TJ Norris
Encyclopedia
TJ Norris is an American
interdisciplinary artist
, independent curator, and writer based in the Pacific Northwest
.
, installation, video
and sculpture
and includes collaborations with sound artists and composers such as Scanner (Robin Rimbaud
), Asmus Tietchens and Christian Renou (Brume) among others. His work has been shown in the Americas, Sweden and the United Kingdom
. He studied at Massachusetts College of Art
with influential American photographers Abelardo Morell
and Laura McPhee
.
In 2003 Beta-lactam Ring Records released Norris' compilation The Tribryd Installation Soundtracks. This collection of soundtracks, were based on his photographic works of the urban and industrial Pacific Northwest. In 2006, The Innova Recordings/American Composers Forum released mixed, reconstructed versions of compositions by eleven sound artists including Nobukazu Takemura
, Andrew Lagowski (Lustmord
) and Troum
.
. The gallery featured audio/visual and multimedia work with a focus on installation, 2/3D by artists including Terre Thaemlitz
, Cary Leibowitz
, and Janek Schaefer
. The space also played host to a series of performances including Belgian composer Vidna Obmana
, Twine, Illusion of Safety and the spoken word collective Spare Room (Portland, OR). The gallery closed in November 2003.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
interdisciplinary artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
, independent curator, and writer based in the Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
.
Biography
Norris was born in the heart of Irish Catholic Boston to longshoreman Kenneth C. Whiting and chef Phyllis M. Whiting (née Norris). Making visual art from found objects and materials was evident as early as age six, and developed into elementary school where he would win his first student awards. His studio practice is a hybrid of photographyPhotography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
, installation, video
Video
Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...
and sculpture
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
and includes collaborations with sound artists and composers such as Scanner (Robin Rimbaud
Robin Rimbaud
Robin Rimbaud is an electronic musician who works under the name Scanner due to his use of cell phone and police scanners in live performance...
), Asmus Tietchens and Christian Renou (Brume) among others. His work has been shown in the Americas, Sweden and the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. He studied at Massachusetts College of Art
Massachusetts College of Art
Massachusetts College of Art and Design is a publicly-funded college of visual and applied art, founded in 1873. It is one of the oldest art schools, the only publicly-funded free-standing art school in the United States, and was the first art college in the United States to grant an artistic degree...
with influential American photographers Abelardo Morell
Abelardo Morell
Abelardo Morell is a Boston-based photographer.Morell and his family fled Cuba in 1962, moving to New York City. Morell earned a Bachelor of Arts from Bowdoin College in 1977, and a Master of Fine Arts from Yale University School of Art in 1981...
and Laura McPhee
Laura McPhee
Laura McPhee is a Boston-based photographer.She is the daughter of award winning author John McPhee and photographer Pryde Brown, sister of novelists Jenny McPhee and Martha McPhee, architectural historian Sarah McPhee, and Joan Sullivan, founding principal of the Bronx Academy of Letters.McPhee...
.
Published works
- Of Other Spaces (Bureau for Open Culture), 2009 (Columbus, Ohio)
- Beyond Trend (F+W Publications), 2008 (Cincinnati, Ohio)
- One Shot/Visual Codec, 2007 (Seattle, Washington)
- Portland Modern/Radius Studio, 2006 (Portland, Oregon) Issue #3
- The Bear Book II (Hawthorne Press, Editor Les Wright), 2001
- Sgraffito Press, 1997 (Marina Del Rey, California)
- More Big Thoughts, 1996 (Golden Apple Press, Champaign, Illinois)
- Through the Cracks, 1994 (Ragged Edge Press, New York, New York)
- New American Paintings, 1993 (Open Studios Press, Boston, Massachusetts)
- Aphasia, 1993 (Nada Blue Productions, Minneapolis, Minnesota)
- Paradox/Arts & Literary Journal, 1993 (Denver, Colorado)
- Tin Ear / Wire Mother, 1993 (The Book House, Minneapolis, Minnesota)
- Empathy, 1993, Vol 3, #2 (G.L.A.R.P., Columbia, South Carolina)
- Backspace, 1992–93, Vol 1, # I & 2 (Textworks, Somerville, Massachusetts)
Discography
- 2006 - triMIX (Innova Recordings)
- 2003 - The Tribryd Installation Soundtracks (Beta-lactam Ring RecordsBeta-lactam Ring RecordsBeta-lactam Ring Records is an American independent record label founded by Chris McBeth in 2000.. The label relocated from its founding city of Austin, Texas to Portland, Oregon in 2001....
)
In 2003 Beta-lactam Ring Records released Norris' compilation The Tribryd Installation Soundtracks. This collection of soundtracks, were based on his photographic works of the urban and industrial Pacific Northwest. In 2006, The Innova Recordings/American Composers Forum released mixed, reconstructed versions of compositions by eleven sound artists including Nobukazu Takemura
Nobukazu Takemura
Nobukazu Takemura is a Japanese musician whose style has run from jazz to house to drum and bass to chamber music to electronic glitch within less than a decade. Born in Hirakata, Osaka in August 1968, he became interested in punk and New Wave music when young...
, Andrew Lagowski (Lustmord
Lustmord
Brian Williams is a British electronic musician often credited for creating the dark ambient genre with albums recorded under the name Lustmord.- History :Williams started recording as Lustmord in 1980 before joining SPK in 1982...
) and Troum
Troum
Troum is a German project of drone music, ambient music, noise music, and experimental music. It was founded in the late 1990s by Stefan Knappe and Martin Gitschel . It is sometimes considered to be the follow-up project to Maeror Tri...
.
Awards
- Regional Arts & Culture Council, 2010 / Professional Development Grant
- New American Art Union, 2008 / Couture Stipend
- GRGRF, Inc., 1999-2000 / Annual Community Grants
- New England Open Studio: The Arts Online, 1999 / NEANational Endowment for the ArtsThe National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
(through the Benton FoundationBenton FoundationThe Benton Foundation is a nonprofit organization set up by former U.S. Senator, William Benton and his wife, Helen Hemingway Benton. Its present chairman and CEO is their son, Charles Benton....
) - LOOKOUT Video Festival, 1992 / Auto-Porto-Matic, for DCTV/NY
- Massachusetts Arts Lottery Grant, 1991 / Somerville Arts Council
Soundvision
In 2002 Norris founded his signature gallery, Soundvision, which focused on sound-related work, installation and performance. Soundvision was recognized as one of the "10 Best New Places in Portland" by The OregonianThe Oregonian
The Oregonian is the major daily newspaper in Portland, Oregon, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 1850...
. The gallery featured audio/visual and multimedia work with a focus on installation, 2/3D by artists including Terre Thaemlitz
Terre Thaemlitz
Terre Thaemlitz is a musician, public speaker, and owner of the record label. His work critically combines themes of identity politics - including gender, sexuality, class, linguistics, ethnicity and race - with an ongoing critique of the socio-economics of commercial media production...
, Cary Leibowitz
Cary Leibowitz
Cary Leibowitz, also sometimes known as Candy Ass , is an American visual artist. Leibowitz’s work can be found in the permanent collection of the Chase Manhattan Bank, the Hirshhorn Museum, The Jewish Museum ; the Peter and Eileen Norton Collection and the Robert J...
, and Janek Schaefer
Janek Schaefer
Janek Schaefer is a London-based sound artist, musician, and composer born in England to Polish and Canadian parents in 1970. He is known for his innovative work with sound and installation art...
. The space also played host to a series of performances including Belgian composer Vidna Obmana
Vidna Obmana
Vidna Obmana is a pseudonym used by Belgian composer and ambient musician Dirk Serries. The name Vidna Obmana, a phrase in Serbian, literally translates to "optical illusion" and was chosen by Serries because he felt it accurately described the music...
, Twine, Illusion of Safety and the spoken word collective Spare Room (Portland, OR). The gallery closed in November 2003.