“Hypatia” touch and listen

“Hypatia” touch and listen

2012, porcelain and gold ink, dimensions variable

 

Hypatia was an interactive installation comprised of more than 4,000 hand-made porcelain elements ranging in size from 1/8” to 11” tall. Visitors were invited to make new configurations and to create a variety of sounds by moving pieces around on the concrete floor. It took up approximately 1500 square in an industrial site in Pawtucket RI. Ancient scripts that have never been deciphered were drawn onto pyramid-shaped elements in gold ink. Wooden boxes from the same time period and region as the building added an additional element.

 


 

View Video: Here 

"Anastasia"

May 2007, Providence RI 

Allison’s installation for "de/construct" consisted of many hundreds of threads strung with tiny delicate elements, spaced approx. 7 inches apart. They were arranged in a circular formation so that visitors could move around and between the elements and through areas of gently moving shadow and light. Tiny fans caused the porcelain elements to make faint tinkling sounds as they bumped together.

 


 

View Video: Here 

de/construct

The artist curated an architecture-based installation show in a large loft slated for renovation. Nine artists created site-specific works that responded to or directly engaged the site. 

150chestnut.blogspot.com

"Please Touch"

April 2009, Providence RI 

This installation consisted of hundreds of tiny porcelain elements which the viewer is invited to touch and to construct things with. The delicacy of the porcelain creates a tension between wanting to touch and fear of damaging them.

"Attack"

September 1998, Forum Gallery, Cranbrook Art Museum
Porcelains, aluminum foil, thread

In this project with fellow graduate student Andy Roth, Allison covered the gallery’s floor with tiny white porcelain elements, many of which resembled dwellings or other evidence of civilizations. Andy made cinematically inspired monsters and UFOs of aluminum foil (themselves extremely fragile) descending onto the vulnerable and barely barely visible civilizations. The monsters and porcelain elements were arranged so that visitors were not sure where they were supposed to step through the installation. Some reported they were tempted to stomp on the tiny objects, while others were intimidated and fearful of damaging them. Still others wanted to sit down and play with them.

Sikri

Sikri

 6 x 16 ft. acrylic mirror, epoxy resin, acrylic gels, pigments

de/construct II

April 2009, Providence RI

The artist curated a second architecture-based installation show in a large loft slated for renovation. Twenty artists created site-specific works that responded to or directly engaged the site. 

deconstruct2.blogspot.com/

RISCA (Rhode Island State Council on the Arts) Fellowship Recipients’ Exhibition

RISCA (Rhode Island State Council on the Arts) Fellowship Recipients’ Exhibition

2005, North Kingstown RI

As a winner in the "New Genres" category, the artist included two of her "please touch" areas. Participants were invited to rearrange elements to create magical worlds by stacking and moving the tiny components. Placing these areas on the floor invited interaction by children, and encouraged a sense of child-like play in adults. Lifting the prohibition against touching art objects in a gallery created a tension between the desire to feel the invitingly tactile elements, and the fear of damaging them or getting into trouble with the authorities.
Allison was invited back by RISCA as a juror for "New Genres" in 2005 and again in 2007.

"on both sides of the light"

Sept-Oct 2004 at the Wheeler Gallery, Providence RI

In this collaborative installation with architect Charlie Cannon, the artists re-designed the gallery as a light-oriented and highly abstracted house. The installation changed throughout the exhibition and visitors were invited to participate in its evolution by re-arranging objects. The gallery was divided into different types of light (dark light, amber light, white light, and colored light) that corresponded to "rooms" whose character evoked different aspects of architectural experience.