Calendar
Past ExhibitsThe Window Gallery presents the work of contemporary makers of unusual and newly invented musical instruments, including emerging artists as well as recognized pioneers. The emphasis is on originality in concept and design, recognizing the seminal role of the search for new sounds in the expansion of musical horizons. Equally essential to the exhibits are notions of beauty, craft, and humor.
The Window Gallery is curated by Bart Hopkin, David Samas, and Kirk Pearson. Located at 55 Taylor Street in San Francisco, the gallery is open to the public Monday through Friday, 9 am – 5 pm, and during performances.
Email the Gallery Manager for information, questions, comments or to propose an installation.
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CURRENT ATRIUM: Maurice Kamins’ “Shofarot”
Fri, Nov 1 — Tue, Dec 31, 2024
Artist Statement
Close to 30 years ago while sitting in the balcony at Congregation Sherith Israel listening to the sound of the shofar, with hubris and a bit of gall, I thought I could do that (blow the shofar) and build my own. At the time I was making sheath knives and noticed that Texas Knifemakers, as well as selling scales, sold whole Kudu horns. So I bought one and made my first shofar. It never occurred to me when I started that there were hundreds of pages of biblical text and commentaries on the making and blowing of the shofar. Over the years I have made over 600 shofarot from about 20 different kosher animals. Although I make traditional shofarot from rams horns I also have made shofarot from Kudu, Waterbuck, Roan Antelope, Sable Antelope, Bighorn Sheep, Buffalo, Prong Horned Antelope, Scimitar Oryx and many others. I am honored that my shofarot have been carried around the world and are enhancing the High Holiday services in innumerable congregations.
Maurice
CURRENT EXHIBIT: Judy Dunaway – Balloon Tapestry with the Sound of Its Own Making (Tribute to Robert Morris)
Sat, Nov 2 — Tue, Dec 31, 2024
Performance/opening November 2: Judy Dunaway, Free Improvisations and “Balloon Tapestry with the Sound of Its Own Making”
View Performance/Opening page here
Artist’s Statement
This composition/sound installation is about the sound of the weaving of “twister” balloons and the visual culmination of that sound. Balloon twisting is both an art and a skill. Commonly used by street and party entertainers, it has also been used to weave artistic creations and even for fashion. These professionals use “twister” balloons, long thin latex balloons manufactured especially for this purpose. However, as a “sound artist,” my interest is in the sound of the weaving. At various times during exhibition hours, “twister” balloons will be woven together on site and afterward hung in the space. An audio recording will be made of the weaving. When the balloons are not being woven, the recording of the weaving will be played back softly in the room. The twister balloons will gradually deflate over the course of a few days or weeks, and new balloon tapestry squares will be added on a regular basis. It is a futile exercise, as the creation is constantly dying. However the audio recordings will accumulate, making a longer and longer loop. The form of the piece will change throughout the duration of the exhibition. Guest performers/weavers: Kattt Atchley, Brenda Hutchinson, Cheryl Leonard, Brent Miller, and more TBA. Materials: 100% natural latex twister balloons (photodegradable), biodegradable ribbon, air, audio recording device, method(s) for audio playback.
Bio
Judy Dunaway is internationally known for her numerous works for latex balloons as sound producers, including sculptural sonic performances, sound installations, interactive pieces and acousmatic works. She has presented these works at many notable locations including the Academy of Media Arts Cologne, Alternative Museum (NYC), Audio Art Festival 2016 (Krakow), Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art (MACBA), Cafe Oto (London), Bang on a Can Festival (NYC), Everson Art Museum (Syracuse), Expo’74 at Mass MoCA, Frau Musica Nova (Germany), the Guelph Jazz Festival (Canada), Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors (NYC), the New Museum of Contemporary Art (NYC), Performance Space 122 (NYC), Podewil (Berlin), Roulette (NYC), the Roy and Edna Disney Center (Los Angeles), Seltsame Musik Festival (Austria) and STEIM (Netherlands). Her awards/grants/residencies include Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant, iii Instrument Inventors Artist-in-Residence, Elektronmusikstudion Stockholm, New York State Music Fund, the Aaron Copland Fund Recording Grant, the American Composers Forum’s Composers Commissioning Fund, Zentrum fuer Kunst und Medientechnologie, Harvestworks Digital Media Arts Center and the National Endowment for the Arts performance fund. She has given academic presentations about her works at many colleges and universities, including Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera (Milan, Italy), Berlin University of the Arts, Brown University, Columbia University, Concordia University (Montreal), Hochschule fuer Gestaltung Karlsruhe (Germany), Juilliard School of Music, Musik Akademie Basel (Switzerland), New England Conservatory, Rennselaer Polytechnic, University of California at Santa Cruz, University of Gothenberg (Sweden), University of Huddersfield (U.K.) and University of Michigan. She has a Ph.D. from Stony Brook University and an M.A. from Wesleyan University (where she studied with Alvin Lucier). She has been teaching at Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston since 2005. Website: www.judydunaway.com
Press Quotes
Although it is a household object that is associated with childhood and celebrations, Dunaway’s works for balloon rarely expounds on such quotidian functions. Her practice challenges these assumptions, compelling audiences to wonder how such a mundane object can engender such complex sounds and meanings….Instead of presenting a narrative, many of Dunaway’s works strive to create a sense of space…In a context that features ambient rather than rhetorical material, these micro-components of sound become of primary interest to the listener. Thus, in addition to transferring listening capacities to other areas of the body, this physical approach to music-making slightly shifts the focus on what audiences should listen for. – Tonia Ko, “Acts of Envelopment: Implications of Touch in Judy Dunaway’s Works for Balloons” from “A Portfolio of Two Essays” by Tonia Chi Wing Ko, Doctoral Dissertation, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY:
https://ecommons.cornell.edu/items/be59d7b8-223e-4a99-b42e-d54495e38651
The embodied relationship that Dunaway has developed with the balloon over the past decades resulted in an artistic practice extremely tuned to the sonic proprieties of every inch of the latex balloon. – Carlo Patrão, Sounding Out!, April 22, 2019
Dunaway is utterly fearless in her approach to her craft, and unflinching in the face of inevitable backlash from both her classical and avant-garde contemporaries. – Meredith Yayanos, Coilhouse Magazine, October 2007 (Review of “Mother of Balloon Music” CD on Innova Records)
https://coilhouse.net/2007/10/the-amplified-pneumatic-squeakitude-of-judy-dunaway/