Posted on: August 31st, 2010
the dawn will come
It all started with a few lines from an Emily Dickinson poem:
NOT knowing when the dawn will come
I open every door;
Or has it feathers like a bird,
Or billows like a shore?
Well, actually, it all started with an invitation to participate in an upcoming show at the George Marshall Store Gallery, in York Maine. A number of artists were asked to respond to the Bulman Bedhangings, one of the most important objects in the Museums of Old York’s collection. I didn’t even know what a Bedhanging was before the invitation. But these are evidently the only complete set of American crewelwork to have survived from the 18th century, and quite an amazing set to see. By clicking the link above (on the Bulman Bedhangings text) you can see a small photo of them and read more about them.
I had long considered adding stitches to some of my collages, and this proved the perfect opportunity to start experimenting with yet another way to add color: embroidery thread. At left is a detail of the first piece I worked on. It evolved, as most of my work does, over a span of time. In the beginning there were just the words; then I printed a monotype on top of the words; next were some collage elements – the lace on top and bottom were stitched on; and finally stitches, and after hanging on the wall for a few weeks, more stitches (to try and tone down the heavy handedness of Emily’s quiet words).
Stay tuned for more details about the show itself – which happens in October! If you’d like to get a sneak preview of more of this new work, click here.
Posted on: July 29th, 2010
on the printmaking portfolio page
I finally got around to updating the printmaking portfolio page of my website with a few of the recent adventures in the printmaking studio. There are four new images from the series, as yet untitled, of matboard etchings on top of the written page. It’s been great fun returning to the process of printing etching plates. Something, I thought I’d forgotten how to do, but evidently all those hours spent in the Kirkland etching studio were enough to instill some kind of muscle memory.
Check ‘em out byclicking here!
Posted on: July 6th, 2010
… or at least trying to.
The Picking up the Pieces series began as an exercise in making space on my drawing table. The challenge was to use up the scraps already on my table – and only use the scraps on my table. But, with each collage I make, I create more scraps – albeit smaller and smaller ones. It presents me with a real contradiction in terms: how can the waste-not-want-not queen, who can’t throw away the tiniest scrap of color, start making even slightly larger collages, when the material at hand is getting more and more minute? She opens the flat file drawers and pulls out something else from which to work.
The piece at left is about twice as big as most of the work in that series (which are generally not much more than 5″ x 5″). It is a composite of three monotypes combined with wax and oil stick. Though, I don’t really consider this one part of the series, I did manage to salvage enough leftover scraps for a smaller collage that became #52 in the series. Check that one out (along with a couple of other additions to the series) here.
Posted on: June 10th, 2010
Meditations on 9 collages …
It may have taken close to four years, but I finally reached the one-hundred-mark. I started the Meditations on 9 series after coming across a reference to a nine-patch Amish quilt in a book I was reading. I’d often worked with a grid, and wondered what would happen if I made one hundred collages based on that simple nine-patch pattern? Could I even sustain that idea?
I started with a bang the first summer – initially finding something soothing about the challenge. All I had to do was go in my studio and move pieces of paper around. There was a structure within which to work. A task. I could settle into it. And even though I veered off in several other directions as time went on, I did keep coming back to it, and 100 collages later, I am still compelled by them.
Posted on: May 30th, 2010
Where did the month of May go?
I am embarrased that it’s been almost a month since I last wrote. The month of May does bring all kinds of obligatory activites: namely getting the garden started. And the weather has been positively summer like – about three weeks early here in Maine.
Nonetheless, that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been some artistic activity. Since the Peregrine Press Springs sale – which proved quite successful. Many thanks to all of you who checked out my sale page and lent your support – I’ve been working on preparing for some juried show applications, as well as the Peregrine Press Flat file project (more on that later).
I am still compelled by the prints I’ve been working on the last few months; at left is a photo of some of the used and abused plates. Making the plates is a lot like making a collage; the plates were, in fact, completely inspired by the “Picking Up the Pieces” series of collages I’ve been working on since December. Coming full circle, I recently made a small series of 10 collages using some of the proof prints. From collage to print and back again. Here are just a few for your perusal. Enjoy!
empty
Posted on: April 16th, 2010
flowers for my sister, Kukla…
who died 5 years ago today. Blunt, I know. But personally, I like the brutal honesty of the sound of the words. Five days ago, or five years, it all pretty much feels the same to me. I miss her as much as ever. My sister lived life in a big way, and she filled a lot of space in my life, which means that the hole she left is equally large and empty.
I miss being able to share my recent work with her. I know she would have appreciated the process, and had a really good laugh out of the disastrous day I had in the print studio that resulted in this group of collages.
Even though it sometimes feels like I have been stuck in the land of grief forever, when I look at the work I see evidence of having put one foot in front of the other and forward movement. I realize now that loss inhabits an unmapped place that is lacking in rules; and pretty much what you need is an abundance of patience while trying to navigate your way out.
On a much more positive and lighter note, it was 27 years ago today that my one-and-only stand-up guy Alberto and I went out on our first date – which was just the beginning of all kinds of great adventures together!
Posted on: April 5th, 2010
the best april fool’s day joke
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen flowers blooming around my house as early as April 1st. But after almost two weeks of rain, signs of color were more than welcome. Maybe it’s because I did a massive attack with pruning shears to the forsythia bush last year, or maybe it’s all the rain, either way, there are a whole mess of little purple crocuses smiling on us – including volunteers in the middle of the yard. What fun.
Lest you suspect spring fever has overtaken my discipline…check out some recent adventures in the studio by clicking here!
