Matthew and Julie Chase-Daniel “The Blue Fold” at Eco-Discovery Center in Key West

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The Blue Fold

In the exhibition, and book of the same name, Matthew and Julie Chase-Daniel share the art and poetry they produced during a month-long artist residency on Loggerhead Key that was facilitated by the National Parks Arts Foundation, in cooperation with the National Park Service ‘Volunteers in the Parks’ program.

Seventy miles west of Key West in the Dry Tortugas National Park, Loggerhead Key is located within the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, created in 1975 to protect the third largest coral barrier reef system in the world. It is known for a decommissioned brick lighthouse built in 1858, light keeper’s brick cottage, small bunkhouse, and the ruins of a significant marine biology laboratory operated by the Carnegie Institute from 1904-1939.

While open to day visitors interested in the coral reef, nearby shipwrecks, and lighthouse, overnight stays are strictly limited to a small number of park service employees, interns, and volunteers.  Sustained effort and investment are required to maintain and repair the buildings & systems, and to monitor and restore the coral and other marine life, including endangered turtles and birds.

The month-long arts residency provides uninterrupted time to work and immersion in a natural environment free from many of the distractions of twenty-first century life. Power is produced by photovoltaic panels and water by a reverse-osmosis desalination system. The island has no telephone, cell phone or internet service.

Matthew and Julie Chase-Daniel arrived on September 1, but were evacuated less than a week later due to the impending arrival of Hurricane Irma. On September 20, they returned to the island, and remained there, alone and uninterrupted until October 10.

The Blue Fold explores perspectives, human and natural, of the island, climate change, sea level rise, coral reefs, Hurricane Irma, and disaster evacuation & recovery, through images, poetry and prose.

Gorgonians rMatthew Chase-Daniel 2017
Matthew Chase-Daniel, Gorgonians, photography, 30 x 30 inches, archival pigment print on watercolor paper, 2017 from The Blue Fold series.
Coconuts Matthew Chase-Daniel 2017
Matthew Chase-Daniel, Coconuts, photography, 30 x 30 inches, archival pigment print on watercolor paper, 2017 from The Blue Fold series
Coconut Stems Matthew Chase-Daniel 2017
Matthew Chase-Daniel, Coconut Stems, photography, 30 x 30 inches, archival pigment print on watercolor paper, 2017 from The Blue Fold series
Callyspongia Vaginalis Matthew Chase-Daniel 2017
Matthew Chase-Daniel, Callyspongia Vaginalis, photography, 30 x 30 inches, archival pigment print on watercolor paper, 2017 from The Blue Fold series

About the artist

Matthew Chase-Daniel (né Chase) was born in Cambridge Massachusetts in 1965 and lived in New York City in the1960s.  He later raised tadpoles, minnows, and a raccoon, learned to fall off a horse, and hunt morels, wild violets, and rainbow trout in the Berkshire Mountains. In the mid and late 1980s, Chase-Daniel spent three years at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York (B.A.), and three years in Paris, France, where he studied cultural anthropology, photography, and ethnographic film production (Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes & Sorbonne). Since 1989, he has lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico, renovating old houses, growing green chard, and making family and art.

His photography and sculpture have been exhibited across the U.S. and in Europe. He is represented in Santa Monica, California by Craig Krull Gallery.

He is the co-founder, co-owner, and co-curator of Axle Contemporary, a mobile gallery of art based in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

The Exhibition
The Blue Fold
April 5 ­– June 5, 2018
Eco-Discovery Center
Key West, Florida
Opening reception: April 5, 6pm

 

The Book Fold
The Blue
Explorations at Loggerhead Key, Dry Tortugas National Park
Matthew & Julie Chase-Daniel
Paperback, 116 pages
Axle Contemporary Press
2018, 8.5 x 8.5 inches
ISBN: 0996399143

Callyspongia-Vaginalis-Matthew-Chase-Daniel3-1

Framing Specifications

114 unfinished maple
114 unfinished maple

METRO GALLERY FRAME

Profile: 114
Type: Thin Gallery Frame
Wood & Finish: unfinished maple
Purchasing Option: cut to size with wedges
plastic spacer: 1/8" clear econospace
Framing Advice: joining gallery frames