Towson EMF Alumni and Baltimore-based artist Thomas Faison ’17 held an Artist Talk about his pop-up gallery mixed media piece Phase Change in Frederick, MD. Selected by the Frederick Arts Council and funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, Faison’s gallery piece will transform every four months as it follows a “three act visual story” and will remain in exhibition through 2019. Phase Change, “makes use of a variety of media from video art, sculpture, music, and more to explore questions surrounding climate change, cultural relationships with water, disasters, transformation, and how to survive” (http://frederickartscouncil.org/).  Act I of the exhibition closes May 4th, and reopens May 10th with Act II. If you are interested in sponsoring Act II or III please contact info@frederickartscouncil.org. Thomas can be reached at tomfaisonfilms@gmail.com if you have any more questions. 

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Statement from the Artist: Thomas Faison

Phase Change is a living, evolving installation; a three act visual story of disaster, transformation, and hope. The story of water, steam, ice, and us articulated through a hybrid of video, sculpture, and music, hybrids of these mediums. It is in moments of transition where one can find true becoming. Liquid evaporating to gas, a city turning to moss, a person discovering shelter–examining these processes of change provides insights into the creative force of difference as we work towards not just individual transformation but the transformation of the collective Us.

The first step of Phase Change is a stream simulator presenting erosion, a macro process which existed longer before and will exist long after is, in a micro setting. Displayed alongside the simulator is a film with a loose, allegoric narrative, acting as a magnifying glass as the line between natural and societal processes grows thin. The voices within the film detail personal, cultural, and social relationships within the hydrosphere. The variance in these stories lends itself to insights into water as a multiplicity: something that is holy, political, nourishing, fearsome, essential.

Alizon Santamaria, Costume Shop Manager and adjunct instructor for the Department of Theatre Arts, recently participated in the university’s first Fix-it Fair, hosted by TU’s Office of Sustainability. Students in her workshop got the opportunity to repurpose an old pair of jeans into an cutlery carrier to keep in their backpack/purse. Along the sustainability theme, the fully washable carrier makes it easier to always have reusable cutlery on the go.

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While this event was very much about reducing and reusing, it was also a great reminder of the joys of crafting and creation. Students who had never sewn before surprised themselves with their ability to make a sewn project from start to finish in less than 30 minutes. Additionally, two students discussed how refreshing it was to find a professional who took such joy in their work. (While it was heart-warming and flattering, Alizon assured them that there was plenty of stress waiting for her back in the costume shop!)  It was a refreshing reminder that what we do in our building is magical, inspiring and often mind-boggling to those outside COFAC. So if you haven’t done so lately, Alizon suggests you describe your job to a Biology major today, and feel you magic replenished!