Benicia Artists in Residence Have Just Three Weeks to Complete Exhibit

has an unusual art project going on right now. Three artists are being provided the opportunity to create an installation in the 2,000-square-foot gallery. Artists Teresa Munoz, Tom Stanton and Claudia Chaplaine competed with other artists to get the residency.

Art installation exhibitions are not uncommon, but artists usually have a short amount of time to work in the space. The Arts Benicia Artist In Residence program is giving the artists three weeks to work, create and install the exhibition. The Arts Benicia gallery is in Benicia's historic Arsenal built in the 1800s, so the industrial feel of the space makes an interesting canvas for the project.

Each artist has a specific focus. Claplaine is working on a past-present-future project from the armory to the artery. She is doing the piece from an outsider's point of view and working from her home studio and bringing pieces into the space as she goes.

Stanton's project involved large tree branches and sound called Shadows at Noon. Although he is working with natural elements, he said, “I would be the polar opposite of Andy Goldsworthy. I don't think it's keen to need to organize nature in a way it wouldn't organize itself."

"Everything I will be showing will be un-restored,” he said as he held up an aged piece of wood that was once part of a worker's box.

Munoz is a painter and sculptor taking a break from being a mom and a caregiver. “I am at camp basically,” she said. Her project is called Queer by Nature to celebrate, nurture and protect homosexual youths. It's also a memorial for kids who have been killed or taken their own lives because of their sexual orientation.

“I don't know to do with that grief,” she said. "I finally realized that I want transformation for those parents and healing ... so they would not be so afraid that they would harm a child. What I really want to do is celebrate the life of the child. They stick up for their own spirit.”

Munoz's vision is to make a safe baby room where these kids can be themselves so she is making creatures out of wood she calls guardian monsters.

The project is collaborative. “It's definitely evolving, and we are not trying to force it to evolve. We are all just doing what do do,” she said.

The artists welcome contributions from the community. “We have been gifted pieces from other people,” Stanton said as he pointed out an apple tree branch. “Whatever someone has, contributes to the piece. There is no prerequisite to participate.”

Next week, the public is welcome to visit the gallery while artists complete the installation. Visiting hours are Thursday, July 14, through Sunday, July 17, from noon to 5 p.m.

The installation and residency phase has been in motion since June 28 and goes to July 20. The will open on July 21 with a reception on July 23 at 7 pm. The exhibition will remain open until Aug. 14.

“On the 21st, it gets sealed in stone, at whatever state it is in,” Stanton said. “Even then, it's subject to 'anything can happen.'”