Jan 26 2010

Art Business

Published by Joan under Considering Ideas, From The Studio

self-portrait-collage

self-portrait collage

“Artist/Woman Thinking About Stuff”

That is, art business, paperwork, facts & figures.

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Jan 22 2010

There’s color in these hills

Published by Joan under From The Studio

Red sky in the morning,

sailors take warning.

red-sky-in-the-morning1

digital painting

Do you remember the old weather prediction rhyme?

Mornings this winter often arrived under rosy skies, followed by rough weather. We welcome rain here in the high mountain desert. After soaking soil, it brews up as creeks, and gushes into the rivers and lake.

Right now, snow powders the mountains from the latest, ongoing drenching. Smoky white and ominous gray shapes surround me, a line of silver gleams when the sun blinks.

I never tire of looking at these Sierra ranges. Whiteness is but a temporary disguise. Their appearance changes with the seasons’ light and time of day. Underneath the cold mantle, blues, purples, grays, browns, greens, tans await.

How can an artist resist?

Red sky at night,

sailors delight.


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Jan 10 2010

Evolution Of An Idea: from object to ArtiStamp.

Sorting through a kitchen cupboard, culling long unused, or worn-out pans and utensils, there’s an unfamiliar plastic object. See exhibit A.

object-3

Exhibit A

It’s very likely a piece of an appliance, the round part is about 2″ diameter, but WHAT IS IT? Oh, just throw it out!  Yet, what if it’s something important that something else can’t work without. It doesn’t fit on existing kitchen appliances. Now I’m intrigued. How did it get here, did the parent get tossed out long ago?

So I take many photos of it, and post it on my FaceBook page as the “alien object”. One of my helpful friends thinks it looks like a coffee filter part. Then another friend, Shari Downhill, is certain that it’s a wall bracket for holding an immersion mixer. Mmmmm, OK, makes sense! Although not working as hanging device with the mixer I have. See exhibit B.

must-be-it

Exhibit B

It’s definitely “an extra”, but now a compelling extra, having spent surplus energy on it, so now the creative brainstorming kicks in. A resolution is needed before I let it go.

There are sculptural possibilities; the object fitted into a glued construction, white or painted? What about an installation, an old kitchen drawer filled with other unknowns, leftover pieces and parts of appliances and tools long gone-a puzzle to figure, and a comment on our consumerism.

More immediate and accessible are the images, the photos, let’s do something with those.

PhotoShop is my go-to virtual tool. The photos are already on the computer; I cut, paste, reorder, manipulate, and filter. Absorbed with it, often I can’t recall the paths while immersed in the process.  The object takes on a bit of personality. See exhibit C.

alien-objects-smaller

Exhibit C

Then, more ideating follows. It’s a logical step take this image and create an ArtiStamp with it since it’s offbeat and the design would easily fit the format.

Briefly, artistamps are faux postage that mail artists create as an extension of their ideas and run the gamut of subject matter. The creation method also varies, from hand-drawn, painted, etched, photocopied, rubber stamped, to the easily created computer/personal printer version. We share, trade and use them on mail art. See exhibit D.

alien-objects-stamps

Exhibit D

Designed as a sheet of 24 stamps here’s a close-up.

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Jan 10 2010

A New Calendar Year!

Published by Joan under Considering Ideas

It’s a fresh January 2010. How do you mark the event? Consider that it’s also a pristine decade, in a way still unblemished with our human strivings.

In nature, time is cyclic. Echoed in celestial movements, marked by reoccurring seasons, the environment returns unto itself.  In our created reality, humans mark time linearly, young to old, beginning to end. Although part of the nature cycle, we mostly define existence as “from here to there”. It’s easy to get caught up in that concept. Yes, and I succumb.

I have a psychological yearning for new starts…the concept of out with the old, step lively into a new scene beckons. The handy symbolism of a new calendar year is a perfect opportunity to mark that crossing.

How do I approach it?

It’s surely an extension of being a visual person, but I constantly seek order, unity, and balance in my surroundings. It’s another composition! And it needs negative space! Clear, uncluttered areas are a place to rest the eye and the mind.

Clutter, stuff, stuff, stuff, it comes into our lives so easily.

My major New Year’s ritual is to toss out, recycle, simplify, reorganize, and renew the scene in our home.

Ahhhhh, room to breathe again!

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Dec 22 2009

Christmas Or Whatever You Want To Call It

Published by Joan under From The Studio

xmas-2009

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Dec 04 2009

Not Your Parents’ Duct Tape

Published by Joan under Extra, Mail Art

fluxkit-shakers

FLUXKIT Shakers

Or perhaps 50 mail artists at ready, get set, and go…  For those unclear on the concept-these are mini music shakers from my “duct tape and lentil” series for Keith Buchholz’ FLUXKITS.

Fluxkits are smallish objects (a box perhaps) that are collections of other objects that hold meaning to the artist and can be interacted with by an audience. Keith Buchholz is assembling this edition of 50- everyone contributes 50 of something. Then we each get a FlUXKIT in return and it is also archived. Mail Art seems to easily move in the direction of Fluxus, since it (and Fluxus) has such a strong element of humor and anti-commercialism.

The music aspect refers to #12. Musicality*, on Ken Friedman’s 1992 list of 12 Fluxus  ideas (and my own need for rhythm)

*from 40 Years of Fluxus

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Nov 22 2009

Thanksgiving 2009

Published by Joan under From The Studio

november-09

Have a wonderful holiday!

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Nov 12 2009

Poster from The Queens Museum Of Art Exhibit

Published by Joan under Exhibitions

matthewrosequeensmuseum2

The poster from The Queens Museum Of Art Exhibit, Selections from “A Book About Death” , at the Partnership Gallery. In addition to showing selections of the original works from this artists’ collaboration, this show included  supplementary submissions from other artists, including one of my images.

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Sep 18 2009

Food Glorious Food!

Published by Joan under Exhibitions

poster-11
Opening Reception

DATE: Friday, September 18th
TIME: 5pm - 7pm
LOCATION: 1430 Truxtun Avenue, Bakersfield, CA 93301
ADMISSION: $5 at the door, $3 for ACK members
This art exhibit will benefit the Golden Empire Gleaners. Please bring food donations to the exhibit opening and throughout the show to help alleviate hunger in Kern County!
Two of my acrylic paintings are in this exhibit at the Arts Council of Kern’s Younger Gallery. The show runs September 18 -October 30, 2009.

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Sep 07 2009

Good Mail Day: A Primer for Making Eye-Popping Postal Art

Published by Joan under Extra, Mail Art

book-cover

The cover of “Good Mail Day”

What fun is this? A book on creating art for mailing! If you poke around this blog you’ll discover that Mail Art is one of my passions. There’s a worldwide network of us, people that love to send their art visibly through the mail; art of all manner, shapes and sizes.

It’s obvious that “Good Mail Day” which hit bookstores September 1, 2009, is a labor of love for the authors  Jennie Hinchcliff and Carolee Gilligan Wheeler. It’s an engagingly written intro to the creative aspects of making your own mail art and decorated envelopes using drawings, collage, recycled items, and more. Their can-do approach is accessible to all. Throughout the book, illustrating the ideas, are images of mail art examples from around the world, including my contribution of a collaged rattle/music shaker.

It’s a paperback, but with a nice heft to it and has beautiful photos in an original layout with illuminating bits of mail art history thrown in. Get yourself a copy and be inspired!

“Good Mail Day” is available at amazon.com and in Barnes & Noble bookstores.


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