I have several constraints for this show. One is time. I have three months from today to have work ready for a show that is based on the city of Chatfield. Part of that will be spent in Redwing producing other work. Or not! I could conceivably make the Chatfield work in Red Wing. How can I blend the two ideas that I have not come up with yet? I am used to making art about places I have lived in, or am at least familiar with. I want to be shown Chatfield, but probably don't want to just make work about what people want to show me. My goal is probably very similar to a memorial to the town, but I guarantee it will be distinctly different. In my experience people have a very specific idea of what artists would be interested in looking at. They are usually associated with history and tourism. Can people be objective about what places and stories are important? I wonder if people would report on places that they have thought about, and hope others will think about, or if my status as an "artist" will cause people to cater to what I might want. What am I looking to gather in order to inform the work? History. History attached to a place. What makes the place interesting? I am after the stories that aren't overly interesting: The second or third tier thoughts. Not because I want to make quirky artwork, but because those create more complex ideas. And the point of art is to take complex ideas and translate them into simple expressions. This summer in Chatfield and Red Wing I want to do more gathering than making. Partly it's about the time it takes to make a piece, but also it's about partially taking my voice out of the documentation process. More editing the information I gather instead of creating new information.