Screen Capture from Class Demo Video

Paula Rebsom describes herself as an Artist, Mother, Educator, and Trickster. All of these identities inform her interdisciplinary visual art practice which includes making sculptures from wood and fabric, site-specific installations, and image-based work using motion-sensor cameras. She’s always had an interest in science, specifically wildlife ecology, and applies elements of that into her work.

Born and raised in Southwest North Dakota she spent a great deal of time exploring nature and learning to sew and craft. Much of her work after grad school was situated outdoors and used motion-sensor cameras to document animal interactions with site-specific installations. Becoming a mother 6 years ago radically shifted her practice. No longer able to spend extended periods of time in remote locations, she returned to sewing, making quilts in order to process the raw emotions she was experiencing as a new mother. She is currently returning towards more image-based surveillance work by documenting the flora and fauna using her backyard and neighborhood greenspaces as installation sites.

She is currently full-time faculty in the art department at North Seattle College. Her work has been exhibited across the US, including group shows in New York City, Philadelphia, Miami, and Los Angeles, along with solo exhibitions at The Art Gym in Portland, OR, Gallery of Contemporary Art in Colorado Springs and SOIL Gallery in Seattle.

The Books mentioned in the interview were Never Home Alone and The Artist as Culture Producer.

Undetected, 2013, Digital image taken with a RECONYX motion detection infrared camera, Dimension Vary.

Absence of Color, 2019, Pigment Print, 24"x18"