Artists Spotlight: Fernanda D'Agostino
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Fernanda D'Agostino preparing to install The Ancestor Tree
at New Columbia, 2005 |
Fernanda D'Agostino, public artist
Recipient of 2007, 2006, 2000 RACC Project Grants; 2004-2006 Lead Design Team Artist; New Columbia; 2002-2004 Design Team Artist for Smith and Bybee Lakes Restoration; 2002 Design Team Artist, Unseen Worlds, B.E.S., Wet Weather Treatment Facility; 1999 Design Team Artist, Southwest Community Aquatics Center.
Over the last twenty two years, Fernanda D'Agostino has worked on public art projects ranging from the revitalization of downtown Tacoma to the creation of habitat sculptures at Smith and Bybee Lakes in Portland. A parallel body of studio work has been a series of site specific installations. Fernanda has completed projects in cast and silk-screened glass, bronze, stainless steel, stone, and video. Fitting form, material, and content to the site in surprising ways characterizes her work.
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Habitat Trees
by Fernanda D'Agostino and Valerie Otani at
Smith & Bybee Lakes, 2005 |
In recent years, Fernanda developed a special interest in science a she worked on projects for labs and science centers in the region. Collaborative work with naturalists at Smith and Bybee Lakes led to a series of landmark sculptures whose forms seem to grow directly from the unique ecosystem of the wetlands. In a plaza project for Everett Community College's Art and Science Building, she drew on the beautiful forms found in contemporary physics.
Her current project, Motion Studies (funded in part by a RACC Project Grant) reflects this interest in the intersection of Art and Science and will appear at Elizabeth Leach Gallery, 417 N.W. 9th Avenue, Portland from April 3-26, 2008.
Created in collaboration with biomechanist Dr. Bret Tobalske and cinematographer Harry Dawson, D’Agostino’s interactive video installation showcases the aesthetic beauty of aerodynamic motion. The video and a documentation of the installation can be viewed at www.hedjr.com/MotionStudy.mp4 and www.hedjr.com/InstallationSample.mov.
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from Fernanda D’Agostino's
Motion Studies, 2008 |
In addition to the video installation, D’Agostino has created delicate blown glass sculptures with Carl Weiss of Tosoh Quartz and Weiss Scientific. Many of the glass works mimic laboratory and musical instruments, while others take on organ-like forms, expanding upon the artist’s exploration of fluidity and motion, and her overall investigation of the parallels between the worlds of art and science.
From July 25-August 5, 2008 D'Agostino's Motion Studies will be exhibited at The 809 International New Image Art Festival, in Yichang, China . She will be traveling to China to meet other artists from around the world who share her interests in New Image and the environment. Motion Studies will be shown at the the Rencontres Internationales Sciences et Cinémas in Marseille, France, November 15, 2008.
Fernanda is a recipient of awards from the Andy Warhol Foundation and the Rockafeller Foundation, as well as the National Endowment for the Arts.
Contact Information:
website:
http://www.flintridgefoundation.org/visualarts/recipients20012002_fernandadagostino.html
http://www.4culture.org/publicart/registry/parts/parts_artist.asp?ArtistID=10
http://www.4culture.org/publicart/registry/sites/sites_artist.asp?ArtistID=17
email: NandaDA@aol.com
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RACC Staff to Contact
Mary Bauer
Communications Associate
503.823.5426
mbauer@racc.org
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