New SJIMA exhibit is entitled the Genius of Fog

||| FROM DIANE MARTINDALE for SAN JUAN ISLANDS MUSEUM OF ART |||

Remember a time on a summer night when you laid on your back and stared at the night sky and felt insignificant in that vastness of space? In SPACE, MUSES, ETC. at the San Juan Islands Museum of Art (SJIMA) Sam Stubblefield intends to deepen that same sense of awe in us.

The fog descends just after sunset. As the time of sunset moves, so does the time of the fog. It starts with mare’s tails and billows over the exhibition released in rhythm with solar flare activity. Finally, the glass atrium gallery appears as a mysterious white cloud. As the fog reaches into the 20-foot ceilings the daylight exhibits recede and the lights and neon works emerge. Awe.

About those solar flares –they wash across the earth, but the only manifestation we can see are the Northern Lights. Not able to compete with those shimmering skies, Stubblefield aims to observe nature in his own way. The NASA and NOAA satellites monitor sunspot activity and Sam’s timer releases more or less fog in concert with them. Making fog is his fun way of bringing his own nature-like phenomenon into the exhibit and flipping a switch in thinking about nature and art.

You can see the fog on Friday-Monday nights from the street or sidewalk through the glass. The installation appears utterly different compared to daytime. The indoor exhibition hours are Friday-Monday, 11-5. Newly posted; go to https://www.sjima-online.org/samuel-stubblefield to see one of three online gallery presentations by Sam.

Sam’s next project will be at the Cooper Hewitt, America’s design museum located in New York City and integral part of the Smithsonian Institution. The museum knits digital into experiences to enhance ideas and extend the reach of art beyond museum walls. In his new work, Stubblefield use data generated from a human (electroencephalogram) for his installation.

This show is sponsored by The Honeywell Charitable Fund, Kim Miller, the Town of Friday Harbor, San Juan County, National Endowment for the Arts, Washington State Arts Commission, San Juan Island Community Foundation, Printonyx, Harbor Rentals and Browne’s Home Center. SJIMA is located at 540 Spring Street in Friday Harbor, WA. For more information go to www.sjima.org.