#MyOnlyGuns is making it rounds from California to Ohio and then landing in Washington, DC next month. It has been selected to be a part of the "Quietly Powerful" exhibit at Sense Gallery. Good art is not about matching your sofa, but about the conversation it starts. "Being a teacher is an awesome responsibility to not only teach tiny humans but to keep them safe these days in our schools. This artwork is a statement about the thought of arming teachers. It is ridiculous to ever think that the same people who are throwing themselves between the bullets and their kids would ever be willing to be the people to fire bullets. #MyOnlyGuns I ever want to pack in my classroom can be seen here. Fellow educators, please roll up your sleeves and join me."
A Dozen Donut Dates has officially kicked off with finishing my first piece. "Tess" took a little longer than expected, but I experimented with some new techniques that I loved and hated all at once. Late one night I completely wiped out her face and started over. This series was born to get back to the old-fashioned idea of spending time with people in person and seeing what they have to offer on the inside. We often make decisions about people much like when selecting our donuts. The donuts are in cases much like people on social media. We can only see what is on the outside until we bite into them or until we spend time with them. This was not my first donut date with her family, we have a mutual love affair for donuts. We met at the park, ate our donuts (that much like Tess, wore a sparkly sugar coating) and then went for a hike where Tess, dressed in a fluffy pink hoodie with sparkly gold stars, was perfectly happy foraging for rocks in the mud and grass. After finally getting her to leave, we decided to meet for lunch as well. Her dad carried the pink glittery treasure box into the restaurant and sat it in front of Tess who insisted on sitting right by me. We had met for dinner only a couple of weeks before and her treasure chest that night consisted of makeup that she proceeded to pretend to put on me throughout dinner. Assuming similar contents, it was the best surprise ever to see not only the rocks she had collected that day, but the rest of her rock collection as well. This lunch was spent naming every rock in the chest and then coloring them with markers. Names included were things like "froggie" because it resembled a frog and "rainbow" for a completely gray rock. What I love most about tiny humans is their ability to be uninhibited by rules and logic and to just be themselves. I've known Tess since she was inside her mom's belly and she has always been a spitfire, a character, and a beautiful tiny human. I can not wait to see where her creative mind leads.
Teaching tiny humans takes tremendous energy. I try to work on artwork a few nights a week and a majority of the weekend. This week grades are due and entering grades for 925 tiny humans has taken a larger chunk of my time. Last night though, I stole 2 hours to myself and worked on Tess. Hopefully finishing her up this weekend and then planning Donut Date number 2.
While dropping off an additional work, I was able to get a sneak peek tonight of the show at Studio San Giuseppe, Mount St. Joseph University. The opening will be Feb 1st from 5-9 and the show will run through the 18th. It's a bit of an overwhelming feeling to walk around the corner and see 17 of your artworks all hung together in one space. I think a lot of the feeling was due to the large number of self-portraits I have done in the last year. I mean no one is really a fan of looking at their self, but like Chuck Close said, "I drew myself because I was the only one in the room." As artists we get inspiration at the craziest of times and it's just easy to use your own image. But I have also always thought that every artwork anyone creates is a self-portrait whether it includes their image or not. The irony of this body of work is that I have always hated to have my picture taken and would avoid the camera at all costs. Then one day I realized that if I didn't start taking some pics soon I'd only have old lady pics.
What looks like the aftermath of a donut war is actually a behind the scenes look at my latest delicious adventure. What began as a photoshoot for a stand alone next artwork, ended with a bakers "dozen" of ideas for 2019. Initially I was working on another artwork for "And the world will live as one" lyric from John Lennon's "Imagine" song. Color, size, shape, preferences don't have to keep us from living as one. If you know me you know my love affair with donuts. My favorite is all of them. Like people, each one has a reason to love it. Some have fun sprinkles or stripes, some are strikingly beautiful, some are nutty, some are plain glazed...what you see is what you get, and some have their deliciousness hidden on the inside. I went to one of my fave donut shops and bought more than a dozen donuts to arrange, cut, and my fave BITE into to get a variety of shots to choose from. While working on small studies this past week an idea screamed into my brain late one night. I'm going to go on a "dozen donut dates" in 2019 and document them and the people that share them with me in an artwork. We spend so much time on social media that we have become antisocial. I want to get back to finding out what deliciousness people are hiding on the inside. I went on my first donut date yesterday....more to come on that later. I'm working on several artworks at once right now and my mind is all over the place which is actually nothing unusual. Stay tuned...you donut want miss this. Interested in being one of my donut dates?
Good art is not about matching your sofa, but about the conversation it starts. How can this deliciousness start a conversation? You'll have to stay tuned to find out, but I guarantee I have not abandoned my art with a message. Sometimes research for new works can be horrendous and sometimes it can be delicious...and then sometimes it can be deliciously horrendous. A photo shoot with 19 different donuts....I'm pretty sure I gained 5 lbs and 3 cavities just taking pics of them. With any new subject matter, I like to do a small study first to get my feet wet or in this case my taste buds salivating. This is a tiny 6x6 study painted with these Pelikan watercolors that I have just discovered in the last few months. Although never a watercolor fan, I find this particular brand works really well on the claybord that I work on almost exclusively. I'm using them in my own way to get the uncontrolled effect I have come to love in my current work. Unpredictability has always been a love of mine as each work feels like Christmas...you never know what you are going to get in opening the package of any new artwork to see what there is to respond to...is the most exciting part. I started this piece last night and have it to the tweak stage as of a few minutes ago. Full disclosure, all 19 donuts were eaten during this research
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AuthorGood art isn't about matching your sofa, but about the conversation it starts. Archives
August 2021
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