Date: 2025
Exhibition: “Meander: Taking A River for a Walk”
Project Type: Artist Residency, Video, Drawing, Sound Installation
Description: A collaborative project designed by Karen Brummund and Holland Hopson, resulting in an exhibition of work from an artist residency at an elementary school in Tuscaloosa County. During artful conversations, the students and artists made drawings about change, feelings, and geology. The meanders and oxbow lakes along the Black Warrior River were a metaphor for how we accept twists and turns in our own lives. Holland Hopson designed and built custom drawing boards that recorded the sounds of the students drawing. He then edited and processed the sounds to create an immersive audio installation.
Brummund incorporated the physical drawings by students into a new video piece. By working with the drawings in the studio, Brummund digitally overlayed the meanders and projected them onto textile strips in the studio. The movement and color is created through random processing of the physical installation.
Artworks:
Meander by Karen Brummund single-channel, video on a 55” screen, created with student drawings, 33 minutes looping
Taking a River for a Walk by Holland Hopson 4-channel sound, stereo version, created with recordings from student drawings, 17 minutes looping
Low in the Land: The Black Warrior participatory window mural, translucent vinyl, 185” x 95”
Student Art from Faucett-Vestavia Elementary School Fourth Grade A selection of drawings made by the students in response to prompts like draw the changes in feelings from a story, draw the sounds of your classmates drawing, or draw a meandering river.
Additional Support: The Alabama State Council on the Arts Live Arts Leaming Grant Program, The Arts Council of Tuscaloosa, West Alabama Arts Education Collaborative (Amp Up Arts), National Elementary Schools Press Association, and the Northport Fine Arts Initiative
