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Studio news from His Room as He Left It
may 2025 really lovely piece by the incredibly talented mayuko fujino. I am a huge fan of her work.
https://beakuency.substack.com/p/his-room-as-he-left-it
ARTIARY
"His Room as He Left It", a mixed-media installation by Ariel Kotker at the Washington Art Gallery, Poughkeepsie, NY
Entirely handmade life-size sculptures that reconstruct the imaginary bedroom full of little details that make birders smile.
MAYUKO FUJINO
MAY 14, 2025
Sometimes I am afraid and confused, I guess that's life. But birds, especially small ones, their determination to live gives me courage. They certainly sound unperplexed like Thomas Merton said of a wren outside his window. They seem sure of their way and that they must go on. It clears the fog of doubt from my head. When I saw bird comics created by Ariel Kotker, an artist based in Easthampton MA, I was very moved because they capture exactly the feeling that birds give me. The powerful fact that we are going to live today.
One of the bird comics created by Ariel Kotker.
These bird comics are a part of Ariel's exhibit “His Room as He Left It: A Work in Progress” currently on view at the Mildred I. Washington Art Gallery at Dutchess Community College from April 9 through May 16. From the gallery website:
The installation reconstructs the imagined bedroom of Drew Fank, a 19-year-old from the fictional town of Sparkleton, Pennsylvania. Through meticulously handcrafted details—including clothing, musical instruments, personal letters and everyday objects—Kotker builds an immersive narrative that invites viewers to step into Drew’s world and uncover his story.
Drew’s desk: A newspaper, a pen, cigarette butts, trash, an enamel mug, even the grains of the wood, are all made by hands.
Here’s another bird comic in the show that I resonated with: two Black-capped chickadees chatting “The sun feels good doesn’t it?” “Sure does.”
Two Black-capped chickadees chatting “The sun feels good doesn’t it?” “Sure does.”
I can't remember on what article or a radio show I heard, but there was a story about someone who was about to give up on life. He didn't see anything positive in it and asked his friend what the point was. His friend replied "but, mornings are nice."
When I heard this I felt that was the most truest argument against giving up on life. Things may or may not turn out better, you may or may not get what you want, there may or may not be hope, but there will always be a morning and mornings are nice. I am terrible at getting up early, but when I do and go out in the morning to see birds with friends, the line from Rabindranath Tagore's Gitanjali comes to mind: Day by day thou art making me worthy of the simple, great gifts that thou gavest to me unasked—this sky and the light, this body and the life and the mind—saving me from perils of overmuch desire.
Ariel’s Chickadees chatting “the sun feels good”, they have been living fully in such great gifts of the “master poet” from the beginning, unlike some of us who still have a little way to go to get there. (I like that Tagore calls the origin of all the elements "master poet" instead of god.)
More bird comics in the show, mockingbird taking requests, and red-winged blackbirds in migration
Because Drew is a taxidermist for birds (unlicensed? Punk taxidermist?) there are so many birdy things in his room that I'm sure will make birders smile, in addition to the bird comics.
Birdy items in Drew's room
Being able to physically step into an imaginary world is pretty extraordinary, like Alice going through the looking glass. “Drew exists in a meanwhile place between death and rebirth. he stuffs birds as a memento mori, a mirror,” Ariel told me.
And then a funny thing happened to this installation. Ariel wrote to me after seeing the photo of the woodcock trash can I sent her: “last week someone emptied Drew’s trash into the real trash and it got squished. after I laughed and cried, I asked that the squished trash be removed from the exhibit (bc Drew wouldn’t have squished it) so the woodcock waste can is empty, there is no shoebox in it as pictured here. I just wanted to let you know!”
The boundary between fantasy and reality vanished for that moment.
The woodcock trash can.
I appreciate the way Ariel has nurtured this project - the world and life, rather - not imposing her ideas and agenda, but rather seeing what comes naturally, taking as long as it takes. It is a garden of imagination and is truly one of the best I've seen. The show is on view through May 16, 2025, in the Mildred I. Washington Art Gallery located in the Allyn J. Washington Center for Science and Art, and then will travel to the ECA Gallery in Easthampton, MA, from June 7 through the end of the month, with an opening as part of the Easthampton Art Walk on June 7, 4-7pm.
Mildred I. Washington Art Gallery
53 Pendell Rd, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
Gallery hours Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Visitors are advised to park in Lot D (GPS address: 97 Cottage Road, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601). Accessible parking is available at the top of the hill right outside the gallery entrance.
ECA Gallery
Old Town Hall
43 Main Street Easthampton, MA 01027
Gallery hours Tuesday-Friday 12-2pm
https://www.easthamptoncityarts.com/galleries/eca-gallery/
To learn more about Ariel and “His Room as He Left It”, visit: https://arielkotker.squarespace.com/. If you are on Instagram, you can follow her at @arielko13.
I couldn’t believe these leaves and acorn were not “real”! But what is “real” in the first place?
16 may 2025 Chair from start to finish
Cut, glued, and painted cardboard
April 2025
Delighted to be showing
at
the ECA Gallery
from
June 7th to the end of the month
with an opening for
Easthampton Art Walk
on
June 7
4-7pm
See you there!
ECA Gallery
Old Town Hall
43 Main Street
Easthampton, MA
01027
Gallery hours
Tuesday-Friday
12-2pm
many thanks to Easthampton City Arts
@easthamptoncityarts
March 2025
Honored to be showing
at
The Mildred I. Washington Gallery
SUNY Dutchess Community College
Poughkeepsie, NY
from
April 9-May 16, 2025
with an opening reception on
Thursday, April 10th
from
5-7pm
with music by
Wednesday Knudsen @pigeonsband
Special thanks to
Dana Weidman
and
Kim Kules
this show will be accompanied by a painting of Lake Erie by Kristen Rego! @real_good_rego
Feb 10, 2025 Drew’s gas station shirt from when he worked at Fuel for You
Embroidery on cut and sewn found fabric, polymer clay
Art Walk! Eastworks #218
february 1st, 2025, 4-7pm
📷 melissa dadourian @stringgirl
October Drew’s record player
Cardboard, Bristol, paper, acrylics, flashe, inks, PVA, polymer clays, pins, cotton, yarn, twine, glitter, cut coffee stirrer, Shrinky Dinks
Just need to finish the record cover.
27 Sept Come visit for Eastworks Open Studios 2024!
Nov 2&3, 10-5
I’m in Suite 218
Here’s a video of the Room so far
September 2024 working on Drew’s floor. Paint and acrylic pen on cardboard.
Aug 2024 Drew’s band Triple Tongue plays a show in Erie. on the way there, Drew sees Lake Erie for the first time and it takes his breath away. later that evening he decides he must walk to Niagara Falls from Sparkleton. this walk will be his rebirth.
Acrylic ink on paper, wire
July 20 Delighted to be included in:
Impermanence
9th Annual Juried Show
Gallery A3
Amherst, MA
Opening reception August 1st, 5-8pm
event listing here
June 21
Pleased to share I’ll be included in the Providence Art Club’s National Open Juried Exhibition 2024.
June 23rd to July 19th
at
11 Thomas Street
Providence, RI
event listing here
Also pleased to share inclusion in Antler Edition’s Field Trip at Elusie Gallery
July 6th-July 27th
event listing here
Also pleased to share Drew’s finished bass guitar, Dar-Lin-Pal
Acrylics, cardboard, ink, paint, paper, pins, polymer clay, string, PVA
Immense thanks to @healyguitars and @jennacide321
may 27 Delighted to have a few pieces in Meat for Tea’s upcoming issue, “Earl Grey”. Thanks to everyone involved! Join us this Saturday:
https://www.facebook.com/share/4NJ7Yh5n9VqUXMpJ/?mibextid=9l3rBW
May 10 Upcoming name change
After July, Drey’s name will be Drew.
feb 17 I have been slightly manic lately so I had the energy to make Drey’s bass amp. dedicated with love to all my musician friends.
February 2024
many thanks to everyone who visited open studios in November. and thanks to everyone who helped! It was a lovely time with compelling and memorable conversations, both with strangers and friends.
In non-HRAHLI news, I’m delighted to be a part of this exhibit opening next week, showing my fuzzy hinge.
Vive la Différence
February 8, 2024 - February 29, 2024
ArtWalk and Artist Reception: Thursday February 8, 5-8pm
Elusie Gallery at Big Red Frame
43 Main Street
Easthampton MA
October 2023
come join us at
116 Pleasant Street #205
Easthampton MA
on
November 4 & 5
from
10am - 5pm
for Eastworks Open Studios
https://eastworksopenstudios.com/
really looking forward to open studios this year, as I’ve finished Drey’s bed and have arranged things so you can walk into the room area and be in it. will be sharing little details here and on IG at @arielko13
next: building the cardboard walls and painting them to look like waterfall wallpaper
September 15, 2023 it felt so nice to finish this Shake Who Choked on a Crabapple. I made an armature of styrofoam and wire, with smooshed kneaded erasers for the apple, in 2007. these past few days, I covered it with nylon stocking and several layers of PVA, painted it white with charcoal markings, colored in the markings with acrylics, made eyes and a tongue, and mounted it to some cardboard I constructed to look like a wooden base.
This is a milk snake that Drey finds out at the Flying Saucer. He opens it up, eats the apple, and then re-stuffs it with his own taxidermy materials.
august 2023 just a few scenes from Drey’s room
