3 weeks, 6 earthworks, 1 portable studio, and ALL that lies in between

3 Weeks… is not an historical or theoretical investigation.  Instead we are creating ephemeral responses to artwork that is in some ways very destructive to nature.  We are interested in time – how we became more aware of how time looks and how it passes by the sheer amount of hours we spent at each piece in isolation or watched by a solitary observer.  We are interested in humor as it is far easier to talk about these artworks in a contemporary context because their status is so serious in the canon of art history.  Humor is one way we enter into these works when we want to make earnest commentary rather than being confrontational.  It is our way of discussing the political and often difficult issues associated with them: gender, economic elitism, destruction and permanence of the land.

 Douthey brings a feminist approach to a predominantly masculine genre of art when using props like bright pink prom dresses, cans of peaches, and blue tulle in her performances.  The act of repair is clearly feminine when she takes on the role of Michael Heizer filling the tire tracks in the center of Nancy Holt’s Sun Tunnels.  Russell comments on loss and renewal in The Burial of Three People, Two Places, and One Time Period when she inters objects from her past at each location. 

The sites are also expensive to visit and some are inaccessible to the general public.  Visiting them is often exclusively reserved for a certain economic class.  This is exemplified in the performance We Got the Time and the Goods and are Happy to Write You a Check. Paying Our Way into Lightning Field, Quemado, New Mexico.  Our use of technology through the blog In Search of the Center and the twitter account str8tripnn were primarily created to make these artworks more attainable for a general audience that extended beyond outdated photographs in art history books. 

The series comprises 50 photographs, 37 videos (AKA one DVD), 10 self-published artists’ books, and seven sculptural objects. It was exhibited at Texas Gallery in Houston, Texas in 2010.