February 2018 Artists-In-Residence: Guy-Did-Ail

ATHICA Artists-In-Residence, February 2018

 
 Gunnar Tarsa  Kyle Lewis

ATHICA is delighted to announce its Artists-in-ATHICA Residency program, generously supported by the James E. and Betty J. Huffer Foundation. During the month of February 2018, the ATHICA gallery is devoted to ATHICA’s first two Artists-in-Residence, visual/performance artist Gunnar Tarsa and composer/musician/performance artist Kyle Lewis, who collaborate as Guy Did Ail.

Their residency with ATHICA includes the creation of a sitework by Tarsa as well as three performances by their collaborative Guy Did Ail, in which Lewis’s music is presented in conjunction with live-art-making by Tarsa. In addition, Lewis will curate three experimental music performances during the months of March-May 2018.  Lewis and Tarsa’s creative projects are part of a new experimental performance and installation series Beast It that is being presented by ATHICA during the months of February through May. Note: ATHICA will be open for special hours during February.

  • Open Studio in ATHICA Gallery, Gunnar Tarsa Wall Drawing In-Progress
    • Monday–Friday 1–6 PM, February 5-27, 2018
    • No Open Studio on Feb 14th
  • Guy Did Ail Performances
    • Saturday, February 17, 2018, 6–9 PM
    • Saturday, February 24, 2018, 8–10 PM
    • Tuesday, February 27, 2018, 8–10 PM

According to Kyle Lewis, “Gunnar and I have been working pretty regularly and performing a lot with Guy Did Ail, but this gallery residency really helps us step up to the next level. The project started out as searching for a balance between predictability and possibility in aleatoric/chance-based art, and that is still central to our project. An opportunity like this is exceptionally validating and encouraging. We have big goals, and this opportunity with ATHICA has thrown plenty on the fire for us to move forward.  I am thoroughly thankful.”

Gunnar Tarvis adds, “I am grateful for this community that helped cultivate the artistic boy trapped in my mind and wholeheartedly ecstatic about our work with the gallery. This arena serves as a personal and public proving ground for us to form our creative ideas into a tangible matter that we can share.”

More about the Artists-In-Residence

Kyle Lewis is a composer and theorist.  Currently, he is interested in extended notational systems and how they interact with performers’ cognition of the music, patient pacing, aleatory forms, subtleties in otherwise homogeneous sounds, variety in scale of works, small ideas as art, humor, multiple or variable time streams, using technology without using electronic sounds, and framing art from everyday moments.  His music has been performed by Rote Hünd Musik, Incongruency Ensemble, Duo Damiana, Erik Krohg, Ann DuHamel, and Stuart Gerber, among others.  He works and performs in a collaborative project called Guy Did Ail (@GuyDidAil on social media) with visual artist Gunnar Tarsa, which explores the balance between predictability and possibility in aleatoric art.  He has studied regularly with Cody Brookshire, Natalie Williams, Peter Van Zandt Lane, and Adam Roberts.  Outside of the new music world, he fronted a punkish, metal-type band called We by the Sea and sang with the UGA Hodgson Singers.  A recent graduate of the University of Georgia, Lewis receive degrees in Music Composition and Music Theory. Website: https://kelewiscomposer.com

Gunnar Tarsa is a working artist in Athens, GA who earned his BFA with an emphasis in drawing from the Lamar Dodd School of Art within the University of Georgia. His works have mostly been shown in odd public places and alternative spaces. These works have evolved with focuses on collaboration, performance, and automatic drawing as well as themes of psychology, spirituality, and the history of mankind. He seeks to research and document all the inner workings of his mind in a form of “mind mapping” in hopes of spreading messages of love, humanity, and the power of creativity. His marks leave behind a piece of himself while paying homage to all the humans and ideas that came before him. He is just a boy playing with shapes building ideas into the reality around him.  Website:  http://www.artbygunnar.com/

More about the Artists-In-ATHICA Residency Program

The Artists-In-ATHICA Residency Program enables up to six artists per year to participate in a collaborative residency at ATHICA.  The purpose of the residency is to foster the development of artists and their artistic works and to enrich the programmatic offerings and community experience provided by ATHICA.  Three cycles per year (February-April, June-August, September-November) provide administrative support, exhibition and performance facilities, and a small stipend to up to two artists per cycle.  Artists may work in any or multiple disciplines and traditions, including but not limited to visual, curatorial, musical, performing, written, experimental, cinematic, digital, and theatrical arts.  The work undertaken in the residency can be in a familiar or new discipline. Residents can work independently, collaborate with others, and/or work as a team. The call for entries for the next cycle, June-August 2018, will be announced in early March 2018.  See https://athica.org/updates/artists-in-athica-residency-program/ for details.