By Angela Romeo
Take two people, Michael Chance and Artist Katie Dunkle, for example, and send them on a cross-country journey. Mode of transportation? A tiny solar powered mobile home.
Michael and Katie are currently traveling on a countrywide journey in a mobile solar powered Tiny House.
Michael Chance, principal of Chance Marketing, describes their accommodations. “Our tiny house measures approximately 18 feet long and 9 feet wide, and was constructed with a cedar exterior using vertical tongue-and-groove siding and long walls. We designed our tiny house to be an off-grid home, which means we do not have to rely on electrical or sewage hookups. Being off-grid also allows us the opportunity to experience nature in her beauty as well, spending weeks at a time living in the remote outskirts of whatever corner of America we desire to see and explore. We use a Nature’s Head composting toilet and two arrays of photovoltaic solar panels connected to sealed AGM batteries.”
“With solar energy the possibilities are endless! We are showing people that solar is more than panels on a house. Everywhere we go people are curious. They ask questions. They get interested in solar and tiny solar mobile homes. This is an opportunity for Katie and I to explore the country and spark excitement into the solar movement.”
For Katie this means taking her studio on the road and out into nature.
Katie is an artist and photographer. She was raised in rural Pennsylvania. Early on she developed an appreciation for nature. Katie graduated the prestigious Savannah College of Art and Design with a B.F.A. in Photography.
In her work Katie investigates the subject matter as it becomes situated in abstract scenarios. “This expresses the obscure process of image making. There is a randomness and subconscious act to image making.”
Katie’s Wild Flowers series was influenced in part by the Texas landscape. Crisp lines and vibrant colors punctuate the work. “Part of this cross country journey is to allow me experience the different landscapes of the US. As we travel I paint the wildflowers. It is also an experience to meet people along the way. We discuss my art and how my art affects them.”
Katie is also expanding on her body of work entitled Girls. This series visually probes the indulgence of desires through blind-contour line drawings of the female figure. The work is provocative, sensual and complex in its simplicity.
“I wanted to draw attention to the countless women who are showcased for pleasure and then hastily discarded. My viewer is still taken on the journey of sex but my work also takes the viewer on another journey. My work respects the female form and that takes the viewer on an intuitive journey through everything from anguish, seduction, pleasure and mystery.”
To Katie these women are not anonymous mannequins. “I give these nameless women life as more than a naked women being paraded for prurient interest. We have an endless almost insatiable urge and demand for sexual stimulation. By creating the artwork in Girls I can stimulate an intellectual conversation about what is considered a private and controversial subject – sex, pornography and sexual gratification.”
Girls are strong and beautiful statement of empowerment. Katie capture more than sex, she captures soul.
For more about Katie and Michael’s tiny solar mobile home trip visit www.tinysolarhouse.com.
For more about Katie’s work visit ww.kdunkle.com.
