Personal Stuff August 9,2013

My son has been gone 76 days.  Seventy-six days.  My head hurts.  He will not be walking in the door again.

Some personal stuff that may be used in my art.  You know how that personal stuff seeps into  art.  It is a nice place to put it, to store it.  My son seems like he is on a trip....a vacation.  He has been gone a little over 2 weeks or more precisely 15 days I think.  Still leaving space and a dream that he will walk in the door.  Monday visiting Monticello with my neice I spend my day counting on my fingers how long had he been gone.  My counts kept confusing me.  I finally settled on 9.  9 days that he had been gone. 
Where are his car keys? The search. the begging will start "Can I have them?"  Can I have his jacket? Can I have the dog leash?  Can I have anything?  His stuff..I want it.

Artist Statement Spring 2013

     Displacement occurs when people are exiled because of war, persecution and famine.   They are leaving their homes, hopefully finding safer spaces to exist.

     International students speaking very little English or absolutely none, arrive in my classes, landing in this new place of refuge.  This inspires me to think of them leaving their home. What was this like?  How did it feel?  Who did they leave behind?  My work expresses a reflection of this exile and movement of people.   The work is mysterious, evoking a feeling of loneliness, confusion and hope.

    Grids provide a sense of comfort in my work. Inserting them into the background, they create a feeling of order.  Order is predictable and safe.  The airplanes create a feeling of danger and discomfort.   There is a push pull between these 2 elements.  Using layers of water based media,  transfers,  gel medium and tissue paper, I am creating ghost-like images that pass through a not quite decipherable world.

Final Work for Spring 2013

"Fleeing", Gel transfer graph paper, gel transfer figurative images,water based media on 300 lb. paper.

"Landing"  Gel transfers  on umprimed birch plywood, tissue paper,water based media.

"Specter"  Gel transfer images, tissue paper, gel medium, water based media on 300 lb. paper.

"Radiate"  Tinted birch plywood, graph paper gel transfer, mixed water based media.

"Keeping Order"  Water based media, collage on birch plywood.

"Keeping Order"  (close-up)

"Playing a Game"  Water based media, collage, gel transfer, gel medium on birch plywood.

"Chalk 1"  Acrylic, gel transfer, gel medium on birch plywood.

"Chalk 2"  Acrylic, gel transfer, gel medium and tempera on birch plywood.

"Chalk 3"  Acrylic, gel transfer, gel medium and tempera on birch plywood.

"Chalk 4"  Acrylic, gel transfer, gel medium and tempera on birch plywood.

"Chalk 5"  Acrylic, gel transfer, gel medium and tempera on birch plywood.

Astral Diary by Amie Oliver, Chroma Galleries, April 2013

The artist says of her work: "This body of work is a long and winding river for me... It has a momentum which takes everything in its path and returns it to the sea: truth, beauty, pain and decay... it floods, ebbs, dwindles and flows as it makes it's way to wherever it is going."

Helping Amie set up her show on April 3 was a valuable learning experience for me. The dialogue between her and Deborah (the gallery owner) about what pieces should go where demonstrated the compromise needed for setting up the show and placement of work.  Amie was choosing pieces related to what would fit the space of the gallery and unify the show.   She was not basing her selection on her favorite pieces.  Framed work was grouped together based on their similarity.  The work and thought put into the show was impressive.

 

 

 

Aggie Zedd's Studio Visit April 10, 2013

 

What I took away from some of the ideas and the work Aggie Zed shared during our evening together:

   I like her philosophy about how she starts drawing…she  begins and feels free to fail to get failing out of the way.  The failing can free you to move forward. Her drawings and paintings resemble the form of her sculpture. Looking at her the drawings makes me question which came first the drawings, paintings or the sculptures.  Her drawings are muted but yet they have a rich color.  She draws very loosely and it gives the appearance that her ideas flow easily. She stands and uses her full arm to make loose strokes and marks while drawing and painting.  Dripping is fine and good.

   I enjoyed her idea of leaving open space purposely in her sculpture.  I enjoy the negative spaces that I see in the wire forms. I appreciate her sharing that she has used the wrong paper or materials when she was drawing or painting but that was okay.  One doesn’t need to be too stuffy about their work.

   I appreciated her critique of my work.  I need to put more of myself into my work.

“You work out of what you know, and in order to reach other people, you really have to work out of what you know." This is a quote  from an article in which  she was interviewed and this is essentially what she told me Wednesday night.

      Another excerpt and quote from the article-

“…But instead of calling herself a storyteller, Zed thinks of herself and her work as a catalyst. "I'm like the person who shows you one page of a story and lets you guess the rest. I see my paintings that way, like you're opening a book at one page, and hopefully you think there's a whole story there, and you'd like to know what it is," she says. "I think it's great to just come into the middle and be provoked to think about it." I can also relate this concept to my critique because I need to make art which one would want to look at and ask what’s the story.

Art Collected from FB Posts