Her involvement with the arts scene included a stint at the now defunct and/or gallery, where she managed the video editing facility. From there she launched Focal Point Media Center and, with, Anne Focke, Nori Sato and Jill Medvedow, spun off that organization into what is today 911 Media Arts Center.
Eschewing the traditional gallery setting, Oaksen's work pops up in the most unexpected places. Her installations grace such public places as the Coleman ferry dock and a branch of the Seattle Public Library. Many will recall her 1999 storefront installation at the old 911 Media space on Yale Ave. Entitled "Gulf: A Portrait Series," she filled five windows with individual audio/video projections; each containing fragments of a documentary film of a young prisoner's stories. The ability to break down the linear structure of the documentary film genre into new forms was a pivotal point in her public art works projects.
On Wednesday, March 5, at 6 p.m. Oaksen's work will be featured along with her colleagues in the faculty exhibition at Cornish. But you won't find her work in the college's gallery. Look to the windows on the north side of the central campus building by Denny Way and you will see flickering images rear projected emanating from the inside of the structure. They will be on display through April 4, every evening from dusk until about 10 p.m.
In the small catalog created for the faculty show, Oaksen provides artistic definition: "An itinerant image unexpectedly appears throughout the city in residential neighborhoods, commercial spaces and public events. The projections reveal our curiosity, fears and cultural assumptions."
Her Cornish tenure began in 1989, when Oaksen was persuaded to teach video at the Cornish College of the Arts. Last spring, Cornish awarded her a merit sabbatical to take place next year. The Flintridge Foundation of Pasadena awarded her a Visual Arts Grant in 2006 as a part of its fifth and last biennial cycle of grants to individual artists.
"I was educated as a social anthropologist and urban planner, and my process usually begins with interviews with underrepresented Americans, such as immigrants or incarcerated juvenile males," Oaksen said at the time of the award.
The quest to carve out new spaces for non-traditional installations has been a hallmark of Oaksen's work. It will be interesting to see what she develops at her upcoming residency and installation at Jack Straw Productions. Those residencies include an exhibition of up to three months in the gallery and 20 hours of studio assistance with an audio engineer plus access to Jack Straw Productions audio recording, production and presentation equipment. The residencies are targeted for exhibiting and performing artists in any medium who would like to incorporate sound into their work. Oaksen clearly fits the bill.
Film and video are the perfect media for Oaksen. There is no static medium that is able to express her multifaceted ideas and aesthetics. She is known to operate at two speeds: fast and faster. Her dynamism translates from her work into her life. Nothing seems to slow her down, which is just how it should be.
An opening reception will be held at the Cornish Main Gallery on Wednesday March 5, from 5 to 8 p.m. The gallery is located at 1000 Lenora Street on the edge of South Lake Union. Look for Oaksen's projections on the north side of the building through April 4. Keep your eyes open for more itinerant imagery coming to a neighborhood near you.
Steven Vroom writes about the Visual Arts monthly for the Capitol Hill Times. He is the host of the Visual Art podcast "Art Radio Seattle" at www.vroomjournal.com. He can be reached at editor@capitolhilltimes.com.
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