The Fence/La Barda Exhibit

Opening September 13 from 6-9 at Art Produce in North Park is the newest exhibit with FIG and members of Tijuana's Distrito Diez Gallery. The Fence/La Barda includes a wide range of artwork from mostly female artists on both sides of the border.

The exhibit is an interactive, collaborative installation. A fence divides the gallery, cutting the space in half; to get to the other side, artists and guests must travel outside along a path through the Art Produce garden. Participants will interact through and around the fence during the installation and exhibition, using objects and performative gestures that reflect the reality of the San Diego/Tijuana Border Region.

Fence/Barda attempts to demonstrate how women navigate across borders. Spontaneous collaborations between artists of different cultures, conflicts of space and identity, and attempts to transcend barriers will be addressed. The installation will include video, photography, paintings, and sculptural objects, as well as book-making, sewing, games, and food performances. The gallery space will be in constant flux during the two-month installation. Artist openings will take place September 13 and October 11, with other performances planned in between.

FIG artists participating in Fence/Barda include Anna Stump, Grace Gray-Adams, Bhavna Mehta, Terri Hughes-Oelrich, Linda Litteral, Kathy Nida, Cindy Zimmerman, Lynn Susholtz, Irene Abraham, Stacie Birky-Greene, Lauren Carrera, Daphne Hill, Prudence Horne, Jennifer Bennett, Moya Devine, Nilly Gill, Terrilynn Quick, Kathy Miller, Susan Myrland, Stephanie Bedwell, Lisa Hutton, Kim Niehans, and Anna Zappoli.

Tijuana artists include Jill Marie Holslin, Cecilia Navarro, Claudia Ramirez, Laura Migliorino, Anthony Marchetti, Fio Zenhim, Gaby Escárcega, Monica Giselle, Ana Andrade, Nubia Vazquez, Irma Sofia Poeter, Lourdes Huerta, Mariel Miranda, Panca, Elva Rhoads, Gabriela Posada del Real, and Martha Soto.

FIG artists started installing work over the Labor Day weekend, continuing over the last week.

Our Tijuana cohorts struggled with border-crossing issues, highlighting the issues we hope to bring up in our work.

We had neighborhoods of floating houses, as the concept of home floats above the border.

Grace Gray-Adams organized the house creation group and helped hang the many houses artists provided.

We created floating walls of birds, who can cross country lines with no conflict, although some countries may offer them more protection than others. Stacie Birky-Greene managed the floating bird construction, creating the birds from junk mail.

Artist Nilly Gill wrote a poem for the exhibit, which Anna Stump, Daphne Hill (both seen below), and Kim Niehans painted on the gallery walls, here through the fence itself, which bisects the gallery.

Here Nilly looks on as her words begin to inhabit the wall.

Kathy Miller works on the books that will be hung from the fence itself for viewers to fill out as they move through the gallery, a way to communicate with each other.

The books are hung here from the fence with Nilly's poem in the background.

Here is the brains behind the book project, Bhavna Mehta, considering how they should be hung.

Participating artists Moya Devine and Lisa Hutton consider how to hang the many bird artworks provided.

A view of the unfinished gallery, as FIG artists prepare to pack up after two days and seven hours of installing, with a lot more to come over the next two weeks.

The show will continue to evolve over time, as additional artworks and projects continue. Please come out to both of the artists' openings, the first one this Saturday. Art Produce is located at 3139 University Avenue in North Park. Additional performances and events will be presented here as well.