it's mass chaos….

On my studio table.  There has been some work.  But you wouldn't know it from the following pictures.  The table has to do too many things….office work, long term and short term storage, creative space…and there is just not enough room for all of that.  Plus, the table is plagued by the Rocky Paper Situation.  The Rocky is a cat, a grey tabby with too much time and too little to do.  The Paper is various research images for new work, newspaper and sewing pattern paper for current pieces.  The Situation is when Rocky is bored and can't get my attention, he jumps to my studio table and shreds any paper he can get his teeth into.  He just tears off little pieces and spits them out until he has demolished something of minor importance or prompted me to find the laser light.  It is maddening.  All of that just sits there amongst the other stuff, as neither or us is willing to pick it up.  Rocky won't because, obviously, he is a cat.  I won't because, obviously, I am making  a point.  I know its not in my best interest to be in a power struggle with a cat, but I hope if I just leave it, he will think there is nothing else to do up there too.  So here is my progress on my crazy table….

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A three tiered cake that will have a little figure interacting with it in some way.  I would like to see the figure scale it with a dessert fork, but that is going to take some figuring.  

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The second piece is a little deer.  I think I would like to see her sitting at a wardrobe with red Mary Jane shoes on, and maybe doing her lashes.  But that will take some figuring as well.  I tend to figure things out as I go along.  I will post more progress pictures and hopefully a more organized table shortly.  

it's been...

over a month and I haven't had a minute to post.  I  spent most of my spare time in November reviewing grant applications for the Minnesota State Arts Board.  I am fortunate enough to have been granted one this year, and wanted to participate when I was asked to volunteer.  It is a lot of work…but so exciting to see some of the amazing work being made by Minnesota artists.  It was also a great learning experience to see the process from the inside and see how one could better write to the grant criteria.  I had two nights in a hotel in St. Paul by myself, and Thai food for the three dinner meals I was there.  Grant recipients will be posted in January and I am looking forward to seeing the entire roster.  

Senior thesis...

When I was visiting my dad this summer, he pulled out some work I had given him nearly twenty years ago.  I don't recall if this actual piece was in my senior thesis exhibition at RISD, or if I made it specifically for him.  But I remember the very first one I made.  It was in my apartment on College street that I shared with my roommate Marlene.  I don't recall where the idea came from, but I realized I could make a little dress with a sleeve as big as my pinky, and I really wondered what it would look like.  The first one was a painted block printing paper that I just tore into the sort of right sized shapes. It was pink and I used a dark red thread to put it together.  The little stitches were x shaped that followed the edges of the torn paper.  There was a shoulder seam, side seam, waist and set sleeve.  I had started in Apparel Design, but this was the first garment I had ever enjoyed making.  And so began my Senior Thesis without my even knowing it.  The dresses started to take on character with different added materials.  I used to fold them up around a needle and thread and stick them in my pocket with a little pair of scissors, so I could pull them out and work on them at my work study job, or in the Print building, whenever I had a minute.  I'm happy my dad gave her a good home all these years and that we have had a chance to get reacquainted.  I think she might be the next listing on my Etsy shop....watch for her!f

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accessorized....

William the urban tree man is almost done!  His character was conceived by my friend Colleen, who helped me to write my Minnesota State Arts Board grant application.  I promised to make him in trade for her expertise.  I imagined him as a very skilled mouse, cutting down diseased trees and planting new life.  He has his tool belt for his shovel and ax (the ax is not pictured....still need to add the loop to his belt.)   He wields a chain saw when necessary.  He keeps his headgear close by.  Colleen said he also has a german shepard, but I think I have done enough accessorizing.  I am still futzing with a large shovel trying to get the proportion right.  And he still needs his tail attached.  The whiskers are from my cat Bug; everything else is paper clay covered in sewing pattern paper and painted with acrylic.  I hope she will love him.  Thank you so much Colleen for believing in me and insisting I apply for the grant!

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total impulse buy.....

at Barnes & Noble.  I was there trying to find party favor gifts that a seven year old might actually enjoy and that their parents wouldn't want to throw away immediately.  After I found the Ninja Mad Libs, I was walking to the register and found the paperback "Zen Confidential:  Confessions of a Wayward Monk."  I grabbed it and a review by Leonard Cohen on the back called the author "a punk of a monk."  And with that I took it to the register.

I have let my own sitting practice lapse for far too long.  There are fits and starts, and I remember why it is so necessary, and then life gets in the way.  But life will always get in the way.  That is why sitting helps.  Right inside the cover is a quote by Dogen that gives me hope...."A Zen master's life is one continuous mistake."  I'm no Zen master, and if he can't get it right, why do I have to try so hard?

Art Bash and Paddle8....

Tonight is the fall fundraising event at the Rochester Art Center, titled "ARTBASH 2013: The Silver Factory" in honor of receiving funding from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.  In addition, the Art Center will be screening Andy Warhol's "Screen Tests" and creating their own black and white film "Rochester Screen Tests."  These are one minute portraits edited together of Rochester community members.  I already did my portrait sitting for the Paddle8 launch, but couldn't talk my boys into participating.  Also at the big bash tonight is all the work that was donated by 28 artists for the Art Center's first national auction.  I am fortunate enough to be included in that group.  Check out the Paddle8 auction and bid if anything strikes you!  I'll be headed out to the party soon.