1878 Gallery

April 22 - May 28, 2017

Opening Reception Saturday, April 22, 2017
6:00 – 9:00 PM
Artist talk at 6:30 PM

Calder Kamin
Plastic Planet

Like the scavenger animals Calder Kamin sculpts, she collects a variety of colored plastic bags from her friends and family. Kamin strips and twists the bags into textures like fur or grass to create the work in her exhibition Plastic Planet. This same plastic litters road, fills oceans, and has entered the tissue of all living things. Her work poses the question, “What are the steps to solve this crisis?” In addition to the exhibition, Kamin’s Neocortex Classroom provides visitors an opportunity to absorb the problems of our planet, such as pollution and extinction caused by humans. Through hands-on activities and events, Kamin is motivated to inspire her audience make better choices for the environment. Kamin’s art sparks activism and an opportunity to participate in the greater good by transforming materials and her audiences.

Calder Kamin earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Kansas City Art Institute. 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 in 2015 and is a 2017 Crit Group fellow at Contemporary Austin. She has returned home to Austin, Texas. Her solo exhibition Plastic Planet at Women & Their Work was supported by a Mid-America Arts Alliance 2017 Artistic Innovations Grant. Her next project is to animate her Plastic Planet series for a PSA that will debut on KLRU with project funds from The Awesome Foundation. Kamin is featured in the series Arts In Context set to air on PBS in the fall of 2017.

calderkamin.com