PENDLETON, Oregon – Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts (CSIA) made several programming shifts in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including moving two residencies into 2021 for artists who needed to fly across the country. Given CSIA’s ability to self-isolate and the studio’s capacity to operate while maintaining distancing guidelines, we are carefully going forward with three planned Artist-in-Residences (AiRs) during the second half of 2020. CSIA will welcome artist and educator Jovencio de la Paz to the print studio in mid-July.

 

Jovencio de la Paz is an innovative textile artist and educator who is the Curricular Head of Fibers in the School of Art & Design at the University of Oregon in Eugene. In recent work, he has been using weaving to investigate the history of trade, colonization, migration, and the language of technology. Pulsating abstract visual patterns point to the mid-century Op Art movement while simultaneously invoking a visual link with historical Indigenous patterns such as Navajo “eye dazzler” weavings. Originally from Singapore, de la Paz’s research of fiber processes is intermingled with the history of dyes and the global textile trade. Data translated by modern Jacquard looms emphasize the binary language of weaving that de la Paz crafts into beautiful abstract objects that move fluidly between painting, weaving, sculpture, and installation.

 

De la Paz holds a Master of Fine Arts in Fiber (2012) from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts (2008) from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Before moving to Oregon in 2015, de la Paz taught at several institutions, including the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. He has exhibited work in solo and group exhibitions both nationally and internationally, including HOLDING Contemporary in Portland; Vacation Gallery in New York; The 2019 Portland Biennial at Disjecta in Portland; The Museum of Craft and Folk-art in Los Angeles; The Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver; Seoul Arts Center in South Korea; Ditch Projects in Springfield, OR; The Art Gym, Marylhurst, OR; ThreeWalls in Chicago; The Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago; and the Uri Gallery, Seoul, South Korea, among others. He is also a co-founder of the collaborative group Craft Mystery Cult, established in 2010. This residency will be his first time working at Crow’s Shadow.

 

De la Paz will spend two weeks at Crow’s Shadow developing limited-edition prints, working with master printer Judith Baumann and apprentice printer Maggie Middleton. Depending on the complexity of the print and the studio schedule, completing an edition can take six months or more. One impression from each finished edition will enter CSIA’s permanent collection, and prints will be available for purchase once they are published.

 

This residency is generously funded through The Ford Family Foundation. De la Paz will be the first of three Golden Spot Artists-in-Residence during 2020. These AiRs are awarded to Oregon-based contemporary artists who have been working professionally in the field for a minimum of 7 years; at Crow’s Shadow, it often allows an artist to explore a new medium with full technical assistance, producing artwork that they would not be able to accomplish otherwise.

Click here for a pdf of the JOVENCIO DE LA PAZ Press Release