Arlene Tucker
Arlene Tucker is an artist, educator and diversity agent whose work focuses on adding play elements to daily life through her art. Arlene is inspired by translation studies, animals and nature. Her process-based artistic work creates spaces and situations for exchange, dialogue and transformations to occur and to surprise all players. She is interested in creating projects that open up ideas and engage the viewer; that invite the viewer to be a part of the narrative or art creation process. In translation the viewer’s participation continues to propel the story. Arlene is the creator of Translation is Dialogue (2010), Ryijy: weaving wishes (2016), and other projects, which bring people together through process based arts practice and make all voices heard.
She has been creating spaces for dialogue and building bridges between communities as a means to share perspectives and therefore create more understanding in the world. Holding spaces for dialogue in her work practice have taken on many different forms and situations in a variety of communities. These range from the classroom to the stage and include people from 4 to 90 years old. Arlene’s work suggests that everything is in a constant state of translation. How can we communicate clearly what we would like to say? What would we like to share? With whom? How can we be better listeners? How does one know one understands in the way intended and are they understood? For her, performance is in the process of collecting, making sense, and then discussing and listening to everything put on the table.
Writing and painting are Arlene’s way of centering, calming, and communicating. She also works with video, performance, sound, voice, installation and collaborative methods. Currently, her main projects are Dear You, Free Translation, and Hair Tree. The creative challenges of developing methodologies for self awareness, respect and social change evolve to keep her attention as she tries to approach it all playfully, critically, and thoughtfully.
More information can be found on http://arlenetucker.net.
Photo:
“Hair Tree” as part of Mechanics of Conformity exhibition at Third Space, Helsinki, Finland, 2017 (slider)
“Arlene in her studio” by Georgie Goater, 2020 (main picture)
“Secrets – translating the hidden”, Emma Fält & Arlene Tucker at Sotku Teatteri in Kuopio, Finland, 2016 (in the gallery, first photo from the left)
“Making, processing and unraveling at Knots Series” at TUO TUO Kulttuuri Tila & Residency by Arlene Tucker, 2020. (in the gallery, second photo from the left)
