William and Steven Ladd curated an exhibition at The Invisible Dog Art Center in 2011. The theme of the exhibition was “obstacle”. Included in the exhibition was a new work made for the show, a 10 foot tall beaded tree constructed with handmade beads composed of shredded paper, flour, and water, each wired over an armature to create a flowing white surface of beads.

PS 58, located a few blocks from the gallery, is where the Ladd’s sister teaches 4th and 5th grades; they had worked with her students for two years, running Scrollathons and hosting field trips to their studio in Manhattan. In 2011, they wanted to include those students in this new exhibition, dedicating a large space in the gallery to their  work. With that goal in mind, they expanded the papier mache process they’d used to make beads into a lesson plan geared to the students. They instructed them to use handfuls of the wet material, form them into golf ball-sized spheres, and place them on bakers’ racks to dry. After holes were drilled through the balls, participants connected them together with wire to form oversized ants—lots and lots of ants!

Why ants? When Steven and William were children, they had opened up a red Lego box in their bedroom and watched, astonished, as thousands of ants poured out. Ants  eventually made their way into their artwork, evolving from symbols of infestation to symbols of their life-long and every-expanding communities.

Back at PS 58, the students had been working on neighborhood mapping projects, so their task now was to envision the most optimal route for their papier mache ants to travel from school to The Invisible Dog Art Center, keeping in mind all the obstacles the ants could encounter and how those obstacles could  be overcome.

To wrap up the day, participants all had their portraits taken. Each student was asked the question, “What kind of face would you make if you encountered an obstacle and had to overcome it?” The result is a hilarious Portrait Mural, installed along with the papier mache ants in the Obstacle exhibition. Families and friends of the students were all invited to the unveiling event.

During the exhibition’s run, the Ladd’s conducted a small, intimate Scrollathon where people walking through the gallery could come and sit on the floor with them and roll scrolls with all the leftover materials. The Invisible Dog Art Center is the source of all of the trimming materials used in Scrollathon since 2009.

Steven and William have chosen Obstacle as the titled theme of the exhibition, as in obstacle course – something to challenge the body and focus the mind in the present. They approached artists and asked them to investigate the work they were making and how it might relate to the concept of obstacles. The Perfect Storm, by Sally French, deals with the loss of her home during the housing crisis. Chris Astley explores force, pressure, and weight with concrete forms. In the case of artists Antonia Wright and Ruben Millares, they literally confront their work with a running start. Steven and William collaborated with their sister Bee Ladd’s education program at PS 58, Project Lab, spending two weeks talking about obstacles and making art with over 400 students. Art Education has always been an important way for them to give back to the community and to encourage future artists.

INVITATION

Tuesday April 27, 2011, Brooklyn, NY

The Invisible Dog is thrilled to announce the new show:
OBSTACLE,
curated by Steven and William Ladd.
a Plus One Curation Series
On view from Saturday May 14th to Sunday July 10th, 2011
Opening Party on Saturday May 14th from 6pm to 10pm

Works by: Chris Astley, Carlton DeWoody, Ethan Long, Steven and William Ladd, Suzanne Sattler, Antonia Wright, Ruben Millares, Wayne Adams, Paul Bloodgood, Sally French, Allyn Bromley, Stephen Freedman, Deborah Nehmad, Evan Ryer, Michael Joaquin Grey, Project Lab @ PS58, Aaron Padilla, John Silvis, Anne Pearce, Andrew Zuckerman, Jennifer Mills, Robin Kang, Chris Dunbar, Ian Trask.

Surrounding themselves with people and places they love has always been important to Steven and William Ladd. Their initial encounter with The Invisible Dog was love at first sight. The space brought back childhood fantasies of exploring caves, old buildings, and nature. Buckets and barrels filled with trinkets and trimmings left behind from a defunct belt factory lined the floors. Lucien Zayan, envisioning the spirit of the future art space, commissioned the Ladd’s to utilize these materials and create a chandelier for the ground floor gallery. This commission blossomed into a friendship and opened the doors to a professional collaboration – from curating The Invisible Store to curating the gallery’s first art show.

Steven and William have chosen Obstacle as the titled theme of the exhibition, as in obstacle course – something to challenge the body and focus the mind in the present. They approached artists and asked them to investigate the work they were making and how it might relate  to the concept of obstacles. The Perfect Storm, by Sally French, deals with the loss of her home during the housing crisis. Chris Astley explores force, pressure, and weight with concrete forms. In the case of artists Antonia Wright and Ruben Millares, they literally confront their work with a running start. Steven and William collaborated with their sister Bee Ladd’s education program at PS 58, Project Lab, spending two weeks talking about obstacles and making art with over 400 students. Art Education has always been an important way for them to give back to the community and to encourage future artists.