Drawing in a Friendship Garden

I created this afternoon intervention in the park today. I loved the meditation of walking around and around this tree to envelop it with my attention. Then the meditation continued afterwards as I walked around the tree an equal number of times to disassemble the piece. #contemporary art #installation #nature #landscape 9 notes

The Drawing that Makes Itself — Variation 07

Here are some more images from my recent series of Drawings That Make Themselves in the Sierra National Forest in California. That granite is such a great substrate for the drawings. I would love to go back and do more of these drawings sometime.

Variation number 07 was about how the liquid transfers from one surface angle to another.

The Drawing that Makes Itself — Variation 06

For this variation, I decided to see how the drawing would look when I mix colors. Having all the extra liquid also created a much bigger drawing. I enjoyed the longer, more meditative process.

This is my favorite set from the Drawings That Make Themselves. I am really excited that they were chosen for the Tool at Hand PDX exhibition at The Museum of Contemporary Craft in Portland. Check out the images in person before the end of January 2014!

The Drawing that Makes Itself — Variation 05

This is number 05 in a series of ephemeral landscape drawings that make themselves. I love setting something free and seeing how it behaves on its own — like a controlled chaos almost. 

I'm getting more and more excited about working outside in the landscape. Interjecting artificial, almost psychedelic colors into an environment filled with earth tones creates a tension that reflects the collision of urban civilization and natural landscapes. I created these drawings in the Sierra National Forest just south of Yosemite.

The Drawing that Makes Itself — Variation 04

This series of photos documents the process of creating The Drawing that Makes Itself - Variation 04.

Harry Dodge at Henry Art Museum

Last night Matt and I went to see an art talk with Harriet “Harry” Dodge at Henry Art Gallery in Seattle. I was super inspired!

Still shot from the video.

We saw a hilarious video called The Ass and the Lapdog that tackled issues of language — the ways we describe images with words to create materiality in the minds of others. And body language is so essential. The stories each character describes are so vivid and funny, so strange and surreal. Imagination is key for both the story teller and the listener.

I would love to have Harry come as a visiting artist at PNCA next summer... So smart, thoughtful, funny, and insightful. I love all the different media at play in these explorations of language and imagination.

James Turrell at LACMA

Wow. I'm spending two weeks in Los Angeles this month, and I'm enjoying a lot of things I miss about living there. First and foremost: LACMA. I bought my ticket for the James Turrell show weeks ago, and it was worth the wait. I spent two hours sitting with each piece. I got too close to the work and the security guy hassled me a little bit (even though I didn't touch anything — how could I, it's just light!).

I sat for a good long while in this pink room. I sat on a bench and it almost seemed religious, like an altar or something. After I left this room, I entered the next room and it appeared green (even though it was just white). The sheer scale and effectiveness of Turrell's play with our perception of light and color is fantastic!

These holographic pieces were two dimensional mirror-like surfaces, but it appeared as though the reflections were reaching out toward me. Sometimes it's difficult to tell if the work is being projected or reflected onto surfaces or into spaces.

This show was even better than I imagined it would be. I wish I had sprung for the special light chamber experience, too! 

Spending Time with Lee Kelly

 

This summer I joined the MFA in Visual Studies program at Pacific Northwest College of Art. It was an amazing experience — I can’t say enough good things about it. As part of our summer intensive, we had the opportunity to spend time with sculptor Lee Kelly (what a generous and amazing person), and to make our own work at his woodland property and sculpture garden.

I was so inspired by my visits there that I created two ephemeral installations. Each one took a day to install and remove. There's something profound about the idea that something/someone can be present to us one moment, and then gone the next. Like a fragile spiderweb that exists in nature, so do these pieces.

The web piece was suspended about waist-height. I moved through and between each strand as I built it, like a dance. The process of creating it became primary; more important than the finished installation. In fact, it took me over four hours to build it, and about ten minutes to destroy it.

This smaller piece was created earlier in the summer. I found a branch in the woods and used cotton twine wrapped around two trees to suspend the branch in mid-air. It occurs to me now that suspension and gravity are themes the recur often in my work.

Welding is Awesome!

Wearing my welding mask.

Why didn’t someone tell me sooner how awesome welding is?! Yesterday I went for a one-on-one intro to welding with Greg Bartol (Studio B & Green River CC). He generously spent four hours showing me the equipment and teaching me some basics. Now I have a thousand ideas that I need to make immediately!

FIDM Poster: Finally, a Solution!

Thank goodness the clients finally let go of that brain concept. It didn’t have anything to do with fashion, but they kept pushing me to work with it. Someone on the team finally came to their senses and said that the brain looked like a psychology textbook. Indeed. I guess I had to go through all those variations before they could see it for what it was. This colorful, abstract textile is so much more representative of FIDM. I’m so glad we finally got a solution everyone could agree on!

FIDM Poster: Even more options

FIDM is an interesting client. I love the fact that they have a collaborative process. There are lots of opportunities to explore a range of different concepts, and just about everyone gets a vote on how things play out. On the other hand, sometimes it can feel like a project is going to drag on forever!

These are yet two more concepts for this summer’s promo poster. Hopefully I’ll get a decision on something this week!

Beginning Design Students: Gift Cards

 

Isabella Setina

My beginning design students did some great work last quarter! 

Most of my students last quarter were freshmen, taking their first ever graphic design class. We studied all the basics: composition, color, and vocabulary. I taught them technical stuff in Illustrator. We spent a lot of time looking at graphic designs from the world, critiquing them, and talking about audience.

Ashley Piper

For the final project, I asked them to design a series of gift cards for a favorite place. The cards had to fit together as a group, but also work independently for different purposes and/or audiences. These are two of the best examples from their work... not bad!

FIDM Poster: 2 More Concepts

I’m still working on ideas for the FIDM summer poster. The one above is a retro theme, taking cues from the popularity of Mad Men fashion and paper dolls. I really like this one... It's simpler, clearer, and more inviting, I think, than the others.

 

This is the comp they decided to go with. The image of a brain is really important to the client. So, now it's on to phase two: creating a bunch of variations on this theme to see what they like best.

FIDM Poster: It’s that Time of Year Again

Almost every year, I get a chance to come up with new ideas for FIDM’s promo campaign. I just started working on some new concepts for a poster. I’m so glad to work in a completely different vein this year; we’re moving away from all the organic shapes and free-form designs toward something more structured and rigorous.

FIDM has always had a “young” look that defined the brand. The college has grown up, so to speak, and the students who go to school there are more sophisticated too. In response, we’re trying to “age up” the designs as well.

These two concepts are variations on the continuum from carefree to sophisticated — the top being more serious, the bottom one more fun. I’ll be curious to see what the client is drawn to. I like the top one better, personally, but I may have swung the pendulum too far in the other direction on it. We’ll see what happens!

Water Heartache — In a Good Way!

“Water does not resist. Water flows. When you plunge your hand into it, all you feel is a caress. Water is not a solid wall, it will not stop you. But water always goes where it wants to go, and nothing in the end can stand against it. Water is patient. Dripping water wears away a stone. Remember that, my child. Remember you are half water. If you can't go through an obstacle, go around it. Water does.” —Margaret Atwood

Wow. I came across this quote this morning. It really hit me in the sweetest spot. . . My 2-d art work almost always incorporates a sense of water — the life-giving substance that gives, and takes away. What a powerful bit of awareness to start my day. 

New Work Underway: Screens

I just started a new train of thought... expanding on the idea of the “curtain” that I’ve been working with. I’m also thinking about the idea of a “screen” — and how the hide/reveal idea is similar, yet different, from the curtain. What is visible, what isn't? What is the obstructed view, and where is the truth?

Above is a preview of the first piece I’m doing in response to this variation on the theme. I'm excited about this work, and look forward to posting more for you to see in the coming weeks/months. Stay tuned!

Anchor Art Space: My Residency / Part 8 ... Grand Finale!

Rainforest Curtain (Moss). 40" x 30".

Ink, nails, twine, and paper on board. 2013.

Two additional mixed media works rounded out the body of work I created at Anchor Art Space during my residency, and they were also inspired by my visit to the coastal Washington rainforest in Olympic National Park.

 Rainforest Curtain (Moss), detail.

The curtain has been a strong theme in my recent work, and these pieces are no different. Just about every surface in the rainforest is covered with moss — it carpets the ground and it drips and hangs from nearly every branch on every tree. The piece above is an ode to the beauty of the moss that I fell in love with there.

Rainforest Curtain (Roots). 40" x 30".

Ink, nails, twine, and paper on board. 2013.

Giant trees with big, fat trunks and huge root balls fill the rainforest. When the trees fall over their root balls often come out of the ground leaving big holes in the ground and walls of roots, dirt, and rocks that litter the forest floor. These places offer great hiding places for animals, and fertile soil for ferns and other brush to grow.

Rainforest Curtain (Roots), detail.

This piece is a love letter to the damp earth that sustains and feeds rainforest life. What an amazing experience!