“WALKING AND THINKING / THINKING AND WALKING”
Installation at the Swain School Community Room Gallery
February and March, 2007

“Walking and Thinking / Thinking and Walking” is a piece made by two artists, Cheryl Hochberg and Andrew Brehm. It consists of 9 boxes. A viewer pulls a string at the side of each box which lifts a door, which in turn reveals a small painting. Both artists live in places where they walk often – they walk to work, to shop and to see friends or neighbors. The installation you are viewing is a piece that contemplates the sort of thinking one does while walking. What happens when you walk? Perhaps you begin by thinking about your day. But as you look down at the sidewalk perhaps you notice that your shoes are dirty or don’t match your belt and you wonder if they should. Which makes you think that you wanted to go shopping yesterday and forgot. Then you notice you are hungry and you think about a nice snack you could stop and buy, but then you see someone you know which reminds you that you meant to call them, which reminds you that you left your cell phone on the kitchen table. Then you wave to your friend and pass her, and then you ask yourself, “what WAS I just thinking about?” So you try in your head to “refind” your thought, and perhaps you have to revisit a couple of thoughts before you remember the one you were enjoying before you saw your friend on the street! And after all that, perhaps you have walked for only a minute or two! “Walking and Thinking” is a piece that remakes the experience of that sort of thought process. A viewer walks along and peeks into boxes revealing small thoughts or ideas. Some are places, some are things, some are patterns or ideas. Perhaps you find some more interesting than others. Maybe you consider them all, but want to go back and find one or two that you particularly enjoyed. Maybe you only get to some, but are interrupted. However it goes, have a nice walk! Andrew Brehm is a furniture artist and sculptor. He lives in Philadelphia. Cheryl Hochberg lives in Kutztown and is a painter. They have made several pieces together in the past two years. All the pieces they make together are interactive – the viewer must do something in order to view the artwork. You can see two more of their pieces currently at a show at eDavid Gallery at 535 Main St. in Bethlehem. That show is up until February 25.