Progress on a new felt figurative sculpture....

I am excited to share that I am making a new piece for a new gallery in Minneapolis for their inaugural exhibition about motherhood. There is not a lot else I can share about the gallery at this time, but I do have some progress pics! It is so nice to have a big open space again to make things instead of trying to squeeze one in amongst the others! Here is how they start:

with conduit pipe and the anchors.

draping the felt

I figure at this point I have 20-25 hours still of stitching felt, and then I would like to add hooks and eyes. I am thinking the hardware will go from the ground up on the legs and neck. Or maybe the belly. Stay tuned!

Zoom Artist Talk....

I will be having a zoom artist talk at the Minneapolis Institute of Art on Wednesday 4/14, 6 pm Central time about my exhibition “Chthonic.” Reservations are free, and if you would like one, here is the link. I am going to be talking with Nicole Soukup, Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art about the work, it’s making and what I am thinking about next. Hope to see you there!

Caycee Zavaglia on Instagram....

So I have been procrastinating via the instagram. It is so good for that. And I came to embroidery artist Caycee Zavaglia’s instagram where the most current post was an image of one of her portraits on the cover of Vogue (!) magazine, and one of the later posts were about a rejection she just received. It was so good to be reminded that the artists and careers I aspire to also get rejections. If you are not familiar with her work, she makes these amazing stitched portraits that are just beyond belief. Really gorgeous.

Her website is here. I can’t decide if I love the backsides more or the fronts!

Caycee Zavaglia, Unspoken, 2021

Rejections are no fun. But an art friend and I decided that this year we are in a contest to get the most rejections…and the winner gets treated to nachos! I think I am skunking him already, but he is not letting on.

I have already applied to 25 opportunities since the new year! Rejections should start rolling in any time.

The Phipps Center for the Arts Gallery walkthrough...

So excited to share the Phipps Gallery walkthrough for the exhibitions currently on view by artists Christopher Palbicki, Susan Solomon, Susan Gangsei and Fawzia Khan.

Please take a look here!

It is about 18 minutes long. And the exhibitions run through April 3, 2021!

Large sculpture process images...

So now that Chthonic is installed, I have a little room to share what the making of this work was like. It really was the best year of my life, all the way around. I feel so lucky to have had it. All I did was make work, assemble food for my family, sleep with a cat under the covers, and start again. I was fortunate that I could take a semester off of teaching to make it happen. And that my family is not bothered by the filth we clearly live in. Anyway, here are some images of the sculpture Lumber in process in my studio over a period of months.

I worked with another artist friend to build the skeletons. We started with 1” conduit pipe that I bent into the gesture. The pipe then actually goes into an electrical box and is set with a screw. At the ground, the conduit comes into a drilled 2x4” that has been secured to plywood. Then we set screws through the 2x4” to the pipe. It worked pretty slick! She took up nearly the width of my studio. I did not plan well.

And getting her through the door was a whole other thing! Luckily I had handy, thoughtful helpers who kept me from freaking out. We removed the horizontal floor braces, turned her on her side so she was a U, and then threaded her through the door! Now she is hanging at Mia!

Upcoming exhibition at the Phipps Center for the Arts...

I am excited to share that I have an upcoming solo exhibition in Gallery 2 at the Phipps Center for the Arts in Hudson, Wisconsin, opening February 26. Artists Susan Gangsei, Fawzia Khan, Susan Solomon and Christopher Palbicki will also be exhibiting in the Center’s other galleries. I hope you will have a chance to attend!

I created a new series of drawings for “Den Mother” this last fall on the most beautiful gesso you can spread on a board. It is like butter. I will never go back to anything else. The boards are 10x10” and the drawings made in ball point pen. I love me a ball point pen. I think I am ready to explore this series in graphite with powdered graphite so I can get larger, softer areas of tone.

These images will soon be available as prints in the shop!

"Chthonic" at the Minneapolis Institute of Art

So it has been over a year since my last blog post…and a pandemic, online teaching, an election and two exhibitions. The last post the acceptance or my (how many?) proposal for the Minnesota Artist Exhibition Program at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. There was so much in between, but that is where I am starting now. From that day on I put my head down and got to work. It was the most fulfilling creative endeavor of my career. I am just so thankful for all of it. By the end, I could hardly get around my own studio, and I had moved two figures into another friends studio when I ran out of room. We needed a 26’ truck to deliver the work and it had to spend a week in the deep freeze after arriving at Mia; felt can have larvae and it had to be frozen before going into the museum proper. Then I had the best help for two weeks of install. We got it finished right as Governor Walz shut down entertainment and hospitality venues for Covid. But it opened this last Thursday, and I am thrilled that people are getting a chance to see it! I will post more about the making, installation and exhibition in the coming weeks!

Title text and door way into second gallery space…

Supine, Sway and Lumber

Twine, Sway, Supine, Lumber and Settle

Trunk and Nourish

RISDCraft Artist feature....

So happy to be a RISDCraft artist again this year! Artist Profiles are being published on the website on an ongoing basis…check mine out: Nicole Havekost.