Katie Hudnall and Ashley Eriksmoen AIR

Oct 26

Katie Hudnall (USA) and Ashley Eriksmoen (AUS) are undertaking a collaborative Artists’ Residency to explore strategies for enlivening small timber-based constructions.

Katie Hudnall is the head of the wood program at University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Ashley Eriksmoen lectures in craft, design and sculpture at Australian National University. Both are mid-career artists whose craft and sculptural practices use woodworking techniques to investigate the animate potential of objects. In their joint sabbatical from their respective teaching institutions, the pair spent September in Japan looking into traditional wood crafts, such as temple construction, and the Shinto belief of spirits inhabiting inanimate entities, to influence their studio practices.

Together, Katie and Ashley will be investigating how they can further imbue constructed wood objects with organic gesture, movement and an uncanny sense of awareness and aliveness. Ashley’s work employs compositional devices including organic asymmetry, curved componentry, gesture and posture, whereas Katie's work pursues similar goals through articulated joints, automata mechanics, movement triggered by viewer interaction, and eyes that open and shut. During the residency, they will exchange techniques and experiment with methods and ideas discovered during their research travel in Japan to make new speculative works.