The World Evades Us

Exhibitions

The World Evades Us: Surveying Composite Meanings of Place
Tammy LePham, Shanna Sordahl and Melanie Treuhaft
October 18–November 10, 2019
Artists' Reception: Friday October 18, 6-8pm | Facebook Event
Panel Discussion: Saturday November 2, 5-6pm | Facebook Event
Sonic Nature Walk: Sunday November 3, 10am-noon | Facebook Event

Core sample (article in the Chico News & Review)

Funded in part by a City of Chico Arts and Culture Grant

Inspired by Chico’s natural and built landscapes, artists Melanie Treuhaft (Chico, CA), Tammy LePham (San Francisco, CA), and Shanna Sordahl (Oakland, CA) bring together light, architecture, and sound to construct an immersive installation at 1078 Gallery.

In conversation with land trusts, local historians, and geographers, they gathered information from various locations in the North Valley, including the Sutter Buttes, Bidwell Park, Oroville Dam, and Paradise. Each “survey point” is represented in the Gallery by a cylindrical column, or “core sample,” situated within a grid, transforming the gallery into an abstracted representation of the North Valley.

Symbolic imagery and sound allow the artists to draw on the myriad ideas and information gathered during their research and site visits. The World Evades Us reflects the artists’ interest in transitional spaces by examining the tension between natural and human-made patterns of growth.

Documentation of the team’s previous collaborative work, Staging at CTRL+SHFT in Oakland, CA: http://www.melanietreuhaft.com/project/staging/

ARTIST BIOS

Tammy LePham
tammylepham.com

Tammy LePham is a Los Angeles born, Phoenix raised designer who combines her multicultural background with an interest in human behavior. She takes on a multi-scaled approach–from exploring the intimate experiences generated by our built environment to questioning our current urban landscapes and their environmental impacts. Her investigations focus on challenging existing habits to generate novel social interactions and self-reflective spaces. LePham received her BS in Interior Design from Arizona State University and her Masters of Architecture from California College of the Arts in San Francisco. Her diverse work experience includes interior design, exhibition design, and architecture. In 2016, an art residency at CTRL+SHFT Collective allowed her to explore the intersection of these experiences; collaborating with a visual (Treuhaft) and sound artist (Sordahl) to create an immersive art installation. She recently finished teaching an introduction to architecture summer course at California College of the Arts and currently practices architecture at Mark Cavagnero Associates, engaging with cultural and institutional projects. She is currently working on the Oakland Museum Renovation Project which is intended to reconnect the Museum back to the community and revitalize the Lake Merritt arts district.

Shanna Sordahl
shannasordahl.net

Shanna Sordahl is a sound artist and composer based in Oakland, CA. Using amplified cello with analog and digital electronics and installation art as her primary mediums, Sordahl’s work is a continual exploration of one's relationship to both sound and physical spaces. She emphasizes timbral changes, the resonant body of objects, and the re-contextualization of sound through the use of unconventional playing techniques, feedback, and audience immersion. Her current focuses include a fascination with blurring the lines between performance and installation art to emphasize the transformative potential of these events. Sordahl strives to create sonic and physical spaces that induce a focused state of awareness, where one is encouraged to reflect on or reconsider their relationship to sound, people, spaces—and ultimately—ideas.
With an MFA in Electronic Music and Recording Media from Mills College, Sordahl has studied composition with Laetitia Sonami, Chris Brown, James Fei, and Matt Rogalsky. She has performed and worked with a variety of composers and artists including Alvin Lucier, Trimpin, Wrekmeister Harmonies, and Sarah Davachi, and with the choreography collectives Wax Poet(s), Simpson/Stulberg Collaborations, and Deborah Karp Dance Projects. Her work has been presented at the 2013 International SuperCollider Convention and in 2015 she was awarded the Paul Dresher Artist Residency. In addition to solo work, her most active collaboration is as the duo SO AR, with percussionist Robert Lopez.

Melanie Treuhaft
http://www.melanietreuhaft.com

Melanie Treuhaft is a painter, video, light, and installation artist interested in the dynamic potential of layering as a visual strategy. Painting and drawing constitute the roots of her creative practice and continue to inform her work as she explores new media. Layering, gesture and texture are major concerns in her two-dimensional abstractions and remain imperative as she expands into three and four dimensions. Her current work is focused on theater-inspired installations that incorporate painting, video, and projection.

After receiving her MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2015, Treuhaft was awarded the Berkeley Repertory Theater Scenic Painting Fellowship. In 2016, she was an artist in residence at both the Morris Graves Foundation (Lolita, CA) and CTRL+SHFT Gallery (Oakland, CA). Her set design and video art were featured in 2018 theater productions, Rosacea by Rosa Boshier performed at CalArts Latin Fest and The Prida Project directed by Claudia Rosa at the Mission Cultural Center in San Francisco. She is currently working out of Chico, where she has taught at CSU Chico and been involved with Slow Theater’s Butcher Shop and 1078 Gallery. This fall, Treuhaft is teaching at both Butte Community College and Yuba College.