Gina Siepel

1 x 1

Site-specific Installation

July 2 – July 27, 2013

Artist Reception on Arts Night Out:  Friday, July 12: 5-8 pm

Show Information:


The A.P.E. Gallery of Northampton, MA is pleased to present 1 x 1, a live site-specific installation by Gina Siepel. Combining performance, drawing, installation, and traditional woodworking, Siepel will attempt to install a single ash board, one inch wide by one mile long, into the interior of the A.P.E. Gallery. 1 x 1 will transform the space into a dense whorl of curved lines, light and shadow, de-centering and fracturing the viewer’s perspective, and radically altering his or her experience of the gallery’s familiar architecture. It will be a chaotic and improvisational sculptural performance, blurring the lines between drawing and sculpture, performance and installation, craft and improvisation.

Siepel will build the structure piece-by-piece until it either achieves a mile in length or becomes physically unworkable. This “what if” approach to the work relates to themes of failure, contingency, site specificity, and queer performance evident in previous works by the artist. 1 x 1 will be comprised of over four hundred twelve-foot segments, shaped and contorted one at a time, using techniques borrowed from traditional wooden boat building.

The artist will spend approximately two weeks building the piece on-site at A.P.E., during which passers-by and visitors will be able to watch the growth and evolution of the form through the storefront windows and inside the gallery itself, transforming the process from one of installation to one of performance. 1 x 1 will be the newest incarnation of Siepel’s durational performance works, including Audubon’s Birds, A River Twice, and The Boy Mechanic Project. An accomplished traditional woodworker, the artist brings together craft, performance, and sculpture in a personal new form. The installation will be lit by Lighting Designer Kathy Couch, and will be accessible by day during gallery hours and visible at night through the storefront windows.

Artist Bio:

Gina Siepel is an interdisciplinary artist based in Greenfield, MA. She works in a diversity of media and materials, including sculpture, drawing, traditional woodworking, video, and participatory performance. She was awarded the Zorach/Bingham fellowship by the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, (ME) and a studio fellowship at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship (ME) as well as grants from the Berkshire Taconic Foundation, the Puffin Foundation, and the Northampton Arts Council. Her works have been exhibited in venues in the US and internationally including the Colby Museum of Art (ME), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MA), Flux Factory (NYC), Space Gallery (ME), the New Art Center (MA), Amherst College (MA), the Institute of Contemporary Art at MECA (ME), the PROGRAM Initiative for Art and Architecture Collaborations, (Berlin), the Providence Museum of Natural History (RI), the Peabody Historical Society (MA), and Eel Space (IL). She holds a BFA from the School of Art +Design at SUNY Purchase and an MFA from the Maine College of Art.

1 x 1 opens on July 2 and runs through July 27, 2013 with an opening reception on July 12 from 5 – 8 PM, part of Northampton’s Arts Night Out festivities. Regular gallery hours are Tuesday – Sunday: 12 – 5; Friday 12 – 8; closed Mondays.

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Northampton Arts Council, a local agency which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Materials and sponsorship of the work are also offered by Forest Products Associates of Greenfield, MA.