I make sense of things by making things.

I believe that context turns objects into characters. I set physical scenes with things like coded messages. The history of each item interlocking with that of the next, weaving a fabric of information for a viewer to untangle. The stories I tell are always more than they seem, imbibed with complexity, a controlled confusion. Each thing I present tells secrets, clues of the past and hints of the future. They are explorations of self through the eyes of the other. They are things that are made to be seen with virtuosic voyeurism.

My art is personally rigorous. I use every aspect of my life and myself as ingredients. I make compositions out of experiences, mine and that of the source. I use my feelings like matter. Emotions are just as physically relevant as any other quality

I’ve conducted integrated and long durational performances. I’ve lost myself in my practice. Some of the best performances occur when you forget you are pretending. In that way, I have become a part of my own investigation. I become of the things I make. By being a part of the backstory, I infuse the things I forage with relevance. I become characters personalized for each vision. In the end, the piece of art is made to live because it has been lived.

My methods are also pragmatic, discovering what things should happen based on how things can happen. I spend a lot of time getting to know my materials and what they are capable of. For me, everything is sculpture and everything is dance. I aspire towards the same hands-on responsiveness I have when working with clay for all materials and I move things like I'm dancing with them, not visually, but mechanically. I relate to all masses like they are partners. Leverage, balance and gesture are integral components of any physical or emotional encounter. The conceptual structure of things becomes tangible evidence of possibility. All art is four-dimensional, constantly negotiating with space and time. The way we treat a thing is part of the thing. My art deals in the business of feeling. My art is my communication from the inside out.

Chandler Ray Curtis (b. 2002) graduated at 17 from Bard College at Simon’s Rock, with a BA in Dance and Ceramics. She also attended Gibney's Professional Training Program in NYC as well as Western Governors University for computer science. In '20, she moved to Wellsville, Ohio, taking ownership of a derelict riverfront compound in a fire sale: a former Catholic church, rectory, and convent.  The same year, she joined the Wellsville Volunteer Fire Department. As a first responder she worked many fire, accident, and medical scenes including the East Palestine train derailment. Over the next couple of years, to collect materials, she tore down 6 houses by hand, by herself. In '23 she completed a 20000 sq ft installation in Wellsville called But I Misunderstood; [6 houses & a porch]. Among others, Steven Litt wrote about her work in the Cleveland Plain Dealer/Cleveland.com in July ‘23. Commandeering all of her buildings as studios, she continues to plan and execute sculptures, installations and performances. She taught art at the JCC in Youngstown, OH. She is a graduate student at the Rhode Island School of Design in the sculpture department, class of '26. 

Wellsville, Ohio (pop. 3,336) is a village in Appalachia on the Ohio River, hit hard by globalization, deindustrialization, and the opioid epidemic. Dominated by potteries in the 1920s, Wellsville struggles to regain relevance today. The Village suffers from a form of disappointment run rampant, turned inwards on itself. Janko notes an unexpected consequence of working in the midst of polarization: “I have brought the question of ‘what is art?’ to the ‘Ville.”