Amber Kai Morgan
Art Opening is a continuation of the body of work that I’ve created over the years where I curate interactive authentic art experiences.
Artist CV
February 14, 2020
Land Art Love Letter Workshop
Illahee State Park, Bremerton, WA
Led a nature hike to create land art installations using natural materials found along the trail as an ephemeral “love letter” to the Earth and to strangers passing by.
December 2019
Winter Solstice Lantern Workshop & Lantern Walk
Lions Park in Bremerton, WA
A two-part workshop that celebrated Winter Solstice by creating paper lanterns that were used on a Winter Solstice Lantern Walk.
May 14, 2017
Henry Art Gallery, ArtVentures
Soundscapes with Amber Kai Morgan and Garrett Kelly
A workshop that demonstrated how to create soundscape recordings with tools like voices, instruments, household and natural materials, digital sound files, and even an underwater microphone.
January 2015-present
Co-Creator & Director of The Makery
An all-ages mobile art lab that offers experiential art activities using reclaimed and recycled materials.
May 2015
On The Boards: Open Studio
Artist as Parent
Interactive art installation using watercolored breastfeeding notes -- a reflection on how being a parent affects the art & sounds we seek out and create
2014
Stranger Genius Award Nominee in the Category of Music
The Stranger Genius Awards, given by Seattle alternative weekly newspaper The Stranger, "bring attention to, and recognize the contributions of, … outstanding artists in Seattle."
July 2014
A Field Study: Friendship Trail
Lake Washington Arboretum, curated by Clyde Petersen, sponsored by Henry Art Gallery
Conducted a collaborative musical performance using chimes with audience members boating on Lake Washington
2007-2013
Co-Founder & Co-Director of Hollow Earth Radio, The Central District of Seattle, WA
Hollow Earth Radio is a Pacific Northwest nonprofit online and LPFM community radio that provides a forum for underrepresented music, sounds and perspectives. (Advisor 2013-2017)
2012
Skyward! Visual Arts Exhibition Bumbershoot 2012
Submit to Cloud
An interactive internet communicator asking participants to share a memory, a concern, or a prediction for the future. The communicator prints out a receipt of what it thought each participant said.
December 2011
City Arts Magazine named Amber Kai Morgan (and Garrett Kelly) to be on Seattle’s Future List. Broadcasters
“Creators. Innovators. Opportunity-makers…culture sources that . . . erase boundaries and defy expectations to deliver us into the new. Together, they’re pointing the way through the darkness. Meet the Future.”
August 2011
Arts in Nature Festival, Museum of Sound Cabin Installation
Seattle, WA
Wind Speakers
A collection of wind stories & experiments in the form of song, field recording, found sound, interview, and the use of objects through which wind passes.
May 2011
The Henry Art Gallery
Performance for Spring Art Opening
Created live sound collage/ DJ set via tape cassettes, record players, live instrumentation, loop pedal, and laptop. Sound collage included found sound, field recordings, record skips and loops, local music, and live instrumentation using bells and bottle caps. Was broadcast on Hollow Earth Radio and throughout the museum.
March 2011
Seattle Art Museum
Performance for Nick Cave “Meet Me At The Center Of The Earth” Art Opening
Created live sound collage/ DJ set via tape cassettes, record players, live instrumentation, loop pedal, and laptop. Sound collage included found sound, field recordings, record skips and loops, local music, and live instrumentation using bells and bottle caps.
March 2011
Traveling Music Installation on The Light Rail; Seattle, WA
Light Rail / Dark Rail
Curated a live musical performance involving 50 artists performing on Seattle’s Sound Transit Light Rail as it traveled from the International District Station to Sea-Tac Airport Station and back.
2010
Arts in Nature Festival
Seattle, WA
Museum of Sound Cabin installation: Underwater
Experiment in sound with water, natural materials found near bodies of water, and the use of an underwater microphone. Guided nature walks to The Pond to listen to natural underwater pond sounds.
2009-2010
What the Heck Festival, Anacortes, WA & Parking Day, Seattle, WA 2009, 2010I Confess, I Confess, I Confess
Hollow Earth Radio curated a confessional booth inside a tent. Confessions aired on Hollow Earth Radio.
2009
Arts in Nature Festival, Museum of Sound Cabin installation
Seattle, WA
Transmitting Waves
A collection of Northwest water-based field recordings looped and layered. Homemade water instruments lined the womb of the cabin. A collaboration with Doug Arney’s Cabin “Everyone Turns to Vapor” blended sounds from both cabins via handmade micro-transmitter radio. Portable radios were available to tune into the combined sounds from both cabins, using radio waves as a vessel for transmitting water sounds.
2008
Windows Gallery; Seattle, WA
A found art & sound exhibit
Cabinet of Curiosities
Curated a collection of found art (collected from the street, the woods, thrift stores, dumpsters and photo labs) and found sound (collected from answering machine tapes, tape letters, recorded meetings on tape). Various contributors included: Britta Johnson, Amber Kai Morgan, Garrett Kelly, Jacob Smigel, and Found Magazine. This event also marked the CD release of Analog America, a found-sound album assembled by Kelly and Morgan for the noise/order label.
2008
Arts in Nature Festival
Seattle, WA
Museum of Sound installation cabin
Stranger Dinner
A collaboration with Arianna Davalos that explored recordings of real strangers sitting down to dinner for the first time. Found sound from answering machine tapes, field recordings, tape letters, and home recordings found on reel to reel audio tapes were also incorporated. Participants had the opportunity to record secrets and stories with strangers that got recycled back into the sounds of the cabin.
2008-2013
Perform as ST Rainbow
Incorporated found sound, field recordings, record skips, and live instrumentation sound collages. Performed as a live band and as DJs.