Seeking Funding and Opportunities

These last several weeks have been dedicated to setting up summer opportunities and seeking funding. In May, the semester ends and I can concentrate again on my studio work, exhibition proposal, and more grant applications.

I have recently added a scale to the web-based archive, and have been working behind the scenes with the code to include an introductory statement, and to solve a few problems. Some of those tests and explorations are not yet live. If you are interested in checking out progress on the website (The Evolution of Silence), here is the link.

I am happy about my current lineup of accepted projects/opportunities, and hope to take part in all. It depends on whether I receive funding for travel.

June 2013
DesignInquiry Station, Vinalhaven, ME

July 2013 or August 2013
Open Air Printers Studio, Goldwell Residency
Rhyolite and Las Vegas, NV

September 2013
Praxis and Poetics, Research Through Design Conference and Exhibition
Northumbria University/Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art
Newcastle upon Tyne/Gateshead, UK

My Presentation at the Remaking Research Symposium

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The Emily Carr University of Art and Design has archived the ‘Remaking Research’ symposium online. Here is the link to video documentation of presentations made in ‘Featured Research Projects’ under the theme ‘The Political Economies of Research’ on Friday, November 2, 2012. My presentation is third. Continue reading →

Proofing my Map

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My map in Illustrator (Area 2 and 10 in view)

After hours of mapping Yucca Flat last fall, I realized in proofing details in my code, that some of the coordinates for the map are wrong, and that the web is not translating parts of it correctly. It’s difficult to pinpoint where the mistakes are (with so many images tiled upon another), so I have no other option but to go through each detonation again. Continue reading →

Update on the Annie Test Mannequins

In Las Vegas I found photos of the mannequins being dressed and on display at the J.C. Penney store before the March 17, 1953 detonation.

Las Vegas Review Journal, March 6, 1953.
IMG_1748a Continue reading →

The Subject of My Archival Research, Appreciating Las Vegas

There are three main threads to my current archival research. I am searching for: Continue reading →

Identifying Desert Flora at the Springs Preserve

Bladder Sage (Salazaria mexicana)
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We made several visits to the Springs Preserve and Nevada State Museum, which are situated in the same area, on beautiful and fittingly-named Valley View Boulevard. Food at the Springs Café is prepared by the Culinary Academy of Las Vegas and we regularly ate there before conducting research at the Cahlan Research Library (within the Nevada State Museum). I would have loved to have had more time for hiking in the Springs Preserve. The short walk we made provided a useful introduction to some plants and has helped me identify some desert flora. I plan to incorporate more of this kind of information into my project, as well as research that I have found on the effects of nuclear testing on the environment. Continue reading →

Artifacts of Atomic Testing

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On Tuesday, December 11, I met with Jennifer Cornthwaite, Director of Emergency Arts, at Fremont and sixth to discuss exhibiting in LV, and to get insight into the arts center. Later I met with Karen Green, Curator and Collections Director, at the National Atomic Testing Museum. Continue reading →

In the Meadows

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Emergency Arts, the former J.C. Penney building

I am in Las Vegas, Nevada for ten days (I arrived Sunday, December 9, 2012). On the first morning, Monday, December 10, I met with curator and historian, Brian Paco Alvarez, and filmmaker and producer, Dan Garrison, at The Beat café in the Emergency Arts Center in downtown Las Vegas (Fremont and 6th). Continue reading →

Research at the National Archives, Pathway to Peace Exhibit

Looking through the declassified military files entitled ‘General Records Relating to Disarmament, compiled 1948–1962,’ I came upon two interesting exhibition projects. There were two folders dedicated to the ‘Pathway for Peace’ exhibit, which, from what I could tell, was a presentation to the United Nations (given by the U.S.). Continue reading →

Research at the National Archives, Nuclear Detonations and Craters


These images represent just a fraction of the photographs housed at the Archives. Documentation of nuclear testing activity is stored in multiple collections. I poured through the Records of the Department of Energy, the Records of the Defense Nuclear Agency, and the Records of the Defense Civil Preparedness Agency. Continue reading →

Research at the National Archives, Mannequins and Real People

The more I search for details on the mannequins the more the realities begin to blur. Coordinated operations, in which mannequins were carefully dressed and “typical” (conforming to white middle-class notions) social and domestic scenes were staged, began as isolated test scenarios at the Nevada Test Site in 1953. Continue reading →