Architectural Installation Pioneer: Donna Dennis on Scale, Space & Feminism

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Donna Dennis is one of the contemporary art pioneers who pushed sculpture toward the domain of architecture in the early 1970s. Her complex sculptural installations draw from overlooked fragments of American vernacular architecture.

This conversation dives into five decades of art-making in New York's evolving art world. We discuss how she taught herself carpentry, pipe bending and electrical work to build pieces based on her body's scale. How Virginia Woolf's "Shakespeare's sister" gave her the drive to make work even if no one ever saw it. How feminism shaped her False Front Hotels as self-portraits when she decided "women's lives were worthy of study." And why she refuses to use the word "practice" to describe her work.

Donna's work is held in collections including Brooklyn Museum, the Walker Art Center, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Key moments from this episode:

• From failing at abstract painting in Paris to her first steps toward installation

• SoHo in the 1970s: how big raw loft spaces made it possible for artists to think big

The Holly Solomon Gallery story: from studio visit ("we're buying a country house") to "I'm starting a gallery and I want you to be in it"—then Whitney Biennial within two years

Venice Biennale 1982: realizing in April the show is in June, not 1984—quit your job, six assistants, work doubling in size

• A car roll into the river in slow motion, with Donna’s belongings inside – and how that inspired a public artwork that also suffered a tragic end

• ”A woman made this!?" The comment that captures why size mattered

Donna Dennis is based in Germantown, New York. You can learn more about her work and subscribe to her newsletter on her website: https://www.donnadennisart.com

And follow her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/donnadennisstudio

03:00 Hudson Valley Roots

04:07 Rapid Fire Warmup

05:06 Virginia Woolf Feminist Purpose

07:28 Night Studio Rituals

09:40 Early Art Calling

12:36 From Painting to Installations

47:28 Storage Risks

49:58 Hidden Vistas

51:19 Meaning And Mystery

54:34 Audience Boundaries

57:09 Vandalism Tale

01:04:01 Funding Choices and Final Reflections

Books mentioned:

Writing Toward Dawn: Journals 1969-1982: https://www.donnadennisart.com/publications/writing-toward-dawn

Donna Dennis: A Poet in Three Dimensions: https://www.donnadennisart.com/publications/donna-dennis-poet-in-three-dimensions

Also mentioned in this episode:

Petah Coyne: https://www.petahcoyne.org/ | https://www.instagram.com/petahcoyne/

Episode with Petah Coyne: https://installationartpodcast.com/petah-coyne-032

Robert Fulton: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Fulton

Virginia Woolf: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Room_of_One's_Own

Gustave Doré: https://www.wikiart.org/en/gustave-dore

Ben Shahn “The Shape of Content”: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/284780.The_Shape_of_Content

Art Students League: https://www.artstudentsleague.org/ | https://www.instagram.com/aslnyc/ | @ArtStudentsLeagueNY

Martha Diamond: https://marthadiamondtrust.org/ |

Carleton College: https://www.carleton.edu/ | https://www.instagram.com/carletoncollege | @CarletonCollege

Claes Oldenburg: https://www.wikiart.org/en/claes-oldenburg

Jane Bowles “Two Serious Ladies”: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/215262.Two_Serious_Ladies

Deafman Glance by Robert Wilson: https://robertwilson.com/deafman-glance

History of Art by Horst Waldemar Janson: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/2693801-history-of-art

Peter Schjeldahl: https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/peter-schjeldahl

The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/ | https://www.instagram.com/newyorkermag/ | @newyorker

The Poetry Project: https://www.poetryproject.org/ | https://www.instagram.com/poetry_project | @ThePoetryProject

Holly Solomon: https://bonhams.shorthandstories.com/the-collection-of-holly-solomon/

Andy Warhol: https://www.wikiart.org/en/andy-warhol

Denise Green: https://www.denisegreen.net/ |

Judy Pfaff: https://www.judypfaffstudio.com/ | https://www.instagram.com/judy.pfaff/

Whitney Biennial: https://whitney.org/exhibitions/the-biennial | https://www.instagram.com/whitneymuseum/ | @whitney_museum

Venice Biennale: https://www.labiennale.org/en | https://www.instagram.com/labiennale/ | @BiennaleChannel

O’Flaherty’s: https://www.donnadennisart.com/exhibitions/houses-and-hotels | https://www.instagram.com/oflahertys.nyc/

The Installation Art Podcast is a show about people who love and work with the contemporary art medium of installation. The host Anastasia Parmson, an artist herself, interviews internationally renowned artists and arts workers about the intricacies and behind-the-scenes stories of creating and showing work that is site-specific, ephemeral, large scale or immersive.

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