Artpace San Antonio Unveils New Work From Judith Cottrell in the Window Works Gallery

01.12.10

San Antonio, TX - Artpace San Antonio is pleased to announce the unveiling of a new installation by Judith Cottrell, opening January 12, 2012, in the Window Works gallery, on view through April 29, 2012.

For her Artpace Window Works installation, In the Window, Cottrell has removed her own hand from the drawing process, developing a machine or “drawbot”-with the help of Ottowa-based inventor and programmer Darcy Whyte-to translate her imagery on our Main Avenue windows. Built (and named “Mr. Drew”) by Whyte, the drawbot mimics Cottrell’s intricate, repetitive patterning to realize a large-scale, progressive work that will evolve throughout the duration of the exhibition. The drawbot is an Arduino-based machine driven with an open-source software program called Processing. To translate an image, it uses a dual polar coordinate system, as opposed to a Cartesian system of specifying points in a plane by a pair of numerical coordinates along the x and y axis. Mr. Drew translates a bitmap of the drawing into pixels that the hardware can interpret using shading and movement algorithms. The overall composition will be completed over the course of Cottrell’s four-month exhibition. To encourage viewer participation and to further employ technology in her work, she has designed a mobile website-which can be accessed by scanning the accompanying QR code or Microsoft Tag-to find out more detailed information about the work as it progresses, and to submit suggestions for future drawbot projects. (Viewers can also access the site at inthewindow.mobi.)

Judith Cottrell earned her MFA from the University of Texas at San Antonio in 2006, and has since shown her work in numerous solo and group exhibitions, recently including San Antonio Draws: A Survey of Contemporary Drawing, McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, Texas (2011); An Exchange with Sol LeWitt, MASS MoCA, North Adams, Massachusetts (2011); Road Show: Houston, David Shelton Gallery at Inman Annex, Houston, Texas (2010); Drop Off Your Drop Cloth, Museo de Arte Moderno, Trujillo, Peru (2010); and Amalgamations 25: 28 Artists for 25 Great Years, Blue Star Art Center, San Antonio (2010). She was nominated for the Arthouse Texas Prize in 2010 and received the Artist Foundation of San Antonio’s Visual Art Grant in 2009. Her work can be found in the collections of the McNay and the University of Texas at San Antonio.

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
Presented in Artpace San Antonio's Main Avenue windows, Window Works projects activate the art-viewing experience from the street level, extending the dialogue about contemporary art beyond traditional gallery spaces. The 12.1 exhibition is supported in part by The Cultural Collaborative, a division of the City of San Antonio's Office of Cultural Affairs.

EXHIBITION DETAILS AND RELATED EVENTS

Exhibition Dates
January 12-April 29, 2012

10-minute Tours
Friday, January 13, 2012
12:30pm and 1pm

Artpace After Hours: Tony Feher/Judith Cottrell
Friday, January 13, 2012
5-8pm

Private Tours
Tours in both Spanish and English are available by appointment. To schedule a group tour, contact Matt Johns at mjohns@artpace.org or call 210 212 4900 x314.

About Artpace
Artpace is a contemporary art center located in San Antonio, Texas, with residencies, exhibitions, and education programs that nurture the creative expression of emerging and established artists, while actively engaging youth and adult audiences. Renowned for its International Artist-in-Residence program (IAIR), Artpace annually hosts three eight-week residencies, each of which features one Texas artist, one national artist and one international artist, who are all selected by a notable guest curator, and culminates into an exhibition. The mission of this program is to provide artists with unparalleled resources that allow them to take time, seize provocative risks, and unveil new ideas. Founder and Director of Prospect New Orleans, Dan Cameron says, “Artpace is really head and shoulders above any other organization of its kind right now.” The work created at Artpace goes on to show at some of the world’s most distinguished venues, often presenting a pivotal moment in an artist’s career. Jeffrey Deitch, Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles explains “Projects that began at Artpace that are still exhibited all over the world, Artpace really makes art happen.”

Artpace is located downtown at 445 North Main Avenue, between Savings and Martin streets, San Antonio, Texas. Free parking is available at 513 North Flores Street. Artpace is open to the public Wednesday through Sunday, 12-5pm, and by appointment. Admission is free.
###

445 North Main Avenue San Antonio TX 78205 t 210 212 4900 f 210 212 4990 www.artpace.org