Memento is latin for “remember”. It is also known, less formally, as “keepsakes” or “souvenirs”: something to invoke a memory. It is not surprising the word “memento” is very similar with the word “moment”: both denotes a specific frame of time. For Nicole Seisler and Liene Bosque, Art in Odd Places 2010 artists, capturing a specific tangible “moment”, often of things seldom noticed, is the goal. With wet clay on their arms, both artists will take a chance to make art by creating great impressions of 14th street. Their impressions of “mementos of moments” (mOmento, anyone?) will definitely give new meaning to the term “first impressions last”,

Let’s take a moment and get to know them.

Aiop: Tell us about you
N&L: We met in a class called ‘Walking the City’ in our first semester in Graduate school at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). It became quite clear that our interests overlap in many ways and we started working together in December 2009. Being new to Chicago (Liene is from Brazil and Nicole moved here from Boston), working together was a way for us to explore the city and embrace our desires to make work on the streets of Chicago.

Photo courtesy of Nicole and Liene

Aiop: How did you hear about Art in Odd Places?
N&L: Liene heard about the festival from the Nancy Gildart, Director of Career Services at SAIC.

Aiop: What made you decide to submit a proposal for the Festival?
N&L: Art in Odd Places (an excellent name, by the way) offers us a chance to explore NYC and make art outside of the realm of galleries and traditional ‘art’ spaces. Our work involves the mapping of cities and we are also excited about engaging audiences that might not traditionally seek out an ‘art experience.’

Photo courtesy of Nicole and Liene

Aiop: How is the preparation coming along for your piece this October?
N&L: We have been spending a lot of time in the welding shop lately. The cart we previously made for this project is large, heavy, and welded together in one piece. In order to make our project mobile, we are currently building a new modular cart that will fit into a suitcase. We are also figuring out how to make the clay component of this project mobile. If anyone reading this works in an NYC ceramics facility, we could use your help, so please get in touch with us! A lot of preparation has gone into this project, including scoping out 14th street earlier this summer. AiOP will be the first time that we take City Souvenirs to New York.

Photo courtesy of Nicole and Liene

Photo courtesy of Nicole and Liene

Aiop: What’s your favorite spot on 14th street?
N&L: There are a lot of intriguing things about the mixed use of 14th Street but we keep coming back to how quirky that little Russian souvenir store is.

Aiop: Any message to the people who will be in 14th street during the festival?
N&L: If you see us passing by with our cart, please stop for a moment to talk with us and create a clay impression of 14th Street!

Participation is encouraged, so prepare to get your hands dirty and create lasting souvenirs. You can catch them starting October 8 starting 11 am heading East. Visit the www.artinoddplaces.org for more any updates.