Welcome back

It's hard to believe that I haven't written anything for two years.  I've been in a slump of epic proportions since Thanksgiving but since the promise of spring approaches, I am swiping the cobwebs from my face as I climb back into my studio space.  This past week was spent cleaning, tossing out projects that will not be completed, and reorganizing.  It's amazing to see what was so important to be working on 3 or 5 years ago has little effect on me now.  It is very much like falling off a bicycle and crawling back on again.  A little bruised and the ride will be bumpy but I'm moving forward.

Black Rock Center for the Arts

I went to a reception last evening for Montgomery County artists who were showing at Black Rock.  A couple of really wonderful pieces - a felted composition by Jooseal Lee and a muse sculpture by Ann Citron.  Both wonderful. 

Working in a series, creative blocks, etc.

I've 'listened' to many people talk about creative dry periods, logjams of inertia or ill-conceived concepts pursued to exhaustion.  I've spoken to many artists who are very thoughtful and generous in discussing their techniques to move their work to the next step.  Yes, some of it cerebral - but for me, a grinder, going through elementary design or color steps that we so rely on helps push me along.  I'm not a great artist, I haven't found my artistic voice and in many ways I am grateful because the pressure must be intense to go beyond your expectations - to create the next something that the world is waiting for.  Having said that, I do want to push myself to be able to express more intense feelings through my art work and sadly, if the toolbox doesn't have the right tools, I don't think I'll get there.  I've spent the last 5 years working the toolbox, creating a personal set of images, modifying techniques to call them my own - but in the end, if I can't communicate the intensity, then it's all for naught.  By intensity, I mean creating a visual statement that reflects my inner beliefs or posits a challenge to my inner beliefs, so that when I look at the piece hanging on the wall, the piece elicits a physical, or psychic reaction - I'm not talking about vomiting or laughing hysterically.  I want to join the viewers in looking at a piece of art and feel some human connection.

So, in order to push myself, I have promised myself to create one piece a week - otherwise, I'll be pissing and moaning forever about how awful my work is.  The repetitive nature of this exercise I hope will challenge me to better incorporate all the design elements and color theories that we've all studied - to create something intense and rational.

Here's this week's study.  It lacks a focal point and looks a bit flat and wallpaperish, so I'm hoping to add an interesting element or possibly slice it into a tryptych, or .....

All comments appreciated.

Come to San Antonio for the Opening!

Eleven of my friends and I are having a fiber show at the Radius Gallery in San Antonio.  The opening reception is March 29th, 6-8 pm.

Here's the gallery card

Working toward the light

Finally finished the second and third pieces that will hang in San Antonio at the Radius Gallery.  The second is called City Square

and the third is called isometric square

I'm over the square.  I feel like totally abandoning what I've done and throw caution to the wind!  Today I started two more pieces that will be more improvisational  - more surface techniques and more manipulations.  I think I went through a period last year where I was trying to cram many techniques into a single cloth - without too much rhyme or reason.

This week I've started reading the Lowenfeld Lectures, written in 1930's and revised.  Viktor Lowenfeld wrote and studied the development of the creative mind in children and, more specifically, children with sight impairment or complete sightlessness.  The current thinking of that time about creative development appears to have been based on limited investigations in these populations.  Lowenfeld wrote most famously about the stages of artistic or creative development in children - but I believe it applied to adults as well. 

New class starting

I forgot to mention in my last post that I will be starting a new class on printing on fabric - I suppose one could use paper as well, as the techniques would apply.  We'll be starting in the spring.  I am also looking to collaborate with another artist this year on a joint project - I don't have any set ideas, just thought it might be a fun endeavor.

A new year and a new beginning

I'm furiously dyeing, sewing and embellishing these days - trying to get three pieces ready for a show at the Radius Gallery in San Antonio - with 11 friends!  We're all finishing up our master class with Jane Dunnewold and this (we hope) will be the first of many group shows.  We've met in San Antonio every 6 months for 2.5 years, learning lots of fiber techniques, making tons of tools for our fiber toy box and expanding our imagery to incorporate into our pieces.

 We have been encouraged by Jane and also I have read other artists who encourage working in a series - gives you space to develop a concept, nurture it, expand it, destroy it (well, maybe not that!) and recreate.  I'm sticking to my trusty square - the possibilities are endless and I never seem to get bored thinking about ways to manipulate a square.

Within the next four weeks, I'll be posting pics of the current series and I would welcome your thoughts and comments.