We’re writing to let you know about our upcoming April/May 2008 exhibitions, "Jane D. Marsching: Test Site, Experiments at Blue Hill Observatory," and in the Mini Skirt, “Deb Todd Wheeler: Consumer Garden,” with free public opening receptions on the First Friday in April, April 4, 5-8 pm, and also on the First Friday in May, May 2, 5-8 pm. The shows will be on view April 4-May 17, 2008. Gallery hours: Wednesday-Saturday, 11 am-5 pm. www.allstonskirt.com

This past winter, Boston-based new media artist and ICA Prize 2006 Finalist Jane D. Marsching served as Artist-in-Residence at Blue Hill Observatory in Milton, MA, where she created a new series of works in response to the rich history and current activities of the century-old observatory and weather station. These works form the basis for her exhibition “Jane D. Marsching: Test Site, Experiments at Blue Hill Observatory,” opening in the Main Gallery at Allston Skirt on April 4.

Blue Hill Observatory is the oldest continuously operating weather observatory in the United States, and is famed for its historical weather experiments, including its late nineteenth century research into the first 'atmospheric sounding' using man-made aerodynamic kites. The ongoing activities at the Observatory – air pollution monitoring, upper atmosphere sensing, careful archiving of data, and daily weather bulletins – provided Marsching with ideas about interweaving our human affect on the climate with the history and landscape of the observatory.

The centerpiece of her exhibition at Allston Skirt Gallery will be a large, intricate kite that she designed in collaboration with Blue Hill Program Director and kite expert Don McCasland. This unique kite has been specially outfitted with equipment enabling it to broadcast a story to the sky while in flight. During a special public performance taking place at Blue Hill Observatory on May 1st, a poetic text by Mark Alice Durant will be “read” aloud to the sky, while the sound of the reading, along with the sound of the wind and the kite in the air, will be transmitted live via FM transmitter to the audience below. [Contact the gallery or visit our website for more details about the May 1st performance/kite launch. Rain date: April 30.] In the gallery is a video of an earlier experiment where the kite read a text by Jules Verne to the sky.

The exhibition will also include the artist’s redesign of traditional historical weather flags, originally made to broadcast current weather conditions to the surrounding area, a community service performed by Blue Hill and at post offices and observatories throughout the country in the early twentieth century (This clearly pre-dates www.wunderground.com !!) Marsching’s flags will be hung in the gallery, with the appropriate flags signaling the weather forecast (based on observations taken at the Observatory) hanging outside the gallery.

 And in the Mini Skirt, “Deb Todd Wheeler: Consumer Garden” presents a selection of photographs created in conjunction with Wheeler’s interactive exhibition at the Gallery at Green Street in Jamaica Plain, MA in 2006, called “Live Experiments in Human Energy Exchange.” In that exhibition, Wheeler – who is known for her exploration of the role of science in relation to life, and history – made colorful plastic shopping bags and wire available for visitors to the exhibition, who were in turn invited to arrange this material into flora, or fauna, or anything inbetween. Wheeler then “planted” the resulting creations into a wild and joyous garden. Wheeler’s exhibition at Green Street gave new life to the used plastic bags, and her exhibition at Allston Skirt, which features alluring photographs of these delicate “flowers,” allows another cycle of life to bloom for these fascinating creations