Natan Louis Sears Diacon-Furtado - 2020 Fall Resident Fellow
Natan is an internationally recognized and award-winning Brazilian and American artist and designer who has exhibited globally in venues including the Venice Biennale of Architecture and the Buenos Aires International Biennial of Architecture. His design work has been featured in numerous publications including The New York Times and Dwell magazine, and he is a founding partner of the New Orleans based arts-focused design studio opossum. In addition, Natan is also the co-author and illustrator of the award-winning children’s picture book “Super Lou! A Quarantine Story for Kids.”
A native Portuguese speaker who lives day-to-day between the languages of English, art and architecture, Natan was raised between the Appalachian hills of East Tennessee and the planned modernist utopian city of Brasilia, Brazil. His work embraces this global southern heritage by utilizing fundamental geometries as vessels for identity creation and storytelling through visual translation. He engages ambiguity, loose-ness and a make-do attitude across mediums to transform experiences and fragments from daily life into works that uncover new ways of experiencing the world.
At PlySpace Natan will create a series of three-dimensional “Infinity Pattern” pieces employing patterns developed from fragments and elements of the city of Muncie, its history and its people. Intended to serve as open-ended and ever-changing spatial activators, these pieces will use the ephemerality of light, shadow and color to reveal and create cultural connections between diverse elements of the city through patterns.
As the resident fellow, Natan will be working with students at Ball State University's School of Art on a collaborative project entitled “Our Patterns.” Students in the School’s 2D design classes will use the development of pattern-based works to uncover and learn more about their own points of view while also creating a community “quilt” of patterns. This group piece instilled with the unique points of view and creative energies of each student will be presented and explored digitally and physically.
You can follow the Our Patterns project on instagram, and participate, at @ourpatterns_muncie. Natan will be holding an open studio on Wednesdays Oct 7th, 14th, and 21st at 7 PM EST on Instagram Live. All are welcome to work alongside him in the studio and ask questions about his practice.
Don’t miss Natan’s virtual lecture on October 29th at 6 PM! Details to come!