Caitlin Thissen

Garden/Pleasure investigates what a garden symbolizes as a space of myth and making; 7 booths, 1 per team. Each booth installation team/pair mixed artists, architects, psychologists, writers, journalists, and other producers.

Commissioned by Artspace for the City-Wide Open Studios festival with support from the National Endowment for the Arts in the Fall of 2017.

Coordinated by: Ian Donaldson.

Participating Artists/Architects: Caitlin Thissen, Jeannette Hinkle, Daniel Glick-Unterman, Dwight Portocarrero, Carr Chadwick, Olisa Agulue, Christian Golden, Lani Barry, Vasilieva Polina, Caitlin Baiada, Tara Marchelewicz, Yo-E Ryou, Matthew Wolff, Hyeree Kwak, Jeongyoon Song, Kevin Huang.

“City of 7 Billion: A Constructed World”: A two-year project building on research surrounding issues of global urbanization and sustainability. In 2013, Hsiang and Mendis received the American Institute of Architects College of Fellows Latrobe Prize, funding research leading to advances in architecture, as well as the Hines Research Grant for Advanced Sustainability. The exhibition was supported in part by the Yale School of Architecture’s exhibition program.

The project and exhibition team were led by Hsiang and Mendis, and includes Robert Cannavino ’14 M.Arch., Andrew Ruff ’15 M.E.D., Brent Sturlaugson ’15 M.E.D., and Miroslava Brooks ’12 M.Arch. The YSoA exhibition team includes Alfie Koetter ’11 M.Arch., director of exhibitions, and Alison Walsh, exhibition coordinator. YSoA students assisted in the final production of project components.

Caitlin Thissen, Dan Marty, and Anne Lawren composed, edited, and printed final images and drawing sets.

Article: https://news.yale.edu/2015/08/25/yale-architecture-exhibition-takes-global-problem-envisioning-city-7-billion

1% for Art : 2021 call for a mural installation at the Eagle River Waste Water Treatment Facility.

A vibrant infusoria - ciliates, flagellates, and amoeba - dance across the overhead door of the Eagle River Waster Water Treatment Facility. Large vinyl graphics in bright yellows, pinks, blues, and greens welcome visitors and employees, revealing the micro-participants used in the biological treatment of wastewater.

In collaboration with Christine Zavesky.

Welcome friends! I'm posting an open call for fish drawings to fill a small book. The cover will be handmade and bound using salmon leather and, should you choose to participate, here are the parameters....1. Your fish should be rendered or drawn using a unique medium (of your choice), 2. It must be drawn at the minimum regulation size of the fish you choose, 3. Be sure to have fun and experiment! Please email 600 dpi photos or scans of your fish to caitlin.thissen@gmail.com and I will compile all of the fish by the end of this year (2023) into a digital publication to share with anyone that participates.

Fish skin is more like a textile that the hide of a mammal (a cow or sheep). The fibers of cow and sheep hides run unidirectionally, while the skin of a salmon is comprised of woven fibers. Once the fat between the skin and flesh is removed, the skin is soaked in a salt water bath to stymie bacterial growth. In leaf tanning, the skin is left to soak in a tannic solution (like tea) for at least a week. The tannins prevent disintegration by binding to the protein collagen in the fibers. In oil tanning, the skin is processed, coated in coconut oil and then left to oxidize in a warm, sunny spot. This creates aldehydes that link the collagen chains that make-up the fish skin, strengthening and preserving it into leather.