Posts Tagged ‘new work’

Happy New Year (if a little late)

Posted on: January 9th, 2011

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Here’s hoping that 2011 is full of all kinds of color and joy!

I really did mean to post something sooner than January 9th to wish everyone well. So much for good intentions – like getting holiday cards out on time. Ha! Same goes for New Years resolutions, so I say fuggedaboudit. No, in all honesty, at least in terms of my studio routine, 2011 has gotten off to a good start. In December, I toyed with challenging myself to do a drawing a day for the month of January. Does that count as a resolution? I’m not sure why, but somehow, the idea has gained a certain amount of traction. Nine days down and nine pieces of paper 22 x 30 inches are covered with some kind of marks or other. As the days roll by the drawings are definitely getting a little bit more interesting – though I do still question the wisdom of this plan. At some point, I promise, I’ll post some of those. In the meantime, though, you can see that I’m still picking up pieces and making collages out of them. The pieces above were all completed within the last month. Each one is about 5″ x 5″.

Picking Up the Pieces

Posted on: December 7th, 2010
Picking up the Pieces, Number 62

again.

There must be something about the December darkness that inspires me to clean up. About a year ago I was finally fed up with not being able to find tools on my desk, so I started the “Picking up the Pieces” series – a recent addition, No. 62 is at left. The rule (or game, depending on how you look at it) was that I could use only the scraps on my table – no looking in the scrap drawer, or cutting up work on the walls – just use the already existing plethora of material on my desk. Within a month I’d covered a 4 by 6 foot area on one wall with collages, and the remaining scraps were so tiny as to be virtually dust.

I am again trying to make room in my flat files for new work and in the process am discovering all kinds of old work that is begging to be destroyed, cut up, thrown in a fire, or somehow reconfigured. Not only is my table completely covered with scraps, but so is just about the entire floor in my studio. My table, however, is once again piled too deep, so I guess it’s time to institute the table-only scrap rule until I can find it’s surface. Then I’ll attack the floor!

Common Thread

Posted on: September 29th, 2010
09.07.10 (detail)

October 9 – November 14, 2010

Common Thread
George Marshall Store Gallery, York, Maine

Opening reception: Saturday, October 9th, 5:00 – 7:00 PM

More info: The George Marshall Store Gallery

I am pleased to have work included in this show. Curator Mary Harding invited a small group of artists to create new work in response to a set of bedhangings in the collection of the Museums of Old York. I wrote a little bit more about this show – and my process in creating work for the show in my last post.

The image at left (which is a detail) – 09.07.10 – was the last piece I created for the show. It is a matboard etching/collage with graphite and stitches. The overall image size is around 10″ x 9″.

Not knowing when…

Posted on: August 31st, 2010
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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.

New prints

Posted on: July 29th, 2010
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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!