CHICAGO-Volume Gallery is pleased to announce ArandaLasch and Terrol Dew Johnson, BUNDLING, opening April 29th at 1709 W Chicago Ave, Chicago IL 60622.
New objects by ArandaLasch and Terrol Dew Johnson transform materials of the Sonoran Desert into sculptural forms. The result of ongoing material experiments, their latest work includes paper baskets, agave fiber baskets, and brass coils.
Design studio ArandaLasch have collaborated with renowned artist and basket weaver Terrol Dew Johnson of the Tohono O’odham Nation for over a decade. Their collaboration stems from the commonalities of algorithmic techniques, repetition and ciphering used in both computer-generated design and Tohono O’odham basket weaving. They approach basket construction as a framework for experimentation and expression, sharing knowledge and tradition; and as medium of exchange that bundles various materials and voices together.
Their process begins by collecting materials around Tucson and Sells, Arizona. In these recent pieces they use bear grass, yucca, dirt, mica, mallow, creosote, copper, volcanic dust, and agave fiber. Materials are processed into a paper pulp-like slurry to be formed into vessels, agave fiber is bundled into open coils of adjoining circles, and brass is bent and woven with sinew into knots. By inventing a new material language from the desert and respecting time-honored techniques, these constructions offer a uniquely Sonoran interpretation of the art of baskets.
Terrol Dew Johnson (Tohono O’odham, b. 1973) is a community leader, nationally recognized advocate for Native communities, and renowned artist. In 1996, Johnson co-founded Tohono O’odham Community Action (TOCA), a grassroots community organization dedicated to creating positive programs based in the O’odham Himdag–the Desert People’s Way. In 2002, Johnson and TOCA Co-Director Tristan Reader were recognized as one of the nation’s top leadership teams when they received the Ford Foundation’s Leadership for a Changing World Award. Johnson’s collaborations range from museum exhibitions to documentaries and book publications. In October 1999, Johnson was named one of “America’s top ten young community leaders” by the Do Something Foundation.
In 2009-10, Johnson walked from Maine to Arizona as a part of “The Walk Home: A Journey to Native Wellness,” bringing awareness to the crisis of Diabetes in Native communities and highlighting the ways in which communities have the capacity to create wellness by drawing upon their rich cultural traditions.
As an artist, Johnson began learning to weave baskets in school when he was just ten years old. He is now recognized as one of the top Native American basket weavers in the U.S. He has won top honors at such shows as Santa Fe Indian Market, O’odham Tash, the Heard Museum Fair, and the Southwest Indian Art Fair. His work is in the permanent collections of museums such as the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian and the Heard Museum. Today, Johnson combines basketry with other media such as bronze castings and gourds.
New York and Tucson-based design studio ArandaLasch designs buildings, installations, and furniture through a deep investigation of structure and materials. Recognition includes the United States Artists Award, Young Architects Award, Design Vanguard Award, AD Innovators, and the Architectural League Emerging Voices Award. Their early projects are the subject of the book, Tooling. ArandaLasch has exhibited internationally in galleries, museums, design fairs, and biennials. Chris Lasch is President at The School of Architecture (founded by Frank Lloyd Wright as The Taliesin Fellowship) at Arcosanti and Cosanti in Arizona. Benjamin Aranda is Assistant Professor at The Cooper Union in New York.
As collaborators, ArandaLasch and Terrol Dew Johnson’s exhibitions include Baskets in 2006 at Artists Space in New York, NY, Meeting the Clouds Halfway in 2016 at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tucson, AZ, Coil & Cloud in 2017 at Volume Gallery in Chicago, IL, and Unraveling at the Sarasota Art Museum in Sarasota, FL in 2021. Art in Embassies of the U.S. Department of State has commissioned a large-scale structural weaving by the artists to be installed at the new U.S. Embassy in Asuncion, Paraguay. Their work is in the permanent collection of The Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Special mention to designers Alice Wilsey and Barrett Miesfeld from ArandaLasch who made BUNDLING possible.
