Installation Proposal

 Puppy raising for service dog program is one thing. It is an entirely separate thing to be sick and in need of help, and to raise a dog knowing that one day your quality of life will hinge on four furry paws and a cold, wet snout. Every choice you make has lasting ramifications in your life.

A six month old black labrador puppy stares up at the camera with warm eyes.

Meet Dizzy, my second go at this. We will collaborate to make this installation!

I plan to arrange a large piece of roll paper on the floor/ground. On top of this, I will place a layer of snow. Then I will bring Dizzy into the space. I will track her through paint, then have a training session with her on top of the snow. Then, I will let the snow melt, which will hopefully do interesting things to the paper in terms of color and texture. 

I wanted to do this installation in the room with the studio lighting, so that I could film it. I feel reasonably assured that I can keep Dizzy's paint feet from making a mess, but would need ideas as to how to ensure that snow melt would not harm anything indoors. I am also willing to do this outside, but I'm worried that things may not melt the way I'd like and that filming it would be much harder. I am open to any ideas!

This is loosely based on an installation by my friend, Oaklee Thiele, who once did something fairly similar with her service dog, Coco. I do not have a picture of this installation, but Oaklee once trained Coco on top of soil in a gallery, and their footprints were left behind as imprints.

Oaklee Thiele, a white woman with shoulder length brown hair, sits with her medical alert German shepherd service dog in front of two of her large-scale paintings.