering objects and musical performances emitting from a Volkswagen. In addition, the last printed edition of Drop City’s ultimate free paper “The Drop Bucket” will be available in the gallery.

Team Lump is David Colagiovanni, Jerstin Crosby, Thad Kellstad, Rich McIsaac, Josh Rickards, Drew Robertson, Megan Sullivan, Bill Thelen, Kay Whole, and Tory Wright