1/9/16 Picking up after the holidays!

Literally. Spent a good portion of today putting my studio back together from the flurry of making Christmas gifts, finishing up (at least for the moment) a big painting that was on the wall, and getting the new music situation in order. Disrupting the studio in any way always means a day of resettling. Wish it wasn't needed, but it's hard to move forward when you can literally hardly move in the space!

11/30/15 Comparisons

As of today, I have drawn twice as many daily drawings as I did by the end of December last year. With only 12 more drawings, I will have drawn a daily drawing for half of the year. This has become an incredibly important part of my practice, and also of transitioning out of my current work into the next step of making art my primary work. These drawings have mostly been small little musings and doodlings, and I am grateful that these small things stand in the balance with a weight and significance all their own. You can see my posts on the Facebook page for A Drawing a Day.

10/24/15 Jessica Jackson Hutchins "Confessions" →

Just got back from seeing Jessica Jackson Hutchins’ exhibit at The Lumber Room on NW 9th, and the Cooley Gallery at Reed College (yes, two venues). The Lumber Room show knocked my socks off. Plus, it is in the Lumber Room, which showed off her pieces with all the gravitas and sheer beauty of the space itself. This portion of the exhibit has been collected by owner Sarah Miller Miegs over the past 20 years, resulting in a certain sensibility and palate that gives the grouping a noticeably cohesive sense. I was struck by the emotional depth and resonance here, especially in the sculptures; robust and chewy at some points (Two Hearts), at other times poignant ("Stylite" and "Whole Mess of Tears")  and surprisingly delicate and maternal in "Rope Stanza."

The Cooley gallery pieces were brought together from Hutchins’ galleries in New York and London. They are individually wonderful to look at ("Watches," 'Bored to Death" and "Third Eye" especially), but for me, when everything in the exhibit was taken together, they weren't as compelling a fit as the show on the west side of town – just had a more visceral response to the pieces at the Lumber Room.

The exception was the group of small works in Reed's academic library next to the gallery; these elevated the entire show to new heights. These objects – constructed around beer bottles, beer cartons and pills – seemed to be the stage for the title of the show. Encased in glass, much like archeologically recovered artifacts and surrounded by books such as “The Confessions of St. Augustine,” these pieces were at the heart of the exhibit. "Darkness," "Daily Pills," "Lowlands," "Couple" and "Candy Dish" were well worth the extended time needed to really look at them. As if wrested from burial grounds, they embodied shards of old memories, fragments of ancient states of mind and body offered up out of the muck for some sort of preservation, contemplation, perhaps absolution and maybe, just maybe, redemption.

Go if you can - open until November 8th. The Lumber Room has more limited hours. Portland is fortunate to have this artist here, yet it may be hard to see Hutchins' work unless you are in New York, London, or at her recent show in Rome.

10/22/15 Women & art →

I appreciate this article. My appreciation comes from my own framework of being a female artist., although not a street artist – the perspective on this was very engaging. Likewise the enormous art works.

It also led me to question – does my world view encompass enough sensitivity to gender and its implications?  Am I listening enough to and for the stories of  people that aren't the same as I am, and exploring ideas that are not the same as my own? Have I taken enough initiative to form a broad and inclusive base of understanding? An unendingly mysterious and energizing search. An interesting and engaging article.

http://hyperallergic.com/188992/why-arent-women-street-artists-just-street-artists/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3/19/15 New work purchased, sharing links

This is a wonderful interview with Fran O'Neill, one of my "most favoritist" artists and a wonderful teacher and mentor. I am the proud owner of one of her small works and I can only hope it influences me having it in the house! Enjoy: http://www.gorkysgranddaughter.com/2015/03/fran-oneill-march-2015.html

 

Another wonderful interview from an artist who is no longer here. http://www.twocoatsofpaint.com/2012/03/jules-olitski-talks-about-painting.html

 

2/28/15 New show in Seattle

"Summer Heat/Out the Window," was accepted into the Evergreen Association of Fine Art in Seattle. I took it up today, and saw it placed on the wall, which was exciting. It's really an honor to be accepted into this show. There were close to 300 2D pieces submitted, and 89 were accepted. The work is generally strong throughout, and the space in the Seattle Design Center is super. I will, unfortunately, miss the reception due to Spring Break plans. But all my Seattle peeps - please go see it! 

1/31/15 Branches and changes afoot

It promises to be a big year. I'll be leaving my current work to focus on art. I'd love to keep my hand in with consulting about program development in non-profits, especially with organizational structure, volunteer management and intercultural competency. I've been involved in 4 different program startups, and it would be fun. However, my main deal is seeking for what my art says when looking for the small, the glimpses, the ways in which life speaks through mark making. So often it reflects the bigger questions, relationships and state of being of both the artist and for the world. It's like the story of the person who falls over the cliff and is hanging on desperately to the one branch that's there. She yells to God for help, and God yells back "let go of the branch!" Haven't had this feeling for a long time. Exhilarating? Terrifying? Both.