Sustained Performance Evaluation & Promotion Dossier,

Statement of Contributions, Carrie Fonder, 2025

OVERVIEW: MEETING THE GUIDELINES

MEETING THE UNIVERSITY GUIDELINES FOR PROMOTION

In order to be successfully promoted to Professor at UWF, faculty must meet the expectations outlined in the UWF Guidelines for Annual Evaluations, Tenure, and Promotion as well as in the Department of Art and Design Bylaws.

UWF is a regional comprehensive university, and the guidelines begin with Section I. Framework for Decisions, A. Definition of Terms, where it defines a regional comprehensive university. Quoting Henderson (2007), it describes them as institutions that “democratize education, making a college education broadly available to students with diverse preparation and motivation,” and then goes on to state: “The term ‘comprehensive’ does not imply that the university will offer every conceivable university program, but instead connotes that the university is multi-purpose and selective in its goals. As such, faculty roles can be diverse in the regional comprehensive university, including those entirely committed to teaching and others whose primary focus is research. However, the majority of faculty will strive to balance commitments across teaching, scholarly and creative projects, and service in accordance with their departments’ mission.”

In describing the criteria for promotion, the guidelines state in Section I. Framework for Decisions, B. Tenure and Promotion Criteria, 1. University Criteria for Tenure and Promotion:

The University extends the annual evaluation criteria defined in Department/Unit bylaws for a faculty member’s teaching, scholarly/creative projects, and service to the evaluation of a faculty member’s teaching, scholarly/creative projects, and service for consideration of tenure and promotion. A faculty member’s eligibility for tenure or promotion in teaching, scholarly/creative projects, and service shall reflect the annual evaluation ratings (inclusive of both the Dean and Chair ratings) received by the faculty member in each category of teaching, scholarly/creative projects, and service over the evaluation window. To meet the University criteria’s minimum standard for tenure or promotion, a faculty member should demonstrate no less than a majority of "Meets Expectations"/"Excellent" annual evaluation ratings in teaching, scholarly/creative projects, and service over the pre-tenure/promotion window.

In Section II. Administrative Guidelines, B. Promotion, 1. Eligibility for Promotion, it states:

Promotion to Professor. Candidates for Professor will typically complete at least five years of employment at the associate level, three of which should transpire at UWF. Candidates may submit for review after the completion of four years of employment at the associate level, at least three years of which have transpired at UWF, in exceptional cases where annual evaluations point to success in meeting performance expectations.

Finally, the guidelines indicate, in Section II. Administrative Guidelines, B. Promotion, 3. The Role of the Department in Promotion Evaluation, that the department shall set its own policies and procedures for providing input on a candidate’s readiness for promotion.

MEETING THE DEPARTMENTAL BYLAW REQUIREMENTS FOR PROMOTION

According to the Department of Art and Design bylaws, Section II.A.5. Criteria for Tenure, Promotion, and Post-Tenure Review: Studio Arts Faculty, for achieving the rank of Full Professor, a faculty member’s performance in at least one category must “Exceed Expectations” over the three years in advance of application. Additionally, a faculty member’s performance must at least “Meet Expectations” in all areas over the three years in advance of application.

Listed below, you will see that since joining UWF, I have met the highest level of achievement in each assessed area annually in both the Chair’s evaluation and the Dean’s evaluation. Please note that in 2023, the language associated with evaluations changed at the University level. Before 2023, the highest level of achievement was “Distinguished”; since then, it has been “Exceeds Expectations.”

The list below demonstrates that in the three years preceding this evaluation, I have “Exceeded Expectations” in Scholarly & Creative Activities, as well as in Teaching, and Service, and therefore have surpassed the metric set for achieving the rank of Full Professor.

  • 2024-2025

    Chair’s Evaluation

    Scholarly & Creative Activities: Exceeds Expectations

    Teaching: Exceeds Expectations

    Service: Exceeds Expectations

    Dean’s Evaluation

    Scholarly & Creative Activities: TBD

    Teaching: TBD

    Service: TBD

  • 2023-2024

    Chair’s Evaluation

    Scholarly & Creative Activities: Exceeds Expectations

    Teaching: Exceeds Expectations

    Service: Exceeds Expectations

    Dean’s Evaluation

    Scholarly & Creative Activities: Exceeds Expectations

    Teaching: Exceeds Expectations

    Service: Exceeds Expectations

  • 2022-2023

    Chair’s Evaluation

    Scholarly & Creative Activities: Distinguished

    Teaching: Distinguished

    Service: Distinguished

    Dean’s Evaluation

    Scholarly & Creative Activities: Distinguished

    Teaching: Distinguished

    Service: Distinguished

  • 2021-2022

    Chair’s Evaluation

    Scholarly & Creative Activities: Distinguished

    Teaching: Distinguished

    Service: Distinguished

    Dean’s Evaluation

    Scholarly & Creative Activities: Distinguished

    Teaching: Distinguished

    Service: Distinguished

  • 2015-2021

    Chair’s Evaluation

    *Scholarly & Creative Activities:: Distinguished

    Teaching: Distinguished

    Service: Distinguished

    Dean’s Evaluation

    *Scholarly & Creative Activities:: Distinguished

    Teaching: Distinguished

    Service: Distinguished

    *My initial line was a lecturer line, and as such my creative activity was reported, but not formally evaluated until 2018-2019.

OVERVIEW

According to by the UWF Guidelines for Annual Evaluations, Tenure, and Promotion 2025-2026 section E. Materials in tenure and promotion dossiers
2. Dossier materials b., the Statement of contributions should “include the Candidate’s self-evaluation concerning teaching, creative and scholarly activities, and service. The Candidate should address not only the quantity but the quality and significance of their work.”

The information presented below in the Scholarly & Creative Activities Overview section establishes the quality and significance of my work by outlining the number of opportunities that are either juried or invitational. Juried exhibitions in art evidence a level of achievement and recognition that is akin to the peer review process in other fields. Invitational opportunities are a measure of quality and significance in that the inviting institution has extended an opportunity based on the reputation of your work. Further evidence of achievement in the field of Studio Art is acceptance into funded artist residencies. Funded artist residencies are highly competitive and being selected to attend them is a marker of achievement. In the time since my last dossier review, I have been accepted into three funded artists residencies—two of which were fully funded and the other (described below in the Upcoming Scholarly & Creative Activities) is 89% funded.

To further demonstrate quality and significance, it can be noted from the information below that I have participated in a range of exhibitions (both solo and group), residencies, and delivered scholarly presentations that are International, national, regional and local—establishing the range of dissemination of my creative works. Several exhibitions also included catalogues which contribute to the longevity of the work—allowing for an archivable artifact to exist beyond the scope of the exhibition.

GALLERY AFFILIATION

In 2017, I was juried into Good Children Gallery, a pioneering artist-run space in New Orleans with an international reputation. The gallery is one of the original artist-run spaces in the St. Claude Arts District in New Orleans and helped to establish the area as an art center post-Katrina.  It enjoys an international reputation due, in part, to the reputation of its members, but also due to its involvement with high-profile art events like Prospect New Orleans.  Prospect is a contemporary art triennial that invites artists from around the world to participate in a city-wide exhibition that draws approximate100,000 individuals to New Orleans.  The founder of Prospect, Dan Cameron, has curated exhibitions at Good Children Gallery featuring artists with robust international reputations, like avaf (assume vivid astro focus). In addition, Cameron wrote the introduction to Good Children Gallery’s 10th-anniversary catalogue.  During Prospect.5, Yesterday we said tomorrow, Good Children was one of the Prospect Gala Honorees recognized for their contribution to the arts.   Since joining the roster of artists, I have mounted solo and group shows in the space and co-curated exhibitions there. Additional responsibilities at the gallery will be listed as part of my service contributions.  

Below I will offer an overview of my contributions and then move into a discussion of the formal and conceptual framework of my work in order to further demonstrate that my work meets and exceeds metrics of Quality and Significance.

SCHOLARLY & CREATIVE ACTIVITIES: DEMONSTRATING QUALITY & SIGNIFICANCE

SCHOLARLY & CREATIVE ACTIVITIES OVERVIEW

All of the contributions outlined here are listed in full in my CV.

While this dossier primarily focuses on my contributions since my last comprehensive review, per the Art and Design bylaws, some of my earlier creative and professional accomplishments have had a lasting impact on my teaching, service, and creative practice. For example, my Fulbright award continues to inform my creative work and has played a key role in my ability to support students in securing undergraduate research awards. Similarly, my previous experience in business ownership and architectural metalwork has directly supported student engagement in public art projects and the integration of steel into many of my creative works.

Moreover, the momentum of a creative practice—along with an active exhibition and residency record—is built upon the foundation of prior achievements. Since joining UWF in 2015, and prior to this dossier’s formal review period, I participated in eighteen group exhibitions (spanning regional, national, and international venues), presented seven solo exhibitions (regional and national in scope), participated in one invitational international biennial, completed two performances, contributed to one museum-based collaborative project, and co-curated two museum-based exhibitions. Additionally, my work has been included in six catalogues; I have presented at four conferences, organized two panels, and attended two artist residencies.

The contributions detailed below are not included in the above count and reflect my contibutions during the current review period.

  • Upcoming Creative and Research Contributions

    2 Solo Exhibitions: 1 Invitational Museum Exhibition, 1 Juried Solo
    1 Artist Residency: Funded, National

  • Academic Year Overview 2024-2025

    2 Solo Exhibitions: 1 Regional Juried with Commissioned New Work, 1 National
    2 Group Exhibitions: National Invitational, National Juried (with Catalogue)
    1 Conference Paper: National Juried
    1 Scholarly Presentation: Artist talk, Regional Invitational
    1 Artist Residency: Juried

  • Academic Year Overview 2023–2024

    2 Solo Exhibitions: 1 Local Invitational, 1 Juried National
    3 Group Exhibitions: 1 Juried International, 1 Invitational National, 1 Invitational Local
    1 Co-curated Exhibition: Regional
    1 Scholarly Presentation: Artist Talk, Invitational, Local

  • Academic Year Overview 2022–2023

    2 Solo Exhibitions: 1 Regional Invitational, 1 National Juried
    1 Group Exhibition: International Juried
    1 Conference Paper: National Juried
    2 Scholarly Presentations: artist talks, Regional
    2 Artist Residencies: Fully Funded, Juried

  • Academic Year Overview 2021-2022

    1 Solo Exhibition: National, Invitational
    1 Group Exhibition: International, Juried, Catalogue
    1 Co-authored Journal Article: Peer-reviewed

  • New List Item

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16, Installation View, 2025, Good Children Gallery, New Orleans, LA. Artists clockwise from bottom include: Generic Art Solutions, Christopher Saucedo, Samantha Combs, Valerie George, and Carrie Fonder.

INTERNATIONAL CREATIVE AND SCHOLARLY CONTRIBUTIONS

  • In Fall 2024, I was juried into the Kolaj Institute Artist Residency, “Scotland: Castles as Buildings, Metaphors, & Systems of Power” in Sanquhar, Scotland. This international artist residency, hosted by the Kolaj Institute, featured ten artists from the US, England, and Canada.  The work I investigated here extended my engagement with utopian forms of architecture that I began in my exhibition And Then it Ate Itself.  While there, as a form of service, I participated in a community collage night at A' The Airts, which is run by the Upper Nithsdale Arts & Crafts Community, and gave a local public talk. My work is under consideration for inclusion in an upcoming publication based on a series of Kolaj Institute Residencies, though the jurying process is still ongoing. I applied for and received a RAC travel award to participate in this residency.   (one juried international artist residency, one internal travel award)

  • In 2024, I was juried into the Every Woman Biennial: I Will Always Love You at La Mama Galleria in New York.  This international biennial, now in its fifth iteration, has been held in New York, Los Angeles, and London. The roster included an array of artists, some of whom have notable international acclaim, including the contemporary artist best known as Swoon.  The opening weekend alone hosted 1100 visitors to the exhibition.  (one juried international biennial) 

  • In 2024, I was included in the group exhibition 16 at Good Children Gallery which also coincided with the city wide city-wide international triennial, Prospect. The exhibition was accompanied by a catalogue featuring an essay by Laura Blereau of the Newcomb Art Museum at Tulane University.   (one international group exhibition and catalogue) 

  • In 2023, I was juried into the Stove Works Artist Residency in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Stove Works is a fully funded artist residency that hosts national and international artists and curators in residence.  The organization also features a robust program of contemporary art exhibitions.  The year I attended, they accepted 18% of applicants.  While there, I presented an artist talk and had an open studio during the Tennessee Triennial. I also participated in a second open studio event, which took place at the end of my residency term.  (one juried international fully funded artist residency) 

  • In 2022, I was juried into Weird Media, an exhibition at the Laird-Norton Gallery at Winona State University, MN. This exhibition, hosted by the International Digital Media & Art Association, was a part of their 2022 conference. According to IDMAa’s website, IDMAa was founded in 2004 by 15 universities to serve “educators, practitioners, scholars, and organizations with interests in digital media.” The exhibition, curated by noted artist, curator, and theorist Patrick Lichty, featured over 80 digital artists working across forms including performance, video, 2D/3D, and installation. The exhibition organizers estimated the attendance to be 1000 viewers and the show was documented in an online exhibition catalog. (one juried international exhibition with online catalogue) 

  • In 2022, I was juried into the Atlantic Center for the Arts, Artist Residency in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. The ACA is a fully funded residency that accepted 14.5% of the applicants for the residency session I attended. While in residence, I worked with mentoring artist Carmelita Tropicana, who is a New York-based performance artist. I also collaborated with Argentinian sound artist and musician Alma Laprida. Additionally, while in residency, I participated in several service activities, including presenting a public artist talk and participating in an open studio event. (one juried international fully funded artist residency)

  • In 2021, I participated in a group exhibition at Good Children Gallery in New Orleans, entitled 13. Good Children organizes its triannual group exhibitions featuring member artists to coincide with the city-wide international triennial, Prospect. The gallery was named a Prospect.5 Gala Honoree in recognition of its ongoing contributions to the arts. The exhibition was accompanied by a catalogue with an essay by curator and artist, Eve O’Shea. (one international group exhibition and catalogue) 

  • In 2021, I was invited to be a part of the Art Fair Philippines as a part of the exhibition Point of Selection curated by artist and curator Kelli Maeshiro. The exhibition featured four video works that paired media artists from the Asia-Pacific region with those from the US. (one invitational international exhibition)

  • In 2021 I was invited to be a part of Animals Land, a collaborative project that was part of AK/OK’s exhibition See and Be Seen exhibition at Anteism Gallery in Montreal, Canada. During the exhibition, my video contribution was projected on a public street-facing window and is now a part of a continued online archive of the project. (one invitational international collaborative project) 

  • In 2020, I was juried into Monologues at the Czong Institute for Contemporary Art (CICA) in Gimpo-si, Gyeonggi-do, Korea. The sculptor Czong Ho Kim’s studio was the origin of the CICA in 1994 which is now an arts complex consisting of five buildings in Gimpo Korea, a satellite city of Seoul. Monologues featured one of my video projection based works which was exhibited individually and also used in part for a mash-up that sampled selections of exhibiting artists' work to create a new composite work. (one juried international exhibition) 

NATIONAL CREATIVE AND SCHOLARLY CONTRIBUTIONS

  • In 2024, my presentation, "Run, Artist-Run: Developing Creative Communities through Artist-Run Spaces," was selected for inclusion in a juried panel entitled Artist-Run Spaces, Community Catalysts at the SECAC Annual Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. (one national juried presentation) 

  • In 2024, my textile work T-Future was included in the invitational exhibition Notes from Camp at the Carroll Art Gallery, Newcomb Art Department, Tulane University. Following the exhibition, the piece was acquired by a New Orleans-based collector. (one national invitational group exhibition; one work acquired for a private collection.)

  • In 2023, I was invited to be a part of Extra, curated by Stephanie Loggans and Ray Padron at Stove Works in Chattanooga, Tennessee.  (one national invitational group exhibition)

  • In 2023,  I mounted a solo exhibition of new work at Good Children Gallery, And Then it Ate Itself, which opened during the Second Saturday Art Walk in the St. Claude Arts District in New Orleans.   I applied for and received a RAC travel award to participate in this exhibition.  (one national solo exhibition and one internal travel award) 

  • In 2022, I mounted a solo exhibition of new work for the exhibition, Repeat After Me at  Good Children Gallery in New Orleans, LA.  The exhibition opened as part of the Second Saturday Art Walks in the St. Claude Arts district. (one national solo exhibition)

  • In 2022, my presentation “Art Practice as Research: Undergraduate Research in the Visual Arts,” was selected for inclusion in a juried panel during the Council on Undergraduate Research, ConnectUR Annual Conference.  My talk was part of an online series of panels.   (one national juried online presentation) 

  • In 2020, I was a part of a national juried group exhibition entitled Teachable Moment at Stove Works in Chattanooga. In addition to having work featured in the show, I created a new piece to be published in the “Antiviral Community Pamphlet” organized by artists Seth Daulton and Daniel Ogletree in conjunction with that exhibition.  (one national exhibition and zine project)

  • In 2020-2021, I co-curated a national traveling exhibition with Anna Wall, then Chief Curator of the Pensacola Museum of Art (PMA) and Amy-Bowman McElhone, the gallery director at Carlow University (and former Director of Pensacola Museum of Art).  The show entitled ...I Forgot to Laugh featured national artists including Lauren Ruth, Natalie Baxter, Leslie Friedman, Alejandro Diaz, Marta Rodriguez, Ashley Teamer, Joiri Minaya, Xavier Cha and others. The exhibition premiered at the PMA then traveled to Carlow University. As part of the exhibition, there was extended public programming, including a puppet-making workshop by New Orleans based musician, artist, and puppeteer, Miss Pussycat, and a curators talk and virtual tour hosted by Carlow University. The exhibition is documented on the Google Arts and Culture site which acts an a digital archive of the work. (one co-curated national traveling exhibition, one virtual curators talk, one digital publication) XXX

T-Future in Notes from Camp at the Carroll Art Gallery, Tulane, 2024. Image Courtesy of Carroll Art Gallery.

REGIONAL & LOCAL CREATIVE AND SCHOLARLY CONTRIBUTIONS 

  • In 2024, I was juried into the programming at the Alabama Contemporary Art Center (ACAC) in Mobile, Alabama. The resulting work, a multi-channel installation entitled Non-Sequitur, premiered during the Mobile Art Walk in August 2024. Both the exhibition and the accompanying artist talk were generously funded by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Alabama State Council on the Arts, the City of Mobile, and Mobile County.  The exhibition featured an expansive, projection-based, multi-channel installation that filled the warehouse-sized back gallery of the art center. The ACAC commissioned me to create the work specifically for this exhibition, which remained on view for two months. (one regional solo exhibition, one commissioned five channel video installation)

  • In 2024, I was invited by Rowan Buffington, UC Foundation Professor, Painting & Drawing, to visit the University of Tennessee Chattanooga to present my artist talk, “After Laugh,” conduct one on one studio visits with UTC studio art students, and to present my exhibition Then Again  at a partner institution, Tangerine Gallery.  (one regional talk, one local exhibition)

  • In 2023, I co curated an exhibition Le Salon des Bon Enfants hosted by Good Children Gallery. My co-curator were regional professors, and nationally recognized artists, Scott Andresen (Louisiana State University)  and Tony Campbell of Generic Art Solutions (University of New Orleans).  (one co-curated regional exhibition)

  • In 2021, I was invited by Jaik Faulk, the chief curator of the Acadiana Center for the Arts in Lafayette, LA to have a three-month solo exhibition at the ACA. The Acadiana Center for the Arts has a robust program that features national and international artists and musical acts. My artwork was on display for three months which included three art walks. The ACA estimates that it was seen by 3,000 viewers during the term of the exhibition. (one invitational regional solo exhibition) 

Vignette #2, (Roberta, Chair), in Little Labors, Acadiana Center fro the Arts, 2020. Paper mache, digital print, gesso, and airbrushed acrylic on paper mounted on board. Installation dimensions variable.

  • In 2022, I was invited to mount a solo show entitled What Sticks at the Atrium Gallery in the University of New Mexico, Taos, New Mexico.  In conjunction with the exhibition, I was invited to present a public talk at the Harwood Museum of Art, a regional museum, with national reputation based, in part, on their nationally recognized collection of Agnes Martin paintings.  I was also invited to be a visiting artist in the Art Practices Class at University of New Mexico, Taos, which is listed in service.  (one invitational regional exhibition and one invitational regional artist talk) 

UPCOMING SCHOLARLY & CREATIVE ACTIVITIES

Invitational Solo Museum Exhibition, Pensacola Museum of Art
January 15, 2027 – April 11, 2027

In the winter of 2027, I will be mounting a multi-room solo exhibition in the ground floor galleries at the Pensacola Museum of Art. The exhibition will showcase a collection of sculpture, installation, and video-based works, and will feature a new installation made specifically for the exhibition.

Juried Solo Exhibition and Artist Talk, Goodall Gallery, Columbia College, Columbia, SC
October 30 – December 4, 2025

On October 30, I will open Double Dopple, a new installation-based exhibition at Goodall Gallery. The title derives from "body double" and "doppelganger."

While "body double" refers to a physical presence, "doppelganger" historically referred to an apparition or spirit double that often foreshadowed one’s death upon being seen. In contrast, a physical body double preserves and supports life through its presence.

The material and (digitally) ephemeral doubles of Double Dopple will take the form of videos on monitors intermingling with collages on wood—all of which will be positioned on welded steel racks. The aesthetic, which will combine hand-fabricated and digital elements, will slip between crafty and slick as the duplication confuses realities.

Papier-mâché forms that cascade through a digital sky will be in tension with the architectural, structural steel elements. Wood will warm the space while the steel cools it. Overall, this work will suggest cycles of ideas, life, and physical materials.

Through an ongoing iteration between the physical and digital, are we staring at our spirit double on the verge of death? Or will we be preserved, supported?

Juried Artist Residency, Hambidge Center
August 12–24, 2025

In August of 2025, I will spend two weeks in residence at the Hambidge Center in the North Georgia Mountains. This year, their acceptance rate for visual artists was 10.34%. They had 145 applicants, and 15 were accepted. Additionally, residencies at Hambidge are heavily subsidized, with artists paying only 11% of the cost of the residency.

Hambidge is a multi-disciplinary residency program with noteworthy scope and impact. According to their website: “Hambidge Fellows include Grammy Award and Pulitzer Prize winners, Poet Laureates, Guggenheim Fellows, James Beard Award winners, and MacArthur Fellows. Their books have been reviewed in The New York Times; their plays have been produced on Broadway; and their artwork showcased in the Venice and Whitney Biennales, among others.”

SCHOLARLY & CREATIVE ACTIVITIES: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

I am a sculptor, installation, and video artist whose work employs humor as an investigative strategy to examine and critique culture. My work revels in a material frivolity fueled by kitsch material choices that belie the depth of its content. The forms of my work play between two and three dimensions, often within singular works. Conceptually, I embrace the ridiculous in my work to function as a mirror to the contemporary moment, and a humorous release from it as well.

My two-dimensional and three-dimensional works examine ideas of illusion and twinning and are often grouped in installations and associative vignettes. Some of these works appear in videos, animating the digital space, while others remain exclusively in the physical realm. Formally, my work often explores the intersections of two-dimensional, three-dimensional, and time-based media demonstrating a broad range of engagement with both traditional and contemporary forms. This also extends to my material engagement, where welded steel, papier-mâché, and digital footage are equal partners in my creative practice.

Currently, I’m engaged in a visual dialogue that embraces repetition and its ability to shift or strip away meaning--like saying a common word so often that suddenly it no longer sounds correct to our ear or seeing an overload of digital content that is endlessly similar, and in its maximal glut, meaningless. Through this work, I’m asking what repetition does to objects I’ve created and once ascribed meaning to—objects I’ve since decontextualized in an effort to dislodge that meaning. I often say I’m playing fast and loose with meaning—but in truth, my work is anything but that. When I quote, sample, or appropriate my own work, does it accumulate meaning, or does it become flattened and stripped of content? Ultimately, through my use of duplication, I invite viewers to reflect on how the sausage is made--within my work and beyond.

Below I will expand upon some of the key exhibitions and projects mentioned above to offer a discussion of their formal and conceptual underpinnings to continue to demonstrate quality and significance.

Post Hoc, 2025, Good Children Gallery, multi channel video installation, runtime 03:57

Non Sequitur, 2024, installation view, Alabama Contemporary Art Center, runtime 05:17

Post Hoc, 2025, multi channel video installation, detail

Post Hoc, 2025

Post Hoc extends the exploration introduced in the preceding exhibition, Non Sequitur (below). Both installations reflect on cycles of ideas, life, and sculptural materials, animated and imagined through a multi-channel video installation.

The term non sequitur translates from Latin to mean “it does not follow,” while post hoc is Latin for “after this” and often refers to a logical fallacy suggesting that because one event preceded another, the two must be causally related.

The concept of logical fallacies manifests in the work as the distinction between two and three dimensions is blurred. Through the work, I am reflecting on current relationships between being “irl” and in digital “space” and the tensions and convergences inherent in occupying those spaces. Likewise, ideas of failure and breakdown are examined within the installation, as relationships between analog and technological systems are stretched.

Non Sequitur, 2024, installation view, Alabama Contemporary Art Center, runtime 05:17

Non Sequitur, 2024

The exhibition Non Sequitur was named for the logical fallacy, but also in reference to the humorous device used to disrupt patterns and expectations. While non sequiturs still have the potential to destabilize meaning, they have becoming common frameworks for how we consume content online—fractured, nonlinear, and nonsensical. In the didactic text elizabet elliot, Executive Director and Curator of the ACAC states:

“Fonder’s newest video installation, Non Sequitur, meditates on cycles of ideas, life, and physical materials. In it, she explores entropy, the cyclical patterns of nature as well as the messiness of a lark, or unexpected turn. The term ‘non sequitur’ translates from Latin to mean “it does not follow.” Embracing this ethos, this installation reflects fractured roving thoughts and mirrors the futile effort to ‘keep it together’.” 

You can learn more about the exhibition here.

Then Again, Installation view, Tangerine Gallery 2024

Frond/Worm, digital and hand cut collage on wood panel, 2024

And then It Ate Itself, installation views, 2023, dimensions variable, reclaimed polystyrene foam, paper mache,  party streamers, gloss medium, video projection

And then It Ate Itself, installation view III, 2023, dimensions variable, steel, wood, digital prints, collage on wood panels, and video loop on monitor

And Then it Ate Itself, 2023

In And Then it Ate Itself I invokes an “end game” of insulation foam, party streamers, failed geodesic domes parts, and a capricious disembodied deity--all accompanied by the sound design by Alma Laprida. 

As mentioned in the general statement above, the use of the ridiculous in my work acts as a mirror to the contemporary moment, as it invites a very brief escape from it. I use humor as a strategy through which I investigate both material and concept.  An aesthetic of montage and collage imbues this particular installation, with fracture and repetition acting as driving forces. As contexts change, so do meanings; associations are fast, free, and malleable.  The “real” becomes digital, and increasingly digital constructs become all too real.  

In this multi-room installation, sound and video dominate the landscape of the front room, while pentagonal steel structures filled with triangles constructed of reclaimed pink polystyrene foam are strewn across the space.  Saddle seats that are chained to the sculptures (and appear to be made partly of concrete but are actually papier-mâché) invite viewers to sit amongst the elements and be immersed in the video and sound. 

In the video, glimpses of fractured sculptural elements animate the digital space: rock-like forms float through a digitized sky, while papier-mâché planes suggest structure—but are transient and open to the night sky. The sound, based on Summer Kisses Winter Tears by Julee Cruise, extends the exhibition’s themes of repetition and duplication through Alma Laprida’s fractured interventions, which reimagine the track. Originally recorded by Elvis, the song’s evolving interpretations further extend its object life. The song evokes the end of a romance, but within the context of the exhibition, it can be read as a bittersweet farewell to the world, as a capricious, disembodied deity—comprised of my eyes and mouth—earnestly sings along.

Sound designer, Alma Laprida is a multi-disciplinary artist whose creative pursuits encompass composition, improvisation, performance, installation, and radiophonic pieces. She composes and plays pieces for trumpet marine, synthesizers, lyre and other non-conventional instruments and objects such as megaphones, nylon bags, home appliances and toys. Alma frequently engages in collaborative ventures with artists and intellectuals from diverse fields as a performer, sound designer or original music composer. You can learn more about her here: almalaprida.wordpress.com

T-Future (a side), 2022, sewn digitally printed fabric, safety pins, Installation dimensions variable, sewn fabric print is 24 in x 16 in x 1/32 in 

Little Laborers, 2020, Multi-channel video installation, runtime: 3:37

Hans, 2019, from Art on the Green, digital print on polystyrene foam, 29”x 38” x 2”

Roberta, 2019, from Art on the Green, digital print and acrylic paint on polystyrene foam, 35”x 26” x 1” 

Repeat After Me, Good Children Gallery, installation view, 2022, dimensions variable

Then Again, 2024

Then Again, used the logic of collage to occupy the physical space of the gallery with sculptural, digital, and collage based works and elements that were contingent upon one another for their suggested meaning. Accumulation, mechanization, and decay thematically animated the work as a cascade of worms drips into a sewn vinyl loop. The repetition of the loop in the physical collages underscores the contingency of its meaning.

Repeat After Me, 2022

In Repeat After Me, I examine repetition and duplication via generation and breakdown. Repetition can be the basis of practice, a tool of pedagogy, a form of self-soothing, or a sign of dysfunction. Through repetition, duplication creates facsimiles—true and otherwise. The repetition and duplication examined here extend beyond this exhibition; Repeat After Me is a prequel to And Everything Ate Itself.  

Art on the Green, Good Children Gallery, Installation view, 2020

Art on the Green, 2020 & Little Labors, 2021

Using humor as an investigative strategy, in this body of work I engage with the complex webs of power in art— from the nuanced labor exchanges to the power of critics and criticism. The "green" with its varied allusions, from the pastoral to the financial, is all but absent in this exhibition, existing only as a remnant of the use of green screens to create an altered and more humorous reality.

Little Laborers is a video diptych featured on two neighboring monitors. On one channel (above left), two dogs are pulling an invisible (but suggested) cart, sled, or vehicle through the Metropolitan Museum of Art. While in the second video, the load becomes a visible and animated object that moves through the museum space. The work asks who are the beasts of burden in the art market and who are the beneficiaries of their labor. From young artists making the work of established ones to established artists creating the product that fuels the overall system— the webs of power are complex and often obfuscated. 

The accompanying two-dimensional and three-dimensional works in the exhibitions (seen below) examine ideas of material illusion and twinning and are grouped in associative vignettes.