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| March 25, 2011 |
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| March 26, 2011 |
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| March 27, 2011 |
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| March 28, 2011 |
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
March 2011 Drawings: 25 to 28...An Owl, Disembodied Heads and a Super Model
Thursday, March 24, 2011
March 2011 Drawings: 21, 22, 23 and 24: eyeballs, Squid Baby, buckled wings and sprouting heels
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| March 21, 2011 Mr. Looky |
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| March 22, 2011 Cthulhu's Babydoll |
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| March 23, 2011 Buckled on wings |
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| March 24, 2011 Rooted and grounded, but kicky, nevertheless... |
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Friday, March 18, 2011
March 2011 Drawings: 18 = Naughty Cyclops
Trees pop up in my drawings as a way to self sooth...to make sense of the world...to create order in my mind.
We'll see what tomorrow brings.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
March 2011 Drawings: Sick Days and Impending Springtime...(AKA 13, 14, 15, 16, & 17)
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| March 13, 2011 (I had the flu this day...bleck) |
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| March 14, 2011 (I was still sick, but feeling a little bit better) |
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| March 15, 2011 (I went to work today and was very tired) |
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| March 16, 2011 ( A co-worker's daughter wants me to draw a willow tree with tampons hanging from it...I think I will tackle this idea in a while as a collage. But for today, I offer an oak tree.) |
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| March 17, 2011 Those babydolls keep making me make drawings and paintings of them...I think they are possessed. |
Saturday, March 12, 2011
March 2011 Drawings: 10, 11, 12...completely random
Not that the metaphor of the circus is ever very far away from my head, but I have begun sketching images for a circus themed show potenially planned at the Monkitree Gallery in Octoberish 2011. This was prompted by Maine's current governer's ignorance about the disrupting effects of BPA in plastics. The women with little beards. Nice LePage, nice. But on the flip side of politicians selling us out to big business and toxic sludge, we will be able to create images that where before seemed surreal now are completely commonplace.
Friday March 11 in Maine brought us 40 degree (Fahrenheit, which is warmer than it has been here) weather with rain and extreme fog. As I was driving between teaching gigs, there was this tree on Sabattus Lake that was black against the white void of the fog. Quite lovely. That image prompted this tree drawing.
As for today...well, I have no excuse for what oozes from my brain onto the page...
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| March 10, 2011 |
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| March 11, 2011 |
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| March 12, 2011 |
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Monday, March 7, 2011
March 2011 Drawings: Flying Above Russia
Drawing text reads:
The flamingos were tired of the Queen of Hearts
They had grown weary of these numerous tirades that often ended in one of their necks becoming headless.
Ahhh, those beautiful long necks lost to a temper tantrum.
‘Tis a very sad thing indeed
So they left with their sights tired er um fixed toward their cousin, the firebird.
Flamingos spend days gazing in the cool waters with heads floating in glistening heat.
They forget that Mother Russia is a cold bitch.
So as they flew to visit their fiery cousin…their wings and indeed their hearts iced over…leaving them to fall to the ground far below only to bewilder the comrades that would find their mangled bodies.
Never would the Firebird know that the cousins from warmer climes wished to bask in the icy expanse that is his homeland.
(Note: on March 7, 2011 the bodies of two flamingos were found in Russia with no apparent explanation. This was after several flocks of birds had fallen to the ground in the preceding days.)
The problem with art and understanding...
The gallery I am with got a review of our most current show, "It's a Matter of Time" in a local rag. I am rather pissed about this review to say the least. As such I'd like to rant for a bit. You don't have to "listen" but I would value your perspective if you'd care to offer it. I will return to the regularly scheduled odd artworks after this segway.
Promise.
The way the gallery currently functions is an interesting process that is only tangentially relevant to the review. But an important tangent nevertheless.
Currently, there are only 3 (sometimes 4) resident artists creating art in this collective cooperative artist run gallery that at one point was home to 24 artists. 24 is a bit too many...3 is not enough. To fill the gap, we have been having guest artists take part in our shows. This has been interesting. When the balance of artists was at a healthy ratio, there was a great deal of synergy between the artworks. The pieces that each art was bringing on any given show theme idea "talked" to other pieces so that there was a popping of energy in the space. There was a fluid visual movement between the works of art. This was excellent.
What I loved about all the diverse voices of artists in the gallery of before was that when a show worked, all the bouncing of ideas spoke in chorus and supported the other works making them in fact stronger. The collaborations between artists is very lovely and very necessary. However, because these guest artists seem often are unable to articulate their ideas in clear and lucid terms or because their egos do not allow them to work well with others, that synergy is gone. The gallery as a whole seems somewhat static now with very little of that former popping between works. That might be just from my perspective, however and I will own that if it is true.
The two guest artists that have shown thus far have been young 20-something males. The current guest artist at the gallery seems to be a prancing pony of an individual. It was a wonder that there was any room for the artwork due to the massive size of his ego. Now at this point I need to come very clean and state a few factoids:
Experience is gained. One has to live life, take the licks and roll with the waves. No other way around it. Also you have to listen and watch.
Narrative must be honed. First and foremost when deciding to show a piece of art, the artist needs to ask "why the hell am I going to put this out for public consumption?" Second needs to be "what does this matter to the viewer?" If the answers to these questions is ever "because I can," I doubt that the art will have any relevance to the community.
So here's the tie in piece. The reviewer for this local rag was also a 20-something white male (SWM). I should not be shocked when confronted with the fact that the 20 SWM would choose to focus on the other 20 SWM's artwork. What is sad is that neither of these guys have any perspective. This is evidenced by the reviewers equation of the wax pieces to Jospeh Beuys' wax apology pieces from the Fluxus Movement as well as the the reviewers final summation that all the pieces in a show on time focused on decay. Neither of these were the case from my perspective.
What was interesting to me was the brush off my piece about communication as a mere personal romance. Indeed a piece about dripped wax was termed in sexual energy, but a conversation about the rotation of the moon and the ongoing dialogue of people regardless of opinions is apparently banal. I am angry at his brush off. Perhaps I should have created a piece about wanton sexual encounters or described various genital in successive states of engorgement during arousal. Perhaps a suite of pieces like this:
...a simple piece that focuses on masturbation. Ahh, but this piece is a fiction and masturbation is only fun for practice. The community can't really create anything long term if all its artists do is present artwork that is done for the sake of "because I can."
Promise.
The way the gallery currently functions is an interesting process that is only tangentially relevant to the review. But an important tangent nevertheless.
Currently, there are only 3 (sometimes 4) resident artists creating art in this collective cooperative artist run gallery that at one point was home to 24 artists. 24 is a bit too many...3 is not enough. To fill the gap, we have been having guest artists take part in our shows. This has been interesting. When the balance of artists was at a healthy ratio, there was a great deal of synergy between the artworks. The pieces that each art was bringing on any given show theme idea "talked" to other pieces so that there was a popping of energy in the space. There was a fluid visual movement between the works of art. This was excellent.
What I loved about all the diverse voices of artists in the gallery of before was that when a show worked, all the bouncing of ideas spoke in chorus and supported the other works making them in fact stronger. The collaborations between artists is very lovely and very necessary. However, because these guest artists seem often are unable to articulate their ideas in clear and lucid terms or because their egos do not allow them to work well with others, that synergy is gone. The gallery as a whole seems somewhat static now with very little of that former popping between works. That might be just from my perspective, however and I will own that if it is true.
The two guest artists that have shown thus far have been young 20-something males. The current guest artist at the gallery seems to be a prancing pony of an individual. It was a wonder that there was any room for the artwork due to the massive size of his ego. Now at this point I need to come very clean and state a few factoids:
- I am a short, round, white woman approaching 40.
- I have a career as a violence prevention educator that only vaguely has anything to do with my work as an artist.
- I love my work as an educator and will not give it up.
- In a job interview I was asked if there was anyone I would not be able to work with to which I answered, "Arrogant white males who think they are always right and are entitled to everything."
- I am rather arrogant, my ownself.
- I am married to a very wonderful man who happens to be a feminist (in other words I don't hate all men...just the assholes)
- I will accept and use criticism when needed.
- I love making art and will not give it up.
Experience is gained. One has to live life, take the licks and roll with the waves. No other way around it. Also you have to listen and watch.
Narrative must be honed. First and foremost when deciding to show a piece of art, the artist needs to ask "why the hell am I going to put this out for public consumption?" Second needs to be "what does this matter to the viewer?" If the answers to these questions is ever "because I can," I doubt that the art will have any relevance to the community.
So here's the tie in piece. The reviewer for this local rag was also a 20-something white male (SWM). I should not be shocked when confronted with the fact that the 20 SWM would choose to focus on the other 20 SWM's artwork. What is sad is that neither of these guys have any perspective. This is evidenced by the reviewers equation of the wax pieces to Jospeh Beuys' wax apology pieces from the Fluxus Movement as well as the the reviewers final summation that all the pieces in a show on time focused on decay. Neither of these were the case from my perspective.
What was interesting to me was the brush off my piece about communication as a mere personal romance. Indeed a piece about dripped wax was termed in sexual energy, but a conversation about the rotation of the moon and the ongoing dialogue of people regardless of opinions is apparently banal. I am angry at his brush off. Perhaps I should have created a piece about wanton sexual encounters or described various genital in successive states of engorgement during arousal. Perhaps a suite of pieces like this:
Sunday, March 6, 2011
March 2011 Drawings: Little Beard Day and other nonsense...
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| Little Beard Day March 4, 2011 |
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| Frog March 6, 2011 |
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| Self March 6, 2011 |
Thursday, March 3, 2011
March 2011 Drawings: The Frigid Beginnings...1, 2, 3: Go
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| March 1, 2011 Slow |
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| March 2, 2011 Fish |
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| March 3, 2011 Empty |
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