How To React When Nothing Makes Sense

You know, in a way this piece made itself. There were a number of happy accidents that went along with all the hard work I put in. For example two flat tires prevented me from leaving town as I'd planned to do when it was better for me to stay and work on the piece. The stool, already in the gallery, was the perfect pedestal for the plate of treats. Also, I hadn't known that I'd want a backdrop for this until I got to the gallery and set up the stool and empty cake plate. Then I remembered that there's a fabric store in the building next door. 

I think people liked it. It's amazing how difficult it is to give away free home made pastry when it's part of a sculpture. People either think it's a facsimile of food and not edible or they're "afraid to touch the art." Or they're just afraid. Poor things.

One week after my post referring to people not Facebooking anymore I received my invitation to join Ello. Plus ça change...

SOWA Art Walk, Spring 2014

Blogging today from our empty gallery at the SOWA Art Walk and opening day of the SOWA Sunday Art Market. If you're ever in Boston on a Sunday in the spring through autumn I recommend it as a fun activity. The open air market in the parking lot has fun vendors and good food trucks. The galleries are right there (easy access) and there are lots of interesting artists showing. Go with a curious mind, open to what you find, and you'll have a great time. It's dead in our gallery so far though.

Pete's wall:

My wall:

Note the lack of bodies blocking the view.

I admit I didn't shoot for the stars on this show. I was plumb out of rocket fuel. My aim was a bit lower. 

Twenty-four very small drawings of hearts. Yeah, schmaltzy old unoriginal hearts. Trite. Seen 'em a million times. Never want to see another one. I like this one with bats:

How about this guy? What in the world is he up to?

I guess to me it's like a comic strip without a linear narrative. Kind of like instrumental music. 

Notice that they're not perfect? The "frames" are stupid and there are odd  marks where there shouldn't be? Well I ain't a machine and that's the way I like it!

This piece is austere yet still girly. Weird girly. I am what I am, I make what I make. I didn't have the energy for bright and glittery this time.

It seems impossible that I could sit here for six hours and not one person will come in. Maybe I should stop blogging and look more welcoming.

Two awesome guys just came in. One said he'd recently curated a show about love and if he'd met me before he would have included me. How nice! Well that's encouraging. 

Okay, off to be more welcoming...

The Future's A Mystery, The Past Is History, Blah, Blah, Blah..

This week could be interesting. I'm temping for real, like I haven't since 1990. I have no idea if I'll be called tomorrow morning or if so where I'll be sent to do what. There will be plenty of opportunities to get a lot wrong and really screw things up. Could be rough. I could be feeling pretty stupid by the end of the week - or sooner.

Or it could be a cool adventure where I meet interesting people and learn a lot and do things I've never dreamed I'd do. No way to know but through. Honestly I could use some horizon broadening, some new experiences, so I'm going to go with adventure. I'm going to try not to worry about whether I'm dressed appropriately or not. Sad that that's the kind of thing I worry about.

And now here's a drawing I did today at the drawing club thingy I put on every other Sunday:

Good luck to you this week, whatever you do!

Sticks

Art photo posting time! I'm finally posting photos of the show I collaborated on with my friend, Denise, back in December/January. Hang on to your hats...

Making Sticks

A Stick

I don't think I've mentioned the collaborative installation project I'm doing with my gallery-mate, Denise. It's looming. We show December 6th. The only parameter we set was that we were going to make vertical elements. I'm at the point now where I just call them sticks.

Denise is really cranking on the sticks. We've met at her studio to touch base once each of the last two months. I've brought either nothing but photos (the sticks were drying and not transportable) or just a handful of stuff. She's got dozens. Dozens of really good sticks along with handfuls of truly amazing sticks.

I'm lagging in the numbers. My contribution has been more in the area of going off into left field. I was the first to make a stick with offshoots. Not like the one above, but one that has stars shooting off of it on long, bendy wires. I also started stringing things on wire to hang from the ceiling. I had beads I wanted to use.

Hell, I have a lot going on right now! Plus, my studio's a two-and-a-half hour drive away. There's no room to make a mess or dry anything in our apartment where I have to be five days a week so I had to think of ways to make sticks that didn't need to dry. These beaded things (which I'm still calling sticks even though they're more like giant necklaces or bracelets) just pile into a bag which I could stash under the sofa if I felt like it.

I also have some industrial twine in a bunch of different colors that I want to crochet sticks out of. How much time do I have? NOT ENOUGH. Between the travel, the death, the dumb things I thoughtlessly said I'd do, the party I want to have because I love my friends and I want to see them, and - let's just call it - the LIFE, I feel like I'm falling behind. I don't want to let Denise down.

Well crap. I just have to do the best I can, right? So that's what I'm doing. I really don't want to get into some anxiety-based, all-nighter pulling, no bathing, monastic existence of cranking out sticks like an underage Chinese factory worker. Now is not the time. Things are hard enough. I want to keep my eye on the big picture of where my life is going. I want to remain mentally healthy. I am so grateful that I naturally wake up at 4:30 - 5:00 AM these days. I get so much more done that way.

This project has been really good for me. While I do feel I'm not holding up my end as far as numbers go, I'm really enjoying making these things. I'm working happily away in my studio (or my living room) for hours. Working in my studio has often been torturous in the past so it's nice to be getting hours of practice of just honest work under my belt. You know, wearing down a passage in my brain where I enjoy working for hours in my studio. Hopefully erasing the passage in my brain where I force myself to go to my studio and relentlessly prod myself to just do something, anything, just do it and it hurts and it's horrible.

Eh, art. It is what it is. Like everything else, some days you got it, some days you don't.

Alrighty, I'd better go make some more sticks now. Later!

Installation From 2/1/13

Pete and I had a show on February first. Here's what I showed:

People LOVE to take photos

The shoes I wore

Pete and me with our gallery-mates, Denise and Shaun. Sorry for the revolting face I'm  making.

My Latest Show

I have no evidence of this but I think my last show was in March. In any case, I signed up to show today too. The work I've been putting up lately (like the giant strawberry piece) is showing some wear and tear. It was kind of getting me down. So I decided to do something experimental this time.

I've been making elements similar to those used in this piece:

I've also got tons of random stuff in my studio that I thought might be useful in a larger piece like this. I pulled everything together and brought it down to Boston to see what would happen. So far it's been SO MUCH EASIER TO MOVE than most of the other things I've shown.

I gave myself a few days to install. Here's an early view:

Tough to see. It's wall-sized. Maybe you can see better if you click on it?

Here's what I ended up with:

There are things to like about both. I know if I did it on a different day I'd have come up with something else. I wished that I had made more of the elements: beads, flower lace, sheets of acrylic gel, pouffy things. I used what I had and I did the best I could under the circumstances. I think it looks pretty good. 

I'll keep cranking this stuff out as time permits and also think about combining these elements differently. You know, group some together and not others, see what all of one kind looks like. I'll just experiment with different ways to use them. As time permits. 

Here's a detail from above:

The opening is tonight and Pete's out of town. I hope some friends show up.

November First Friday Show

Well that was really fun. We had a number of surprise visitors and there was a lot of traffic. The gallery was very crowded at some points. Pete sold a photo and there were some nibbles at this guy:

He's the Don't Bother To Dream Monster, the first show-ready monster from my new monster drawing series. He's about four feet tall. The paper he's drawn on is about six feet by four feet. I think he got a lot of people to think about my work who normally wouldn't have. People often dismiss things they don't immediately perceive as serious. Putting this guy next to the giant strawberry painting seemed to make them think twice. I got a lot of thoughtful questions and comments on my work. Very encouraging. 

The whole night made me excited about the work that I know is coming. I make the work that I'm called to make regardless of whether I think others can connect with it or not. Still, nothing like getting a positive response to what you're doing.

Barely Fits

Now here it is hanging in the gallery:

All of that work is mine.

I just don't do things the easy way so it was a bit of a struggle getting this thing hung. We brought it up to the gallery last night.  It took both Pete and me, me to carry the thing by one edge of the canvas and Pete to carry in the stretchers and to open the doors for me - it's not like I could put it down.

Today when we went in to hang our work I found that one of the strawberries had a huge rip in it,  Fortunately I'd brought the red paint.  I spackled over the rip with gobs of paint and smoothed the paint over with a paintbrush I fashioned from rolled up paper towel.  The rip should be fine.  Now I just have to hope that nothing comes crashing down overnight.

Of course if some of the Fuck plates come crashing down that could be cooler.  Self-fulfilling sentiment.

Here's Pete's side:

Now we just need people to come see our work!

Sassy!

This is a new piece I'll be showing this Friday

I make an excellent hermit.  I've been hiding out from people all week (maybe longer) and it's done me a world of good.

Here's a MIRACLE: I'm happily working away in my studio.  It's been months and months since I've been able to really work there and even longer since I was happy about it.  I'd force myself to chip away at things when I could and that was the best I could do.

I know, it's sad.  You're supposed to love what you do and making art is supposed to be fun and what's so hard about making dumb junk anyway?  

Many of you know the feelings to which I refer.  To the rest of you I say: even making poor quality art can be really difficult and demoralizing.  Maybe I mean to say that the thought that you might be making poor quality art can be especially difficult and demoralizing.

Now don't get the wrong idea.  I'm not saying I make poor quality art - though I highly doubt anything I've made will be setting fire to Art Basel Miami (South by Southwest for the visual arts crowd only with A LOT more money) anytime in the next decade or so. 

It's just that most of the time when you're making art you have NO IDEA AT ALL what you're doing or if it will be worth anything when you're done (whenever that is, if ever)  When I say "worth anything" I mean the effort before I mean worth money.

Taking the long view, making the effort is worth making the effort.  It's hard to maintain the long view day to day.  But here I am at the end of my recent forced-making rainbow and I actually do have something to show for all that work I made myself do.

I guess some people have more faith in themselves and are able to be content enjoying their processes and their efforts.  Maybe if I continue to meditate I can develop a better attitude.

It probably wouldn't hurt if Life could take it a little easier on me for a little while too.  Hi Life! XOXOXO! (Blows a kiss and waves frantically)

Here's something else from my studio: what I like to call companion planting.

While Pete, Fay and I were away for Thanksgiving the studio mice made Thanksgiving with my cyclamen.  They crawled into the pot and chewed every succulent stem, every leaf, every tender little growing sprout they could reach.  There was one survivor: a large leaf that had been suspended over its cactus neighbors.

So I rounded up the cacti and surrounded the cyclamen pot with them.  Then I took some conveniently available baby cacti and put them in pot as well (as you can see)  Then I crossed my fingers and hoped that that one surviving leaf could photosynthesize enough to carry the poor cyclamen along for a while.

So far so good - we have new growth.  I'll keep my fingers crossed though.  That one little leaf peeking out over the rim makes me a little nervous.  Mice can be very resourceful when they're hungry.

Finally, here is another wig my mom gave me for my birthday.  Thanks Mom!

Please don't yell at me for saying this because it's true: the years are really becoming apparent.  I am no longer twenty-eight.  Seriously.  Even though I think I am.

I did get carded at the grocery store yesterday.  I should mark that on my calendar - it may never happen again.  I think there was something wrong with that guy.  Or maybe he was trying to butter me up.