This fall, PlySpace Fall Fellow Natan Diacon-Furtado will be working with several community collaborators, as well as the Ball State University School of Art, during his 12-week stay in Muncie. The public can meet the artist and learn more about his work in the gallery exhibition, Infinity Patterns, on Thursday, October 1st, as part of the Downtown Muncie ArtsWalk. The artist will exhibit four new site-responsive Infinity Pattern pop-up paper sculptures, along with the presentation of his in-gallery studio space. Drawing from a diaristic practice of daily stamp making, Diacon-Furtado crafts pieces that utilize light, shadow, geometry and color to release patterns from their confines on the page. These works engage in a form of visual code-switching, gaining strength through their ephemerality.
PlySpace, (608 E. Main Street) will open its gallery doors for a limited walkthrough from 5 PM until 8 PM on October 1st. The gallery will allow 2-3 visitors in the space at a time in order to promote social distancing. Entry to the gallery will be from the PlySpace parking lot side door, on the west side of the building. Masks will be required to enter the gallery. No bathrooms or refreshments will be available at this event.
Diacon-Furtado will also participate in Chalk it Up to Kindness, sponsored by the Community Foundation of Muncie and Delaware County, INC. In this DWNTWN event, working in collaboration with Muncie Arts and Culture Council, Diacon-Furtado will be joined by 9 other Muncie artists to create large-scale chalk drawings at locations around downtown Muncie during ArtsWalk. Visitors are encouraged to find all ten locations and vote for the people’s choice award for the best project that fits the primary theme of “kindness”. More information about this event is available at downtownmuncie.org/artswalk.
Check out the facebook event here!
As part of his residency, Diacon-Furtado will also work for four weeks with the 2D Foundation students at Ball State University School of Art. For this virtual collaboration, the artist will direct Our Patterns, a project spanning 6 separate classes and including over 100 student participants. The students will use the development of pattern-based works to uncover and learn more about their own points of view while also creating a community “quilt” of patterns, visible on Instagram (@ourpatterns_Muncie). The public is encouraged to follow the progress of this project online, which will culminate in a projected exhibition later this fall at a location to be determined.
In order to help promote visibility and collaboration within this project, PlySpace will facilitate weekly virtual open studio hours with Diacon-Furtado, presented through Instagram Live (@ourpatterns_Muncie). The open studio sessions will be presented for free on Wednesday, October 7th, 14th, and 21st from 7-8 PM. The public is welcome to view the interactive studio sessions, ask questions, and learn more about the artist’s work in this virtual series. To learn more about how to participate, please see plyspace.org/events.
Diacon-Furtado is an internationally recognized and award-winning Brazilian and American artist and designer who has exhibited globally in venues including the Venice Biennale of Architecture and the Buenos Aires International Biennial of Architecture. His design work has been featured in numerous publications including The New York Times and Dwell magazine, and he is a founding partner of the New Orleans based arts-focused design studio opossum (itsopossumtime.com).