Another Portrait of the Falls

Well there it is! "Another portrait of the Falls." It's taken about a year to complete and now my baby is out of my hands. These pictures don't do nearly enough justice to the artwork, but it will give you an idea. If anyone ever wants to visit this piece in person, it lives at City Hall, 38624 SE River St. Snoqualmie, WA 98065. Or- come to the grand opening on January 9th, 2010.

OMG! I have an Install Date!

Dec. 13th and 14th of 2009.
these are some pictures of the finished space, well, finished except for the lighting and eye hook i had requested. I guess that had all got lost in translation.
so what you see here is the bottom floor (entryway to the building) the upstairs conference room, and view from the bottom up into the conference room. can you imagine it yet?

Rejected

It's been three months since my last post to this blog. I had thought that there was nothing to report because none of the applications I sent out this summer were accepted. Then it occurred to me that this state of rejection is unavoidable for an artist, and can even be important.
So I'll mention then that my application to the Art History Department of UW to pursue a masters: REJECTED
Application for a fellowship at Pratt Fine Arts: REJECTED
Application for a scholarship grant to fund my next big art project: REJECTED
Application to be an intern at a downtown gallery: REJECTED
In fact, the only thing I applied to and got this year was a new job. So I guess all is not for loss. I'm now working in a better place and I'm constantly surrounded by art.
So what lesson do I take from all this rejection? I'm choosing to believe that I just didn't apply to enough things of the right type.

Out of the Fire

Yes! These are what resulted from my new york adventure in wood-firing. Notice that marvelous glaze, those patterns and colors. I was so thrilled when I got them in the mail (at last!) And there you can also see the glass goblet i made in that same fire. What a fantastic experience. Now I want to do more!

Late night glasing!

Storm King

The last of my adventures on the east coast involved a trip to the Whitney, a viewing of Herb and Dorothy (watch the trailer)and a visit to the Storm King Art Center. I've got to say that the whole trip combined lead me to a deeper understanding, appreciation, and fulfillment of art. I didn't know my consciousness could be expanded so profoundly in just ten days!
And all that experience was so mind boggling that I'm shocked to say I'm glad to be back! As amazing as New York is, it is not Home.

Woodfired Glass and Ceramic Workshop

HERE!
a few days in UpState and this is what I did.
see more pictures HERE!

Slow Day

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After such a fun filled day a little rest was welcome.

We slept in, were slow to start, and mostly just took it easy. I had to pack to get ready for my Big Adventure and we only had time for a little light shopping in the city before I left. However when Greg and I stopped for a coffee and snack we discovered we were in the cafe belonging to one of the oldest hotels in America. The Cosmopolitan was very cute and very French. New York is making me realize that I'm not the only francophile- the whole county was when it started and what an influence France was in the image we created for ourselves! I also realized that almost everything in New York can boast being the oldest something-or-other.

Around five I took my leave of my friends and promptly got stuck in traffic. It only took about 5 hours to drive to Corning, so not too bad. I can't wait for the class to start!

Big Day

Sunday brunch- eggs benedict with crab rather than ham, with bloody marys and mimosas and all the trimmings like coffee cake and mixed fruit. It was enough to carry us through the Big Day.
First we attacked the Guggenheim where there was show on Frank Lloyd Wright's work. I gotta say being in his building was much more enjoyable than looking at architectural drawings. Maybe that's just me, Greg got all giggly about it.
Then a quick taxi took us to the Armory where Ernesto Neto is showing his HUGE interactive installation. WOW! You might remember that Greg and I stumbled upon one of his former works in the Pantheon, Paris when we were living there. This one was just as spectacular, and even better because it had a ball pit! Very sensual experience. Neto not only builds awesome looking structures but they involve all of your senses- tacktile, olfactory, taste (i'm not sure if it was intended, but i did taste one dropplet filled with clove)
Later we had reservations to a speakeasy! We had to find a nondescript phone booth at the back of an unassuming little hot-dog joint where they let you into a low-lit bar covered with taxidermist experiments (jackalopes and such) I'm not really one for mixed drinks, but this place is known for them so I ordered and was amazed. I'm in love with Sours now. But don't worry, it will not become a habit becase I don't think I could enjoy them elseweres.
For dinner Leanna and Paul had picked out an Indian restaurant they had visited once before. One star Michelin rating! Need I say more? There is no recapturing in words the delights that found our toungues.
We rolled back home on our bellies.

Chicago or New York?

The first trip in the morning was to Little Italy for lunch (i say morning, because it was for us, but the clock said 2!)
i thought i would solve the question of 'who has the better pizza' once and for all by going to Lombardi's - the oldest pizza joint in the new world. I gotta say, New Yorkers got something to brag about, but it aint nothin like the love of deep dish.
Saw some more fiends at the Met. Mainly I was enamored with Pieter Claesz and William Claesz. Heda. Can you see why?
unfortunately the European paintings took the whole day to get through- that museum is huge!
Later on we visited Vol de Nuit, the Belgian Beer Bar that Monica suggested and now I need to know how she found out about this place, cause it was without a doubt the coolest place to drink.
You are not even 21 yet young lady!

A Long Day in the Big City

I didn't really wake up yesterday because I didn't really get to sleep the night before. Hard to do that on a plane. So whenever the day started Greg and I were up and headed to our friend's house in Hoboken- a charming little area of New Jersey.
There was some time for naps and snacks and then to the City we go! we go!
I found it amusing that we left a sunny and 90 degree Seattle to come to a cool and rainy NY, and also that New Yorkers actually use umbrellas. I had never thought about the fact that the umbrella is almost a symbol of Seattle and yet everyone there (including greg and myself) use rain jackets. I spent a lot of the day dodging spokes!
Today was a free day for the MoMA. Duchamp, Miro, Picasso, Matisse, Warhol, Beuys, Hesse, Morris (Robert,) Rauschenberg and so many other of my friends! Cornell and Redon were some of my favorites and I was introduced to Leon Ferrari for the first time.
WoW!
What more can I say?
Today- we will walk as far as possible and maybe find the places my sister has suggested in her comment.
It's not too late to leave instructions for me if you have not already, tell me what I should do in this town!

A New Project

The latest thing I've been working on will be a wedding gift for my cousin's new bride. I'll be going to Colorado this summer to help celebrate the happy event and since the lady likes stained glass, my cousin asked if I could do something about it. What better excuse do I need to buy a soldering iron?
So here you see my design that I modeled from examples of Victorian era glass (apparently her style) and in the middle is a representation of the beautiful place in which the proposal was made. How romantic!
I'm sorry to say that I will not have pictures of the finished project soon, because I'm going to New York in a week!
I'm hoping to blog everyday with pictures and stories from that adventure so check this out often when that starts.
Also, write in the comments about where I should go in that great city. There is so much to do and see there that I'm going to need direction. Give me an itinerary! or even a scavenger hunt! I promise to anyone who writes a suggestion that I will do what they say, take pictures and write about it in this blog.
Live vicariously!

The Day's Work Dries In The Sun

Just like our bones will one day. And like clay we will one day return to the earth as brittle and used up vessels. Appropriate sentiments for making memento mori you think?

More Distractions

Work is coming along nicely. This past weekend I purchased the last of the steel I will need for the mobile and spent an afternoon blowing glass with a new assistant.
So that was good and productive. But that is not all I've been doing lately! I went to see the new musical, Sunday in the Park with George. It is inspired by the work and life of painter George Seurat and discusses somewhat the role of an artist in society. You can guess why I liked it. Beforehand there was a gallery reception (with very nice wine and cheese) at an artist's co-op named Art not Terminal. There were a few things Gregory and I found impressive but most of all I thought to myself that I should be working to get into a gallery. I think I could hold my own in a place like that.
So my mind directed me back to my latest obsession of making vanitas still lifes. The books I've got from the library on the subject have convinced me that I must have skulls if it is to be a true vanitas. So I spent some time in the basement making a skull out of clay. I am pleased with the results so far but also convinced that I need an actual skull to continue the study. Anatomy drawings are just not enough. If anyone knows where I could find such a thing, or a convincing replica, let me know.
For a completely different project I paid a visit to a friend for tips on stained glass. I am to be making a window for a wedding gift this summer and am excited about the possibilities of this other form of glass. I am familiar with the process of leaded glass but have never spent too much time on it.
So much to look forward to, and then this shows up and tempts me on to even more distractions!
Perhaps I should stop calling my interests distractions, rather, they are opportunities for art making.
After all, art is what I do.

On to the Next!

In my last post I mentioned a glassblowing workshop I signed up for in Corning, NY this summer. The exciting thing is: it is wood-fired! I'm still shivering with anticipation. And not only that, but it incorporates ceramics! The workshop will be a three day event of stoking the kiln night and day in order to glaze pots and blow glass! My two favorite materials to work with at the same time, you can see why I didn't hesitate to put my name on the roster. I was planning a trip east anyways!
Although it did not occur to me until just the other night what this opportunity actually means to me.
For some time I have had this idea of building replicas of the Dutch still life genre, in actual life. I've been looking into frame building for this purpose and have been researching the types of goblets and things that were usually represented in such paintings. Then a lightning bolt hit my eyes and suddenly I knew what to do! Don't you love it when that happens?
I realized that I will have access to the process in which the old-time items were made. Therefore, I must practice how to make replicas of the objects I need and then carry out the mission in NY!
I'll make jugs from clay to take with me and then while I'm there, I'll work on making Roemers! That classical goblet form has always intrigued me.

Some Call It Writer's Block

What to do when you keep putting off work towards the one thing you really actually want to do? Why is it that sometimes we neglect the things that mean most to us? In my case, the Snoqualmie mobile, which is my life and my love at this time in my personal history, has been on the shelf for three and a half weeks.
I have been obsessing about it in my mind as always, ever thinking and planning, but when I put my hands to it they somehow find another purpose. Such as sewing this skirt! or knitting this sleeve! Cruel and tempting distractions! -you draw me away from my true love!
Of course I know that some of this feet dragging is due to the fact that the installation deadline has been postponed for two more months, so there is time for me to slack off. The building under construction is now not expected to be completed until September.
Still I feel this sickening feeling that I should be making progress instead of clothing. So how do I motivate myself back to the grinding stone? (or in this case, the Anvil and the Bench)
Well, I went out on a clear day and searched for inspiration. I discovered Discovery Park for the first time, had a lovely walk through the forest to the beach where I picnicked while watching the sail boats ride by. Later, my companion and I tried a new, fancy restaurant called Olivar. They are a spanish-inspired gourmet place right next to the Cornish College of the Arts, which later showed the first act of Puccini's Soeur Angelica. (I must brag that everything was super cheep too! I won a contest on a Seattle foodie blog which gave me a coupon for $25 off the restaurant and since the opera was a student production it was very reasonable! And all of it was fantastic!)
The next day I tried to blow glass, but (to briefly describe the very opposite of what I intended) that sucked! I did horribly and had to quit early in tears of frustration!
I tried again for inspiration in the cherry blumes on the UW campus. It was an amazing afternoon that someone like Monet, Pissarro or Seurat would paint. It was good to see, but not enough.
If I was going to get working again, and doing good work, I knew I had to build a fire under my seat. There is nothing like a firm deadline to make me move my ass!
So- I signed up for a glassblowing workshop in Corning, NY, and bought the tickets to go in June! (more on that later.) I also bought tickets to see my cousin's wedding in June so if I don't get my act in line by then I'll be sorry!
It worked! I'm back on the ball!
And I lived happily ever-until-it-happens-again.
The end.

Right now there is a small room in the SAM devoted to a collection of paintings by one George de Forest Brush. (Makes me wonder if he chose his own name.) He was a late-19th-century American painter who focused on depicting native Americans in their natural setting. Of course at that time Brush was well aware of the destructive end the natives were being lead to by the American government, and he was already wistful for the times before industrialization and the advent of mass production.
In this painting (my favorite in the collection I saw) Brush pays tribute to the simplicity of the honest, hand-produced laybor of a hard-working individual. (and it's been said that Symbolism did not cross "the pond" when it was flourishing in France and England. Pah! I say to that, and here is the proof!) Every detail in the painting refers back to the time when we were connected with the making of things and could savor the pride of skill. (Learn more here.)
This painting touched me, for it is a visual representation of my own philosophy on art. I feel that artists today are (sometimes) too removed from their craft. The "artist" in today's definition is the visionary. They are the ones who pay the craftsmen to make their vision. Like the weaver in the painting, I take pride in the things I create and cannot imagine how to realize a vision of my own without having my hand in it.
I try to live my philosophy in regard to all things, but most of all with my artwork. Since I had never worked with metal before, I had thought about hiring a professional blacksmith to create the armature for my mobile. Yet my artist's sense of responsibility towards my public demanded I learn a new skill. It may turn out a little more "primitive" than a polished and perfect product, but when this project is finished you will be able to look at it and know that every part of it was molded in love by my own hands.

Model Mock-UP