Fifty-Two

I am thrilled to announce that I have been invited to participate in a group show all the way over in Bristol, UK by the ladies at Calm Air All Ice, Camilla (who invited me) and Claire. It'll be up March 28 through April 3 at Room 212, and I really couldn't be more pleased to be included.

I'll likely send my Elliott Smith painting (which is already made), along with maybe one house painting and one quilt painting (each of which I will make fresh for the exhibition). I like having events for which to create work—I tend to thrive on deadlines.

In other news, I am wrapping up teaching my first class (foundation drawing) with the Art Institute of Pittsburgh Online, and getting ready to start on the next one (digital image manipulation)! It's been a busy month— I've been teaching a self-portrait class to five 12- and 13-year old boys on Saturday mornings, and I taught a private bookbinding lesson to a lovely family (A mom, her daughter and daughter-in-law, and her 12-year-old granddaughter, who blew us all out of the water) last weekend! Next week, I'm finishing up with the boys but also teaching Bookbinding for Beginners at the Western New York Book Arts Center; after that, my weekends will be my own again, at least for a while. I need to catch up on some studio work!

Finding a Groove + Tae Won Yu

I am an artist, and I love making art.

Yet it is somehow hard for me to fit in the making of it. Should I admit that here?

I see so many artist blogs where everyone is so productive, so thoughtful, so linked in to the rest of the world (whatever world that may be, here online among artist blogs or elsewhere)... and here my poor blog languishes mostly in inactivity, or showing stuff that I made previously. In 2010 I'd really like to change this, and I hope I can. I miss making art all the time. I want to be able to show people new things frequently. That is who I am.

Sure, it is nice to have languid, lazy weekends like the one I had hence, but the reality is that is not how I achieve my goals (except for getting all the books read I'd like, that's one good thing about a weekend like the one I just had).

One step I have recently taken is to always bring my sketchbook with me to work, in case I have a moment for inspiration. So far nothing has happened.

But, things like that don't just happen, do they? One must resolve to do them.

I don't have anything new to show you from me at the moment, but I'd like to share this photo I just took of a lovely little new year's card I got from my old friend Tae Won Yu, who designed it (maybe even printed it himself? I'll have to ask). I've got it hanging in my cube at work, it looks nice juxtaposed with a sketch I did of a dead chipmunk years ago (we're talking 20+) that I still really love. I ought to get it framed properly one day. Anyway, isn't Tae's work amazing? He's been a great inspiration to me over the years as an artist and as a graphic designer, and I am fortunate to have quite a few examples of his work in my files and on my walls.



Goal for today: One drawing in my sketchbook of anything.

***

This week is the beginning of what looks like a fairly busy teaching season—I hope so, anyway. I've listed the classes I am scheduled to teach in the coming months in a new section on my website, CLASSES. I'm also starting to teach online as an adjunct professor at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh today! This is my first online teaching experience and I am very excited to see how teaching a drawing class online works out. The school has provided a really good class structure and resources, so at least I have a strong foundation to build on, plus a mentor for my first class! I guess this is the wave of the future. I think it's pretty nifty. It definitely appeals to the hermit in me, I admit it!

Lots to look forward to. I just need to carve out time for the activity that is most important to me: making my art. Should be easy, right?

(Hmph, if it was easy I'd have already done it.)

I'd be really interested to hear what you other artists out there reading have to say about my predicament: balancing more than full-time work and family with my studio practice.

Collborations

Here are three of the collages my students and I made together in a round robin collage session the Saturday before last. Each person had twenty minutes with each collage, then passed it on to the next person. It was a very gratifying, fun way to work. Even the students enjoyed themselves! I did, too.

Collages by Amber (18), Topaz (15), Tyler (13), and me:

Post-weekend

It was an interesting weekend.

On Friday, I made it to a third "collecting" post on Poppytalk! Talk about a nice way to wrap up the week. It has geared me up to get back into the studio and maybe even update my poor, languishing Etsy shop. I'd like to generate some more interest in my work online, and make an active effort to sell more. Sadly, I've gotta pay the bills somehow. What better way than to sell the work I love to make?

Speaking of which, I sold this piece over the weekend to one of my online friends! She has been collecting my work over the past few years, and since this is one of my favorite recent collages, I am happy that it will be going to live with her.


U-Men, mixed media, 9" x 10.25", 2009

And I am thrilled that the same patron has renewed my Pro account over at Flickr, which means that you can once again see all my photos, including the ART Set. I hated not having access to everything, so this is just wonderful. It's like Christmas! So thank you, J.!

***

On Saturday, I taught my collage class again—just three more sessions to go! This time I had the three students work for twenty minutes on a collage, any subject matter, any size, etc. Then, they passed their collage to the nest student, who would then work on it for another 20 minutes, adding to it however they wish, on to the next, and so on until each collage was returned to its originator. (Actually, I ended up participating in this, too, since there were just three students.)

I must say, the collages turned out fantastic, way surpassing any expectations I had myself. I will take photos and post them here this coming Saturday to share with you. I really enjoy working with my little group of teenagers and it seems like they are really opening themselves up to the hands-on process of collage, too. Can you believe that none of them had ever tried it before?

Next week, we are moving onto digital collage (sadly, I think), but I am going to encourage them to mix and match between cut and paste techniques and scanning and digital manipulation. I'm sure they will come up with some cool ideas.

***

As for me, I want to gift myself with some much-needed studio time this week.

Autumn Color Week: Brown

Drop, oil and colored pencil on wood panel, 2007


Two Questions, oil and colored pencil on canvas, 12" x 18", 2007


Include Me Out, acrylic and colored pencil on wood panel, 2009

***

In other news, this morning I had the pleasure of teaching a small group of students from the Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts over at the Buffalo Arts Studio a little workshop making movable paper puppets! A while ago, I discovered the book Paper Puppet Palooza and started making some paper pals of my own. It's a really fun, fairly easy and not-too-messy creative activity that is actually quite addicting! So, I was happy to share my new obsession with the seven students and their three teachers. We didn't have much time together, but true to kid form, they all dove right in and got quite a bit accomplished—from a tiger and a wolf to a robot, and more! I'll have to take some photos of the ones I've recently made— a vintage-styled Mexican Lucha wrestler with interchangeable heads and a running horse.

Each time I end up working with youngsters, it fuels my desire that much more to become certified to teach K-12. I find them so interesting and inspirational! I guess we'll see what the future holds, there is so much I'd like to do... in the meantime I at least have the opportunity to work with area arts organizations to fill in that gap in my artistic life.

I feel lucky.

Giving and getting

On Friday and Monday, I visited my old high school for the first time in over 20 years. I went because I had been invited by the current art teacher at the school (my art teacher from way back when retired a couple years ago and now works as a docent coordinator at a local museum). She asked if I would be willing to do something like a mini-residency with her students, and I gladly jumped at the chance. It was a blast! On Friday, my first day, I presented a Powerpoint slide show and talked about my work as well as how I arrived at where I am with my art today. Then, we all crowded around a table where I also showed them some smaller work that I was able to bring in to show them, as well as some of my design work, aka My Day Job. There were two separate classes, so I got to do all that twice. Suffice it to say that I was pretty zonked after that, especially considering I had to wake up at 5am to make it there in time.

(It was totally worth it, by the way.)

Yesterday was where I think everyone had the most fun. We began with me sort of demonstrating my techniques for reusing and recombobulating old work that was either just languishing in the corner for far too long, or work that I just never really liked that much to begin with. So, I started with a couple prints I made back in grad school and some other random pieces of ephemera and pages from type catalogs... and voila!

OK, well, it didn't happen that quickly and I told them it doesn't always. At that point the kids started working on their own creations and it was then that I really started having fun. It was so amazing to see how these young minds and hands went to work, totally unencumbered by rules or requirements... but, surprisingly enough, I think some of them had a hard time letting go a bit. And most of them certainly did NOT want to go cutting up their handiwork, even if it wasn't something they were very happy with. Hey, I remember what that was like...

Long story short, I had a great time and felt I was able to give something back to the school where I grew up and received so much support and encouragement. A big thank you goes to the teachers who invited and welcomed me into their classrooms: Mary Beth Zacher and Jude Kosinski.

Not to mention... all that creative activity really inspired me. By the end of the time I spent in classes, I walked away with two new works on paper myself!


Highway to Hell, mixed media, 2009


U-Men, Mixed media, 2009