Email nikimade@gmail.com to purchase original works.
So excited that artist/author Elaine Luther reached out to me after seeing my work at Woman Made Gallery in Chicago. She has written a lovely piece about my work right here. And the website has lots of fabulous resources for all artists at all stages of their careers!
And one of the projects we have been doing was suggested by one of the best art teachers I know, a dear friend from my time in New Mexico. She said to let them take a bunch of stuffed animals apart and then put them back together as a new species. It has been brilliant! Everyone has had so much fun. And you just can't mess them up because there is no right or wrong way to make one. I call them "Frankenstuffies" and it turns out they are my new favorite thing to make. I have made one with every class and then made several on my own as gifts. My son thinks they are super creepy. I fall in love with every new one!
I've got one half finished in my studio and two bags of stuffed animal parts in the basement. It can be a little brutal.
I've had this idea for a large installation piece for quite some time now using the sewing pattern paper and hooks and eyes. I've even got some grant money for it. So I have been working on the paper forms. I just got a couple of pics to use for a proposal and had a chance to problem solve with some artist friends about how to get it on the wall the way I want....but they had better ideas. I wanted this cyst/breast like shapes to extend from the wall and be surrounded by a curtain of thick hook and eyes. I was struggling with a way to have the hook and eyes on the wall without glueing them individually to the surface. So an artist friend suggested I mount the paper shape to multiple, different irregularly shaped lightweight boards, that I could then slather with joint compound and embed the hooks and eyes in. And then I could bevel the edge of the board and extend the joint compound and sewing hardware to the wall so it appears as if it is erupting out of the surface of the wall "LIKE A WART!" That is so good. I am thinking I will try using styrofoam sheets, but I am waiting until the weather gets warmer and I can work outside. And I need to get some tools. I did think it might be a piece that could be expanded for a recent exhibition proposal and played with a drawing to illustrate that.
For my proposal, I wondered about changing the shape of the room, so it was rounder and more womb-like when you were in it and surrounded by these bulbous shapes. So much to think about.
So I spent some time last week working on a proposal for an exhibition I have applied to four other times. But each proposal keeps getting better and applying to things is what I do. The institution only take one proposal out of seventy with every round, so I will just keep at it. I did play with a new material though that really influenced the focus of the proposal and has me super excited about new work: industrial felt. I've got two different kinds...a really pristine cream color felt in 1/8 and 1/4 inch thickness, that comes in 15 inch width, and this sort of freckled light brown/gray, again in 1/8 and 1/4 inch thickness that comes in 60 inch width bolts! It is so furry and weird and wonderful. I just started cutting it up and piecing it together into this sort of organ like shape, and have you ever had that feeling where you know you are onto something? I had that feeling, HARD. And then I haven't had any time to get back to it, but I am so ready to. I want to make life sized figures with it and I can't wait to start.
I can draw on it with graphite and I am going to be exploring powdered pigments for color too.
I have been thinking about the same doll shape clearly, but I would like a whole room of them. And my hope is that they can stand but the back will be open, so you see all the knotty mess of stitching, boning and structure that holds them together. So much to do!
I don't know where the time goes. Seriously. I was asking everyone I knew to vote for my work everyday at the Bombay Artisan Series for six weeks this fall, and now it is March! Many fabulous professional things have happened in that time as well as some not so fun family health issues we had to work through. But everyone is healthy, my son has a paper route and I am in five exhibitions currently!
I am actually headed off to New Orleans to see my work in the group exhibition Between Stitches at NOCCA tomorrow. I have never been to NOLA, and am so excited to meet a friend there from San Francisco for a girls trip. She knows New Orleans, so all I have to do is follow her around and enjoy.
I am super excited to have brand new work at Nahcotta Gallery's Enormous Tiny Art Exhibition #23 in Portsmouth, Maine with some of my favorite contemporary artists. I have been joking that Nahcotta is where all my favorite online cool kid artists show work, and now I am among them! I even had a piece sell before the opening reception. I just popped online to look at my page and saw a sold button. It was a thrill.
I also have work at Woman Made Gallery in their Woman Made Juried Regional Exhibition in Chicago, Illinois. And then two weeks ago, last minute, I got an email from a gallery owner in Dallas who was interested in working with me. Turns out she had an exhibition going up in the next week featuring the women artists of her gallery and asked me to participate. So another big box went to Fedex. I am so happy to be included in Women of RO2. at RO2 Art in Dallas, Texas.
Finally, I have work back in Miami with Casa Mondo Gallery, after having met the owner at Superfine! during Miami Art Week two years ago. It is absolutely crazy. Working your ass off works! Now I just have to get more organized. Turns out I should have a spreadsheet inventory of all my work and where it is. And then I need to start my 2018 tax expenses spreadsheet. And then I desperately need to make some new work. I have a group exhibition with my favorite local art besties in June, and some things coming up in the fall. So I am shutting this down and pulling out my thread. I will be back soon though. Hope you all are well!
I am so happy to be a semi-finalist in the Bombay Artisan Series! Voting is open from today through 11/7/19. You can vote once a day for the entire voting period. Please help me secure a spot at SCOPE Miami in December...the top two artists will be there. Please vote for me here. Measuring Spoons is my official entry.
So one reason this summer got away from me is that I have been spending a lot of time at the Rochester Art Center. I was asked to coordinate "Locavore: Southeastern MN Juried Exhibition" and "Homegrown: 2' x 2'" for this September. These are two separate exhibitions for regional artists. Today is the last day for submissions for the Juried Exhibition, so things are really going to gear up for that quite quickly. This is the first year in a very long while that RAC has sponsored something like this, so I am anticipating some growing pains, but I have been excited to see the submissions that are coming in.
I am also coordinating "Homegrown: 2' x 2'" which I can only think to call a "take and make" exhibition. A group of artist volunteers ripped a bunch of masonite to 2x2' panels and added cleats and spacers to the backs. We cut 200. Artists can pick up panels at RAC, create their work on the panel and return it to us for inclusion in the exhibition. I have been taking panels local community centers and regional art centers for their members to work on. I think approximately 125 have been picked up. I got myself one (I am not applying to the Juried Exhibition though...) and it is surprisingly big. I just gessoed it yesterday and need to sand before I draw. I hope to start it shortly. Drop off for both the accepted juried work and panels is 9/14/17...and then I will need help repainting areas of the galleries and hanging the exhibition. Luckily I have a great group for that.
I am happy that RAC has been able to offer some help with photographing work and resizing digital images to make the submission process easier. I hope to schedule MNArtists.org to come to RAC and offer a workshop on creating a profile on their site, as well as other workshops about writing an artist statement and how to start taking your own digital images. I think this opportunity will be a great way include more of the community in what the RAC does. I hope you will come out to see the results at the reception on 9/22/17!
I never mean to let this much time pass between entries, but where did the summer go? It seems like I spent all summer applying to things, and now I am starting to hear back. I sent off my proposal to the MAEP program, and after talking with the program administrator, I think I am getting closer. I've got some adjustments to make for the 10/31 deadline, and I think I am hopeful. I've been rejected for a Juried Exhibition that looked like a good opportunity, and two academic residencies...and I am still waiting on a lot. I did have my SEMAC grant proposal accepted for support of new work I intend to exhibit next summer! $5000! I am so thrilled. My friend MaryBeth also got one for $2500! We both just got our paperwork in and should receive a check on 9/1/17. I am actually going to get paid to make work....a large piece I posted planning pictures of earlier this summer. I can't wait.
And it turns out if you just keep applying to stuff, the rejections start to sting way less.
I just found out last week that I have a Drawing 1 class at RCTC, so I have been in planning mode for a couple of days. Luckily, Drawing is one of my favorite things to teach, and I can do it without much trouble, so I am not worried about prep.
And finally, my son is about two weeks off of his own school starting. Fifth grade. He will be walking himself home in the afternoons as I won't be home. Missing out on the walk makes me a little sad; that was one of my favorite parts of the day. And about the only time he tells me anything of significance. I guess I should be getting used to that.