Roaring Fork Valley artist Reina Katzenberger returns to the Art Base in January for the third iteration of her Art in Process exhibition­—a study of art-making in the public eye through conversation and collaboration. She describes this installation/residency as “an opportunity to show up, be present, tell the truth, and make a mark.”

For its part, the Art Base refers Katzenberger's immersive exhibition as an on-site active artist studio, and an opportunity to create a window into the action of creating art as conversation and creative problem-solving in real-time.            “Reina activates the gallery space by transforming it into a working studio where artists can drop in and immediately engage,” says Interim Executive Director Timothy Brown. “The space buzzes with that crazy, wonderful energy of artistic creativity. It’s a great way to begin the 2024 exhibition schedule.” 

Throughout January, the gallery (which is visible from the sidewalk on Basalt’s Midland Avenue), will be transformed into a space for a pop-up artist residency that includes the physical manifestation of a studio with materials, equipment, and ephemera made accessible to the public. It will also be documented by a live-stream webcam of the main work table. This year, a wall-sized blank canvas with a white line through the middle of it will mark the beginning of the experiential project.

The creator and founder of The Project Shop, a creative space located in SAW (the Studio for Arts + Works) in Carbondale, Katzenberger builds her programs around collaboration and arts education through service-learning-based print projects. Her Art in Process project promises to be no different. Purposely designed to be completely open and unscripted, she aims to surrender each day to being informed by the circumstances that occur on site. Any art that is created will arise from the interactions, ideas, and conversations that ensue over the course of the process. It’s a project that hits particularly close to home: her mother, artist and educator Deborah Jones, founded the Wyly Community Art Center (now known as the Art Base) in 1996 as a project of Compass in Woody Creek, a nonprofit devoted to the promotion of experiential learning.

Public participation can vary from simply witnessing whatever is happening in the studio at the moment to actively engaging in a creative process. “My biggest job is to show up and to be as present as I can,” says Katzenberger, who recalls moments from her past two exhibitions when the gallery was overflowing with people of all ages, some of whom were drawing on the floor and others who were just watching. Children, she says, are often more apt to participate immediately because they can more quickly sit on the floor and start making art. “Being in the space gives everyone permission to be part of a creative conversation," she adds. “Whether it is to make a mark on the wall or to come back every day to build upon their own creations.”

Unpredictability, too, is expected as Katzenberger and visitors work together in earnest to engage in artmaking as a process, not a product. “The focus is not on a final product but on the beauty of a blank slate,” she explains. Prompts and props are always helpful in eliciting responses, she adds, but they are also predictable and safe. Encouraging people to feel at ease starting from nothing can be intimidating, and part of her job is to meet people where they are, or as she puts it: “Being comfortable in my own skin allows me to welcome people to bring whatever is on their mind into the space.”

Katzenberger hopes that people will come with an open mind and be willing to share something of themselves as they engage with the process. “We’re not here to make something,” she stresses. “We’re here to engage the community in a continuous conversation about what’s important to them.” 

And true to form, because the exhibition is process-based, there will be no official opening. Instead, Katzenberger will begin setting up her studio space after New Year’s Day, with various activities planned with local partners and other artists throughout the show’s duration. 

Reina Katzenberger: Art in Process
The Art Base 174 Midland Ave, Basalt;
Artmaking begins the week of Jan 2; closing party, Feb  2, 5 –7 p.m.