monkeys

slow and steady on this new toy piece,

more toys. ..

simply

I like the simplicity of this imagery.  Though it is not necessarily simple in craft it has a simplicity in the content, the scale, the palette that I am currently craving.

Artist Atsuko  Chirikjian

the struggle

I am having one of those what the f am I doing days?  I am really struggling with balancing all that I have on my plate. I am balancing and all- but I am very on my artist side. I am always fighting for studio time and since my spring and summer have been so hectic with teaching and life stuff I feel like things have gone stagnant which, though not totally true, is terrifying.

I love, love, love teaching---but it is often a choice between my own work and practice or teaching and always having to struggle and navigate that is exhausting.

I also have not had a show that felt like a true accomplishment in quite awhile now. I am aware that part of that is my lack of applying for things but that is just another giant time suck.

The images I am shooting with my camera feel great.  There is just that major and totally annoying issue of not having any way to currently print them. Slight snag in that passion. But I am hoping some things in the fall will amend that issue. Fingers uber crossed there.

Really just venting but why cannot us artists have some way of being more supported in our endeavors instead of having to struggle and fight our entire careers.

soooo close.

but once washed I realized it still needs some touches. What do you think ?

ahhh, so close

the red thread, revisited

cool work, cool artist. Read here.

the privilege of ephemeral?

I find this article strange and interesting. Particularly the fact that Walker seemed to be distraught over the  dismantling of the piece and was not able to be present for it. It seems if the point of the work is ephemeral then one would psychologically enjoy that aspect of it or want to experience it fully.

The other issue never discussed in such articles is the luxury of being able to make works like this as most artists cannot afford to make a work that is ephemeral because they are trying to survive financially and /or if they do no one ever knows about it as it is already gone.

It is just a much more complex issue then this article alludes to.

under water

I am feeling so lost in my practice lately, my schedule has been so hectic, my life so full and as a result at certain points my energy so low that I feel like I am lost in the water (but with no panic.)  You know what I mean... Its like I am slowly swimming, the sounds of the world are muted, the waves are above me, I am ok but I am totally without a sense of which way to go.

It is a strange place that I have never been. Usually I am either creating and just wanting more time or feeling dormant and frustrated with that. I do not necessarily feel dormant but also not overly ambitious.  Progress is being made just achingly slow. I really want to show my work but have no energy or ability to get applications done.  I want to write about are but really have no ideas--- and I actually do not want to write I want to talk.

I am so ungrounded here. I am still shooting a lot but have no access to print which is beyond frustrating.  I have lots of teaching lined up but still have not found my true home as a teacher.  I want to really become established in the community here but then think I should stay focused on NYC  and internationally but then I wonder why any of it matters.

And then when I have a little time and energy I stitch. Something, anything.
In reality I have had a wonderful summer so far a summer full of friends, meeting new friends, going outside, catching up with my son since I missed him all spring, going to concerts, and reading some wonderfully inspiring stuff.  But not making art and having this follow a spring full of teaching and not making art is a little scary.

But I guess eventually something will catch my eye in the water and I will swim over that way and a new cycle will begin.

"help"

random image i found. i like.

so close, I can feel it.

almost done....

broken, mended, melted and slunched

I really like this work and  the artists,  Livia Marin , play and seamless transition from medium to medium.

I love how these c-prints are stitched upon and kind of feel like my brain just exploded with thoughts since I am going to start printing out my images in the later summer and fall.  Combining my stitching with my clean prints is an idea that I surprisingly had not yet thought of.

See more of this amazing work here or in person in NYC at this show with a lot of other talented folk.

artist

my studio is a total mess, my tabs are open to like 20- all reminders of things I want to apply to or sign up for, or something, my to do list is always being added to. But oh how I love this life full of looking, observing, thinking, framing the world behind my lens, drawing it out with my needle.

It is so easy to sometimes ask what is the point?  But then you make something, you see a new print perfect, or draw a new idea and you remember there need not be a point it is just simply who you are. An artist. It is you.

p.s. I think I might actually be done with this piece by tomorrow.

happy 4th and mama-ness

from here.

Happy Holiday!!!

I am enjoying my first day off at home in  about 16 days. Seriously this spring has been so nutso.  But this Monday is the of week is the beginning of more time for me. Back to having actual studio days not a crazy pants teaching schedule and not going out of town every other week.

I have not really been getting work done in my studio but have been doing a lot of shooting of pics and reading about motherhood and artists.

I am currently lookin at...

from here. This book is very light on the content but it a great quick look into other mother/artist perspectives and introduced me too this one...

which I justt loaded on my ipad and plan on starting today. I feel an exciting new project and direction brewing. Not sure what...but when I start reading something always follows.

So I will let you know how things go. there are also some cool shows and stuff I want to share with you once life is a little caught up from all the recent crazy.