The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum

With creating moments, I have collaborated with artists Anna Highsmith (ceramic trays), Cyrus Highsmith (lettering), Sam Brodsky (wooden boxes), and MorganEve Swain (music) on an interactive movement exploration. In this work, we offer you the space to explore your own movement impulses and movement vocabulary. We created a framework with prompts that will get you started, but these are just suggestions. Feel free to follow your desires to create your own movement story. You can interpret these prompts however it makes sense for you. Whether the way you move is swimming or walking or playing sports or dancing, I hope you feel comfortable to take your personal embodied experience, trust it, and interpret these prompts in the way that makes the most sense for you.

The creating moments box includes: nine handcrafted trays arranged in sets of three; nine prompts devised by Ali Kenner Brodsky; and a QR code that will bring you to several short musical inspirations by MorganEve Swain and links to several short nature-inspired movement studies and dance films created by Ali Kenner Brodsky and cinematographer Rich Ferri.

View the creating moments booklet included within the Aldrich Box.

Ali Kenner Brodsky (she/her) makes gesturally rich and emotionally driven dance-theatre works and dance films that ask the viewer to indulge in a world of reflection, remembering, and connection. Ali was recently recognized with a 2022 Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellowship in Choreography. She was honored to be a part NEFA’s New England Regional Dance Development Initiative 2021/22, and was a 2019 artist-in-residence (Croft: Ground for Art), 2018/19 Catalysts artist (Dance Complex), 2016 Emerging Choreographer in Residence (Bates Dance Festival), 2014 recipient of the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts Choreography Fellowship, and a 2003/04 artist-in-residence (Joyce SoHo). She has received support from NEFA’s New England States Touring and Dance Fund, and from the Arts & Cultural Alliance of Newport County. With David Henry, Lila Hurwitz and Andy Russ, Ali co-founded Motion State Arts, which presents innovative dance-films and live performances from local, national and international artists. She is on the Board of New England Presenters, which provides leadership and support for the presentation/development of the NE performing arts. She also works as a dance advisor and curator to the Zeiterion Theater in New Bedford, MA. Ali has designed award-winning choreography for The Wilbury Theater Group (Providence), and worked as a rehearsal director/dancer with the national touring company Lostwax Multimedia Dance (2012–15). She graduated with honors in dance from Skidmore College. A Rhode Island native, AKB makes home in Dartmouth, MA with her husband, two children and five chickens. For more information visit alikennerbrodsky.com or find Ali on Instagram @akbandco

Sam Brodsky (he/him) is a teacher and woodworker in Dartmouth MA.

Anna Highsmith is a ceramic artist and teacher based in Rhode Island. Her work is handbuilt, inspired by the connections between people and the connections between people and nature. Sustainability is a key part of her studio processes, which are low-waste, low-water, and fueled by renewable energy. Her work and process can be seen on Instagram @highsmithanna.

Cyrus Highsmith (he/him) is a letter drawer, teacher, author, and graphic artist. He teaches type design at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). He wrote and illustrated the acclaimed primer Inside Paragraphs: Typographic Fundamentals. In 2015, he received the Gerrit Noordzij Prize for extraordinary contributions to the fields of type design, typography, and type education. In 2017, he became Creative Director for Latin Type Development at Morisawa USA. occupantfonts.com

MorganEve Swain (she/her) is an independent musician living in a barn in the woods of New England. A violinist since the age of three, she uses strings primarily to compose original music for dance, story, film, and her band The Huntress and Holder of Hands. When she’s not playing them, MorganEve repairs violins and bows at her home-shop and teaches violin to children using the Suzuki methodology. MorganEve also works as a freelance studio and touring musician and manages the affairs of her late-band Brown Bird. She can be found on Instagram @swain.morganeve and on the web at morganeveswain.com