Mar. 8, 2010 at 7:34pm
Ditch Projectsdigital arts MFA
Ditch Projects <http://www.ditchprojects.com/>   @ ROCKSBOXCONTEMPORARYFINEART <http://www.rocksboxfineart.com/> March 13-April 25, 2010Reception: Saturday, March 13, 2010 | 6-10 p.m.Gallery hours: Friday-Sunday 12-5 or by appt. (Closed April 4) There exists a separation between the rural and the urban, a relationship of margin and center in which the urban assumes the position of primary focus.  Are You Ready for the Country rejects this relationship, offering in its place an extraction of the phantom presence of the rural from within the facade of the urban.  Finding inspiration in the apocalypse of vacancy that marks urban failure, Are You Ready for the Country identifies and celebrates the urban center’s sudden and full submission to the rural margin.  Refusing the iconography of idealized naturalism, the members of Ditch Projects <http://www.ditchprojects.com/>  opt, instead, to frame rurality as the physical lack of constant urbanity.  This expanded arcadia offers an alternate interpretation of provinciality, an opportunity for country objects and backwoods instances to be birthed from the crises of urban decay.  Are You Ready for the Country displays the trappings of this neo-rurality, creating a buck hunter’s trophy wall of crude plaza monuments and high-tech folk art.About Ditch Projects Ditch Projects is an artist run space located in downtown Springfield, Oregon.  Ditch is housed in a decommissioned gear house balanced upon trestles over the scenic Millrace River.  The mission of Ditch Projects is to supply a progressive and permissive venue for the visual and performing arts while maintaining an open, experimental, and festive atmosphere for creative dialogue.  Since opening in 2008, Ditch Projects has exhibited work on a monthly basis, featuring artists such as Shana Moulton, Tracy Nakayama, Mike Pare, Gretchen Hogue, Patrick Rock, Anne Mathern, Greg Pond, Melody Owen, Kevin Yates, Matt Browning, and Timothy Marvel Hull. Ditch Projects currently has nine members, all of whom are working artists with strong individual practices.  Ditch members work both individually and collaboratively, creating a support system for one another’s more ambitious goals while fostering an atmosphere of open and progressive creative dialogue.  The current members of Ditch Projects are: Julie Berkbuegler-Poremba, Mike Bray <http://www.amateurauteur.com> , Jared Davis-Haug <http://www.jareddavishaug.com/> , Damon Harris <http://www.damonnharris.com> , Tim Meyer <http://timjmeyer.com> , Donald Morgan <http://www.ditchprojects.com/index.php?/upcoming/donald-morgan/> , Dave Siebert <http://davesiebert.com> , Robert Smith <http://www.thecrystalchain.com> , and  jessesugarmann.com <http://www.jessesugarmann.com/> .info@ditchprojects.comwww.ditchproject.com <http://www.ditchproject.com>

Ditch Projects <http://www.ditchprojects.com/>  

@ ROCKSBOXCONTEMPORARYFINEART <http://www.rocksboxfineart.com/>
March 13-April 25, 2010
Reception: Saturday, March 13, 2010 | 6-10 p.m.
Gallery hours: Friday-Sunday 12-5 or by appt.
(Closed April 4)

There exists a separation between the rural and the urban, a relationship of margin and center in which the urban assumes the position of primary focus.  Are You Ready for the Country rejects this relationship, offering in its place an extraction of the phantom presence of the rural from within the facade of the urban.  Finding inspiration in the apocalypse of vacancy that marks urban failure, Are You Ready for the Country identifies and celebrates the urban center’s sudden and full submission to the rural margin.  Refusing the iconography of idealized naturalism, the members of Ditch Projects <http://www.ditchprojects.com/>  opt, instead, to frame rurality as the physical lack of constant urbanity.  This expanded arcadia offers an alternate interpretation of provinciality, an opportunity for country objects and backwoods instances to be birthed from the crises of urban decay.  Are You Ready for the Country displays the trappings of this neo-rurality, creating a buck hunter’s trophy wall of crude plaza monuments and high-tech folk art.

About Ditch Projects
Ditch Projects is an artist run space located in downtown Springfield, Oregon.  Ditch is housed in a decommissioned gear house balanced upon trestles over the scenic Millrace River.  The mission of Ditch Projects is to supply a progressive and permissive venue for the visual and performing arts while maintaining an open, experimental, and festive atmosphere for creative dialogue.  Since opening in 2008, Ditch Projects has exhibited work on a monthly basis, featuring artists such as Shana Moulton, Tracy Nakayama, Mike Pare, Gretchen Hogue, Patrick Rock, Anne Mathern, Greg Pond, Melody Owen, Kevin Yates, Matt Browning, and Timothy Marvel Hull.

Ditch Projects currently has nine members, all of whom are working artists with strong individual practices.  Ditch members work both individually and collaboratively, creating a support system for one another’s more ambitious goals while fostering an atmosphere of open and progressive creative dialogue. 

The current members of Ditch Projects are: Julie Berkbuegler-Poremba, Mike Bray <http://www.amateurauteur.com> , Jared Davis-Haug <http://www.jareddavishaug.com/> , Damon Harris <http://www.damonnharris.com> , Tim Meyer <http://timjmeyer.com> , Donald Morgan <http://www.ditchprojects.com/index.php?/upcoming/donald-morgan/> , Dave Siebert <http://davesiebert.com> , Robert Smith <http://www.thecrystalchain.com> , and  jessesugarmann.com <http://www.jessesugarmann.com/> .

info@ditchprojects.com
www.ditchproject.com <http://www.ditchproject.com>