Collaboration is often applauded for attributes of cooperation and consensus building, yet in practice teamwork can devolve into an irritant, challenging an individual’s creative voice through compromise, concession, and even capitulation. This project, 6/one, isstructured to investigate the inherent complexity of six people uniting to create a whole, while maintaining their unique voice. No mission statement was written and no shared vision was developed; rather, six competent and confident makers/thinkers, innately familiar as well as trusting of each other’s practice and work, joined forces around the opportunity of utilizing White Box to demonstrate a shared interest regarding the conversion of materials into form and meaning—creating a whole from disparate parts.

The exhibition, 6/one, is not curated or designed. It strives to demonstrate the complexity of conversations, especially dynamic dialogs among six individuals with very unique views and goals. The differences are a strength; all six individuals respect, appreciate, and rely on one another to work towards an effective exhibition of complicated ideas. The individual objects and images created for the exhibition establish clear associations while obfuscating others, buffeting against one another and perpetuating changing alliances. 6/one is a brief incarnation of a continual dialog with little regard to stasis through static conversations or objects.

Collaborators: Dan Anderson, Karl Burkheimer, Ben Ediger, Chris Held, Todd Isaacs, & Josh Smith

Photos: Mark Stein

2010   MFA Minneapolis College of Art & Design, Minneapolis, MN

2006   BFA Oregon College of Art & Craft, Portland, OR

Exhibitions  

2013  A Horse a Piece, Kiehle Gallery/St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, MN

2012 Tint, PDX Contemporary/Window Space, Portland, OR

6/one, White Box Gallery/University of Oregon, Portland, OR

ShowPDX, Portland Design Week, Portland, OR

2011 Space Post, High Desert Test Sites, Joshua Tree, CA

Southern/Pacific, Lawndale Art Center, Houston, TX

Eins, Tapir Gallery, Berlin, Germany

Assigned Edges, Vestibule Gallery, Portland, OR

The Possible, Octane, Atlanta, GA

2010 High Desert Brunch Club, High Desert Test Sites, Joshua Tree, CA

Von Tundra, Specific, Los Angeles, CA

Ya’ll and Us, People of Resource, Atlanta, GA

MFA Thesis Exhibition, The Soap Factory, Minneapolis, MN

Flat Line, Sellout Gallery, Minneapolis, MN

2009 Shelter in Place, Front Gallery, Oakland, CA

Decorated, BI Gallery, Edina, MN

Further More, Gallery Homeland, Portland, OR

International Sculpture Symposium, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN

2008 Show2008, Portland State University, Portland, OR

Changing States, The Life Gallery, Portland, OR

Section, Valentines, (Von Tundra), Portland, OR

Overstock, Jace′ Gace′, Portland, OR

Removal, The Window on Broad- University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA

Art, Poetry, & Contrast, Snap Contemporary Art, Vancouver, B.C, CANADA

Art Papers Annual Auction, Mason Murer Fine Art Center, Atlanta, GA

Children of the Revolution Festival, Audio Cinema, Portland, OR

2007 AC/VC, Audio Cinema, Portland, OR

Fresh Donuts, Tilt Gallery & Project Space, Portland, OR

Art Faculty & Their Influences, Portland Community College, Portland, OR

Annual Art Auction, Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Omaha, NE

2006 Show2006, Design Within Reach, Portland, OR

Questioning Functionality, Glenn & Viola Walter Cultural Arts Center, Hillsboro, OR

Veal, Nowhere Gallery, Portland, OR

Oregon College of Art & Craft Thesis Exhibition, 

Museum of Contemporary Craft, Portland, OR

2005 Annual Juried Exhibition, Talisman Gallery, Portland, OR

Cross-Section II, Art Adventure Gallery, Madras, OR

LOG, Portland Opera Plaza, Portland, OR

Annual Juried Student Show, Hoffman Gallery-OCAC, Portland, OR

2004 Cross-Section, Art Adventure Gallery, Madras, OR

Annual Juried Student Show, Hoffman Gallery-OCAC, Portland, OR

Function & Photography, Revolver Studios, Portland, OR

Sit or Set, Hoffman Gallery-OCAC, Portland, OR

Press/Publications

Designboom, “Young Americans by Von Tundra,” http://www.designboom.com/readers/young-americans-by-von-tundra/

Art Ltd, “Desert Artists,” page 28, January/February 2013

It’s Nice That, “Hacked Objects and Re-Imagined Furniture,”  http://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/hacked-objects-and-re-imagined-furniture-from-portland-artist-chris-held

Surface, “High Desert Test Sites 2011,” James Gaddy, http://www.surfacemag.com/blog/art/183-high-desert-test-sites-2011/

Designboom, “Persian Pallet by Chris Held/Andrew Vomhof,” http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/10/view/10623/chris-held-persian-pallet.html

DesignMilk, “Persian Pallet by Chris Held/Andrew Vomhof,” Jaime Derringer, http://design-milk.com/persian-pallet-by-chris-held-of-von-tundra/

Dezeen, “Prairie Chair by Von Tundra,”  Rose Etherington, http://www.dezeen.com/2010/02/03/prairie-chair-by-von-tundra/

Portland Spaces Magazine, “Portland Design Root Awards,” Amy Purcell, December/January

PORT, “Chris Held: Overstock” by Amy Bernstein, http://www.portlandart.net/archives/2008/04/overstock_chris.html

Portland Mercury, “Visual Arts Reviews: Overstock,” John Motley, April 2008

Art Papers, “Fresh Donuts by Chris Held & Brendan Tang” (Future Anterior), Micah Malone, July/August

Art Knowledge News, “Fresh Donuts by Chris Held & Brendan Tang,” http://www.artknowledgenews.com/Brendan_Tang.htm

PORT, “Quick & Dirty Reviews,”  Jeff Jahn,  http://www.artknowledgenews.com/Brendan_Tang.htm

Oregon Home Magazine, “Portfolio,” Beth Olson, January/Feburary 2005

The Hillsboro Argus, “Questioning Functionality,” September,http://countrysideofportland.org/event.php?eID=7316

Awards

Regional Arts & Culture Council, Project Grant, Portland, OR

New York Foundation for Contemporary Art, Emergency Grant, New York, NY

Minnesota State Arts Board, Artist Initiative Grant, Minneapolis, MN

The Denver Art Museum, Collection Acquisition, Dept. of Architecture & Design, Denver, CO

Ethel Morrison VanDerlip Foundation, Emerging Artist Grant, Minneapolis, MN

Minneapolis College of Art & Design, Residency Travel Grant, Minneapolis, MN

Takt Kunstprojektraum, Artist Residency, Berlin, Germany

Minneapolis College of Art & Design, MFA Merit Scholarship, Minneapolis, MN

Show2008, Best in Show/Von Tundra, Portland, OR

Portland Spaces Design Root Awards, Best in Category Award Eat/Drink Category, Portland, OR

Minneapolis College of Art & Design, MFA Merit Scholarship, Minneapolis, MN

Haystack Mountain School of Craft, Study Scholarship, Deer Isle, ME