Inittowinit

I'm in these two shows right now... (postcards are somewhat crooked because I need a new scanner, as this one does whatever it damn well pleases, so after an hour -really, an hour- I gave up trying to make it perfect. *irritated*)

New Images

Hey everyone, I've been in the midst of mid-terms and so have had far less time than usual. Even though I am on 'break' again, I will be working until next week Tuesday for sure. So what I'm going to do is drop a few recent photos of stuff happening related to my thesis and then hope to be back here again soon. Until then, here are some thesis images...

This one was taken last night during the Community Conversation about DV/dating violence at the first reception for my thesis, 3Tributaries (at 901 Arts in Baltimore).

There is also a nice little write-up about me on 901 Arts' blog: http://901arts.wordpress.com/2011/03/06/safe-spaces/

Have a good spring 'break' everyone...I will mostly likely not. Break for me a little bit, and then let me know what 'we' did. HA.

Community Conversations

Hey Baltimore! You are invited to the closing reception, and part one of my three-part thesis 3Tributaries, which is happening on Friday March 11, from 5:30-7:00 pm at 901 Arts in Baltimore City. Here is the e-vite, and I hope to see you there!

1 901 Arts

As the AmeriCorps Artist-in-Residence for the House Of Ruth Maryland, I have been facilitating art workshops with shelter residents since October. Lately, we have focused our creative energies on the concepts of “safety” and “protection”. When I was asked recently to serve as a guest artist and facilitate classes in Baltimore’s Better Waverly neighborhood, I brought these same themes, concepts and art techniques to the youth at 901 Arts.

The youth and I discussed the reasons domestic violence shelters exist and why women and children might seek a safe haven like the House Of Ruth. After our discussion, the youth developed collograph printmaking plates addressing the theme of “safe spaces”.

The youth created beautiful art work, conceptually and visually! They were especially interested in investigating the safe spaces in their own lives.

The art work displayed here is part one of my three-part visual thesis, 3Tributaries. The row house images on display not only reference national domestic violence statistics, but also explore techniques and metaphors in printmaking.

It is an honor to show my work in conjunction with that of the Better Waverly community residents. Thank you to program coordinators Cait Byrnes, Sarah Tooley and all of the talented youth at 901 Arts for inviting me!

Art on Paper

Two In Four

I am very excited that this piece was accepted into the 34th Annual Art on Paper National Juried Exhibition at Maryland Federation of Art! Check out this link for the digital postcard/invite.

YAY!

3Tributaries

One in every four women will experience Domestic Violence in her lifetime, and Domestic Violence (DV) is not discriminatory. Through the use of Baltimore's row house imagery, the home affected by DV is indistinguishable from the next.

My visual thesis started this weekend. It's in three parts, at three different locations. The first reception will be at 901 Arts in Baltimore on March 11, from 5:30 to 7:00 PM. Here's more information about the upcoming exhibitions. I will be announcing the reception details on the sidebar of this blog in advance of each show as well...

These are very impressive in person, by the way...they're giant postcards printed on a half sheet of card stock paper, front and back. They cost me a bundle, but they were totally worth it.

Seeing Red

Hey y'all, I am in this current exhibition at MICA, Seeing Red. I submitted my piece The (Womb) Wound Must Be Honored, which is about the topic of Female Genital Mutilation. Here are the postcards and some photos from the exhibition, which opened tonight!

This is for V-Day, a global movement to end violence against women and girls.

Cutie Pies

These are among the best worry dolls ever created. I'm quite sure of it, and quite biased, I might add...dolls created by House Of Ruth Maryland youth under the age of seven. I am speechless by them sometimes...follow the link for so many more cute little people dolls:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/artshouseofruthmaryland/sets/72157625867633185/

In The Process

Printmaking can be a long process. With the collograph pieces I am making, all going towards my visual thesis work, I will end up making over 4,000 prints, hand printed. This will be completed by May, or in some cases before that. I have started the process by making over 50 individual plates. I plan to make at least 75. In addition, I am making four large scale plates. These will be printed as well. What I am after in most cases, are the inked and printed plates. The process of pulling the print corrodes the plate a bit, and that is the ultimate effect I want. In order to complete this effect, I have to make the plate, seal the plate, ink the plate, print the plate, and then use the inked plate in some way beyond its normal use of just a 'printmaking plate'.

All of this ties into Domestic Violence statistics and one part of my visual thesis will be up in a few weeks! Because I don't have an ideal venue to show all of my work, I have broken up my thesis into several smaller suites of images. Each will be showcased at a different smaller community venue throughout Baltimore...one suite to be displayed at 901 Arts in early February.

Anyway, I am still making the plates, but should be printing by this weekend. Here is the pile of plates so far...

More work to be done...more updates to come.

Music As Inspiration

I am always listening to music while I create, sometimes one song sticks with me more that the others at a given time. This summer, as I was finishing my Quoth the Raven series and had just moved to Baltimore, I had an anthem of sorts, a Saul Williams song, DNA...





Now I'm still 'feeling' Saul Williams, but I am also reaching back into a history a bit for this one. What I am most 'feeling' right now is Sea Lion by Sage Francis (featuring Saul Williams)...





When I was starting my undergrad thesis work about DV this was one of my many musical influences. I especially love the idea of "a healthy distrust" and the words "the force of my love was strong". That simple phrase still whoops my butt in creating a well of ideas for my artmaking. It's really such a full and loaded phrase in so many ways. Thanks guys. Where would I be without music?!?

Outside Facilitations

I have been hooking a few things up for myself and House Of Ruth Maryland. Lately I've had to think differently about my job and what it entails. First and foremost, I am an advocate of the Residents staying there. I am their biggest fan and protector, so I sometimes have to go where they can't for purposes of anonymity. But sometimes their artwork can be displayed even if they cannot!

On that note, the Youth's artwork will soon be on display at the Same Boat Poetry Slam for MLK Day, coming right up! This event was created by fellow MACAn, Anne Kotleba. We may have one poetess from HORM interested in laying her poetry on East Baltimore....still checking on that, but the kids artwork will definitely be there. Here is the statement for that art:

Young residents from the House Of Ruth Maryland have frequently addressed the topic of violence in their Kid's Therapy sessions. Artwork that speaks to the effects of violence were created using the metaphor of "bad weather" as a guide to their process. The action plan, geared towards 6-9 year old Youth, was part of a larger curriculum based on inherent issues regarding all types of violence. Included in these therapy and art sessions were ideas such as "touching violence", "talking violence", and how to protect oneself from possible future violence in the form of uniquely decorated, Shields of Protection. Each child-sized shield was completed with the image of a cell phone on the back. A personalized safety plan was then created by each Youth. This plan comes in the form of trusted people that they can communicate with when faced with a violent confrontation. It is extremely important for anyone living in a domestic violence situation to have a safety plan, which often includes the help of someone they can trust.

-Shana R. Goetsch
Artist-in-Residence, Arts Facilitator at House Of Ruth Maryland

The House Of Ruth Maryland is one of the nation's leading domestic violence centers, helping thousands of battered women and their children find the safety and security that so many of us take for granted.  www.hruth.org


In keeping with the "outside the shelter" idea, I will be the Guest Artist, and facilitating a few workshops at Better Waverly's 901 Arts in Baltimore. I will be doing two sessions with the youth there, January 19th and 26th on basic collograph printmaking techniques. Collographs have served me well, my friends! There is also a display in the front of the building where my work, along with the 901 Arts Youth's collograph prints, will be shown for about a month after. A part of my thesis work about DV will be shown there.

Other than that, I have an hour art facilitation session outside of Baltimore with some Girl Scouts via House Of Ruth Maryland's Teen Initiative coming up later this month too. But more on all of that later...

ETA: Anne and I skyped the poetry slam to House Of Ruth Maryland during our Haiku workshop...she just didn't have video of us on her end. There are ways around the residents' anonymity, I just have to be increasingly creative about things. It all worked out well.

Photos From the Recent Past

I have a few photos from the Holiday Extravaganza which happened at Liz Lerman Dance Exchange in Takoma Park, Maryland in early December. Some of my paintings were in the open house, and there was also, of course, DANCING! Thanks again to Liz Lerman Dance Exchange and Alexis Iammarino who took the following photos of the event:

A close-up of each of my pieces is this early post: http://artinshanaty.blogspot.com/2010/11/lucky-thirteen.html

(also: Hello and thanks to my new blog followers! Nice to see you!)

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.