Quilts are People Too

              Have you seen this thing? So amazing. On mornings that I wake up to sunlight and it isn’t because I accidentally slept in, I like to try and spot new fabrics that I haven’t spent some time considering yet.  My mother, Marian, made this quilt and to do so, went searching for the perfect fabrics at three different quilting stores to get just the right combination.  Have you seen many quilting stores around? The answer is no, which means she was really on a hunt and even traveled out of state to satisfy her vision of what was meant to be for this piece.

                Growing up people would always ask where I got my “artsyness from,” as if it was a genetic trait that was passed down (as an artist educator I am convinced that it is not genetic, although perhaps it is based somewhat on learning styles, a more visual learner may gravitate to the visual arts, but ultimately art is an area of interest just like soccer is; if you are really interested in it you will naturally take the time to perfect the craft.  Olympic games aren’t won based off of whether or not somebody’s parents were interested in the sport). My mom and I would always respond to that question with “Oh well, my mom’s Aunt Nellie is a painter,” or my mother would get a spark in her eye and say “Ed used to draw cartoons for me when we first started dating,” but we never answered “Marian is artist,” and this has seriously floored me over the past several years.  Let’s just get it out there people, whether I am an artist because of genetics or not, Marian is an artist! That should really be the title of this post.  I mean honestly, check these things out:

Marian gets an idea or an inspiration, alters it’s composition until it suits her standards, gathers materials, slaves for months, and then throws the completed pieces to people in trash bags saying “oh yeah, I forgot about these.” Artist friends – How perfect is that? Marian spent TWO YEARS creating those four quilts and in the end she almost forgot to give them to us on Christmas day as planned.  It’s so hard to value your own work the way it should be.  Perhaps it is in part because of the amount of time you spend on something like that, you become overly aware of the “flaws,” which more often than not are probably just areas that don’t completely sync with your mental vision of the piece and not actually problematic areas. But then again these “flaws” are the things that keep you moving on a piece long after you’ve passed your personal deadline.  

A Solid Start to the New Year

I’m so excited to be spending so much time brainstorming and planning for new workshops and classes that I’m doing throughout the community. Hence the blog post, I've just got to get all of these good vibes out somehow or I’m going to burst!  It feels so great to come up with an idea, find other people who are excited and supportive about it, plan the thing, do the thing, then do it all over again!  Even if that idea is just "my website needs more lightning bolts" I can just make that happen and it feels great.  This freelance thing is all feeling like a really good fit.
The two workshops at the Hanson Public Library I ran on January 2^nd really helped me ring in the New Year with a smile.  I felt like I was on a high for the rest of the night, so much so that my lovely assistant and friend Meghan Dinsmore went for celebratory pizza and beer at Damien’s afterwards.  While there we chatted with our waitress Kristi who is family with two of my “community supporters” (more on that later) and has also taken one of my classes.  Such a great feeling to be making these connections and bumping into people who know me for my art and teaching throughout the community. I never expected myself to be feeling so at home in my hometown.  I’m really settling down and it feels so good.  For so long I've itched to move away or live in a city, and while I still think that maybe I’ll do those things at some point in my life, I’d be happy to not do them for another 20 years.

One of the reasons that I felt like I had to move was because I didn't feel that there was a place for me here to jump into and feel satisfied as an artist educator who wanted to work outside of the school system.  There are plenty of community centers and museums with the types of programs I want to work in if you head to Boston and any other city around the country, some more artsy and accessible than others, but where were these places on the South Shore? I wasn't sure.  It’s true, there are a few great art centers on the South Shore, including one that I am happy to have a role in as their Visual Arts Coordinator (Laura’s Center for the Arts), but I have not been able to find consistent full-time employment in the field which has again left me at times feeling dejected and as though perhaps I am in the wrong place physically if not in my career choice.  These struggles have forced me to look at my personal network and community as well as within myself to see if I could carve out my own space in this physical location in this chosen career, instead of continuing to look around for it.  I want a space where I can grow my ideas at my own pace and get involved with others who have similar goals.  A space where I can connect with artists of all ages and provide opportunities for people to stretch and explore their artistic selves.  Okay, I’m getting really earthy crunchy so I’m going to put the brakes on and jot down a quick list of my Community Supporters that I am so grateful to have in my life.

God – just kidding, although I'm sure he's great and all, it's not like I won an Oscar here.

Cara Cappellini and Leeann Trigler at Whitman WellnessCenter.  These two have been supportive since day one, which must have been almost two year ago now, on this journey for me.  They have created a space that truly serves the community through their varied offerings and the consistent support they provide to people like me who want to give some legs to an idea. 

Kate Godwin and Nancy Cappellini at the Hanson Public Library have invited me back several times to run classes in their space.  I am so happy to partner with them because they truly see their space as a place for all members of the community and they strive to make it accessible to all.  Through their generosity and the generosity of the Friends of the Library I have been able to run classes there at a lower cost, opening up the program to a wider audience.

Local artists such as Meghan Dinsmore, Paula Tamara Hoss, ShannonMcDonald, Scott Francoeur, Emily Lincoln, Matt Tanner, Lisa Hegenberger, and Mike Mariano who have all shown me in different ways that it is possible to have an artsy idea, run with it, and actually make it happen.  Love you all and am so happy to be surrounded by your dedicated and creative entrepreneurial spirits.

Hypothetical Land

I think I’m getting back on the blogging bandwagon.  I’ve taken a solid 10 months off which is the same amount of time that I’ve been working at the new art center in Hanover.  The building didn’t actually open until last January, but in November plans started up.  Leading up to all of this, I showed up a couple times with detailed lists of things that I wanted to happen there and the answer to all of my lists was always “yes!” Now here we are leading into our NINTH gallery opening of the year and I could not be more excited about it.

This month the artists who will be showing are three painters dear to my heart.  Zheyu Zhou, Luke LeWand and Vanessa Varjian were all peers of mine in the MassArt painting department.  Each of them has a unique view of what it is to be making contemporary landscape paintings.  I could get lost in any of their paintings.  I went up to Zheyu’s studio in Quincy yesterday to pick up her pieces and you seriously could have gotten lost in one of those things!! The largest painting was not able to come with me because it was 6x8 feet.  Now I know Zheyu’s work is typically large, so I borrowed one of those big utility vans from Jeff’s family but ya, painting was still too big. 

Zheyu begins her pieces by carefully tie-dying the canvas she will later use to stretch, to begin the layout of the image she is heading towards.  After this is complete, Zheyu stretches her canvas around the stretcher bars to create her big squared off surface which then has to be primed with a clear primer or rabbit skin glue in preparation for the oil paint which is to come next.  Once Zheyu gets going with her oils and brushes, she focuses in on using a minimal amount of paint to create a solid blend of where the dye ends and the oil begins.  The process is meditative for her as she clears her mind and becomes one with this slow and careful process.

Zheyu is a truly gifted artist who began her artistic training while living in China.  It sounds as though her formative years of arts training were much more rigorous, as far as perfecting craftsmanship, than I have experienced here in the States.  This training started Zheyu on the way to an incredibly high level of proficiency; she could sit down and draw or paint anything she sees perfectly, but she chooses to create more ethereal works.  These paintings dance on the line of the conscience and unconscious, a beautiful place to be. 

Zheyu Zhou
Looking Homeward, 2011
Oil on Canvas
23"x28"

Zheyu Zhou
Meditation I, 2012
Oil on Canvas
45"x73"

I am so incredibly excited to see Luke and Vanessa's paintings tonight.  They haven't dropped them off yet so I'm not sure that the pieces I'm showing here will be in the gallery or not, but here are a couple of my favorites that I've pulled from their websites.

Luke paints in a way that just screams about his consistent studio practice.  You don't make gloppy, high chroma, gestural paintings like these if you're sitting down to paint once a month.  Luke is on a friggin roll and I love every second of it. There is so much to see here, I want to eat these paintings for breakfast.  Look at the consistency of the paint going from the top to bottom of the right side of "Runaway" and you'll see what I mean.  A thin background of medium yellow under thick, overlapping strokes of muddy green to a slightly thin thwap of blue, back to the yellow before hitting a patch of detailed green, possibly suggesting a plane, then you've got part of a pink figure hanging out on the edge and some fluid, ink wash consistency of green that circles your eyes around the bottom and back up the other side of the painting.  And that is just looking at one side of the painting, holy crap I can't handle it.  I want to jump into these paintings and swim away for one thousand days.

Luke LeWand
Runaway, 2013
Oil and Acrylic on Panel
14"x10"

Luke LeWand
Hills and Homes
Acrylic on Panel
10"x14"

Vanessa Varjian is looking around, picking up all of the interesting patches of light that she sees and putting them into a bottle for us to use as a nightlight.  These are solid, heavy pieces, that transversely are bringing up vague feeling memories.  I UNDERSTAND "November Sun Comfort," I have lived in that world and it has made me feel good.  Along with this Autumn painting below, Vanessa also has a bunch of paintings she did of the snowy landscape.  These are paintings I need to surround myself with in the cold months.  They remind me that there is light, beautiful beautiful light, even during our arid and dying days.

Another thing I'm in love with in these paintings are the dynamic shapes.  In "November Sun Comfort," look in the top right where the yellow horizon line bleeds into the gray sky.  It picks up in a couple spots and then kind of dances around in the outline of some organic and lumpy rectangle.  I don't know what is going on with that shape other than compositionally pulling what is happening below and above the horizon line together, a staple to further create the feeling of solidity in this dreamscape of a land.

Vanessa Varjian
November Sun Comfort, 2012
Oil and Acrylic on Canvas
60"x72"

Vanessa Varjian
Garden Beds: Long After the Storm, 2013
Watercolor and Acrylic on Paper
9"x12"

Opening is this Friday from 6-8 at Laura's Center for the Arts in Hanover.  You can follow this link for more details.  If you miss the opening but want to come and check out the work anyway, it will be on display until the week of October 21st, just let me know when you want to stop in and I'll be sure to be there to give you a tour of the space.

Also, here are links to the artists' websites in case you want to see more of their work:

Zheyu Zhou

Luke LeWand

Vanessa Varjian

Photos of people in their homes at night.

Untitled No. 50
Pasadena, CA 1995
Digital Chromogenic Print 38 x 46.5"

Michele Iverson takes photos of people in their homes at night.  They don't know she is there and they never do.

Untitled No. 59
Pasadena, CA 1995
Gelatin Silver Print 38 x 46.5"

Michele Iverson knows that what she is doing is perverse and intrusive.  This excites her. Her excitement makes her uncomfortable.  She is interested in this discomfort.

Untitled No. 62
Pasadena, CA 1995
Digital Chromogenic Pring 38 x 46.5"

Iverson says that she would not want photos like this taken of her.  However, she quickly follows that statement with the acknowledgment that if photos like this were to be taken of her, it would be her own fault for not closing the curtains.

Untitled No. 63
Pasadena, CA 1996
Lightjet C Print 40 x 48"

Have you ever looked in through somebody's window at night?  Even just from a car window driving by?  I have.  I wonder sometimes about what color people paint their walls or how they set up their furniture.  I've never really SEEN anything though.  Maybe if I hung around for a while, I might.

Untitled No. 66
Pasadena, CA 1996
Lightjet C Pring 38 x 46"

Follow this link to the website for the Third Coast International Audio Festival and listen to what Michele Iverson has to say about her work.

Follow this link to see Iverson's website where you will find more photos from the "Night Surveillance Series."

Artist Interview: Robert Jessup

Alright.  So I just recently had a whole bunch to say about Robert Jessup.  After I said what I had to say, I figured I would take a shot in the dark and send him an email letting him know just what it was that I had been saying. 

So now I have something else to say about Robert Jessup.  Dude is a gemstone.  What a great guy.  Robert got right back to me, both thanking me for my interest and responding that he would be “delighted” to answer some of my questions about his work.

A bulk of my questions centered around one bigger idea:  “What is going on with the major switch in stylistic choice that began in 2008?"  Looking through Robert’s work during this time period,  it is clear to anyone that this artist was making some major decisions about how to make a painting.

Check out these paintings:

2008

"Man Climbing a Cliff in the Mountains", 2008, 68 inches by 64 inches , oil on canvas

2010

"Robert", 2010, 44 inches by 42 inches, oil on canvas

2012

"Landscape with Two Figures" , 2012, 60 inches by 66 inches, oil

Pretty clear, right?

“My work has changed drastically since returning from a life-changing trip to Europe in 2008. I went with the intention of learning from the techniques of the great Baroque masters, but I came back fueled by a spirit of radical invention and expression. While my narrative paintings had always been anchored in my ability to envision what I could remember and imagine, I returned from this trip determined to not just envision, but to become aggressively visionary.  I wanted to reconfigure my imagined world, to subvert what I knew and destroy what was comfortable. So I changed what I imagined. Then I changed how I drew.  Then I changed how I painted. Now, my drawing is primarily directed by my capriciously impulsive, insouciant, and perverse Line.”

  

I am in love with Robert's more recent body of work and am so thankful (Thanksgiving day post people!) that this transition developed.

In the studio:

Another thing that I am thankful for is the dedication that was drilled into me at my alma mater, to straight up do WORK in the studio.  I think my parents can probably get in a bit on that hard work and dedication thankfulness too, but I'm getting away from my point here.  Because of this beliefe that hard and steady work in the studio is so vital, I am strongly compelled to hear about other artists’ studio practice.  The variation from artist to artist is huge, but one thing seems consistent and that is that the artists who go to the studio with consistency, and make SOMETHING, even if it is terrible or unimportant, seem to be the most satisfied with their efforts.  I remember hearing Dana Schutz (post about her work from a little while ago) answer questions about this during a talk she did at BU four years ago; she sleeps in, gets coffee, makes her way to the studio in the afternoon sometime, looks at things, preps for a while, breaks to eat, then paints until about 4am.  I could live like that.  laxin laxin laxin WORK.

What a beautiful mess this pallet is!


























A studio day for Robert is any day that he does not have a class over at the University of North Texas where he is a Professor of Drawing and Painting in the College of Visual Arts and Design.

"Sometimes, the painting sessions are fifteen minutes, sometimes they are three to four hours..."  "I'm doing these little works on paper and when I don't feel quite up to the messy work of slogging around in the oil paint, I can make these little pictures. My table for doing them is set up in my studio, where I can look up and see the canvas that I'm working on. I usually only have one painting on canvas going at a time, but during the course of a painting, I may have several works on paper going. I also usually don't complete a work on paper in one sitting. I often have a fast start of one sort or another then leave it alone. Then I'll come back and respond to those first markings and try to advance the form and nascent imagery. Altogether, these little works probably take between two and four hours over a couple of days to bring to completion. The paintings proceed in much the same way, but over a longer period of days and sessions. Most paintings, though, have always been completed in a week to ten days."

Influences:

A woman looks at 'Le jardin d'Hiver,' 1968-1970, a work by French artist Jean Dubuffet 

Jean Dubuffet

Sean Scully

Guston, de Kooning and Picasso were also on the list.

Dubuffet and Scully are two artists I haven't seen before, always thrilled to see more artist's work.  I know the last three artists' bodies of work but they are definitely worth looking at for those who are unfamiliar.  

So that wraps it up.  A big thank you to Robert Jessup for being game for my question, hopefully this is something I can do with other artists in the future.

Oldies but Goodies and Autopsies

I've recently had a spike in interest for some of my internal organ pieces from back in 2009.  So far, I've located two uteruses and a liver.

Most of the organ paintings had that colbalt blue background.  I used reference photos from this amazing and incredibly gross book I found in the library at MassArt.  I think I was originally looking for references for some figurative work but instead found these photos taken during autopsies.  The organs were taken from the human and put on this blue table and in some cases pinned down to show all the nooks and crannies.  I love the flash you can see shining off the organs from the camera, things are slimy. 

I really need to find that book again.

To the future

What an exciting time in our country!

First Lady Michelle Obama casting her vote.

I just love this one from 1982 of the Clintons.

Finally just watched President Obama's re-election acceptance speech, I fell asleep at 10:30 on the night of, whoops!

An amazing closing, I'm going to post it here for longevity.

"America, I believe we can build on the progress we've made and continue to fight for new jobs and new opportunity and new security for the middle class. I believe we can keep the promise of our founders, the idea that if you're willing to work hard, it doesn't matter who you are or where you come from or what you look like or where you love. It doesn't matter whether you're black or white or Hispanic or Asian or Native American or young or old or rich or poor, able, disabled, gay or straight, you can make it here in America if you're willing to try.

I believe we can seize this future together because we are not as divided as our politics suggests. We're not as cynical as the pundits believe. We are greater than the sum of our individual ambitions, and we remain more than a collection of red states and blue states. We are and forever will be the United States of America.

And together with your help and God's grace we will continue our journey forward and remind the world just why it is that we live in the greatest nation on Earth.

Thank you, America. God bless you. God bless these United States."

Seeing Art in Everyday Life: Instagram Color

Student artwork

Boston in the fog

Frogs in Lynn's pool

Boyfriend in the Summer

Gillian at the fair

Birthday cake

Robert Jessup

"Little Me as a Dog", 2012

Oil on Canvas, 20"x20"

I received my copy of New American Paintings the other day and have not been able to get my eyes away from the pages with Robert Jessup's work.  From what I can see, he has been working in representation to show the viewer a story for the majority of his career.  The past two years of paintings however, have drastically changed in style. Jessup says of his process, "A painting is done when the last punch lands," and that his work is made with "...equal parts deliberation and desperation."

"Head Woman 12-26", 2012

Oil, 18"x18"

There is an aggression and immediacy from the swooping strokes of Jessup's brush that channel a sense of honesty and memory.

Here, look at some of his older work to see the stylistic switch I'm talking about:

Nighscene, 1999

Oil on canvas, 70"x80"

Sister, 2001

Oil on Canvas, 60"x60"

Half Head, Ice Cream, 2004

Oil on board, 11"x14"

Cloud Series, #11, 2006

Oil on canvas, 30"x30"

Couple, Bedroom, 2007

Oil on canvas, 44"x42"

from the couples in love series

Although there has been a huge shift in the way Jessup is using his paint, I would argue that the narrative remains present in his work.  The two portraits at the top from this year are equally as capable of relating a narrative as "Half Head, Ice Cream" from 2004, with an additional kick from the raw application of paint.  In the newer work I spend time looking at the piece trying to find landmarks such as a nose or an ear and in the older work I am spending that same time trying to figure things out, like "Where did that lady get that amazing purple wig?" or, "What's up with that angry cat?"  There is an equal balance of detective work the viewer must put to in both bodies of work, which is what stimulates me as a viewer and challenges me as a painter.

Here are a few more of Jessup's work from this year with the new style and a huge punch of narrative.

"Cloud and Meteor" 2012

Oil, 42"x48"

"Dr. Jung with his Mistress in the Mountains" 2012

Oil, 64"96"

"A Family Climbs the Mountain" 2012

Oil, 64"x84"

"Portrait of a Woman (Robert's Thumb)" 2012

Oil, 48"x42"

I had such a hard time picking work to show here, do yourself a favor and go to Robert Jessup's website and have a look at more of his paintings.

Looking At, Listening to

1.

Carolina Fontoura Alzaga makes amazing chandeliers out of recycled bicycle parts.  She also seems like a very cool lady so watch the video below where she talks about her work.

2.

This place rules.  Lost Type Co-op is a spot where a bunch of designers post their new font designs.  They are available for purchase for whatever you feel like paying, including zero doll hairs.  I've been paying a lot of attention to hand painted signs lately which makes me think about the wonderful wonderful Margaret Kilgallen.

3.

I'm ALWAYS looking at Margaret Kilgallen.  God, I love her.

4.

This lady Nova has a blog called Glitter and Doom where she documents life which includes her awesome job working in a tattoo parlor.

5.

Just google Little Planets and you'll get a lot of cool pictures like this.  I'm not sure where I found out about these, I think Nova's blog?  It's a photo trick that involves panoramic views.

6.

Good music.  This song has a really great change in the middle.  This video has really great fast walking and guns.

Business Shmisness

I really want to be my own boss someday.  I want to make things or provide a service that people need or want.

Here are a couple of businesses that inspire me:

Queen Bee Honey

Stephanie and Paul over at Queen Bee Honey have a bunch hives on the South Shore.  They make treats like granola and baklava, beeswax candles, soaps, lotions and salt scrubs and even insect repellant all out of the wax and honey their bees make.

Queen Bee Honey is based out of Pembroke, MA and their products can be found at many local farmer's markets and other places like Plimouth Plantation and stores such as Local Pottery in Pembroke.

Stephanie and Paul's business has been featured several times in South Shore Living magazine.

A Little Artsy

I recently found the business A Little Artsy out of Dallas, TX through their blog.  This place seems pretty on point for a dream business for me.

Casey and Chris Wiegand, a husband and wife team, own and operate an art studio for people of all ages and abilities.  They aim to focus people on the process of art making and not the end resulting product.  A Little Artsy has been open for five years now and has several employees.  

Parrott Design Studio

Sarah Parrott Bianculli is the heart of Parrott Design Studio.  Starting in 2007 with a Gocco, the studio has grown to include a focus on the art of Letterpress.  

Sarah is based out of Providence and has a couple of grandma presses keeping her studio running dating back to 1898 and 1901.  While wedding invitations seem to the the bread and butter over at the Parrott studio, there is a wide range of products from business cards to thank you's.

Sarah's studio has been featured by Martha Stewart!

Local Pottery

Lisa Howard opened Local Pottery almost 13 years ago.  She is a large contributor to the ceramic work in the shop/studio but has a group of regulars who's work she displays.  Local Pottery showcases one of a kind jewelry (you can sometimes find Stephanie from Queen Bee Honey's work there) and kitchen utensils.   

Interested in learning the art of pottery?  Lisa Howard is also offering a range of classes from independent studies, for those ready with ideas and a little experience to get to work on their projects, to  classes for children and a range of levels for adults.