Residency
Inspired by the work of Stan Brakhage, and in particular, the exquisiteness of his engagement over the body of his work in deep reflection of found and archival materials, the Brakhage Center established an Artist-in-Residency Program in 2021. Previous artists have included: experimental filmmaker Ashley Manigo (2021), then a student in the Studio Arts MFA Program who was drawn to the poetic works she found in the Brakhage Papers [see image “Lines Toward a Definition of Desire”] and saw resonances between his text and her own poetry. Dennis Doyle (2022) whose project was about [fill in here] who will be graduating with an MFA with an emphasis in Studio and Post-Studio Practice. The current fellow is Cody Norton (2023). The residents receive a workspace (office/studio) at the Brakhage Center, and a mandate to engage with the archival film collections and/or the Stan Brakhage Papers as part of a creative arts project. A modest stipend is offered and artists lead screenings and discussion of their works.
Cody Norton
Spring 2023
Norton will work in collaboration with the Brakhage Center on a project titled “Birds of Prey.” The installation project will incorporating film clips and stills from the T.D.A. Cockerell Collection, as well as material objects and natural artifacts from Norton’s collection.
Dennis Doyle
Spring 2022
Brimstone: burning rock. This historical name of sulfur pinpoints the flammable nature of the element. The crystalline solid catches fire quickly, burning bright blue as it reacts with oxygen to give off sulfur oxide compounds into the air. Sulfur too burns the back of the throat, lungs, and eyes in the form of gaseous hydrogen sulfide, H2S. Brim-air: H2S quickly goes from smelling of eggs to odorless as increases in concentration, moving from a burning sensation to a lack of consciousness. People suffering from exposure to H2S note moving through the world in a state of fog, a chemical pixelation of their daily life.
Through multi-sensory installations, I am investigating how our sense of self and sense of environment is changed through intimate exchanges with toxic atmospheres. Responding to an archival film on historical sulfur mining, I am exploring the role sulfur plays in air pollution and contemporary petrochemical industries. My current research and community work are centered in Commerce City and North Denver, sites of high levels of atmospheric pollution from many of the refineries located there. Using archival video, scented materials, and coding pollution data obtained from the site, I am creating a series of installations, projections, and site-specific work exploring the role of sulfur pollution in the region.
Dennis Doyle is an interdisciplinary researcher exploring queer ecologies of waste, atmospheric chemistry, and multisensory installation. Their work has been exhibited around the country, including Pittsburgh, Tennessee, and Colorado. They have been nationally recognized for their scholarly work, including the Beinecke Scholarship and scientific publications such as Nanophotonics and ACS Optics. A Pittsburgh native, they completed a BA in Studio Arts and BS in Chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh and an MFA in Sculpture and Post-Studio Practice.
Ashley Manigo
Fall 2021
