ART FIX Residency Challenge

 Want to go on a residency but can't afford to or don't want to fill out all those tiresome papers? I have the answer for you.

I've been in such an unfocused  art state and big time avoiding the studio, I've decided to take up Kesha Bruce's 2011 In-house ART FIX Residency Challenge.  The residency happens in your own studio and you are encouraged to survey all your collected art materials-even the ones hidden away in the back corners of cupboards- and use them as the inspiration for new works. I can do that!  There's no  themes, no commitments to create earth shattering work, no new expenses for materials.  As a by- product of surveying your materials you will probably have to tidy and organize- not a bad thing. I'm looking forward to the cross pollination that will occur by viewing what others have been up to.

So here's what you have to do if you're interested:

The room seldom visited lately

1. Go into your work area and inventory your art supplies. Dust them off and make a commitment to actually using them.  (Next post)


2. Every week from now until April 14th, 2011, you will post images of what you’ve made on your blog, your website, on Facebook, or on Flickr. Your choice. (on blogger)


3. Report back to Kesha after you’ve published your first post so she can share with everyone who's involved. (See link above)

4. Have fun, fun, fun.

All things wax

All my preparations are completed for may attendance at the International Encaustic Conference in Provincetown, MA  which begins on June 3, 2011.  I fly into Boston on June 1, meet my fellow conference participant, Carol Bajen-Gahm and drive down to the Cape. We have lovely condo accommodations thanks to Carol's daughter. What a week it will be.  After the conference finishes  there are day long post conference workshops  offered.  I plan to take two of these also and then fly to Halifax on Thursday, June 9 to attend the Annual General Meeting of CARFAC.  What an exciting trip.

Now who wouldn't want to attend a conference in a location like this? 

I'm registered for a range of conference sessions that will see me exploring image transfers , using paper in encaustic, fusing with irons, creating pattern effects in your work, and hand made paper substrates.  In addition there are panels, a key note address by Jackie Battenfield, a conference exhibition, mini exhibitions by participants in hotel rooms, a trade show and all the unscheduled learning that occurs at such events. I'm excited.

Post conference sessions I'm attending;

          Advanced Encaustic: Mainly Metals
          Charyl Weissbach

 
As our practice continues, we may find ourselves looking to explore some materials more deeply. This advanced workshop focuses on the metallic. Boston-based painter Charyl Weissbach, who uses metals extensively in her own work, will demonstrate a variety of techniques and materials: gilding above and below the surface with various metallic foils, metallic oil sticks, the use of metal flakes, mica, and iridescent pigments. You will integrate these materials and techniques into your own projects with Charyl available to work with you.

       Masks and Stencils
        Deanna Wood 

 
Following her demo during the conference, Deanna will get you working on ways to create unique or repeated images through the use of masks and stencils, which you’ll make yourself with acetate, tracing paper and regular copy paper. You’ll learn how to temporarily attach the masks, cut out a design using an x-acto knife, and the advantages/disadvantages of various materials. 




This weekend I have two days booked for group studio time at Torbay Bight Studios.  I plan to work on a piece for my submission to the Beeline Juried exhibition.  

It's about heart

My four year old granddaughter was excited to tell me last week that it would soon be heart day. And indeed it is today.  It seems that all I've see in the last week are red hearts everywhere. I thought I would do a little exploration of the use of heart motifs in art.

Very interesting with lots of variety, some thought provoking, some trite and lots in between ....

Aimee Howard

Aimee Howard's Heart Series: Clichés consists of containers in the form of human anatomical
hearts, which open to reveal visual narratives of clichés associated with the heart. The long standing symbolism surrounding the heart in western culture leads to a range of "beliefs' about the heart defining who we are. A person's essence is described by listing characteristics of his or her heart-heart of gold, broken hearted, cold heart, empty heart etc. .

Howard  has added medical connotations to the works to allow the hearts to become visual diagrams. The pieces are an x-ray - something to look at and determine  what the problem is and how it could be solved. It is up to the individual viewer to decide if the work has a positive or negative outlook.  In Broken Heart we see the gear is cracked but there are tools and other parts that could fix the problem.

The artist hopes "that these pieces illustrate positive and negative elements of the

human condition, confirming that we are not alone in our struggles or our success."

My heart led me astray yesterday and February 15 is here and I continue to explore.

Jim Dine 

I've always loved the childlike imagery but painterly quality of this piece which was created in1970 but the artist continues with this theme today as you can see from the image below.

Jim Dine, Wiesbaden, 2009. From: Hearts from Nikolaistrasse, 2009. 81.2 x 110.3 cm. Inkjet with photo etching and hand painting.  

Jim Dine is well known for his use of heart motifs in his work.  There's a good collection at  Alan Cristea Gallery.

"No other artist has provided more target practice for cupid's Valentine's Day arrow than Jim Dine. Since the mid-1960s, he has painted and drawn hearts, sculpted hearts in plaster, bronze and steel, and constructed hearts out of chicken wire and straw..... His hallmark is the playful yet painterly rendering of everyday images into emotionally charged symbols. Beth Py-Lieberman

 Twin 6’ Hearts by Jim Dine (1999) The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts from Paul Lowry’s photostream,,

Jeff Koons 

 Jeff Koons' background in marketing and commodities brokerage shows in his work.  Societies fascination with popular culture  and consumerism is explored in his use of  kitsch images. He successfully marries art and commerce in more ways than just themes!

Koons' "Hanging Heart" sold in 2007 at Sotheby's for $23.6 million setting a record for the most expensive artpiece by a living artist ever auctioned.

Is it just me or do you find the reflective quality of the hanging art an important aspect of it?

Keith Haring

Keith Haring   has repeatedly  used heart imagery in his work . 

 Pepon Osario

source

Pepon Osorio, My Beating Heart, 2000,mixed mediums,  speakers with sound, archival paper, acrylic, fiber glass, 72 x 65 inches in diameter

Pepón Osorio born in Puerto Rico in 1955, is best know for  large-scale installations.  His work is   influenced by his experience as a social worker in The Bronx, usually evolve from an interaction with the neighborhoods and people among which he is working. “My principal commitment as an artist is to return art to the community,” he says.

And mosaic hearts galore.... 

 Laurel True

source

Nathan Sawaya

Sweet Heart, 2003 , Necco Conversation Hearts

via Neatorama

What about an edible heart that is anatomically  correct ?

Even the skies seem to focus on the heart of things. 

Phil Plait at Bad Astronomy Blog has a collection of astronomical images that display valentine heart shapes. Link 

I know when to stop.  Do you have  favourite heart imagery in art?

Exhibition update

The jig is up as they say.  My time of painting when the mood hits me is a thing of the past. It's time to be committed if I'm going to meet the schedule of events that is coming up in my  professional art life this year. I will admit my painting energies are being somewhat consumed by my new business venture in interior decorating. Even that can't be used as an excuse any more. I'm in the studio again and it feels good.

 Leyton Gallery summer group show
I will participate in a group show scheduled for June at the Leyton Gallery in St. John's.  This is the gallery's  annual summer show and I've always participated in it since I joined the gallery.  The work I end up showing in this exhibition is usually smaller in scale and experimental.  I don't have to follow any theme and the opportunity allows me to break away from whatever series I'm working on for that year and go for it. I keep the scale of the work relatively small to appeal to the many visitors that find the gallery in the summer months.  Taking away or shipping smaller work is definitely preferable to larger works. Not that you could describe my work as large at the best of times.  This summer I feel sure the work I will submit will be encaustic because that is where all my creative energies seem to be going these days. 


 Fifth International Encaustic Conference
I'm so excited!  My fellow encaustic lover, friend, and team teacher, Carol Bajen-Gahm and I are going to attend the 5th International Encaustic Conference in June  at the Truro Center for Arts in Truro, MA. I'm wildly excited about this trip.  As part of the scheduled events there is a juried show called Beeline which I plan to enter.  I hope to create new work to submit, but if nothing exciting develops, I have several pieces I could use. The entry date is April 1. 

Solo Exhibition
In October this year I will have a solo exhibition at  St. Francis Xavier University Art Gallery in Antigonish, Nova Scotia.  This will be my first solo exhibition outside of Newfoundland. The effort I put into writing a proposal for this show paid off.  The exhibition, titled Remnants,  is a continuation of work I began in 2008.  I am continually adding new pieces to this series that is based on the traces that the passage of time leaves on interior and exterior landscapes.  I think about it as my wallpaper and objects series.  The three pieces I showed in an earlier post in January are examples of the new work and here's a selection from the beginning of the series.

 Wallpaper Sampler (2008) 14 z 18 in. mixed media on cradled panel

 Wallpaper and Toggle (2008) 14 x 24 in.  mixed medial on cradled panel

Wallpaper and Leg (2008) 14 x 24in.  mixed media on cradled panel

What I've been reading

 

Amazon.ca

 When I'm not so productive in the studio, I'm usually reading about art.  This is my latest book about acrylics by Nancy Reyner who also wrote Acrylic Revolution.  I love a book I can pick up and start to read anywhere and that is how this one is set up. This book is "loaded with original artwork and valuable insight from 64 artists, incredibly diverse in styles and subjects, each using acrylic in unique ways to create expressive and personal art".The range of styles displayed cause you to think about your own work within this range and to question where you might change, expand or reinforce your own practice. As I read I'm the imaginary 65 artist using the format set down to examine my own practice. The layout is wonderful, it is interesting, easy to read in snippets, and gives you perfect starting points to push your own boundaries.  I give it my best two thumbs up.


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Another work in progress

It seems that most of my work these days is "in progress".  This state matches my life right now as I shift gears into my latest business venture.

Painting never leaves my mind even when I can't physically get to the studio.  This is work #3 of my Re-presenting Series. Obviously it isn't finished because the wood and rope are flying above the rocks and many of the rocks need to be "nestled". There is less wallpaper evident in this piece.  I seem to keep painting over it. Is there a reason for that I wonder?

I've already shown #1 and #2 below which are also in varying states of "done-ness". The boat is the closest to being finished. Nothing is titled yet either.  I'm very fussy about my titles and I need to understand more before I can title these works.

 I know that I need to break up the heavy lines of the house to get it to blend more with the interior and exterior landscape aspects.  Thanks for confirming that Don.

 

 I find it interesting that I'm showing work that isn't complete because I usually like to wait until I finish a work. There is something about these pieces that is elusive and no matter how hard  I try, I can't seem to nail them down. I think it is the nature of what I'm attempting to do. The melding of interior and exterior landscapes is difficult enough, but the interior shots (wallpaper layers) represent layers of time from the 1900's on .  The exterior landscapes both represent recent time and past time as the immediate natural landscape is current, but the objects in it are decaying remnants of the  work lives of the men in my family.   Everything keeps changing, my intent included.  I'd like to say I know exactly what I'm up to, but I'm just wading along and hoping I will find the right path. You've heard of writing your way to meaning, well, I'm painting my way to meaning.

What will your new year bring?

I would love to say I'm all organized for a productive year in the studio, but nothing could be further from the truth.  I've been mostly thinking about getting organized for art and acting on the other half of my life - interior design.

 Since I decided to jump in feet first by starting my own business as am interior decorator, every productive and creative moment I have  is  spent on all the various must dos for this. Marketing is now taking up most of my time.  I spent quite a bit of time over Christmas working furiously to get content onto my new blog.   I'd forgotten how difficult it is to start out with a new blog and not have an audience that you can connect with.  When I write for my art blog I have the blogging friends I've made over the last two years in mind as my audience.  I know other people visit my art blog but they mass together as one for me. For decorating I seem to just write. Because I am using Designing Home blog to promote myself in my home town that's who I'm imagining as my readers.    Most of my visitors so far seem to be coming from a local blog roll which tells me I have local people lurking.  So where am I with art?

I went down to my studio the other day for paper and I had a fresh look at a painting I began last fall.  It is part of my new Re-presenting Series.  It isn't quite  finished yet as  I'm having trouble resolving the lower right corner and I can't seem to come up with a way to integrate the house a little more.  Perhaps that is because it doesn't need to be integrated (as my wise friend said).  Feel free to respond to it. It might get me back in the groove.

 

Untitled 16 x 16 in.  image transfer, paper, acrylic paint and mediums