Carolyn Clayton

Extraction Laboratory embraces the common human belief that everyday objects have an ability to retain and absorb invisible histories through contact. Four sculptural machines attempt to extract historical residues from second-hand objects with ambiguous or untraceable pasts, through absurd yet persistent techniques.

Each machine uses a different technique to force an object into contact with a medium. In Machine #1, a ceramic rooster sheltered in the middle of an acrylic case is periodically enveloped in fog. In Machine #2, a heat lamp slowly melts the clear goop from a gel-encased porcelain figurine into a funnel below. Machine #3 slowly rotates a stubby floral vase so that it may be incessantly rubbed by a hovering Q-tip that maneuvers up and down across its surface. Machine #4 submerges a pair of purple pumps within a tank of water; on occasion, the shoe-water is drizzled on a bed of wheatgrass, which is then juiced. These mediums — the fog, gel, swab, and juice— in theory became saturated with invisible traces.

The installation seeks to investigate the following questions: What are the limits to our human capabilities for understanding the life of an object? Can and how do objects function as record keepers of humanity? How do our highly subjective psychological relationships to our material surroundings affect how we each move through and shape our collective material landscape?

pulverized found objects, framed digital print, steel table

2015

framed print: 38” x 42”
table: 36” x 45” x 26”

pulverized found objects, framed digital print, steel table

2015

I arranged and photographed a still life of objects carefully selected from the housewares section of Salvation Army. After capturing the objects in photographic form, I pulverized them with a combination of hand tools and a blender. Post-pulverization, I returned the piles of object bits into the same composition as the photograph. The piles are displayed on a custom welded steel table along with the framed digital photograph.

framed print: 38” x 42”
table: 36” x 45” x 26”
 

During an artist residency at Tomma Rum in Ljusne, Sweden I started a daily practice of going out into the fields and along the sides of roads to pick lupines. The entire landscape was littered with vibrant purple and pink lupines. It just so happened that their blooming cycle lined up perfectly with my four weeks in residence. Each day I would go out, sometimes multiple times a day to pick them. With two large paper bags from IKEA and a pair of scissors, I would set out to fill one bag with purple and the other with pink lupines. The pink ones were more rare and by the end of my stay harder to find. Once full, I would lug them back to the former power station we used as a studio space and stack them by color inside an old turbine.

Being in Sweden in the summer meant endless hours of sunlight. As I grew accustomed to light at all hours of the day, it was no longer important to pay attention to time. I stopped looking at clocks and ignored my phone. I found other ways to measure time, such as in the accumulation of Lupines. Every day the pile in the turbine would swell with the addition of new lupines and shrink under the weight of new flowers and the wilting of time.

I soon learned that Lupines were considered an invasive species in Sweden. Ljusne, a small former industrial town on the eastern country-side of Sweden was populated by a small community of locals and a growing influx of asylum seekers.  I was likely the only American there, an invasive species of my own sort, reveling in the beauty of weeds.

pulverized found objects, framed digital prints, looping video, steel table

2015

A collection of objects purchased from the housewares section of Salvation Army, stacked into a tower, photographed and then pulverized. The pulverized objects were then packed into two clear acrylic tubes in the same order that they were stacked in the initial photograph. On video, the pulverized objects are sifted out into a pile of colorful consumer rubble.

brass key shavings, glass vials, stickers, wood, acrylic paint, forged steel handle

2015, 2016

Souvenir keychains filled with authentic brass key dust collected by Highland Hardware in Holyoke, MA from their key cutting process. Part of the annual Highland Hardware Art Show.

Hoard the Auction

An art installation and participatory experience at the Whoo Space in Northampton that took place from May 2-13th, 2012.  Community members of Northampton and the greater Pioneer Valley were invited to take part in a social experiment.  I presented handcrafted walkie-talkies, cast in hydrocal and hand painted, a varied edition of 100 objects in total.  There were 50 pairs, each a unique combination of color, shape and style. Each piece had a twin, reflecting the two-way nature of walkie-talkies.  For $20 you could purchase a piece if you agreed to participate in a platonic matchmaking project. Over the twelve-day duration of the show each walkie-talkie owner was scheduled to rendezvous at the gallery with the owner of the matching walkie-talkie.  At this point participants could retrieve their purchases while taking part in a face-to-face conversation with their partner over free coffee or tea.

In a world powered by technology- the Internet, Facebook, smartphones, video chatting and online dating, WITHIN RANGE was a unique opportunity to have a tech-free human encounter with another person regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, social status or romantic intent.  The cast walkie-talkie, although non-functional, is meant to act as a memorable symbol of each encounter, adding a personal and symbolic feature to owner a work of art.

Within Range was supported in part by a grant from Northampton Arts Council, Inc. and was sponsored by Yes Exactly Web Design.

see more here: Within Range (pairs)

faux fur, felt, wax, acrylic paint, found stones, sticks, thread

2012

embroidery on linen

January, 2012

A month of hand embroidered GPS routes documenting my daily travel. All routes were scaled to fit a 10" embroidery hoop.

broken teacups, sheer fabric, embroidery thread, handmade books, custom steel platforms, ball chain and alligator clips, white gloves

2012

click here to see the Mend book pages

found objects, plaster, foam, fabric, string, yarn, clay, wood, acrylic

2012

found asphalt, concrete, foam, felt, found fabric, wood, plaster, steel cable, turnbuckles, pipes, steel plate, grass seed

2013

Made from a big piece of discarded asphalt found on the side of the road in my hometown of Northampton, Massachusetts. Layers of cast-off materials and textiles are built up underneath the asphalt, mimicking geological layers of the earth but with all man-made materials. Live grass is grown in the crack inside the top layer of asphalt.

found stones, thread, buttons, paint, found objects, linen, cedar, glass, steel

2013

Latex paint on found logs

2011

paint, electrical tape, resin on found logs

2011

slip cast porcelain, wire, resin, flocking, pine, glass, found hardware

2008

video loop (3 hrs), found sweaters, digital prints, acrylic, wood

2007

Four performative acts arranged in a video grid, where I unravel four thrift store sweaters off of my body. The viewer (or voyeur) may come and go throughout the day, checking on the progress of the video. The gallery space contains evidence of the acts: Four framed life-size digital prints of the scanned sweater remnants arranged like pelts and the actual sweater remains, boxed up and preserved in clear acrylic cases.