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Historic Grounds

20. John Grade

"Réservoir"

published at 17/01/2022
Réservoir, installation de John Grade au Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire, 2022 © E. Sander

John Grade’s large sculpture created in situ on the Historic Grounds invites us to think differently about the water offered to us by the sky. His ecological and poetic process strikes the viewer’s imagination through the gracefulness of the pearls of water delicately imprisoned in their nets.

John Grade creates large scale sculptures that are exhibited in unusual urban contexts, museums, galleries and in the great outdoors. His projects are designed to evolve with time and often involve participation from large groups of people to build, install and move from one place to another. He creates artworks that have a connection with the environment, often inspired and extracted from microscopic viewpoints, ranging from monumental installations to more intimate affairs. His artworks are set up both indoors and outdoors.

Hanging in a clearing of a pine forest in the Park, Réservoir is made up of five thousand clear droplets, each one an individual heat-formed plastic part, and held by steam-moulded wood. The delicate droplets are attached to two translucent nets, supported by tree trunks. Rainwater or snow can then fill the little pouches and in doing so, the position and shape of the nets lowers and changes. When the collected water evaporates, the sculpture rises back to its initial structure. Springs below the pulleys on the installation limit the vertical range of movement, so that the sculpture is always at least 3 metres above the ground. Even very light rain is enough to trigger a visible movement downwards. Once the sculpture is dry, it weighs just over 30 kilograms. When it is full after heavy rainfall, the sculpture can exceed a weight of 350 kilograms.

Grade’s artistic methods focus on a combination of poetry and ecology in highly technical works that are often installed in the middle of nature, fulfilling the artist’s wish to imprint the grace of the work on his viewers’ minds so that it will live on in their memories.

Gathering rainwater, emphasising its importance and value, and highlighting the fragility of nature: such are the concerns of an artist who pays close attention to the elements, to the cycles and disasters that affect our planet.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

John GRADE
USA
 
 

John Grade was born in 1970 in Minneapolis. He graduated from the Pratt Institute in New York. Today, he lives and works in Seattle.

Inspired by geological changes, life forms and natural systems, he works with his team on sculpting monumental immersive sculptures that have been made especially for the places that house them.

His most recent projects are inspired by the mountains of Nevada, the forests in the highlands of Guatemala and the ever-changing landscapes above the Arctic Circle. His new series on natural disasters feature impressive installations based on forest fires, storms and earthquakes.

AWARDS

2016
Design Excellence Award, Seattle Design Commission
 
2013
Arts Innovator Award, Artist Trust Foundation, Seattle
 
2011
Arlene Schnitzer Prize, Portland Art Museum
Contemporary Northwest Art Award, Portland Art Museum
 
2010
Willard L Metcalf Award, American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York
 
1992
Departmental Distinction for Achievement in Drawing, Pratt Institute, New York

COLLECTIONS

Arte Sella, Borgo Valsugana, Italy
Microsoft Corporation, USA
Anchorage Museum, USA
Austin Contemporary Museum, USA
Ballenglen Foundation, Ireland
Boise Art Museum, USA
City of Ketchum, USA
City of Portland, USA
City of Seattle, USA
Duke Energy, USA
Forest Foundation, USA
Horizon House, USA
King County Library, USA
Kohler Arts Center, USA
Kohler Company, USA
Museum of History and Industry, USA
Nordstrom, USA
Portland Art Museum, USA
Portland State University, USA
Seattle Art Museum, USA
Smithsonian Museum of American Art, USA
Tacoma Art Museum, USA
Tualatan Parks District, USA
Vulcan, USA
Whatcom Museum, USA
Complete Biography

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2018
Arte Sella Sculpture Park, Trento, Italy
Anchorage Museum, Anchorage, USA
Mystic Seaport Museum, Mystic, USA
Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, USA
Nordstrom Company, New York, USA
 
2017
Davos World Economic Forum, Davos, Switzerland
Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, USA
Portland State University, Portland, USA
Anchorage Museum, Anchorage, USA
Davidson Galleries, Seattle, USA
 
2016
Craters of the Moon National Monument, USA
City of Ketchum (Sun Valley), USA
 
2015
Austin Contemporary Museum of Art, Austin, USA
MadArt, Seattle, USA
Tualatin Parks District, Portland, USA
 
2014
University of Wyoming Art Museum, Laramie, USA
Western Washington University Gallery, Bellingham, USA
City of Portland, USA
City of Seattle, USA
 
2013
Kohler Arts Centre, Sheboygan, USA
Davidson Galleries, Seattle, USA
 
2012
Emory University, Atlanta, USA
Museum of History and Industry, Seattle, USA
Horizon House, Seattle, USA
Keller Auditorium (OBT Collaboration), Portland, USA
 
2011
L'H du Siège / Centre d'art contemporain, Acte de Naissance, Valenciennes, France
Davidson Galleries, Seattle, USA
 
2010
Cynthia-Reeves Gallery, New York, USA
Davidson Galleries, Seattle, USA
Parc naturel régional Scarpe-Escaut, Saint-Amand-les-Eaux, France
 
2009
Fabrica, Brighton, United Kingdom
Bitterlake Reservoir, Seattle, USA
University Wyoming Gallery, Laramie, USA
Davidson Galleries, Seattle, USA
Whatcom Museum, Bellingham, USA
 
2008
Bellevue Arts Museum, Bellevue, USA
Suyama Space, Seattle, USA
 
2007
Seattle Art Museum Gallery, Seattle, USA
Davidson Galleries, Seattle, USA
 
2006
Davidson Galleries, Seattle, USA
 
2005
King County Performance Network, King County, USA
Davidson Galleries, Seattle, USA
 
2004
Boise Art Museum, Boise, USA
Davidson Galleries, Seattle, USA
 
2003
Davidson Galleries, Seattle, USA
 
2002
Davidson Galleries, Seattle, USA
 
2000
Laura Russo Gallery, Portland, USA
King County Art Gallery, Seattle, USA
Davidson Galleries, Seattle, USA

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2016
Connections: Permanent Collection, Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Renwick Gallery, Washington, USA
Polar Lab, Anchorage Museum, Anchorage, USA
Arctic Tree, Louisiana Museum of Art and Science, Bâton-Rouge, USA
Craters of the Moon, Sun Valley Centre for the Arts, USA
 
2015
Wonder, Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Renwick Gallery, Washington, USA
 
2013
McColl Centre for Visual Art, Charlotte, USA
Museum of Northwest Art, La Conner, USA
Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, USA
 
2012
Mana Contemporary, Newark, USA
 
2011
Portland Art Museum, Portland, USA
 
2010
American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, USA
Western Washington University Museum, Bellingham, USA
 
2009
Ballinglen Arts Foundation, Ballycastle, Co Mayo, Ireland
Bellevue Arts Museum, Bellevue, USA
Boise Art Museum, Boise, USA
Whatcom Museum, Bellingham, USA
 
2007
Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, USA
Davidson Galleries, Seattle, USA
 
2006
SPUR Projects, Portola Valley, USA
Davidson Galleries, Seattle, USA
Concord Art Association, Concord, USA
John Michael Kohler Arts Centre, Sheboygan, USA
Aqua Art, Miami, USA
 
2005
Bumbershoot Visual Arts Exhibition, Seattle Centre, USA
San Francisco International Art Exhibition, Fort Mason, San Francisco, USA
Davidson Galleries, Seattle, USA
Aqua Art, Miami, USA
 
2004
Davidson Galleries, Seattle, USA
John Michael Kohler Arts Centre, Sheboygan, USA
San Francisco International Art Exhibition, Fort Mason, San Francisco, USA
 
2003
John Michael Kohler Arts Centre, Sheboygan, USA
San Francisco International Art Exhibition, Fort Mason, San Francisco, USA
 
2002
Pratt Manhattan Gallery, New York, USA
Davidson Galleries, Seattle, USA
Bumbershoot Visual Arts Exhibition, Seattle Centre, USA
San Francisco International Art Exhibition, Fort Mason, San Francisco, USA
 
2001
Davidson Galleries, Seattle, USA
 
2000
Bellevue Art Museum, Bellevue, USA
Laura Russo Gallery, Portland, USA
Boise Art Museum, Boise, USA
Davidson Galleries, Seattle, USA
Bellevue Sculpture Exhibition, Meydenbauer Centre, Bellevue, USA
 
1999
Bumbershoot Visual Arts Exhibition, Seattle Centre, USA
Bellevue Art Museum, Bellevue, USA
Davidson Galleries, Seattle, USA
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John Grade
Réservoir, installation de John Grade au Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire, 2022 © E. Sander
Réservoir, installation de John Grade au Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire, 2022 © E. Sander
Réservoir, installation de John Grade au Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire, 2022 © E. Sander
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