Casey gardner

Upon a Phrase
A Counterpulse Performance — a multidisciplinary collaboration between performance artist Hannah Meleokaiao Ayasse and visual artist Casey Gardner. In conjunction with the exhibition at San Francisco Center for the Book, Reclamation, collected works of Gardner will be displayed for the audience to read and touch. Audience will choose phrases from the books that will be used by Ayasse for an improvised dance performance. Discussion following performance. September, 9, 2021.

Hannah Meleokaiao Ayasse, dance artist and Casey Gardner, book artist. Dustin Ordway, performance support

Books are physical objects made for the body to move through. Seeing Hannah and the audience interact/engage with my books was deeply moving….First of all, it was wonderfully amazing to see all my books together at once, then to see people interacting with them was exhilarating, then to see what phrases people selected was illuminating, THEN to hear words I wrote spoken aloud, THEN see Hannah move to them! Thank you to CounterPulse, SF Center for the Book, Hannah, Dustin and everyone who came and participated.

Hannah Ayasse (she/they) is dance artist, curator, and educator born and based in Huichin, Ohlone Land also known as Oakland, CA. Hannah’s creative work explores story sharing and deep listening within human-to-human and human-to-environment relationships. Hannah is interested in Relationship as a “third thing,” a mutable and powerful entity, existing in and of itself. She expresses this both as the subject of her work, and in her engagement in highly collaborative processes with fellow artists, audiences, and students. Hannah holds a BA in Dance and Psychology from The George Washington University, has presented her work and performed throughout the SF Bay Area, Washington D.C., and Germany and serves as the Program Manager at CounterPulse theater.
Casey Gardner is an award-winning book artist and letterpress printmaker. She writes, draws, prints and binds her own limited edition artist books with Set in Motion Press. In pages she sees infinite possibility for space, movement and time to convey her multilayered narratives. Through stories, imagery and poetic graphics she explores the interior, and embodied realms of humans in relation to the natural world. She has a BS in Journalism from UC Boulder and a BFA in Graphic Design and Printmaking from California College of the Arts. Her books are widely exhibited and can be found in many special collections including Yale, MIT, Harvard, and the Library of Congress. She lives in Berkeley, California.