WHAT HAPPENED TODAY?
Exhibitions Intern, Designer

The Houston Center for Contemporary Craft hosted a large scale installation from Arizona-based artist, Ann Morton which was comprised of two community-based components. One involved commentary from the lives of Houston residents as they interacted with their local newspaper by responding to a question about their day, and the other included the collection of local and national events deemed worthy of the Houston Chronicle’s news cycle.

Some of these words are from Ann Morton's project entry, found at this link.

Artist Creative Director: Ann Morton

2015

PROCESS

During the spring and summer of 2015, Houstonians found this call for response in their newspaper. In addition to mailed in responses, myself and fellow intern, Blaize Middleton, coordinated community events to collect responses from visitors to the Center.

We also coordinated and led volunteer workshops with local community groups, university students, arts educators, senior centers, and service organizations to make hooked-rug squares made from newsprint strips of Houston Chronicle news events. Nearly 20 groups participated over a sixth-month period.

With the hook rug squares and written responses, Ann Morton hand sewed a stunning tapestry by hand weaving strips of the Houston Chronicle into the rug, and then integrated them into the quilt/note textile demonstrating the integration between published and personal news.

The two project components combine to constitute what I consider “events, large and small”—the things that make people who they are and shape the lives they lead. While the rug installation acts as a visual condensation of newsworthy events, the quilt captures individual contemplation and commonalities.

— Ann Morton, Artist