Rokko Aoyama
Garden/GardenIn Residence: September 26 - November 11, 2005Opening Reception: November 9, 6:00 - 9:00pmExhibition: continues through December 2, 2005Japanese born artist, Rokko Aoyama created a series of 3 interior "Garden" installations during her 7-week residency and an exterior "Garden" with youth from JeffCo Open School (see workshop page). The first installation consisted of a salt garden installed on the floor in the main gallery space. Rokko raked this salt garden into new patterns several times per week. The second installation was a beautiful placement of two "mounds" of shredded checks on a sifted salt bed. An accompanying video of Japanese Zen Gardens and architecture was kept on a projection loop on the main wall and was viewable through the windows after closing hours. The third installation culminated with an elegant "mountain" of salt and a smaller "mountain" of sifted graphite. The contrast between white, black and red was stunning. Rokko also created a smaller saltbox garden for the public to experiment in creating their own gardens. Rokko concluded her residency with an artist talk held at PlatteForum in conjunction with Ebi Kondo, Senior Horticulturist at the Denver Botanic Gardens.Rokko Aoyama has exhibited her sculpture and installation artworks regionally over the past 10 years including such venues as the Arvada Center and Artyard and won the Joseph Fellowship Award for her 2003-2004 residency at Anderson Ranch in Snowmass, Colorado. She was also the recipient of Colorado Council on the Arts/NEA Fellowship award in 2003.
Sponsored by the William and Alice Hosokawa Fellowship(Video loop created with Associate Director Emily von Swearingen)Recent Press:Kyle MacMillan, Denver Post, November, 2005Mary Chandler, Rocky Mountain News, November 2005
