Momentum Artist: Heidi Tindle

Heidi Tindle, Tulsa

Inevitable Change

Performance/Installation

Q: What was your concept behind your work?

HT: My work was really born out of a long contemplation of the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve. I have a huge heart for the tall grass and began thinking about preservation in general. The problem is that there is a schism between the controlled, monitored, plastic, preserved Tallgrass Prairie and the wildness that the prairie once represented. The very act of preserving it changed what it inherently was. We are not so much preserving the prairie as the idea of the prairie. At the same time, I was exploring my own domesticity and contemplating what woman's work was and now has become. I was hopeful that I could somehow make a statement about the preservation and change between then and now, perhaps demonstrating that when we set out to save something often we destroy aspects that make it what it is. Whether that is good or bad is up to the viewer to decide, I am merely airing dirty laundry for the public to discuss.

Q: Explain the technique and/or process you used for the piece.

HT: I take liquid, red Oklahoma clay and submerge clothing into it, which is then hung from a clothes line.

Momentum Tulsa 2009 includes visual art by artists aged 30 and younger. The exhibition is free and open at Living Arts, 307 E Brady, Tulsa, until October 24. Gallery hours are Tuesday-Sunday 1-5 pm, until 9 pm on Thursday and Friday.

Curators Scott Perkins & Frank Wick selected 93 artworks by 66 artists from all over the state for the exhibition. Also, three Spotlight artists created bodies of work on display, Nick Bayer, Dustin Boise, and Emily Kern. Intern Ashley Romano interviewed the artists to learn about their creative process. Watch for more profiles throughout the run of the exhibition.