Art + Design welcomes artists and students alike, as does the |’sindikit| project.
On Jan. 30, Zoë Charlton and Tim Doud presented a lecture in room 120 of the Art and Design building. |’sindikit| is a collaborative art project and a self-funded, non-commercial venture that allows aspiring artists to utilize the tools needed to express themselves creatively.
As Charlton and Doud said on the official website, “|’sindikit| combines our mutual interests in facilitating creative engagements, mining our shared resources and sharing our enthusiasms about how artists think and what they do.”
On the official |’sindikit| website, they provide outlets for artists and similarly accept the same opportunities.
Doud graduated from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago with an M.F.A in painting and drawing. He also attended Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Skowhegan, Maine. His work showcases both figurative and abstract bodies of work as a backdrop for discussions about identity. He received various grants over the years and had participated in residencies such as The Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada.
Charlton and Doud both teach in the Department of Art at American University in Washington, D.C.
Doud is a professor of art, and Charlton is an associate professor and department chair. They developed curriculum, co-taught courses and organized visiting artists programs in the Studio Art program at American University.
“We understand the economies of space and the politics of opportunity,” Charlton and Doud said. “Both can be used, given, manipulated, shared, bogarted and democratized to uplift, undermine, engage, estrange and support communities and ideas.”
“We realized we shared similar teaching styles,” Doud said. “As a result, we decided to transform our collaborative techniques into a long-standing project.”
An example of a |’sindikit| collaborative piece is Project no. 1, which includes the work of Joyce Scott and Allana Clarke.
Joyce Scott’s project, “Foolishness,” is a collage of videos she recorded of herself talking and singing. Her 2015 presentation featured a 5-channel video installation, each screen portraying an individual video.
Allana Clarke’s multimedia project is “Propositions of Questionable Intent: Part I & II,” an 8-minute video featuring her and a man nude as she monologues. Allana Clarke has been open about her identity as a black, queer femme, and the video reflects how she coexists amongst white men.
Zoë Charlton is a visual artist who explores the complexities of contemporary social and cultural stereotypes. She received her M.F.A. from the University of Texas, and her work has been included in included in numerous national and international exhibitions.
She showcased an animated project of hers, “Be Sarah.” The video shows from the perspective of a fat woman how society treats her body as an oddity. She said it took over a hundred layers to capture just a few frames of the video. She credited her team of animators that brought her video to life.
“Reach out to a team of artists, a team of writers, a team of animators,” Charlton said. “Whenever you have an idea, but you don’t know how to go about it, find as many collaborators as you can because you will benefit from it.”
For more information about the artists, contact Charlton and Doud at www.zoecharlton.com and http://www.timdoud.net. To learn more about the project, fill out their contact form at http://www.sindikit.net/connect.
