Filed under: Fleeting thoughts..., painting | Tags: abstract, Adria Arch, art, Art Complex Museum, artist, flowers, painting
Is it Friday already? How did this happen?
Well, this is the FIRST week in a month that I’ve actually gotten a chance to DRAW. I almost forgot which end of the pencil to use! Just kidding…luckily, my friend got me a deranged pencil sharpener to help me out:
Yes. There it is. (except that mine is black.) Did I mention that the cat meows when you use it??? SICK. Actually, having this thing around pretty much ensures that all of my pencils will remain dull. I’m also keeping it away from my five-year-old, who will want some kind of explanation that I cannot possibly give him without him needing years of therapy, which I don’t want to start him on until he’s at least eight. I think that my friend would have preferred to have given me this in person, as my horrified reaction is really the priceless part of the gift. Thanks, TB. I’m going to have nightmares tonight…
Besides eating my weight in chocolate chip cookies this week, I also went to the The Art Complex Museum in Duxbury to see the work of my advisor, Adria Arch.
So exciting!!!! She has her work in the main room of the Art Complex. Her work is large and has a lot of impact, so it’s great to see it with the space that it needs.
The show is titled, “Iconic.” She plays with the subconscious markings of other people and magnifies and intensifies them into monumental glyphs. The forms, compositions and colors are very compelling. I can’t help but wonder who made each of these marks? I love the mysterious quality of them.
Adria Arch, I Love You More, 2013, Acrylic on canvas, 96″ x 96″
In her words, “These elements, spattered across and extending beyond the picture plane, bring to mind galaxies and explosions of energy. The compositions suggest randomness, belying an intentional painting process in which I project and then paint enlarged pencil lines onto canvas, wood panel, or walls. My practice grows out of the tradition of mark-making. I am drawn to the expressiveness found in unselfconscious pencil doodles – some I find and some I elicit from other people. The eccentric lines derived from these marginal marks are, for me, metaphors for boundless physical energy: floating, spinning, and falling through space.” So fascinating! Please go and see this show. It’s up from May 36 – August 18.
While I wish that I had a modicum of physical energy, I have managed to do SOME productive things this past month.
Look what I grew! Actually, I should say…”Look what I didn’t kill!” Yes…that’s an ORCHID. The flowers fell off a couple weeks after I bought it, which made me sad as I thought that was the kiss of death. BUT NO! I discovered that if you WATER it…more flowers will grow. Imagine that! I am convinced that plants hate me, so I am happy that this one didn’t get the memo. My other plants are probably blowing it raspberries in their own plant-like way.
Speaking of blowing raspberries, my son is back at school this week. SANITY. He was NOT happy about that, but I felt that I should not mislead him by thinking that school is “optional.” He says that he is besides himself with boredom. I nod.
Welcome to reality, kid!
This is what he would prefer to do all day, rather than “boring” activities, like making bumble bees out of construction paper. (can crafts EVER be boring????) He told me that this is a hotel. Perhaps my son will become the next Donald Trump? As his mother, though, I would not allow him to have the Donald’s hair, though. In reviewing his design, I feel that the penthouse unit has a catacomb-like quality to it. Thoughts? Perhaps a skylight would help? Maybe he’s catching onto the micro hotel thing in Japan?:
There must not be a word for, “claustrophobia” in Japanese. Those wouldn’t work in the States anyway, as they’d each need to be the size of a shipping container to work with our girth.
Speaking of…I’m going to go and look for more cookies. Let me know if you need me to sharpen any pencils for you.
Filed under: Drawing, Fleeting thoughts... | Tags: art, cape cod, drawing, New York City, pirate booty
So, yet again, I have done NO new artwork. I did, however, eat two bowls of Pirate’s Booty just a minute ago…does that count for anything? Seeing as my latest body of work involves drawing food, I’m just going to chalk up this indulgence to professional R&D.
Sound convincing? Should I run for Congress? Perhaps…but only if I could attend all sessions wearing my fuzzy, mint green bathrobe carrying my half-eaten bag of Pirate’s Booty under my arm. I’ll be representin’ the moms out there…I MAY even brush my hair…
I did attend the reception for the National Prize Show at the Cambridge Art Association.
I ran into some friends unexpectedly, which was great. My cousin and his friend also came, which was wonderful as well, AND greatly added to the evening. My work ended up in a corner of the room:
There it is! Actually, there’s my husband! Poor guy. Little does he realize his portrait is hanging up in Cambridge. He may not be able to handle the fame of people coming up to him on the T saying…”Hey! You’re the guy in the drawing who mysteriously has no hand! What’s up with that???” He can just nod and mumble something about his crazy wife as he tries to hide under his Kindle.
Sometimes, my posts aspire to be “marginally intellectual,” or at least NOT ridiculous. But…as a result of my son’s continued absence from preschool…any remaining braincells that I might have had to create a “marginally intellectual” thought have shriveled up and are now forgotten…much like the errant Cheerio that rolls itself off the dining room table from my son’s cereal bowl and ends up underneath the radiator. (Just wondering…do I need a third bowl of Pirate’s Booty? Thoughts????)
I was digging that pen and pencil drawing of a grasshopper on the right, in spite of my bug phobia.
During this past week, as well as getting nothing done, I stumbled upon the work of Joan Linder online. Check it out:
She recently had a show at Mixed Greens in NYC. I WISH that I had seen it. Her show was titled, “Sink.” She has numerous drawings of her kitchen sink/countertop that are mesmerizing to me. Some of the drawings are realistic, and they almost have a “family portrait” feel to them. They are long, colorful and detailed…and they make me feel as if the viewer has interrupted a private party amongst the artist’s kitchen items and food. The black and white drawings look gorgeous. I love the look of the drawing and the entire theme. The multicolored line drawings have a very frenetic feel. I almost relate to the faucet in the center…it’s trapped and trying to deal with the culinary fracas. Amazing! Did anyone out there see the show? If so, let me know what you think. I would love to see her work in person.
It makes me wish that I could make something amazing from my lowly kitchen sink. (Yes, I’ve heard of Bon Ami…thankyouverymuch.) I’m going to hold off on posting a photo of my own kitchen sink …lest I get arrested by the housefrau police. They have spies everywhere. I think that I can pretty convincingly plead ignorance.
I’m just like that, except that my dress is red, not blue. I’m also right handed.
This past weekend, we went to the Cape…
AAAAHHHHHH. Now, I know it’s not the Caribbean (unless we took a wrong turn after Albuquerque), but it still has a zen effect on my psyche. I am lulled by the sparkling waves…the noisy seagulls…and my son asking repeatedly when we can see his friend who lives nearby.
Have you noticed that eating soft serve ice cream seems to have a zen effect similar to being at the beach? I have. Or, perhaps it’s just the beach and ice cream combo that work together so well? Beach + ice cream = zen. As opposed to: 5 year old boy + 5 year old boy = NOT zen.
I find that sprinkles are helpful too…especially when applied topically to my temples during one of my son’s raucous playdates…
(FYI…they’re also easier to pick off the floor than shriveled Cheerios…)
Filed under: Fleeting thoughts... | Tags: art, artist, Cocoapuffs, drawing, Family, housewife, Lego Ninjago, parenting, peeps, St. Botolph Club
Yes, I am still here…although my focus on art has taken a serious hiatus. I recently stopped sending my son to the preschool that he has been attending, for reasons that I will not bore you with. In a nutshell: I have no regular childcare now. SAVE ME. My mom has been exceedingly helpful by coming to watch my son while I attempt to run errands, like picking up six of my drawings from the framer, or having a series of stressful portfolio reviews. I am CLEARLY not cut out to be a 24 hr.-a-day-stay-at-home-mom. You know those blogs where all of the photos are dreamy and misty, and where the author is a stay-at-home-mom who makes muffins from scratch with wild blueberries that she just picked whilst her brood of delightful children invent delightful games with rocks and sticks?
This is not one of those blogs.
I feel that having a child is one of the universe’s ways of telling us that we have stuff we need to work on…and it’s only by being confronted with such issues as a parent, that we will ever attempt to work on those things we need to. Am I being too vague? Okay. Basically, I have a very short fuse and an excess of buttons that are easily pressed. My son, whom I love dearly, has been, besides “my little love”, the one impetus for me to excruciatingly stretch my fuse and reduce the tsunami normally unleashed when my buttons are pushed.
Sigh. I love him, AND he can seriously drive me cuckoo for Cocoapuffs.
Yes, my eyeballs explode just like that.
My mother and I recently took him to the MFA to see the samurai exhibit. Great idea, right? Aren’t I “Mom of The Year”? Hmm. The universe told me “no,” as I hopelessly overestimated my own brilliance and the attention span of my five-year-old…
Seriously. What is not to love, right? The helmets especially were…AMAZING. It’s hard to believe that anyone wore these, as they are so fantastic, intricate, and other-worldly. I especially liked the room where several were set up to be “on horseback.” In spite of the similarities between his Lego “Ninjago” figures and these REAL suits of armor, my son gave up halfway through the exhibit and wanted to leave.
SERIOUSLY. Is there ANY comparison? Sheesh. Maybe if they could have had someone walking around in a samurai outfit…kind of like a “Late Edo period Chuck E. Cheese”, the show would have been a bigger hit with my son?
No? I’m not sure what would have scared him more…a masked samurai walking around or that big rodent? The kid in this photo doesn’t look too sure either…
Besides being a well intentioned yet hopelessly idealistic parent these past few weeks, I also attended the reception of one of the group shows that I am in. It was the “New Talent / New England” juried show at the St. Botolph Club in Boston. Nice!
Thank you to Kyla P., Karen S., Karina C., Marcus S., and Charlie S. for coming to see it! I really appreciate it. I also appreciated being able to go out and have a good laugh with friends, as that doesn’t happen often enough, IMHO. My friend, Kyla, brought me something that evening that she had been meaning to give me for weeks:
Really?
I don’t remember anyone saying ANYTHING in my professional development class about bringing stuffed animals to show openings…do I really need to be holding a deranged stuffed Peep while I am trying to carry on an intelligent conversation and look remotely professional?
Of course I did. Kyla, thank you for coming to the reception AND for reminding me why we are friends in the first place.
Now, if I can just hold onto this thing for a few days before my son absorbs it into his growing harem of freakish toys…
Is that selfish of me? I’ll just go look up this kind of “typical parenting dilemma” in my growing pile of parenting books…
Filed under: Fleeting thoughts... | Tags: arts, Barry McGee, boston, Boston Institute of Contemporary Art, Os Gêmeos
I went downtown this week.
Lots of people were milling around the site of the bombing on Boylston Street. There was actually a small crowd of cops and individuals with prosthetic legs, possibly veterans?, chatting and talking to people who stopped by to visit the site. I know that it would be bad for business…but I almost wish that this spot could stay boarded up like this. It won’t, though, and I know that it shouldn’t. But a statue or a plaque in this location to mark the significance is so much less powerful than seeing the boarded up storefronts. The grim blankness of the closed windows is mirrored in the faces of those who stop and stare. There was also something poignant about people both walking past, a sign of the return to normalcy, and people standing in reverential silence. Everyone here is still obsessed with the event and the victims.
Eventually, I headed down to South Boston to check out what’s up at the ICA. I used to work in South Boston, so it was nice to be back there.
I used to work on that street! Looks the same as I remember. Other parts in the area look MUCH different:
Mural by Os Gemeos
LOVE IT! This work has been somewhat controversial. Some people found it to be disturbing, but I think it’s a fascinating mural on an irregularly shaped building facade. This used to be a plain, flat, gray metal facade. But, now LOOK! He’s just hanging out like everyone else on the lawn! I like the ambiguity of his expression and partially hidden face. He’s SO big and obtrusive, and yet he appears to be trying to almost hide and make himself small and unnoticed. FASCINATING. I’m glad that I finally got to see this in person. Here’s what else I saw right near him:
Brilliant! There is a little grouping of food trucks right across from him…and I loved the local “flavah” of this one. As much as I love the Boston accent, I get worried when I hear my son say words in a slightly Boston way. I’ve had to explain to him that “hair” is a single syllable word. It’s “hair”, not “HAY-ER.” I wasn’t born in Massachusetts, so I’d feel like a fraud if my son sounded like a local. I should have bought one of the cookies to really get a sense of the flavor, right??? I wonder if they sell the raw dough? I would happily have gnawed on a blob of dough whilst sunning myself on the lawn in front of the enormous, reclining “dude”.
Edouard Manet, Le Dejeuner sur l’herbe
Not to be confused with this reclining nude. See how far we’ve come in art? Now, instead of a nude female having lunch with a couple of clothed men on a lawn, we have a larger than life oddball peering at us from beneath the sweatshirt he’s wrapped around his head!
I love the ICA. I don’t always remotely grasp the content of the work, but I still love going. Right now, they have the work of Barry McGee up. He’s a painter / graffiti artist from San Francisco. His work is amazing and I bask in his artistic brilliance. The show is incredible, with works of a stunning variety of scale, color, and medium. I love the dark humor throughout his work. He had written his name, “McGee” on a wall with what looked like wishbones from chickens. I wish that I’d taken a picture of it. Brilliant.
Barry McGee at the ICA, Boston
That is so amazing. EACH DRAWING that makes up this piece is amazing. This faux living room wall with an amorphous “growth” of these drawings was phenomenal. I don’t want to gush, but I will. GO SEE THIS NOW. I LOVE how this is so compelling from far away AND up close. Look:
Barry McGee at the ICA, Boston
Look at all of these amazing sketches, collages, drawings, photos, etc.!!! Each one is a fantastic and bizarre little world to get lost in. Stunning.
Barry McGee at the ICA, Boston
Again, SO amazing. A wall of whiskey (??) bottles hung by wire in a giant cluster. Who is this population of disturbing men??? On the surface, each face is different…but they all share a common core and they are all empty and “hanging by a thread.” Again, it’s compelling from a distance AND from up close:
Barry McGee at the ICA, Boston
Don’t you love the limited color palette and vintage look to the style of illustration? I love their neat, shiny hair and unnerving expressions.
Barry McGee at the ICA, Boston
Okay. THESE drawings were INCREDIBLE. They are ballpoint pen on paper. Each “face” appears almost as a mask made from shiny human hair and like a collection of strange tribal fetishes. These may have been the most mind-blowing drawings for me. They are disturbing…beautiful…strange…and done with a BALLPOINT PEN. I could have spent the day pouring over each one. Together, especially in that mass, they are imposing. While they are mask-like, the eyes are not vacant but staring back at you…tiny deities from a mysterious religion.
Please go see this show. Call me, and we’ll go together so that I GUSH over everything with you as my unwilling audience. Sound good? Okay, it’s open at 10 tomorrow…see you then.
Barry McGee at the ICA, Boston
LOOK. AT. THIS. These are little patterned color swatches that FILL THE WALL and are configured in a unique way each time they are installed. I desperately wanted to touch them, but I didn’t. I would never do something like that, but I can admit that I WANTED to. Again, I could have pulled up a chair and basically sat all day staring at this. Is the breadth of his talent not mind-blowing????? I have to end this commentary soon, as I’m running out of superlatives.
Barry McGee at the ICA, Boston
The bulging wall behind was incredible. This tower of TVs fit so perfectly with the context of the show. I am so glad that this show has an extensive range of his work. I would love each piece individually…but the entire show makes you dizzy and awestruck. Next time I’ll get myself a blob of that cookie dough, bring a lawnchair, and sit myself down in front of this totem of TVs for the afternoon. The staff will love me. (Maybe if I share my cookie dough they actually will love me? Maybe not? What would Barry do???)
Strangely enough, I came home to find my son creating something that felt similar:
Okay. Not quite. I know that some kids build with Lego, but this is what my son was up to. Somehow though…this multicolored blob of Lego on the rug struck me as fitting in with my Barry McGee afternoon. (I hope that he wouldn’t be offended for me to say that.) Actually, the fact that he’s being written about in this blog is probably offensive enough to him. Hmm. If he writes me to complain, I’ll be sympathetic. I might even put down my blob of cookie dough to give him my full attention as I read his enraged comments about my misguided analysis of his work. I flatter myself to think that he would contact me. If he does contact me, I’ll remind him that I LOVE his work and that I did NOT touch any of it, never mind get cookie dough on it…
Maybe I’ll hold off on telling him, “I’m your number one fan…”
Okay, I’m going to stop wearing my hair like that…IMMEDIATELY. I’m also going to end the post here because I’m starting to freak myself out…
Oh. My. God.
What a week this has been. It began on Monday with the explosion of two, homemade bombs at the finish line of the Boston Marathon…three people killed and many others horribly maimed…a young police officer shot on Thursday…and it ended last evening with the capture of the second suspect who had been hiding in someone’s backyard in Watertown.
In spite of the fact that the second terrorist is still alive, nothing he can say will somehow “clear things up” about why all of this happened. It was senseless, calculated, and evil. Those dead are gone forever, and those who lost limbs will never recover them.
I can’t believe how recently the nation was sickened by the shootings at Newtown. And yet…here we are again, with more senseless killing of innocent people. I know that this happens all over the world. I don’t mean to imply that these events are somehow more horrific than events that have occurred anywhere else. Personally, however, these last two tragedies were very close to home…both to my childhood home in the case of Newtown, and my to current one in the case of this Boston/Cambridge/Watertown nightmare. I know that it shouldn’t make a difference to the horror of it all, but it does…only in that I’m filled with more disbelief.
.
No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thine own
Or of thine friend’s were.
Each man’s death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.
– John Donne
I’ll post about art next week.
Filed under: Drawing, Fleeting thoughts... | Tags: 80's, art, artist, artwork, colored pencil, drawing, Gastroesophageal reflux disease, Jelly shoes, Lisa Sigal, neon
I know that I normally post on Fridays…but seeing as I missed last week and I’m wanting to get this published, I’m doing it TODAY. CARPE DIEM.
So, tomorrow night…I’m going to an 80’s prom. No, I’m not kidding. This is the brainchild of a friend, who feels that we need to revisit this era on Friday. In all honesty, my fashion sense is probably stuck in the 80’s, so I should have no problem with an outfit. Did hot pink ever go out of style???? If so…WHO CARES??? It’s one of my favorite colors. I’ve been scrounging around my closet to come up with some kind of 80’s outfit:
WHOA.
No thank you. This is what I have to aspire to for this event?????? Egads. Does anyone else have the sudden sensation of acid reflux?
Or is that just from the ice cream sandwich I decided to have for breakfast?
(KIDDING! I’m testing to see if you’re still paying attention. No? Oh well…)
One thing that I DO love from the 80’s is jelly shoes. I am sad to say that I don’t own a pair of jelly shoes anymore.
Mine were pink, of course. There is an urban legend that if you stand on a hot sidewalk for too long, they’ll melt. Pshaw.
Besides wasting time planning for this 80s outfit, I also went to check out what’s at the galleries in the South End. I know that you’re relieved to hear that this post is moving on to more compelling topics than acid green and/or acid reflux…
Lisa Sigal at Samson Gallery, Boston
This is the work of Lisa Sigal at Samson. Okay. Let me just say that I LOVED all of her work. Her pieces for this show were sooo fascinating. In the piece above, she has a digital print of what appears to be housing. I believe that she also paints on this print. In front of the print, leaning on the wall, is a typical window screen that she has also painted. Her sense of color is amazing, and I love the mix of pattern, flatness, layering, depth, and translucency. So inventive! I really could have stared at these all day. (Maybe it’s just the architect in me? Who knows…)
Robert Richfield at Gallery Kayafas, Boston
Robert Richfield has photographed eclectic, exotic, and intimate Mexican burial sites. I loved the intense colors and exuberance in spite of the morose subject matter. The photos are surreal, and you really forget what it is that you are looking at as your eyes take in the explosive colors and the dizzying array of objects. They are very beautiful in their composition and content.
Laurie Alpert at Bromfield Gallery, Boston
Laurie Alpert has a great show at Bromfield Gallery. Her show it titled, “Milori Blue,” and is based on a series of photos that she took of her studio floor. I love how inventive her printmaking is. The rich, saturated blues are inky (for lack of a better word) and deep. These images are both abstract and intimate. This photo really doesn’t do her work justice, so you’ll have to see if for yourself. I was obviously drawn to the mylar, as that’s what I use for my drawings.
I also had a great time chatting with Lesley Cohen, who is an artist at Bromfield, and was “on duty” at the gallery. We talked about drawing, why we draw what we do, how we got to were we were, etc. She is a LOVELY person…warm, creative and engaging. She is having a show in June, so I’ll be sure to stop by and see it.
Ann Pibal at Steven Zevitas Gallery, Boston
This is the work of Ann Pibal at Steven Zevitas Gallery. I love the sparseness of her work. There is so much space, and the elements are always balanced, albeit asymmetrical. I’m not sure why I keep thinking that her work is very minimal? Perhaps it’s the clarity of each piece, or the “quiet” world that they seem to create? Really impressive. Go see! Now!
Karen Meninno at Kingston Gallery, Boston
Karen is a sculptor, but she has created these astounding wallpaper designs that hang floor to ceiling. This one was one of my favorites. See the detail here:
Karen Meninno at Kingston Gallery, Boston
Her work was filled with jewel tones and rich materials. Her sculptures (which were present as manipulated images) are almost like artifacts of some forgotten dynasty. I wonder how different the images are from the sculptures that they are created from? I wonder how Meninno feels about this transformation that she’s made? The nice thing about these images and the wallpaper is that she almost creates a environment which the viewer is immersed in, as opposed to an object that the viewer looks at. Please go see her work…amazing!!!
I am intrigued by her image manipulation, as I have been doing some similar things in my own work. I am embarking on a new series generated by my existence as a housefrau/parent/chef/chauffeur/family cruise director:
Elizabeth Kostojohn, Nameless Problem #1, 2013, colored pencil on mylar
Perhaps I should have cropped the image? Anyway, I’ve started making these compositions…AND I’m starting to work in color. You’re looking at pickles, ham slices, raw chicken legs, a can of chickpeas, and ketchup. Comments? Questions? I don’t really have a working artist statement yet…so you’ll just have to wonder. I know that my family does…
My son is obsessed with drawing, much like his mommy. I love all of his creations. He tends to draw lots of dinosaurs, as he’s five and that’s just what five year olds are into:
Okay. I love this. He wanted to show an ENORMOUS sauropod dinosaur towering above a T.Rex. I love that it is so big that the neck disappears and reappears at the edge of the paper to show how HUGE it is. He even drew a tiny person for scale. DON’T YOU LOVE IT??? Or, is this a picture that only a mother could love? The T.Rex looks as if it is pouncing on the person, and the whateverasaurus looks like it’s going to stomp on both of them. Brilliant! I wish that he hadn’t drawn on the back, as it distracts from the awesomeness of this drawing. Just my two cents…
Well, wish me luck with my 80’s prom. We’re going out to dinner beforehand, so I’ve got to go out in “public” with my bizarre, fluorescent ensemble of coolness. Should be…interesting?
I’ll let you know how many sad looks I get from people who see my appearance as a pitiful and creepy “time capsule” that should be put back underground…STAT!
Filed under: Fleeting thoughts... | Tags: architecture, artist, arts, concord, painting, Room of One's Own, Visual Arts
WELL. This was an exciting week because:
1. I got some work done.
2. It didn’t snow.
Is the bar set a little low here? Probably. Wellll, as long as I can rest my drink on it, it’s fiiiine with me! Did I mention that I did three loads of laundry today? YES!!! WATCH OUT, MARTHA STEWART!!!
Now, I’m sure that some of you performed brain surgery, or split an atom or two, or whatnot. I drew and did laundry. (so nyah!!!) Such is the life of the hybrid housefrau/artist. No, I didn’t draw my laundry, (I barely folded it for Lord’s sake) but that’s definitely going to be my next series. I’m trying to keep this new series under wraps until I have TWO drawings done, as you don’t really have a much of a series without at least TWO, right? (Or is that just to make a thing go right, a la Rob Base?)
Are you still reading??? AMAZING!
So, tonight I went to the opening of my advisor’s new show at the Concord Art Association. The show is titled, “A Room of Our Own.” On exhibit is the work of a group of female artists who regularly meet to discuss the profession and support one another. The title of the show is, of course, a reference to Virginia Woolf’s, A Room of One’s Own. These artists and their careers have been enriched not just because they each have “a room of one’s own” (a studio), but also because they have had each other. Lovely! The show is curated by Merrill Comeau. I have some images, but not many…as it was a crowded event!
Adria Arch, Red Blue Diptych
So THIS is the work of my advisor! Don’t you love it? I’m sorry for the weird angle of the photo, but it was impossible to get directly in front of it and back up far enough for a good shot. Her work is inspired by the subconscious mark-making of others. She plays with scale, color, layering, etc. It was great to see her and hear her talk about her work.
Kathleen Volp, The Town
You might recognize this artist’s name, as I featured her in another recent post. It was great to hear her talk about her work as well! This piece was about the universal pain of loss. Very beautiful. She’s really masterful with both material and image. I was hoping to chat with her, but she wasn’t feeling well and left soon after speaking.
Margot Stage, Water Words
This artist described herself as a bit of a scavenger…taking delight in the often overlooked objects that she finds on her walks. This series incorporates driftwood in a study of repetition of form. I should have taken a close up so that you could see the detail of her work, comprised of driftwood and brass rods. I like how she’s arranged them, not in a linear was as a sort of “sentence,” but as almost the visual representation of primordial sounds. I also think of the scratchy marks of a polygraph, revealing what is invisible to the eye.
Ilana Manolson, Navigation I
Ilana Manolson is well known for her gorgeous, watery landscapes. Here, she is also incorporating some image transfer of what must be nautical charts, reminiscent of ripples of water. It’s fascinating to see her subtle painting overlap and interact with the clean lines of the transfer.
Jeanne Williamson, (Fence) Shirts and (Hot) Flashes #1 – 6
Now, I was lucky enough to be introduced to this artist. I’ve seen her work in many other shows, so it was really nice to finally meet her. I love how graphic these are, but if you could see them up close, you would notice the delicate stitching throughout each piece. They are compelling on many scales.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get photos of all of the artists (not even close to getting it of all of the work.) SO, you’ll have to GO and see the show yourself! Ahem, that’s an order. Since quitting my job to be a better mommy, I’m good at dishing out tasks, but not so good at completing them myself…I used to be the opposite when I was working, so I feel that this shows some “growth.” Again…pulling myself up to that LOW bar…
Did I mention that I did three loads of laundry today?
Okay, besides laundry, I also finished knitting a hat that I’ve been toiling over for a few weeks:
Cute, right? I had to rip out 1/4 of it, when I decided that I didn’t like the colorway of the second ball of yarn. AND, I made a pom pom. Check THAT out, you atom-splitters out there…
My son brought home this creation from school today:
He tells me that it is a house. I love it. I love it not because I’m an architect and I’m partial to buildings, but because this lumpy, misshapen thing on the curling paper plate is my son’s design. I’m wondering what the significance of the yarn halo is at the top, but I’ll have to ask about it tomorrow. No, my son is NOT a first year student in an MArch program…nor was this a study model for Selfidges by Future Systems:
That’s fondly called “Blobitecture.” NOT my cup of tea, thankyouverymuch. I’m all for design that pushed the envelope, just not quite like THAT. Push it back. Please.
No, my son is in preschool. By the time he’s old enough to be in an MArch program, we’ll all be living in blobitecture pods, eating synthetic meat, and using a 3D printer to make everything from our clothes to our houses. I’ll be crabby and sullen and complaining that he doesn’t come to visit me in my retirement pod, nor does he bring me any synthetic meals, nor does his online avatar ever call. Ever. Actually, by then I’ll probably not know how to even answer a phone…so i’ll just end up accidentally turning on the robotic lawnmower instead of accepting his call.
Sigh.
At least I”ll HAVE a robotic lawnmower…
Filed under: Fleeting thoughts..., painting | Tags: art, candy, decordova, gummi, installation, painting, sculpture
On Tuesday, it was 54 degrees outside. Today, it’s 19. I’m moving to Florida. (just kidding…not that there’s anything wrong with Florida…)
This has been one of those weeks where I have had no free time, and yet it’s unclear what I’ve accomplished. I’ve done very little drawing, and my house is still a mess. Hmm. I think that I’m also going through a slight phase of S.A.D. (seasonal affected disorder.) Maybe I need to up the wattage of our lightbulbs around the house? Or maybe I just need more chocolate? Does anyone else out there feel slightly blue right now?????
Sometimes, I think that keeping up with the news doesn’t help. I’m a worrier, and the news provides endless fodder for my neurotic brain to chew on. Did you know that more and more small children are developing anorexia? No joke. I listened to it on NPR. HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE???? And it’s not those scary pageant queen mommies that are causing it. Now, I’m analyzing what I say about food in front of my son. Apparently, we shouldn’t say that there is “bad” food or “good” food. WHAT??? Really???
WELL, pshaw…my mother recently bought THIS disturbing item for my son:
Now, I ask you…is this not the POSTER CHILD of “bad” food????? Actually, I’m not sure that it qualifies as food at all! Whew! (Thanks, mom…) Perhaps I don’t have to worry about childhood anorexia when my son happily chews on sour gummi french fries??? Beyond gross. So, here I am fretting about buying organic fruit and BPA free tupperware, and meanwhile my kid is eating a gummi hamburger, gummi pizza, and a side order of gummi fries. Thank God it’s at least peanut and fat free… (They forgot to add “nutrition free” as well. I might have to write and tell them that…)
The thing is, I would have TOTALLY wanted this as a kid too. Actually, I had a tendency to choose anything colored blue: blue frosting, blue gum, blue italian ices. Gross, right? Well, in spite of my deviant dietary desires, I turned out “normal”, right? Hmm. Actually, SCRATCH THAT. NO BLUE FOOD ALLOWED, lest my son become a neurotic worrier like his mom.
The gummi “lunch bag” is kind of beyond the pale…pure, dietary evil.
Okay enough about disgusting “food”…this week wasn’t a TOTAL waste. I did go to the Decordova Museum. That’s productive, right? Their current show is called, “PAINT THINGS: beyond the stretcher.” This was a pretty interesting show. All of the works are definitely “beyond the stretcher,” as there was a lot of paint…but a dearth of canvas. I really liked many things in the show.
Kate Gilmore, Like This, Before, 2013
This piece is the remains of a performance/painting/sculptural work by Kate Gilmore. In the performance (which you can see a video of adjacent to this piece), she is wearing a nondescript blouse, skirt and heels…typical office wear for women. She begins by ascending the ladder on the right while carrying a large vase filled with white paint. She walks across the top of the sculpture, sets down the vase, and climbs down a ladder on the left. She repeats this until the entire top has a row of paint filled vases on it. Then, one by one, she knocks over the vases (I think with her foot.) As each vase falls, it shatters and spills paint down the channels below. The paint runs through a hole at the bottom of each channel and fills another vase at the bottom. FASCINATING. I love that she’s wearing typical “office gal” clothes…and that she has to struggle to climb the ladder while carrying each vase…and that she has to carefully shimmy across the top without knocking down the other vases…and then she has to place her vase down and carefully climb down the other side. I love the struggle, the exertion, the care, and the destruction she conveys.
Steve Locke, Crossing Against, 2012
A very simple piece, but I loved what it does with form, light, and shadow. The palette is almost primary colors, but they are tweaked a bit. The face looks annoyed, but the leaning form implies a figure resting lazily against a wall. I love the reflected neon yellow in the shadow…it makes me think of inner heat or turmoil.
Mika Tajima, Furniture Art (series), 2011
These works are actually created with plexiglass box frames. BRILLIANT! I love how she has taken this totally mundane object and really played with it’s inherent characteristics and traditional role. Detail:
Mika Tajima, Furniture Art (detail), 2011
Aren’t the shadows amazing? You can see an interesting video of her here. I love how architectural a lot of her work is. Next:
Sarah Braman, In the Woods, 2012
Sarah, Braman, 8pm, 2011
These works were an interesting blend of materials, color and form. The lower piece, 8pm, actually has part of a camper in it. I like the mix of prefabricated elements with paint and other more “raw” materials, and the limited color palette. I also liked how she has painted In the Woods, as it almost has a three dimensional quality. Next:
Franklin Evans, paintthinks, 2013
Franklin Evans, paintthinks (detail), 2013
I love the excess of this installation. You can see in the detail photo the layer and layers of tape, colors, and photos. Next:
Katie Bell, Blind Impact, 2013
This was another interesting installation. It looks as if the materials found at a collapsed house have gathered together to be reborn as a new entity. Perhaps because of the geometry or how the piece creeps up the wall, there is a certain joy to this piece. Here is a view from the front:
Katie Bell, Blind Impact, 2013
No, the handrail at the bottom is not part of the piece. Don’t you love the composition? Next:
Claire Ashley, thing one / thing two, 2013
Amazing, right? I apologize to the artist as there are two works in this photo, and I don’t know which is which. The Decordova has this dramatically narrow and tall stairwell which often has incredible installation work. The ENORMOUS piece that runs up the wall is astounding. Claire Ashley seems to do these larger than life, bulging forms which both intimidate and excite.
Claire Ashley, thing one / thing two, 2013
Isn’t that amazing? I love the colors. I love how these works have sort of infested the building, taking it over. I wish she had had a solo show, as I’d love to see a whole gallery full of her art. These pieces really do dwarf the viewer and gaze back with a disconcerting stare. Next:
Allison Schulnik, Video still from Mound, 2011
This is a still from the amazing animation by Allison Schulnik. Her work is astounding. Please visit her website here, and go to the “video” heading to actually see these works. Plasticine figures erupt and morph into eerie creatures who are both engaging and disturbing. Look at that image! Don’t you love the starkness of the figure? Don’t you love how it’s both fascinating and unsettling? Please watch her videos. You must. I almost missed seeing them. If you go to the Decordova, they are on view in a room behind the desk at the entry. Go now. You must.
So, this was not a week of “minimalism”, unless you count how much tangible work I got done. Sigh. I may have to resign myself to gnawing on a gummy hot dog while I mope about looking for sunlight and something blue to nibble on. Send chocolate. Please.
Filed under: Fleeting thoughts..., painting | Tags: art, artist, gallery, Nemo, ninja, painting, snow, Somerville
Sorry for no post last week! I was adversely affected by Nemo: i.e. trapped indoors with nothing to do other than try to entertain a housebound 5 yr old whilst not destroying the house or my sanity. So, we did survive Nemo. It wasn’t pretty. Gobs of snow. This is the view of my husband’s excavation from the basement door…
Hmm. That’s kind of a lot of snow for one storm. This is our back deck:
That’s our deck furniture…a table and a tipped over chair (blown over by the wind). That looks like AT LEAST two feet, doesn’t it???? The neighbors across the street:
Don’t pity them too much. They hire a service to come and clear out the driveway and the sidewalks, etc. Our service was my husband, who unburied us…maybe we’ll hire someone to do it next time? (eh, honey?) Pshaw! What’s the fun of being a New Englander if you can’t gripe about the weather whilst heaving wet heavy snow over a five foot wall of ice? Needless to say, I was going postal with cabin fever. At least we didn’t lose power…I would have just stayed in bed all day if we had! (just kidding, honeeey!!!)
The following weekend, my son and I walked through the blustering cold to a nearby friend’s house for his birthday party. It was so fun, albeit total chaos: twenty kids tearing around the house screaming while shoving cheese and crackers into their mouths. My son, so practical, gave me his half eaten crackers/cheese to hold so that he could run around more easily. Everytime someone introduced themselves and shook my hand, they ended up with a palmful of crumbs. I had a glass of sangria to get me through it.
One of the activities for the kids was to make paper bag puppets. You know…like the ones that advertise Fandango:
Notice that his nose is a croissant. You can see the ad here. Ridiculous right? Anyway, the kids made paper bag puppets. Can you guess what the theme of the party was?
No, that’s NOT a woman in a niqab. It’s a NINJA! Isn’t that hilarious and adorable????? Like THIS:
But not like THIS:
Luckily, our kids haven’t gotten into this level of commercialism yet. Coincidentally, NPR did a segment recently on the history of ninjas. You can listen to it here. I learned that ninjas were meant to be spies, not so much warriors. And definitely not turtles. There is no mention of turtles being ninjas in Japan in the 15th century. You have to wait until the 20th century in the U.S.A. Well, AT LEAST the kids learned the names of famous artists: Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo! Too bad that they think they’re turtles with nunchucks (or “nunchuku” for you purists out there…)
With every day that passes, I’m more convinced that we’re all going to hell in a handbasket.
As I managed to get out of the house this week, I went to Brickbottom Gallery in Somerville to see a show that my advisor is participating in. The show is, “Surface Matters: Exploring the Sense and Substance of Paint.” It features the works of: Adria Arch (my advisor), Ron Brunelle, Jessie Morgan, and Diane Novetsky. I have some images from the show:
Adria Arch, Exhale 2, Acrylic on panel
This is the work of my advisor! She works with other people’s doodles, manipulating and arranging them into new colors and configurations. It’s like a graphic language of the subconscious. Fascinating! More:
Adria Arch, Triangle Tangle, Acrylic on panel
This is a very large diptych. I LOVED the colors in this one and the repetition of the shapes at different scales, colors, and layers. These panels are built up a bit, almost like the layers of encaustic, but with acrylics.
Next:
Jessie Morgan, Night Tide #925, Mixed media on plexi
This artist had a really interesting process of somehow squeegeeing large swaths of color on slick plexi. The ridges of paint are visible, and it seems that she uses both sides of the plexi. The colors in this piece are gorgeous. You can’t tell from the photo, but there are subtle horizontal bands of a pale green that are embedded behind the dark vertical layers. This is a rather large piece…maybe 48″x48″?
Next:
Ron Brunelle, You Speak My Language, Acrylic on wood panel
This work also had the look of encaustic. He gets and amazing amount of layering and color in his work. His work also made me think of the rich and saturated hues of ceramic glazes.
All of the artists have visual depth/layering in their works, without necessarily building up a lot on the panel surface. I think that they’ve all honed some interesting techniques. I really enjoyed this show…so go see it if you’re in Somerville!
Ahh…Somerville. How I miss your grittiness. This was nearby the gallery. You might want to bring a ninja with you if you go after dark. If you don’t have an actual ninja to bring (who does?), you’ll have to channel your “inner ninja,” whatever that is…
Just sayin’.
Filed under: Fleeting thoughts... | Tags: art, knitting, Li Hongbo, Massachusetts, Nemo, Winter storm
Well, it’s 4:01 pm here, and we are officially banned from driving in Massachusetts. No, I’m not kidding. We have a MOTOR VEHICLE BAN right now because of winter storm “Nemo”. We’re expecting 24″ – 30″ of snow today. YIKES! (Send help! Send chocolate!)
Here’s what it looked like at 10 am this morning:
Pshaw. What’s the fuss?
Here’s what the radar shows right NOW:
Hmm. We live next to Cambridge, in the upper right. I guess that red stuff at the bottom of the map is heading our way. Here is what the blue stuff on the map looks like right now:
Hmm. I guess that the red stuff is going to be worse? Luckily, I bought a huge, puffy down robe (to replace the natty mint green one, as mentioned in earlier posts). So, I can muff around the house looking like a short linebacker whilst I drink massive quantities of tea and try not to go out of my mind with cabin fever. Perhaps if Jack Nicholson had a puffy robe like mine in “The Shining”, he wouldn’t have gone off the deep end? I’m doing much better, in comparison, as I just LOOK like I’ve gone off the deep end. Impressive, right?
My son and I have done MANY activities to entertain ourselves today. I’ve tried to maintain sanity and not have the contents of our house spread all over the floor by my son. He’s a master at domestic demolition, a.k.a. making a mess. It’s almost like we have our OWN Nemo INSIDE our house, creating a disaster. I may have to have some kind of vehicle ban here as well…
Our sweet cousin (well…my husband’s cousin) sent us this kit of animals to make from paper:
Looks kind of fun, right? (or, is that only true for the inner architect?) How hard could it be? It’s just three pieces, for crying out loud. It turned out cute, even though I nearly had a meltdown with the gluing:
My son felt it was important to have a dinosaur next to the tiger, just for effect. There’s nothing like using an xacto blade on a wobbly wood table while your five year old jostles next to you and asks when you’re going to be done. STRESS! Luckily, no one was hurt, as we wouldn’t be allowed to drive to the emergency room anyway. Yay, Nemo!
I was rather proud of our little paper tiger sculpture, UNTIL I saw the work of Li Hongbo online:
Watch a video of his work here. ISN’T IT MIND BOGGLING???
I’m kind of flabbergasted. I’m flabbergasted that he could MAKE that enormous stack of accordion paper, never mind sculpt it. So talented. Crazy!!! (BTW…both of those sculptures above illustrate how I’m going to feel by the end of the day…) Sometimes, I wonder if success in the art world is related to O.C.D. Thoughts?
On a happy note…I finally finished knitting my sweater!
Don’t you love it??? I’m totally addicted to knitting. Yes, I have a problem. Yes, I get giddy when looking at yarn, patterns, and other people’s projects. Yes, I have a Ravelry account, and could waste an hour looking at knit SOCKS. It’s a problem. I’m kind of sinking into the puffy robe persona. Not good. At least we don’t have cats…
Okay…in a similar textile vein…watch a cool music video of thread, pins and sewing needles here.
I wasn’t kidding about sending me chocolate, either.
slightly wonky 