in the studio - school assignments and a mental map

NY Public Library

February 2014

*has nothing to do with this post but it seemed appropriate

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I am currently taking an online class called Live!: A History of Art for Artists, Animators and Gamers. It is through CALARTS and it seems like there are currently over 1,000 people from around the world in the class. At least that is how many people posted their first assignment last week. We are supposed to critique at least 3 assignments each week and I am finding it kind of daunting to choose one out of so many. I can get lost for so long just looking though them! One person began a thread called "Show your Art" and the community of people that posted what they are personally doing is amazing.... both in the sharing, and in the support that everyone is giving each other. So wonderful to see. For me it is both humbling and inspiring to see so many peoples' work - so diverse and so uniquely their own. Seeing so many artists actually made me feel more comfortable in saying; "I am an artist". 

Beautiful.

This week's assignment was a tough one. We were asked to create a mental map - selecting 10 images, books, films, or music that provided a historical context for our interests in art as a whole or in our current art work. We were to select works that are important to the way we think. Then we needed to organize them in a sequence that made sense to us. 

How to tell my story in 10 sequential images…. visual storytelling. I wasn't sure where to begin. And  then would these works create a linear sequence or would they overlap or would they create a loop? Is it one giant history painting or is it a more like a Chinese hand scroll?

Two sleepless nights, lots of doodles and stream of conscious writing, as well as falling down the hole that is the internet...... 

But I really thought this would be a good exercise for me accomplish so I plowed on.

It is not perfect as I am sure I have forgotten some things and left out some others and I am equally sure that the endgame is quite fungible. But here it is:

http://quietisthemuse.blogspot.com/p/mind-map.html

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within the familiar - the purpose of writing

Canal Museum

Amsterdam, 2013

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Prompted by my new daily exercise - as prescribed in “The Artist’s Way” - of writing morning pages I have been thinking a lot lately about the art of writing - specifically about writing long hand.

It is a peaceful and thoughtful process as one scribes slowly across a blank page. Handwriting itself an art form, it is communication, it can be personal, it can be everlasting. 

we write letters

we keep diaries

inventories

lists

thank you’s

declarations of love 

- or at least we used to. What has replaced this art form now? What will be the outcome if there is no more hand written letters?

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Yesterday I was visiting a local historical home, the John Brown House, and at one point in the audio tour it was said that the “18th century was the pinnacle of letter writing”. That statement touched me and got me thinking more about “writing by hand”.

We know so much about the everyday past through personal histories; letters and diaries. Bits of life left behind for us - we see the handwriting, we infer from their words - we can create a picture of that person, that time, we hear their voice. 

How will we be remembered? Will our blogs exist longer than us? Will they mean anything? Will we be remembered only through our Facebook posts or tweets……… God, I hope not. 

Who will know my handwriting?

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Final letter, 1955

John Rossi to his daughter (my mother) Rosemarie Rossi Spadafora

within the familiar - needing a reboot

Wintery Mix

NYC

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Is it like this at the start of every new year with the need for a new challenge?? Or is it because the groundhog saw his shadow and I have a gnawing desire to be outside again in a green world of uninterrupted sun? or both? Whatever it is.... a re-boot is needed.

I have spent the last 3 weeks in NYC - working. The city, for me, is filled with memories, the youthful adventures and naiveté of my past. It is the first home that I created for myself and it is where my dreams were built. 

It is the foundation of me.

“Return to old watering holes for more than water; friends and dreams are there to meet you.”                         African Proverb

But being there was more reflective for me this time. I felt like I was on the outside looking in at the industry that has employed me for the past 6 plus years. Taking a bird’s eye view I saw the need for a new order. The system is broken and I felt the shell tearing away. I do not know who will replace the “garmentos” or what the new business model will be….. but like the change in how we get our music today….. from whom, how and where we get our clothing is also going to change.

All of which promoted me to re-look at my art and what I am doing/not doing. I have been feeling quite stuck creatively since after the first of the year and the need for a re-boot has been in order. A new approach, some new challenges, and a watering hole….. 

First - I signed up for an online class that begins on February 24th!! So excited!  The class is out of CaLARTS and is called "Live!: A History of Art for Artists, Animators and Gamers!". It is through an MOOC (massive open online course) called Coursera  and, best of all, it is free! I have been wanting to see how online classes actually work and it will be even more interesting to see how a class that requires a sketch book and museum visits uses the tools available. Hoping this class brings a new dimension to the way I "see" things.         

I have also been seeing a number of blogs recently where creative people have been sharing weekly drawing challenges.... sounds so cool. 

Patrice A.:

Stefanie Seltner

I like the idea of a challenge. Random.

And, finally, I have once again gone back to “The Artist’s Way”, Julia Cameron’s book about the path to creativity. 

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One way or another - we begin.

Early morning

Goodale Park, Columbus, OH

in the studio - tulip fields

"Tulip Fields"

7"x7"

shredded magazine pages on paper and ink collage

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I wanted to challenge myself and use shredded paper for a more abstract piece. Sticking with the overall topographic map idea I decided to create a bird's eye view of the land. My intent was that from a distance, the viewer would see farmland - spreading out in front of them. However, on close inspection they would see texture and pieces of images that they could recognize. 

Finding these textures and colors that would translate when shredded proved more difficult than I had anticipated but overall I learned a lot on the way to finally completing this piece - which took a lot longer than I had thought it would. 

I first laid out the grid of farmland and had an initial sense of the balance of colors needed. I originally planned to use only "natural" images; trees, grass, flowers etc. But that soon proved itself to be very one dimensional and ..... boring. 

Some things just become uninteresting blobs after shredding. Who knew?!

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in the studio - looking forward

"No Noise"

7" x 5"

digital photo prints on vellum, pencil, mixed media collage on paper

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I find that I keep returning to my photos for inspiration and use within collages. This last piece began with a series of photos from Reykjavik, Iceland. Iceland possesses a quiet stillness and is quite haunting - in a Hitchcock-ian kind of way. Like all collages this went through many permutations - having first laid it out one way I then found myself trapped and unable to resolve the focus of the piece and had to rethink the piece, adding new elements and changing placements. 
I am learning that the art of collage, for me, is best when I let creativity happen - not will it or force it - but sense the groove and, trance like, just let it flow. I do believe that it is very important to have that initial "picture" in your head - how you think the piece should be and how you think you may get there. But, I need not be stubborn and try to hold on to that first vision too long. The art itself will tell me what it needs as long as I listen to it.
Ahhh... something new and different for a control freak like me!

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When I was in NYC I finally met a wonderful artist, Ruth Gorton, whom I had previously only known through her work - by way of mutual friends. Tim and I had been given a pastel of hers, "Morning Bakers", last year. 
I have to thank her for being the creative impetus last February for me to get back to my art work. I had been told that she does a painting a day! 
That commitment, to complete something... whether in the "mood" or not, whether it ends up good, bad, whatever.... that blew me away. 
For myself I vowed to begin this journey and to work at my art everyday.

I also have to thank Ruth for the time spent with her as she looked at my artwork. She asked me questions - some which I still do not know the answer to but I am searching for - and overall her words were most encouraging to me.

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I did finish the shredded paper female figure.

"Woman Wearing a Slip"

13" x 9"

shredded magazine pages on presentation board

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on the street - fog and conversation

mid town street, NYC

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New York was cold - a mix of fog, snow, and rain. However, our 3 days there were spent surrounded by friends and lots of warm and interesting conversations.

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Specifically we went to see the Apple family cycle of plays at the Public Theatre. 

“Hopey Changey”, “Sweet and Sad”, “Sorry”, and “Regular Singing” were run in rep and over the course of 2 days we were fortunate to be a part of this family’s/our country’s dialogue on politics and our human purpose. The plays are small windows into the life of one family, how they deal with each other, death, change.… every day issues, surrounded, as we are, by the noise of our political machines and shaped by history. The plays aim to provoke conversation - they actually beg us to talk to each other, to work out ideas, to say things that surprise even ourselves, to be truthful and honest. It is the dialogue within a community that ultimately fosters and allows change.

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in the studio - shredded art

the start of shredded project #2

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Not sure how it began but somehow I have recently become fascinated by shredded paper.....

 yeah, from my home shredder.

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You know when you are looking out of an airplane - flying over farmland and the ground below looks like a crazy quilt of color; or you are looking down onto a city and the patterns of the streets and rooftops create a brand new city never seen before? 

Both the farmland and the city always exist at the ground level when you are viewing them on the surface. But they get a new life when viewed from above - the farm land is more diverse, more colorful.  The city is potentially much more interesting. 

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What about people seen from a new perspective? 

What happens when we "deconstruct" a map and create our own? 

Right now, I think these are the concepts I'm looking at right now.... and they are subject to change.

All I can do is follow the path and see where it takes me.

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"City-scape"

8 1/2" x 11"

shredded paper - map and magazine pages

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Detail - "City-scape"

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I started down this road a few weeks ago and finished the above piece made from a shredded topographical map and pics from magazines. I had wanted to do another piece based on cities but felt like I did not have the right photos of my own to use/draw on so I wondered if I could somehow re-purpose other people's pics. One thing led to another and suddenly I was shredding!

Needless to say - this activity requires a certain amount of crazy and a lot of anal retentiveness!!

I did start by shredding everything I was going to use all at once - oops. I then had to go thru and separate; buildings, sky, ground, dark, light....... one shredded piece after another.

I have since learned to organize prior to the shredding process. I still have to go thru the pile to organize by color but the piles are MUCH smaller.

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Yesterday I began a new piece.  This one is really about trying to master capturing the various skin tones and the direction of the light source.

Beginning of shredded project #2

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I try to imagine her seen from above and the crazy quilt of pattern and color that lies there unnoticed.

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