Catching up and being grateful

I can't believe the last time I posted was in September. I have been so wrapped up in preparing for my new job as an adjunct, prepping and planning workshops and getting into the studio that I just haven't had the energy to do a post. I am so grateful that it is Thanksgiving week. Here is a quick recap:

Teaching:

I have been  teaching for about 5 years now. Encaustic, pigment sticks, mixed media, and most recently college 2d design and drawing. I am getting better at planning and preparing for  workshops but college teaching has a huge learning curve.  I like the kids very much but the prep, grading and policing is a bit overwhelming. I know it will get easier. I am having fun revisiting the basics of point, line, plane, grid, positive and negative etc....

grid with repeating elements

I have been busy planning and booking workshops for 2012. I am grateful for these opportunities to teach, travel and work with great people.

January 25, 26, 27 

Pigment sticks at R & F Handmade Paints, Kingston,NY

April 18, 19, 20  

Pigment sticks at R & F Handmade Paints, Kingston, NY
June 4  
FULL
Pigments Sticks and Encaustic at Sixth International Encaustic Conference Provincetown, Mass

June17-22     

Encaustic  and Embellishment

Cullowhee Mountain ARTS at Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, North Carolina

July 26-30 

FUSE: Art, Body, Motion with artist Sara Mast

Bozeman, Montana 

August  20 -24

Pigment Stick and Mixed Media

Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill, Truro, MA

October 17,18,19

Pigment sticks at R & F Handmade Paints, Kingston, NY

Exhibition News:

In October my work was in  Kindred Spirits curated by Toby Sisson at the

Schiltkamp  Art Gallery, Clark University, Worcester MA. It included works by Kim Bernard, David A. Clark, Miles Conrad, Sue Katz, Kathleen Lemoine, Joanne Mattera, Laura Moriarty , Lisa Pressman, Marybeth Rothman, and Donna Talman. It is up until December 12th.

Close up of Making Sense

Next year I will be included in "Confluence: Medium Meets Message" at the

Morean Arts Center, St Petersburg, Fla. This show is curated by Amanda Cooper and Leslie Neumann.
WAX: Medium Meets Message
March 23 – May 28, 2012
Opening Reception: March 23, 2012

Local artist and activist Leslie Neumann gathered a roster of stellar artists who work in diverse methods, but share the common bond of using encaustic, a wax based paint with luminous qualities.

Hailing from divergent places such as Portland, OR, Santa Fe, NM, Maine and the New York City area, each artist brings a unique and exciting perspective to this ancient medium. Viewers will be astounded by the floating installations of Lorrie Fredette, the kinetic sculptures of former dancer Kim Bernard, and the political bite of Russell Thurston.  Wax gets nostalgic with the photo-based paintings of Marybeth Rothman, and brilliantly abstract in the hands of Lisa Pressman.

Leslie Neumann and Elise Wagner draw our attention upward with paintings that explore the cosmos. Artists who present a more down-to-earth perspective are the seed-studded altars of Ann Taylor Gibson, and the geological sculptures of Laura Moriarty.

This exhibition not only will feature the diversity of wax in art, but will also provide our community with a fun, educational component featuring the history of wax and all its other versatile uses.

I am  thrilled to be included in the inaugural edition of Encaustic Works ‘11, a juried show in print by Joanne Mattera. My work was selected to be part of the portfolio section of the book.

Studio News:

My studio is in a state of disarray. I have many pieces working and just a few close to finished. I have been painting with oils, pigment sticks, ink and wax and having that "not knowing"  feeling.  All I do know, is when I am in the studio I know that is where I am supposed to be.

 

My office has become not only the communication, marketing and "sales" center but my 2D design studio. How many jobs do we all have as artists?......tooooo many.

My website needs attention so that is on my list for the near future.  I have been working on my artist statement. The never ending tweaking and retweaking....Here it is as of today:

My work is rooted in play, a sense of discovery and a passion for revealing the unknown. Images emerge from my translation of experiences of the outside world, and are internalized through the lens of the inner eye. I am interested in motion, energy and balance both formally and metaphorically.

The paintings develop through an intuitive dialog between deliberate and random marks, allowing a relationship between intent and accident to unfold. Time and memory are evoked through the process of layering and scraping. The working process is inseparable from the completed image, which stands as a witness to the history of its making.

Art Seeing News:

Part of my deal with myself with traveling into NYC for teaching is not to waste the money I spend just on the commute.  Recently, I went to see DeKooning which was overwhelming and I need to see it again. What struck me this first visit was the that those last paintings seemed to be the last of his memory of his painting structure that he used throughout his life.

Last Friday I went to Chelsea and saw Joan Michell and Richard Pousette Dart. Both must sees!

Joan Mitchell

close up of a Joan Mitchell

Joan Mitchell

Joan Mitchell

Richard Pousette Dart

Richard Pousette Dart

Richard Pousette Dart

Although I am grateful for all of the above, my family and my friends, old and new, are at the top of my list.

Happy Thanksgiving !

Using Mixed Media to Discover Your Voice, Part 3

Truro

My favorite part of any workshop is the end. It is the time when everyone gets to look at what they have accomplished and also what the entire group accomplished. We talk about process, we talk about formal elements and most importantly  talk about content. Are any of these works finished? The million dollar question. I would say, in most cases, no, but they are research to take back to the  studio.

I am pointing something out to Andy.

Here is she is. Her love of light and an abstracted landscape was apparent.

Barbara used her one minute drawings as a spring board to develop these  beautifully subtle  pieces.

 

Connie apologized  for her graphic one minute drawings. I said "Are you crazy? If that is what you do then go for it"

And she did with the exciting three pieces below the drawings. Freedom

 !

I saw maps/mapping in Deborah's work the first day and that sparked the above work.

Denise came with  specific imagery in mind for a book project. Here you can see the gravestone image emerging.

Julie's lyrical works reference stones and landscape.

Karen's love for textiles, organic forms and light are featured in her work here.

Lorraine worked very quietly and slowly creating these pieces. The top one in particular has such an interesting use of negative space, edge and line. It  is one of those pieces that reveals more as you look at it.

I blew up Maryellen's photo because all of her pieces were small. Small, but packed with luscious paint, surface and glimmers of light. Gems.

Pam had a great time painting and painting over. I am looking forward to seeing what happens with the triptych. You can't see it in this photo but there are layers of light and beautifuly quiet markings.

Patricia brought and did a tremendous amount of work. This is only half of the pieces she was working on. She is working out lots of ideas and it will interesting to see how she synthesizes them into her work.

This was my demo piece which I started in April at the R&F workshop. I brought it out to do a demo, and ended up adding that purple square on the left. Although it got a lot of oohs  and ahs

from the "crowd", I took it out. The piece is still percolating.

Here is the group! 

Thanks Cheri for inviting me to teach at Castle Hill.


For upcoming workshops please visit my website teaching page.

Using Mixed Media to Discover Your Voice, Part 2

After the first day (here), I introduced some materials that I like to work with including pigment sticks, cold wax, oil paint, graphite and various tools and techniques. Below are a few shots of the work in progress.

Patricia

Deborah

Denise

Connie

      

Maryellen

        

Barbara

Lorraine looking

                                                                                    

Andy

Julie

Karen

Pam