New to listen to: Artist Mother Podcast!

I just discovered this fabulous podcast through instagram actually. I am not sure how it popped up on my feed…if it found me or I found it, but I have listened to a couple of interviews and it is wonderful! It is the work of artist/mother Kaylan Butetyn. This is one of the paintings I love on her website:

Big Momma #2

Big Momma #2

“You can make critical art and be a mother at the same time.”

It is true. It is damn hard some days, but you can do it. It is so great to hear stories of all sorts of mom artists making their way. My son is 12, with wispy hairs above his lip and more smarts than I know what to do with and we are at this great place where he encourages me. He sees the value of the weird things I make. And that makes it possible. My kid loves me because I am his mom…but he also loves this weird practice that makes me bring home strange dolls from estate sales and make things that look like pubic hairs. It is everything. Hope you have a chance to check her podcast out!

New studio and new work in progress....

I haven’t actually had a chance to work in my new studio, but I did drop some things off. I am really excited about it, especially going into spring with the possibility of having the garage door open and enjoying the lovely weather.

studio rochester Minnesota
studio rochester Minnesota
studio rochester minnesota

I think Sofia will mostly be using the garage door side this summer so she can take advantage of the light in her photographs. I will mostly be on the side with the hard wood floor, and then when it gets colder, we will both shift to that space to take advance of the furnace. Former studio renter and good friend MB left us each a bucket that says “Lets do this” that we can now use as our personal potties.

And I am super excited about this new work in progress. I am thinking of it more as a sketch…practice for more to come. Doesn’t it straddle that line between repulsion and beauty?

work in progress
here is the back…

here is the back…

The little pustules are latex finger tips stuffed with fiber fill and dry paint pigment. I had thought it would be a flat piece of felt with these things coming off of it on the wall, but now I think the felt actually needs to be a three-dimensional shape coming off the wall itself. The outside edge of the felt is just too flat. More to come!

in between things....

I am kind of in between things right now. My website is getting updated and I have a shop going up. I have done a little research on art fairs and I am going to visit the Uptown Art Fair in Minneapolis and the Art Fair on the Square in Madison this summer. I am also going to hit Renegade Craft fair in Chicago in September. I believe there is a way to sell my work. There just has to be. So I am putting in the research this summer before RISDCraft 2019, as I already know I have a spot there.

And I just took possession of keys to a new studio that I will be sharing with photographer Sophia Chai! I’ve got big plans for big things. The only drawback is there is not a toilet. There is a gas station three blocks away. I was thinking though, we could each have our own bucket, and then a guest bucket. We would be all set.

Jessica Stoller, new artist crush...

I find myself being more interested in ceramic work than I ever thought I would be. I never got clay. It is dirt. But maybe that is why it is so magical for so many artists. I feel really lucky to have discovered the work or artist Jessica Stoller. It totally hits all my sweet spots: it is figurative, addresses lady stuff and includes food.

Untitled (Weave) 2015

Untitled (Weave) 2015

Untitled (Tar), 2014

Untitled (Tar), 2014

Untitled (Stack), 2013

Untitled (Stack), 2013

Gooey, oozing, voluptuous, messy, sweet, grotesque. Good stuff.

Professional practices workshop with Sharon Louden....

I signed up for Creative Capital emails a while back, and that is how I found out about the ISCP Lenore Tawney Fibers residency that I just applied for. But I also found out about an online professional practices workshop with artist Sharon Louden, and we are going into the third meeting of four tonight! I has been really informative. I really enjoyed her book Living and Sustaining a Creative Life that I read a couple of years ago on a residency. She has got her shit together. A lot of it is practice, organization and gratitude. And the nitty gritty details of business…like I know I need to collect emails and make a mailing list. But she is also having us identify 10 professional goals we have for ourselves. Here are some of mine:

…write a frankenstuffie book proposal

…submit a proposal to San Jose Institute of Art

…apply for a grant with the Chenven Foundation

…send a proposal to Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art

…exhibit with my talented friend, Marybeth Magyar

…and reach out to about five different galleries, just to start a conversation

There is so much yet to do.

Would you be interested in a book about the making of this guy?

Would you be interested in a book about the making of this guy?

Rejections and moving on...

Found out last week that I did not get accepted for the MAEP exhibition this next round. Didn’t hit me as hard as I expected it would. But how can you realistically be heartbroken when only one in seventy artists get it every four months? I did however get to reuse my video for another proposal at the CUE foundation. And then again for the McKnight Mid Career Fellowship, so it was well worth the time doing. Now I just need to learn to do it myself.

I am currently getting an application ready for the ISCP Lenore G. Tawney Fiber residency in NYC. Lenore Tawney was somehow an artist I discovered when I realized Apparel Design was not a good fit for me and I was maybe more interested in mixed media than printmaking. She and Lesley Dill really showed me I could make the work I wanted to make. I had never seen anyone make work in this way before.

Lenore Tawney, “Wandering Between Worlds”

Lenore Tawney, “Wandering Between Worlds”

Lenore Tawney, “Bird Boy”

Lenore Tawney, “Bird Boy”

Lenore Tawney, “Seed Puzzle on Three Levels”

Lenore Tawney, “Seed Puzzle on Three Levels”

Application is due 4/15, but I think I might have it submitted tonite! Fingers crossed!

Spring is here in Minnesota...

and I am feeling lucky. The sun is shining. Birds are singing. The grass is peaking through. Just that can change my attitude so much. I feel like professional changes and growth is around the corner. I am thinking about the resources I need to gather in order to make this shift and the ways in which it is going to make me really uncomfortable to change. But I need to. I want to draw more. Drawing is so joyful. I made this one in January and was so thankful that a dear friend wanted to take it home.

rabbit with balloon

Let it be a spring of more drawing.