"Aranda\Lasch and Terrol Dew Johnson, Meeting the Clouds Halfway, 29 October 2016-29 January 2017 Tucson and New York-based architects Aranda\Lasch (Ben Aranda and Chris Lasch) and Tohono O'odham basket weaver Terrol Dew Johnson will present Meeting the Clouds Halfway In MOCA's Great Hall, featuring experiments blending traditional craft with contemporary design. Ranging from basketry to architecture, what ...Full description
"Aranda\Lasch and Terrol Dew Johnson, Meeting the Clouds Halfway, 29 October 2016-29 January 2017 Tucson and New York-based architects Aranda\Lasch (Ben Aranda and Chris Lasch) and Tohono O'odham basket weaver Terrol Dew Johnson will present Meeting the Clouds Halfway In MOCA's Great Hall, featuring experiments blending traditional craft with contemporary design. Ranging from basketry to architecture, what is on display explores the desert surrounding Tucson as a place of inspiration, opportunity, and collaboration. Guest curated by Alexandra Cunningham Cameron, the exhibition is the result of a ten-year conversation about reimagining traditional forms of making to satisfy the contemporary world. Based on a shared interest in the study and preservation of traditional Native American practices and their bearing on modern life, the works are made from the four natural materials of the desert: rock, copper, wood, and grass. Multiple endeavors related to these substances will be arrayed, variously grouped and scattered, hanging from the ceiling, displayed on the wall, and arranged on tables, centered around an architecturally scaled dome structure. The ongoing cross-cultural exchange and conversation with Johnson examines the ways that pattern, rhythm, ritual, and memory influence the design process, and how centuries-old Tohono O'odham practices can have a direct bearing on the present. A central ambition of the exhibition is an increased awareness of Tohono O'odham artistic traditions, the culture from which they spring, and their enduring resonance. Principal aspects of this will be a basket-weaving workshop, educational programming, and proposals for sustainable housing in tribal communities, all organized in partnership with Tohono O'odham Community Action (TOCA). Allegorically and materially, this exhibition highlights the holistic nature of Aranda\Lasch and Johnson's extensive, deeply thought-out engagement with architecture and the world we inhabit."--Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Tucson website (viewed July 24, 2019).