Meet CALCIUM Projects | Art Collaborative

We had the good fortune of connecting with CALCIUM Projects and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi CALCIUM, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
As an artist collaborative, balance is necessary for us to develop a sustainable creative practice.

Laura: We actually have separate studio spaces as we have our separate practices. My writing process is organic and changes daily. I draft everything longhand and if I keep it, then I type it. One day I may write a series of images and another I may trace the etymology of a single word. Central to my routine is a deep listening and a deep reading. I’m influenced by social and environmental narratives and that layers my perspective. When I think there is something in my research that bends off the page, I take it to SV and see if we can develop it together.

SV: My studio routine ebbs and flows between moments of absorption, production and administrative tasks. When materializing a project, I work in large blocks of time from sunrise until late into the night. I currently work out of a small warehouse space filled with previous projects, experiments, and reference images and drawings pinned to the walls. Since I tend to work across mediums, I have a number of materials and tools from airbrushes and routers to saws and sewing machines. The space is in constant flux.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Laura Neal: I am a poet and educator based in Dallas, TX USA. My research interests center documentary poetics, labor, ecology, anthropomorphism, tradition, and estrangement. I earned my MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Maryland College Park USA.

SV Randall: I am a visual artist originally from New York. I received my MFA in Sculpture + Extended Media from Virginia Commonwealth University. My research engages with material culture and explores themes of obsolescence, transformation, and the Anthropocene.

Together through CALCIUM Projects we translate environmental experiences into artistic contexts. The idea of permaculture is a major tenet throughout our projects. In permaculture there is a sub-concept called “the edge.” A location for collapse and reinvention, the edge is the place where two ecological communities meet, and where there is often the most biodiversity. Our work explores the creative and critical edge between human and nature. Of intuition and tactility.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Some of our favorite places around the city are outdoors, including the Dallas Arboretum, the Trinity Overlook Park, and Trinity River Audubon Center. For food, we enjoy BBQ spots like 1050, Terry Blacks, and Pecan Lodge.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
We’d like to give a shoutout to all the residencies and fellowships that support artist collaboratives – we’ve been incredibly fortunate to have developed our practice at spaces such as the Fine Arts Work Center, Oak Spring Garden Foundation, Roswell Artist in Residence Program, and NU’VEM Freesam.

Website: https://lneal08.wixsite.com/calciumprojects