um - first i just want to thank you for all the kindness regarding my last post. thanks for being so enthusiastic about my endeavors. it really means a lot to me.
my tanks came back from the japanese museum show . and of course the museum stacked them perfectly by color. it's just one of those things that would happen in japan - and why i feel such an affinity - it's like a little bit of order in some chaos. structure within something that doesn't really warrant it - i opened the crate and there was just this little bit of ordinary beauty to make my day [and make carrying the heavy crate worth it]
i have been sicker than i've been in a long time - so if you have been wondering why i haven't been around the internets - that is why. thank god for my amazing husband who took the greatest care of me. i am so so lucky. he doesn't allow me to take care of him in the same way so i'll have to find another way to repay him....
last night as i tried to fall asleep without dry hacking out my lung i kept thinking of tether ball . i'm not sure why this is, but i kept trying to make it into a metaphor for life. random yes. did you play as a kid? it's not like it's the most interesting game, and yet i remember playing it for entire recesses. and then i had this desire to pull out a pair of scissors while the ball was spinning around and just cut it free. a yellow ball catapulting in some direction. [sigh. what in the world does this say about my mental state?]
hope your weeks are off to a good start. i'll be around soon.....
Labels: life
or shameless self promotion.
i'm actually quite excited an honored to announce this news.... i've been included in a new book anthology called Illustration Play. what is most exciting is that it includes a bunch of artists i've really admired for a long time. to be in their company is an honor i never thought i'd have a chance to talk about!
we each have a multiple page spread [i think 10 pages total?] and a little questionnaire in the back with all our our handwritings.
victionary press did such a nice job. i love that they made little stickers from all of our works and stuck them all over the front and back cover. they have more shots of the inside on their site .
amazon link to the book : Illustration Play
timothy buckwalter asked me to submit a 500 word essay on a moment that made me want to be a painter for a KQED piece he was putting together. my thoughts on david park [pictured above] and john zurrier - the person that introduced me to him are here . what's great is that john's response to the same question is right below mine.....
finally.... the multi-talented patricia asked me if i would participate in her collection of interviews blog craft synergy . my interview is here . if you haven't checked out craft synergy you can get lost in all the interviews she's conducted. wow. thanks for asking me to participate patricia!
i'm actually quite excited an honored to announce this news.... i've been included in a new book anthology called Illustration Play. what is most exciting is that it includes a bunch of artists i've really admired for a long time. to be in their company is an honor i never thought i'd have a chance to talk about!
we each have a multiple page spread [i think 10 pages total?] and a little questionnaire in the back with all our our handwritings.
victionary press did such a nice job. i love that they made little stickers from all of our works and stuck them all over the front and back cover. they have more shots of the inside on their site .
amazon link to the book : Illustration Play
timothy buckwalter asked me to submit a 500 word essay on a moment that made me want to be a painter for a KQED piece he was putting together. my thoughts on david park [pictured above] and john zurrier - the person that introduced me to him are here . what's great is that john's response to the same question is right below mine.....
finally.... the multi-talented patricia asked me if i would participate in her collection of interviews blog craft synergy . my interview is here . if you haven't checked out craft synergy you can get lost in all the interviews she's conducted. wow. thanks for asking me to participate patricia!
this is the key for my next tank install at SF State. i have a whole folder full of the keys that i've made - some realized, some not.... i really like this kind of busywork. something obsessive that i know has a beginning and an end and that i can sort of meander around while making... you have to pay enough attention so that you don't put the wrong color dot in the wrong space, but there's a method to the madness. it's a nice balance.
so remember the book by michael kimmelman i mentioned? the Accidental Masterpiece
. well, i really want to share this passage [this is particularly for shari and maria ]. the set up is that he's talking about a found photo.It is a fair guess that this man, this woman, and their photographer would be surprised to learn, if they are still alive, that their momento made it to the Met, sharing wall space with Rembrandts and Monets. Whenever the picture was snapped, wherever that was, the man and woman peering into the sun, the photographer maybe fumbling with the shutter before asking them to say "Cheese!" -- none of them were presumably motivated by the desire to create timeless beauty... But the art in the photograph of those strangers and the car is there, plain as day. It is in the reflection of the woman's body on the card door. By some act of divine comic grace, the reflection happens to match up precisely with the head of the man so that he looks like the woman's ghostly, dwarflike double, a funny-surreal coincidence that, by adding a layer of unanticipated meaning to the picture, suddenly elevates it from ordinary snapshot to art.
Sometimes art works that way. It appears unexpectedly. It doesn't arrive through the front door. It senaks in the back, the more startling for being the result of dumb luck. This picture would be less likable, I suspect, if we learned that a professional had planned it, because the amateur's fluke reminds us of a basic fact in life, which is always heartening: the art is out there waiting to be captured, the only question being whether we are prepared to recognize it
um. yeah. need i say more? i almost feel like this is the essence of why we hunt for small moments of beauty. why we look around, take pictures, blog.... it's the line. the line between ordinary and art that i seek. i want to see where it blurs, where it crosses over, where it leans more heavily in one direction. this is why i feel like it's justifiable to call one's art practice research. because research is :: the systematic investigation into and study of materials and sources in order to establish facts and reach new conclusions.
and because this matches my argyle and shash is holding a textile pattern week.... my laptop bag from brooklyn industries
have a good wednesday
hi there.
the beholder has just re-launched their website! in addition to some paint chip pieces, i've put up all the inedible cupcake series from the i want sugar show. my plan is to update the beholder with work now and again that is for sale. i'll try to remember to announce here if something new is going up.... here is my info page.
my pal timothy buckwalter curated their first online show - and was nice enough to include me. i love his theme. hint [if you like echo and the bunneymen - click quick]
jen has some work on there too - as do a host of great artists... it's fun to get lost in that site....
one great link. i'm not even sure how i found this - but i'm LOVING wil freeborn/ghostschool. his drawings in his moleskine are so wonderful.
hope your week is off to a good start!
in case you were wondering if i still was an artist... i am trying to be. my drawings for a proposed wall piece for a show all about robots at the san jose museum of art were approved by the curator! yay. the show will open in april and run all summer. [gotta love museums for their schedules]
here's a close up of part of it.... i have to figure out if i want to use colored pencil or gouache on the wall....
i also just arranged to do another tank installation in march at cesar chavez art gallery at San Francisco State. i've got to get a bigger template ready. the wall there is 9 feet by 24 feet and curved... i'm thinking maybe this vinyl that will just stick to the wall
i also want to mention this book : the art of life and visa versa by michael kimmelman , one of the main art critics of the new york times . [you have to click out of bloglines to see the book cover/link below....]
i bought it at SFMOMA when i ran through the olifer eliasson exhibit again. [i swear he's the lovechild of robert smithson and james turrell].
i am LOVING this book. there are moments of divine poetry where kimmelman really describes what it's like to be in the presence of art you love. when something moves from "ordinary" to "art". the introduction alone was inspiring. i've only read two essays, but can't wait to read the rest.
hope you all had a nice week thus far....
Labels: art, books, inspiration
hello there. it is raining here. cold cold cold [i wish it would just snow]. i dressed in 3 shades of gray to compliment the weather....
above is a catalogue i designed for my former teacher [now mentor and friend] katherine sherwood . her work continually blows me away. it was the first time i worked on something that was over 60 pages. it was for her show at the national academy of sciences. you can read more here
you should also read this interview with with aurora robson [my couplets show partner]. she's been working on a GIANT sculpture and you can get a sneak peek in the article. it takes my breath away.... she's using recycled plastic bottles. talk about transformation.
hope you are all having a good weekend. i'm about to enjoy a cooked at the table meal by my husband. sigh.
Labels: artists, inspiration
