Better

Just an update and some better photos from my work finished over August break and the rest of fall semester. One of the pieces, the State of Independence has been altered since you last saw it. I burned and roughed it up a bit more. It's still not my favorite piece, self portrait-wise however, it was a good study for me on texture and playing with mixed mediums. It's always good to stretch myself and see what new techniques I might want to use later. The rest, as stated before, are watercolor and wintergreen transfer prints, with collage elements.

Quoth the Raven - Soar!

Quoth the Raven - Carry

Nevermore - She

The State of Independence

Well, I think I'm up-to-date on here, now I just have to hit flickr, and then I will commence with the website-making. Whew.

I'll Tell Ya What

I have to start learning to make things in regularly-found sizes. After realizing that there was no cool way to mount my previously made 5x9's of the row houses on paper, I was faced with making new ones in a 5x7 size. I would have just cropped them, but I found that it ruined the aesthetic and the length that they had. They stay unmounted for now and I'll put them away in my little watercolor box.

Have I completely learned my lesson...? No, probably not, but these new ones are still cool. I made these plates (and printed them on separate 5x7 paper too), I am getting ready to apply for a few shows, and I am sorely behind on my thank you's to my references for my grad program. But I figure, if I'm going home soon I can avoid the post office altogether, and that's alright with me.

As you can see, they are still quite colorful, even after an inking. From the current (titles might be changed) One in Four series..

Aw. They're so pretty, and they're no longer mine.

(ETA: I included a piece of paper on the back of each of these that said: "One in every four women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime, and DV is not discriminatory - through the use of Baltimore's row house imagery, the home affected by DV is indistinguishable from the next.") 

Just a Start

Hello again, and seasonal greetings! I have recently created a flickr account for House of Ruth Maryland's Arts Program. I have just started to upload some photos to the site, and it will be growing continuously with new images throughout July of 2011. Keep checking back, these youth are really something special! And their art will be exhibited in a local Baltimore venue in a few months' time.
Until then... http://www.flickr.com/photos/artshouseofruthmaryland/

P.S. Little babies made the angel wings, 2-5 years old. What that says speaks volumes to me. It is a perfect and resounding concept of 'heaven' or the afterlife. Babies who make angel wings out of only the purest and fluffiest of things. Simply. Beautiful.

The Row House

I have a few quick pics I snapped of my work that was up for critique today. I recently changed my thesis to row houses. I honestly felt completely compelled to make them for the past few months, and my mentor Paula had a dream about me, "You and 100 row houses"....she mentioned it to me two days after I had changed it, and before I mentioned the change to her. How'dya like that!

I am planning on using the row houses to illustrate the statistics of domestic violence in Baltimore City, which are staggering for me, and difficult to comprehend. I see the row houses as the souls of those affected, an unhappy house, no longer a home. With the row house imagery, the house effected by domestic violence is indistinguishable from the next. I see the inking process of the plates as saying something about the impact of violence on a person or a family....like an extra layer of gunk that takes away all the color and vibrancy and life from a home, or a person. (There is a photo of the colorful, un-inked plates below.)

I am a whirlwind of ideas and materials and metaphors right now. Unfortunately, I am still working on my new thesis statement, artist statement, and thesis proposal for this body of work, so that will all have to be explained in greater detail later. Until then...

And with that, I am on "vacation" from school. I have four MAJOR things to accomplish during the next month, and with my 40 hours per week at House of Ruth Maryland and continuing my art work, I'll hardly see any of that so called vacay. My work is never done folks. Literally.

Lucky Thirteen

I have always had an affinity for odd numbers, and the number 13 has always been lucky for me, especially. On that note, I am participating in my 13th exhibition this year at Liz Lerman Dance Exchange for their Holiday Extravaganza. This is Alexis Iammarino's host site this year, and 'MACA Team Awesome' were all graciously invited to show our work during their open house in early December.

What I'll be exhibiting in Takoma Park, Maryland, from the Continuum Series:

Consciousness

Cognizance

Fantasy

Flashback

Memo

Retain

Suggestion

Recollect

It's very exciting to participate in this many shows while also working 32 hours per week and finishing a masters degree. Who says I can't do it all....cuz clearly, I can.

Deconstruction

Sometimes mistakes are good...

Deconstruction

Dream Weavers

Contemporary Dream Catchers made by House of Ruth Maryland youth. (one of them is mine, and I won't tell you which, but it is not the awesomest one here.)

Young residents are encouraged to embrace the activities and ritual experiences of other cultures, while exploring their own ideas of safety and protection.

A Bit About The Past

In the previous post, I mentioned my thesis concept for the rest of this school year. I have quite a bit of a past with the 'silent scream'. It has literally been a constant theme that I have come back to throughout the years in my paintings. In fact, I have made quite a few posts regarding the subject during the last three years that I've written this blog. As you can see in this particular post, I used much of the dialogue as fodder for my current vision and artist statement...
http://artinshanaty.blogspot.com/2009/05/silent-scream.html

Been Real Busy

Hey Peeps! I've been extremely busy with my site work for House of Ruth Maryland as well as trying to think of what my thesis work will encompass next semester. I will be working on my thesis proposal this weekend, but until then, here is my vision statement as well as my artist statement so far:

Vision Statement

My aim is to help illustrate the issues of domestic violence by creating a narrative surrounding the themes of fear and helplessness. To give voice to those who are living in constant fear of reprisal through the visual theme of ‘silent screams’. I will aggressively fight domestic violence by shining a light on the subject through my art, specifically through the mediums of painting and printmaking. I hope that survivors will gain voice, empowerment and recognition without carrying the stigma of weakness, and without the continued threat of emotional and physical violence by others.



Artist Statement

If they cannot sing, they scream.
Survivors of Domestic Violence long for a voice, having had their sense of self insidiously belittled and beaten out of them. The silent scream is the subject of my newest pieces, and of my continued goal to fight domestic violence pictorially. What a silent scream says is louder, more terrifying and more wounded than a scream with sound could ever be. What I aim to portray in this suite of images is but a mere moment of silent terror where many DV victims live daily. Even though the scream is wholly silent, it encapsulates a terrifying narrative that explains fear, helplessness and living in a state of continued mental and physical abuse at the hands of someone else.



In the meantime I have been making more row house prints as well, but my scanner died and I don't have enough time to shop for a new one...I'm doing the work of two years in one, so life is a bit harrowing for now...and I'm thinking of going for my MFA and then taking some business classes. We'll see where life takes me...

The Other Side Exhibition

I could not attend this exhibition because it was across the country from me, BUT a very nice local took some very nice photos. These photographs were taken by Lauren Callahan...

The Curator, Alicia Porter...

And here is a link to the rest of the pieces in Lauren's photo album on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1644798569506&set=a.1644782529105.91635.1523144305

Thanks Lauren, for letting me share these. You rule!

Photos

Some of the art activities that the residents at House of Ruth Maryland have done recently:

BIRDS (3-5 year olds)

HOUSES (collograph plates ages 4-12)

PRINTMAKING (inking the collograph plates)

SCARECROWS (all ages)

The moms really took charge with the scarecrows. YAY MOMS! These are so awesome in person. The residents also wrote some of the things they wanted to scare away. Some of my favorite include: raccoons, giants, aliens, people, birds, violence, failure, mice/rats.

I love my job!

p.s. this is my three-hundredth post!

Pocketful of Posie

So the MACAns and I made a group "quilt" (very loosely based on materials, not so much structure).

One of the pieces, by Alexis Iammarino was participatory. We all put an arm in a "sleeve", linked hands with the person across from us and did this tension/spin. We bent our knees and leaned out from the circle, and our weight was balanced by the person across from us directly. Then we started moving. Alexis is a dancer, so much of her art is either based in movement or is very theatrical in some way. Our professor for this class took some photos, and here they are...

'Critique' was a pleasure, as always.

Be My Guest

Here is a link to The Pixel Project's blog, and a post that I was asked to write recently, based on my "survivor story". I am very pleased that I could contribute in this way to such a fine, inclusive organization...
http://www.thepixelproject.net/2010/10/26/survivor-story-my-love-is-more-powerful-than-violence/

The Other Side

My paintings will be in this exhibition soon enough! Alicia Porter's curatorial debut...

Check it Arizona!

Milwaukee...

 

My installation, Passageways will be available for viewing at this coming event!

Terry McCormick Gallery

Contemporary Fine and Folk Art

A Reception: Featuring Fondé P. Bridges

Gallery Day, October 16, 2010, 12 – 5 pm
2522 North 18th Street
414.264.6766

Fondé P. Bridges will share his poetry at 1 & 4pm.  Luminous, Fondé's new inspirational audio elixir comprised of selected inspirational sayings from his sold out self-published book 101 Simple Suggestions for Better Living, will be available for purchase.

ABOUT FONDÉ
Fondé P. Bridges is an expert dynamo motivational speaker and inspirational author with a wonderful over flowing gift of words. He promotes and emphasizes the need for self‑efficacy and has found that people respond deeply to the power of encouraging words and the instant impact words have on self-esteem. One of his pearls of wisdom is "You were born with what you need to succeed, the rest you'll get as you grow!" Hire Fondé to host your event, present in-service teacher workshops and work with k-12 schools. Visit http://tiny.cc/k1y7y to hear Fondé discuss the Terry McCormick Gallery with Adam Carr on 88.9 Radio Milwaukee.

TESTIMONIAL
On a 2700-mile road trip from Milwaukee to San Diego, I listened to this fellow Libra’s words through most of my journey and it gave me a kind of peace. It was just what I needed to guide me. I could not have asked for any better companion. Everybody really likes the action part at the end of each statement, like "Do it!" Nothing could be…more resonating than the endings. The endings are the catch!
                                                 —Painter, Writer, Musician, Eddie (Fazz) Ngwa

Link to Evelyn Patricia Terry's background as a new contributor to the Portal Wisconsin Blog:

http://portalwisconsin.wordpress.com/2010/10/01/how-this-all-started/