Go See Professor Rasmussen’s exhibition, Fathom. Open in Clough-Hanson Gallery until October 14th!
Her Campus Rhodes (HCR): Who are you and what do you do?
Rasmussen: I am a multidisciplinary artist and educator living and working in Memphis, TN.
HCR: What is your background?
Rasmussen: I grew up in northeastern Wisconsin and was raised by “makers”. My father was a journeyman mechanic and part time inventor/carpenter and my mother wrote computer software and did some digital design work; both of my parents contributed to my interest in making things early on. This interest stuck with me and eventually morphed into my love of making art. I moved to Minneapolis, MN to pursue my BFA in Sculpture from the University of Minnesota. I then moved to Iowa City, IA and received my MFA in Dimensional Practice from the University of Iowa as well as an MA in Sculpture. After graduating I taught at Virginia Commonwealth University in Doha, Qatar before joining the faculty at Rhodes where I currently serve as Assistant Professor of Art.
HCR: How has your practice changed over time?
Rassmussen: My practice is constantly evolving and reaching into to new modes of production. Art is a great way of perpetually learning new things, it is nimble and adaptive. I like to try and keep my practice that way as well, always looking for different materials and methodologies to explore. I have never felt comfortable declaring myself a particular type of artist. I choose materials and methods that best enable me to realize ideas. So I would say that the way my practice has changed overtime is it has expanded and become more diverse in the ways it manifests.
For example in my current exhibition ‘Fathom’ there is a mixture of installation, sculpture, and video/performance (something I have never shown before). At the same time I am working on an installation for another exhibition that is comprised solely of interactive objects that require the viewer not only to look but also to touch. So depending on what I am trying to articulate in a particular exhibition my strategies and methods change accordingly.
HCR: What art do you most identify with?
Rasmussen: My work spans practices in sculpture, installation, interactive objects, video, digital fabrication, and printmaking. I wouldn’t say I identify most with any particular art form. Though I admit that I am addicted to the third dimension so most of my work ends up dealing with issues of space and equally as often, time.
HCR: What inspired you to develop the works you have showcased in Fathom?
Rasmussen: That’s a tricky thing to try and sum up because I think there are a lot of motivating factors behind this show. ‘Fathom’ intertwines notions of ritual, alchemy, and formal exploration. It is an exhibition that surveys fundamental human curiosities, including phases of change, units of measure and the persistence of transformation—all of which shape cultural and personal mythos. These are motifs that I have found myself returning to in a sort of roundabout fashion for a long time so I decided to do something that attempts to deal with these notions head on. I was reading about the history of measurements and how the human body was at one point our main “metric” in understanding space. Our hands and feet, our steps, our outstretched arms, all of these aspects of the body were basic forms of measuring until standards were enacted; settling on 12 inches as the equivalent to one foot etc. I wanted to call it ‘Fathom’ because it is a word that historically was used as a physical unit of measure, it still is actually, but in common parlance it means the ability to understand or grasp something mentally. So it’s a word that straddles our physical self and our mental self, and in both describes how we understand our position in the world.
HCR: What is your dream project?
Rasmussen: Really it’s to never run out of things to make. My dream project is the one that continues to spawn new ideas and forms. Every time I make a work or have a show I fear it’s the last thing I will ever do. I know that’s not logical but for me it is important that I am able to continue making art in a way that is invigorating and vital both for myself and for viewers/participants.
One specific “dream” project I have though is to work with Elon Musk of Tesla, Inc. to put an interactive art object in orbit that could be accessed and manipulated by people all over the world. I think universally people look to space and are awed and feel a sense of wonder and I think art is a sort of language that we can use to describe that wonder and even replenish it. We often talk of space exploration in such rational and scientific terms: how were the different strata formed on mars? How much does the moon weigh? etc. So I would like to send an art object into space that helps us recoup some wonder not of facts and information but of what it means to be human on this little blue and green jewel quietly orbiting in an unfathomable expanse. To remind ourselves that no matter what we may come to know there is always more to learn.
HCR: Do you have advice for inspiring artists?
Rasmussen: Keep making and attempt to make each new work your best yet. There is something really important about striving and consistently refining your practice, it’s the best way to feel engaged in your work and not fall into patterns of habit. Also share your work. Get other eyes and minds in on the process and absorb how people confer meaning with the work. I think studio visits and critiques are a healthy way to be challenged. It gets you asking questions of your practice which eventually lead to insights which eventually leads to new work which eventually leads to the whole cycle repeating. It’s easy to get discouraged in a discipline that often gets sidelined in our culture and even in academic institutions. So the best advice I have in a word is, persist.