Alive & Unedited

Creepily creative

By Chris DeVille

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WILL SHILLING PHOTO

In a corner of Columbus characterized by decaying industrial buildings and vacant lots, a group of artists are becoming a bastion of creation, collaboration and renewal.

The Non-Fiction Design Collective works out of an old mill on Leonard Avenue, where they combine their talents on projects that bridge the gap between functional (a mousetrap turned into a mail- and key-holder) and fanciful (hand-cut "rat swarms" that dangle from the ceiling).

Katie Parker, Guy Michael Davis, Rebecca Harvey and Steven Thurston take a free-flowing approach, working relay-race style on projects that make fertile use of ceramics, printmaking and recycled materials.

Professors and students from Ohio State's art department, the group employs high-tech methods and old-fashioned handwork to fashion a unique look and feel.

Parker and Davis sat down last week to discuss what makes Non-Fiction tick.

... watch video of interview

Besides specializing in ceramics, what unifies your group's work?

Parker: An aesthetic. An interest in animals. It's all very smart, I think. We're playing on this idea of invasive species, not necessarily just for the graphic quality of them, but what they ... represent.

I think Mike and Steven are more clean and white and very precise with their work, where Rebecca and I are more additive. Like if something looks not quite right, we'll just add more rather than stop.

Davis: I have to plan everything and think. I'm very careful with what I do, and they just lay it on. "Yeah, let's do this! Uhhh, let's do this!"

Parker: It's good, I think, to go back and forth. And the two opposites work well together. 'Cause then you bring in your stuff that's white, and I'm like "Yes, it's clean! What can we paint on it?"

Davis: Of course the first thing she does is paint it black.

I tend to think of artists being very protective of their work and their vision. How do you maintain that free-form collaboration without stepping on each other's toes?

Davis: We know that we're all in on it. And we all ...

Parker: ... trust each other to do something inventive, and do something that the other person wouldn't think of or couldn't think of.

How did this all come together?

Parker: Last year I decided to just get my own studio. You know, be able to pull in, park, unload stuff, load stuff, just kind of come and go. So I started renting this, and then Rebecca thought that would be great to have a place to come work privately. Obviously you're not coming out here unless it's for a reason.

So we just started working out here, and then we had extra space, so Mike started renting it. And we all just kind of started making stuff. It was easy. No one had to talk anyone into doing it.

You mentioned your fascination with invasive creatures (rats, insects, etc.), which obviously play a big role in your work. What do they represent for you?

Parker: I got [Mike] this rat book for Christmas, this book about rats in New York City. And then he bought a rat in Soho. Mike has been into animals forever — trapping them or acquiring them, and then making molds of them and scanning them.

Davis: I'm from Oklahoma. There's plenty of fields and things, and we're just surrounded by animals out there. But I'm kind of interested in invasive species and rats, which are also an invasive species, and the sparrow, which was an introduced animal.

These things that are so common — some of the most common things we see, particularly in cities, are animals that have been introduced and are living off of us. And it's interesting to see how that has evolved ... Also, there's a little bit of a sinister twist everything has to it — a little bit of irony, I think, in a lot of this.

Parker: And like the weird joke that a lot of times it seems like maybe we're the only ones laughing at it. [Laughs]

There does seem to be some dark humor behind putting rats on dinnerware.

Parker: Or how could something so gross end up being beautiful? Like the rat curtains, I think, are lovely.

May 22, 2008

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