Alix Anne Shaw is a sculptor and poet. Her work has been exhibited at the Richard Gray Gallery in Chicago, AS220 Project Space in Providence, and Kriti Gallery in Varanasi, India. Her public works include Findings, a permanent installation in Milwaukee, WI; she also contributed to the Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail Project in Portland OR.
Shaw is also the author of two poetry collections Her first book, Undertow (Persea 2007), won the Lexi Rudnitsky Poetry Prize; her second collection, Dido in Winter (Persea, 2014), was named one of five the best poetry books of 2014 by The Library Journal. Her poems and reviews have appeared in numerous journals including Harvard Review, Black Warrior Review, and New American Writing. Her work can be viewed online at www.anneshaw.org
Other People's Dreams. Handwoven Jacquard tapestry, website (otherpeoplesdreams.net). 2015. This project is an interactive archive of dreams that explores the relationship between the human unconscious and our collective digital consciousness. The handwoven QR codes can be scanned with a mobile device, leading to a live URL. The website allows viewers to read randomly-selected entries from the archive; readers can add their own dreams to the project. The project aims to access a component of our shared human experience that is both alien and completely familiar. I am the only person not allowed to contribute.
Exile. Mixed media, 2014. Linked Exit signs raise political questions of who is and is not allowed to occupy official space. Who controls the space and to what ends? Where else are we to go?
Portable Graffiti (Fence). Graffiti, iPhone pics, handwoven Jacquard tapestry. 2014. In this responsive graffiti project, I photograph graffiti in my neighborhood using my iPhone. I then handweave it on the Jacquard loom and reinstall the textile in the original location.The Jacquard is unique in that it has a computer interface to control the warp threads, but requires the weaver to complete the weft by hand. In creating these pieces, I act as a transcriptionist of social phenomena, activating dialogue about public space, individual agency, and artistic value.
Portable Graffiti (Port0John). Graffiti, iPhone pics, handwoven Jacquard tapestry. 2014. In this responsive graffiti project, I photograph graffiti in my neighborhood using my iPhone. I then handweave it on the Jacquard loom and reinstall the textile in the original location.The Jacquard is unique in that it has a computer interface to control the warp threads, but requires the weaver to complete the weft by hand. In creating these pieces, I act as a transcriptionist of social phenomena, activating dialogue about public space, individual agency, and artistic value.
Whales with Sonar Interruption. Mixed media, 2013. Examining the intersection of the human and the non-human, the digital and the analogue, this project comprises a projected transcription of humpback whale vocalizations. It is based on research being conducted at Cornell on the question of whether whales can adapt to human disruptions of their sonic environment. Spectograms of the whale calls were transcribed and laser-cut into the tape that spools through the analogue projection device. The whale calls are periodically interrupted by sonar signals from a nearby research vessel. I see this work as exploring the interactions between animal communication, which is analogue and slow to adapt, and human communication, which is increasingly digitized and intrusive. Please see https://vimeo.com/81970714 for a video of the projection in action.
Collar. 8-hour durational performance. 2012. During the performance, I cut pages from the Oxford English Dictionary into paper snowflakes and hung them across the gallery, dividing myself from viewers. Visitors were invited to add to the curtain from the other side. In this way, I used a material form of language to investigate the ways that it both restricts and connects us.
Moon Groin. 5-Part animated neon poem. 2012.
