Tammie Rubin
The Pylon Project
May 2022 – December 2022
Monkey Wrench, North Star, Shoofly
Rubin contemplates American freedom by referencing Underground Railroad quilt patterns used by enslaved Black Americans recovering their freedom. These patterns are emblems of American freedom that’s not collective which ensures the personal welfare and happiness for all but instead for the convenience of select groups. The first Monkey Wrench is a signal to prepare mentally and physically for escape, a call to gather all tools and knowledge. The second is the North Star, a reminder for enslaved Americans of the path to freedom, and inspiration of their lives out of bondage. The last, Shoofly is a design to identify a trusted ally who would assist them with travel, shelter, food, or guidance as fleeing Americans made their way north. The visual codes are manifested in a plane of cobalt blue. The artist invites viewers to observe the blue pillar against the constantly changing sky and meditate on how they strive for American freedom and who pays the cost.
Bio
Tammie Rubin is an artist whose sculptural practice considers the intrinsic power of objects as signifiers, wishful contraptions, and mythic relics while investigating the tension between the readymade and the handcrafted. Using intricate motifs, she delves into themes involving ritual, domestic and liturgical objects, mapping, migration, magical thinking, longing, and identity. Rubin has exhibited widely, selections include Project Row Houses, Houston, TX., the Hessel Museum of Art at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY., George Washington Carver Museum, Austin, TX., Mulvane Art Museum, KS., Indianapolis Art Center, Indianapolis, IN., The Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, TX., Women & Their Work Gallery, Austin, TX., and C24 Gallery, New York, NY. She's represented by Galleri Urbane, Dallas, TX., & Rivalry Projects, Buffalo, NY.
Rubin’s artwork has received reviews in publications such as Artforum, Art in America, Glasstire, The Brooklyn Rail, Austin American-Statesman, Austin Chronicle, Sightlines, Buffalo Rising, Tribeza, fields, Conflict of Interest, Arts and Culture Texas, Ceramics: Art & Perception, and Ceramics Monthly. Rubin is the recipient of the 2022 Tito’s Prize, and grants from Artist Trust in Seattle, the Illinois Arts Council, and Clay Houston. Born and raised in Chicago, Rubin lives in Austin, Texas where she is an Associate Professor of Ceramics & Sculpture at St. Edward’s University. www.tammierubin.com
The Pylon Project is an intervention of the pylon sign outside of Canopy by one resident artist every 6 months.