Calder Kamin
Plastic is everywhere. Just how omnipresent it has become animates Plastic Planet, the ambitious new exhibition created by multi media artist, Calder Kamin. Not only just a physical object that clutters roadsides and pollutes oceans, plastic has become incorporated into the bodies of all living things. Yet nature is resilient and we all adapt. At what price remains an important question Plastic Planet examines. Kamin creates a whimsical menagerie of colorful animals made of plastic bags. The animals are playfully rendered yet that they are literally made of plastic suggests a more ominous reality.
“Kamin’s critters are undeniably cute, the paint-by-numbers patterns along with the palette of bright, unnatural colors only accentuating the menagerie’s cartoonish artificiality.” – The Austin American Statesmen
“It is the works’ visual light-heartedness and fictional sensibility that makes it an ideal educational tool for the grim reality that is climate change and, more specifically, its effects on animals.” – Tribeza
Born and raised in Austin, Calder Kamin earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Kansas City Art Institute. She was a Studio Resident of the Charlotte Street Foundation Urban Culture Project, and received an ArtsKC Inspiration Grant, a commission from the Missouri Bank Art Board, a Bread KC award, and the Ashoka Compassionate Grant. Kamin was the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art’s Art Truck Artist for the 2013-2014 school year and the first Artist-in-Residence at the Beach Museum of Art. She was one of 102 national artists to be selected for the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art’s exhibition “State of the Art: Discovering American Art Now”. Kamin was a mentor for the Teen Artist + Mentor Program at the Contemporary Austin in 2015. She currently lives and works in Austin, Texas. This project is supported in part by an award from Mid-America Arts Alliance, the National Endowment for the Arts, Art Works, the Texas Commission of the Arts, and foundations, corporations and individuals throughout Arkansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas.
Programming for Plastic Planet Includes:
Neocortex Course 101 (Oct 15 @11am): Bone Appetite
Ryan Cummings, owner of The Bones and Co., will instruct participants on simple and biologically appropriate recipes for your best friend. Exhibiting artist, Calder Kamin will lead a discussion with Ryan on how the lives of humans and dogs are inextricably linked. Well behaved dogs are welcome!
Space is limited so please RSVP here.
Neocortex Course 102 (Oct 22 @1pm): Build a Better Backyard For Birds
You may not know it, but your yard is also home a variety of urban wildlife. What can you do to be a better neighbor to these animals? Travis Audubon protects native habitats for birds and offers education on the ecological balance necessary for health and sustainable communities. Mary Kay Sexton, a retired school teacher and Travis Audubon member, will share how families can better accommodate avian and terrestrial visitors to their backyard.
Calder will share her birding discoveries and guide participants through her Impact Proof paper decal project which diminishes bird deaths caused by window collisions. Light refreshments will be provided.
Neocortex Course 103 (Oct 29 @1pm): Wet & Wild
The City of Austin’s Watershed Protection Department helps protect three species of aquatic salamander (Barton Springs, Austin Blind, and Jollyville Plateau) that occure nowhere else in the world! Celebrate these amazing creatures with art activities provided by the Watershed Protection Department and exhibiting artist, Calder Kamin. Expand your salamander knowledge during a presentation by Andy Glussencamp from the San Antonio Zoo!
Neocortex Course 104 (Nov 5 @1pm): Austin Materials Marketplace
The Austin Materials Marketplace brings together businesses and entrepreneurs to create closed-loop systems in which one company’s waste is another company’s raw material. Calder has invited the Austin Materials Marketplace to create a pop-up marketplace within the gallery to showcase examples of the materials available on their online database and encourage a dialogue on how to reuse byproducts in Austin.
