Soil Sessions
Tactile Earth with Julia Norton
Saturday, April 6, 2024, 11 am–1 pm, Offsite
Event details
Saturday, April 6, 2024
11 am–1 pm
Inwood Hill Park
Payson Ave & Seaman Ave
New York, New York
Free. Spaces are limited; register here.
Led by artist Julia Norton and sited at Inwood Hill Park, Tactile Earth invites participants to explore the northernmost tip of Manhattan, a natural area shaped by dramatic geologic shifts over millennia. In contrast to the surrounding landscape, which has been flattened and urbanized in the past few centuries, Inwood’s impermeable bedrock and steep inclines reveal what Manhattan might have looked like without human intervention. Akin to Delcy Morelos’s El abrazo (2023), Inwood Hill Park provides an embrace of natural, geologic monuments distinct from the tall buildings and streets a short walk away.
After exploring the area and taking in the environment with all one’s senses, participants will collect frottage rubbings of rocks, trees, and other surfaces using soil-based art materials commonly found in Norton’s art practice. The unique textures captured will be cut out and incorporated in collages, creating artworks that represent a multisensory, tactile journey through the landscape.
Participants will be asked to use organic materials during the program. For questions or concerns about allergies, please contact info@diaart.org.
Julia Norton is a multidisciplinary artist and educator. In her art practice, research, and education work, she explores the unique qualities and legacies of natural color materials, such as ochres, mineral pigments, and plant-based inks and dyes. She holds an MFA from Purchase College, the State University of New York, and an EdM from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Her work has been exhibited at galleries such as Dread Lounge, Los Angeles; Lyles & King, New York; and Wassaic Project, Armenia, New York. She has participated in residencies at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, British Columbia; Cooper Union, New York; Wassaic Project; Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams; Pocoapoco, Oaxaca; and SIM Residency, Reykjavik. She has worked as an educator at Abrons Art Center, New York; Dia Beacon, New York; Harvard Art Museums; the New Museum, New York; Pioneer Works, Brooklyn; and Swiss Institute, New York.