Walking into the gallery space at FORUM Arts and Culture, the viewer is confronted by scores of honey-filled pods hanging on pieces of thread from a black cloth attached to the ceiling. Three-foot high ceramic cones, also filled with honey, are mounted on the gallery walls. Empty cones are strewn about the floor. Shelves are filled with objects that look like a cross between nipples and oil cans; shiny black funnels with softly shaped appendages protruding from one end. On a table in the center of the room, row after row of delicately glazed ceramic cups, each with a tiny bee detailed in gold luster, are clustered together on a in a honeycomb-like formation. They are filled with milk. A scepter hangs from the gallery ceiling, waiting for the queen to arrive and take it into her hands.
This is the scene in which Kaletia Roberts, scented with honey butter and in a costume of her own creation, will perform Temporary Perceptions: A Sensuality of the Senses on Thursday, August 14th at 7pm. Robert’s piece will expose El Paso contemporary art patrons to conceptually based performance art, an uncommon element in the El Paso arts scene. Viewers can expect a visual art event that is as much about the ephemeral performance of the artist as it is about any object created for the performance, or left behind when the performance is done.
Roberts describes working on the piece, as like being an athlete in training. She has spent hundreds of hours in the creation of the ceramic and other material elements of the exhibition, and many more hours training her body, learning about movement in the gallery space and thinking about the experience from the viewer’s perspective. All of her work has been in preparation for the one-time performance on Thursday night. “Viewers can expect a totally sensual experience in a new reality. They will be surrounded not only by visual elements, but also by the scents of honey and beeswax, they will be invited to taste the milk and the honey,” says Roberts.
Honey has been collected by humans for more than 10,000 years, it is both sweet and nourishing, a source of energy with spiritual connotations. It is mentioned repeatedly in the Bible, praised for its literal significance as food and medicine, and its symbolic significance as a metaphor for spiritual love. In recent art history, German artist Joseph Bueys used honey (along with gold leaf and a dead rabbit) in his famous 1965 action How to Explain Paintings to a Dead Hare. In Privation and Excesses, 1989, artist Ann Hamilton covered a warehouse floor with honey and added 750,000 pennies, then sat wringing her hands in a hat full of honey. Roberts use of honey has layered meanings. “In working on (Temporary Perceptions), my own hard work made me reflect on the work of the bees. On a personal level this reflects the sweetness that comes after a period of endurance, and the goodness that is sometimes hidden in the darkest places in our lives.”
Roberts graduated from UTEP this spring with a double major in sculpture and ceramics. She is a committed artist who has shown locally and who has recently been invited to participate in a month-long artist residency in Santiago, Chile that will take place later this year. She is also going to be the second artist-in-residence at FORUM Arts and Culture.
The FORUM residency was created through the generous sponsorship of a local arts patron, and provides six months of studio space at the FORUM for an emerging El Paso artist. Their first resident was UTEP graduate Jessica Pizana, a sculptor who continues to live and work in the area. Artist and UTEP professor Rachelle Thiewes, who is a board member at FORUM, explained the importance of such a residency for a young artist. She noted that while students are still in school, they are surrounded by people who engage with and critique their work. “In the studio spaces at the FORUM, artists interact with one another, can receive feedback on their work, and share professional strategies and opportunities. It is inspirational for a young artist to be surrounded by other artists working diligently on their work, to see how they are marketing themselves, and to exchange ideas.” FORUM Creative Director, Jeff Litchfield, says that Robert’s performance and subsequent residency are part of FORUM’s commitment to expanding opportunities for the exhibition and creation of contemporary art in El Paso.
Temporary Perceptions: A Sensuality of the Senses
An Interactive Performance by Kaletia Roberts
Thursday, August 14th at 7 p.m.
FORUM Arts and Culture
705 Texas Avenue
For more information call 915.351.6521
