In conjunction with Tufts University’s Silk Lab’s cutting-edge research on liquefied silk, Jen Bervin wrote a poem fabricated nanoscale in the form of a silk biosensor. The project stems from her belief that poems have work to do, and that reading such a biosensor inside the body is not a neutral context, but rather one pre-inscribed with concern about health and mortality, written in a material with a 5,000-year-old international history. The form of the poem strand is modeled on the filament deposition pattern that silkworms create when making their cocoon, and the beta sheet structures of silk proteins—both of which form like the weft thread in weaving. In the installation, Bervin’s research and fabrication process for Silk Poems is presented in a short film by Charlotte Lagarde.
On Tuesday, April 4 at 7pm, Bervin will present a special artist talk at the gallery in conjunction with the University of California San Francisco’s Orlo H. Clark Lectureship, an annual invited lecture in honor of Dr. Orlo H. Clark (1941 -2022) that presents speakers whose work explores the intersections between science and art. Jen Bervin is this year’s invited lecturer and will present two talks: “Source,”an artist talk at Catharine Clark Gallery on April 4 at 7pm; and “Embodied Knowledge: Poetry in a Silk Biosensor,” at UCSF on April 5 at 7am. Contact Catharine Clark Gallery for additional details.
Join us for an opening reception on Saturday, April 1 from 3 – 5pm, with an artist walkthrough at 3:30pm and a first look at the gallery’s expanded space, including EXiT, a jewel-box boutique for artists’ books, objects, and multiples, as well as works presented in partnership with Arion Press and Crows Shadow Institute of the Arts. Following the opening, Catharine Clark Gallery will host a special celebration of our expansion from 8 – 10pm with dancing, a DJ set by Steve Zavattero (Executive Director of the San Francisco Art Dealers Association), and “beers and bao” by Chairman Bao.
