Ladders

Ladders. I make them now. Here are two more ladders paintings, both acrylic on canvas...

And here is the first one in this new series which I completed last week ...

I've wondered recently if, in fact, I base my work on geometric shapes that are appealing to me. I went from circles (365.series) to rectangles (the row houses) to circles within rectangles (the Beyond Rorschach pieces in my last thesis) and now I seem to be back to rectangles / squares again with these ladders. I wonder, are triangles next? That's something to think about.

Something Old, Something New

I reworked an old painting, The State of Independence. I was not quite happy with it at the time I first conceived of it. It was one of those in-between floater pieces. One that doesn't fit in a series, one that I needed to make for whatever reason in order to get to somewhere else in my work. So this piece was one of those...just hanging out, not belonging. I am series motivated, I like to make things in groups so that I can explore multiple angles of an issue. If I have a true interest, it's not going away in one piece, I have to thoroughly exhaust myself with the the subject before I'm done.

An outside force did compel me to dig this piece out of its storage container...it's a long story, and it seems to be a moot point for me now because of my excitement of coming up with this. Seems this piece was almost finished and I just didn't know it. I don't want to say it was nagging me, because it didn't keep me up at night, but I didn't like the piece until now. Every time I saw it I disliked myself a tiny little bit for not getting it right and not know where to start to do so. The fact is (and I knew it at the time too), that my metaphor was not sound. And with the way I work, that's absolutely everything...like, if I don't have that working, I should forget about even putting the paint down.

Ah, but you see, this was for an 'assignment'. At the time, I resented having an art 'assignment' (other than a thesis) in grad school...oh who am I kidding, I still do resent it. Needless to say, this one was a fail for me, but I had not had parameters set on me since becoming a professional artist, or ever really. I guess the moral of the story is, I don't do well with art assignments because, who cares, get me to my next series!

So this piece was lying about and something compelled me to pick it up again and 'fix' it. Right now it's tentatively named Step. I like the idea of exploring the metaphors for ladders, so I'm going to go with that premise for exploring any new works, for now.


Here we are, new and improved...

Artist Talk Video

I finally have the link for the Artist Talk video from my thesis work! This was originally filmed in April. Many of the bystanders you see are actually undergraduate students from my GTI class, Global Perspectives: Politics and History. In this half hour I talk about the Art That Circles The Earth exhibition as well as my own series, The Psychology of One. So if you've ever wanted to hear and see me talk, now's your chance. Please check out the link below and enjoy...

http://youtu.be/LFwVwW0g7UQ


Also, I failed to upload one of the new paintings I made in the last post. The piece got carried by the wind of the airconditioner and so I found it later. Whoops. Here is that watercolor...

Yep. More.

I was on a roll, what can I say other than 'watercolor on paper'...

Scab

Scumble

Mark II

Mark I

Shave

Brush

Scrape

Scar

This Is Where It's At

So I painted some more new pieces. I feel that with the last fifteen I made, I was just treading water...until I got to this point right here. It's important for me to work through being stuck, work it out and stumble around on the paper, even if it takes awhile. I am of the opinion, and I have said it before, that not everything I make is going to be dipped in gold. No, my paints are not made of stardust, unfortunately, so they do not produce automatic winners. Sometimes I make some crap. The last 15 were certainly not crap, but some of those paintings were created on the back of some crap, for sure...I flip the paper over and use the back as a new surface if the first side has an awful result.

But anyway, let's not dwell on the crap and get on to the good stuff, which is here, right now! It's nice to discover a new way of mark-making for me on this most constant of subject matters...and mediums...watercolor on paper...

BOOM. I'm there.

The Motherload

While recovering from my last thesis, I am trying a few new things while also defaulting to my beloved circles. I simply can't get enough, they help me so much. I have also 'started' (not really, I have been eyeing these for awhile) creating, for lack of a better term, 'run-off' paintings on actual good paper. Let me explain. Since I normally paint on a relatively small scale, I tend to just grab a book to paint on and a sheet of scrap paper to catch the drippings. I have saved and then alternately thrown out so many great would-be pieces of this type. They would be great if the drippings dropped on some paper that was thick enough not to be wrinkly and crazy etc. So with all of the losses I have been incurring in this manner for years, I decided to tape some good paper down and dribble away on that. I got some really good results, so I think there's something to this....anyway, the first two are the 'run-off' paintings, and the majority of the rest are smallish watercolors, maybe a 4" x 6". I also created a few larger 'color field' paintings at 10" x 15" and one of the same size that I feel has really great, fluid movement.

I'm calling these "Accidentals"...

 

the three, 10" x 14" ish's....

 the 4" x 6" ish's...

Lately

Lately I have been doing a myriad of things...looking for jobs (got one for the summer!) more jobs (for the fall) painting some small watercolor pieces, working on a public art piece for August and getting lesson plans together. Whew.

The lesson plans really have to be done first, with everything in place and the budget and ordering form ready by June 14 (Flag Day!). I start work as the Lead Instructor for The Creative Alliance and Baltimore City Public Schools in early July. This is five weeks of STEM classes for middle schoolers in BCPS. I am actually really excited about some of the things we will be doing....including but not limited to: kinetic sculpture, light sensitive paints, flip books and mosaics. I'm most excited for the light sensitive paints - solar energy, yo!

And here is a photo of the watercolors I have been working on. These are all 5" x 7" pieces, but I still have to figure out if they are finished and if they merely need to be mounted...

 

For the public art piece, later this summer, I have been tasked to work with a non-art business in the Station North Arts and Entertainment District (SNAED) here in Baltimore, at Honey Carry-out. The curators from MICA (Curatorial Practice candidates) decided on an idea that 'marries' the artists and the local businesses. Just like an anniversary present, the number of years that the business has been in Baltimore reflects the medium I will use (to a certain extent, you'll understand why in a second). Honey Carry-out has been in its neighborhood for 6 years, making the 'gift' material iron. Yeah, I just said I had to work with IRON. I don't know if you know anything about iron, but I did research so I can tell you....iron, in its purest form is somewhat tough to find. It's also extremely heavy. Most other metals have some bits of iron in them though, and you can check this out by using a magnet. If it's magnetized, then it is an iron alloy. 

So, long story short, me being a 'works on paper' sort of artist, and with a limited budget, I had to get crazy creative, right quick!  What I am doing is using prints of the iron manhole covers in a collage fashion. These prints will make up a portion of a honey bee. So this piece will be about pollination and the environment. I am also fixing their outside signage for them, just because I really think it's needed and a fresh coat of paint is akin to putting on a Sunday dress in my opinion. Everyone feels like a million bucks when they 'dress up'. 

Here are the preliminary prints that I have done. These will be altered and I'll go back in and hand paint these so that they fit with the bee body. These giant bees with be flying over fields of flowers. The picture is really strong in my mind, so even though some of you may not be able to imagine what I am talking about now, rest assured, it's golden in my head. 

Prints (the neighbors were really awesome by the way, lots of questions, lots of amazement)...

And lastly, you may remember that I was in an exhibition in April at MOCA DC in Washington DC. The curator of this show, Lilianne Milgrom created this short video. The closing shot is me. Hilarious.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=JlGVBpTAaqk

I also have a few photos from that night, which I just uploaded to flickr here, located in the last row.
Well, I think that's it for now, time to work on lesson plans and other fun things. Cheers.

ETA: Oh! My final thesis exhibition images are here. Please check them out if you haven't already!

GRADUATED

I just received my MFA in Community Arts last week, along with a certificate in the College Teaching of Art (CTA) from the Maryland Institute College of Art! Here are some photos that my dad took before and after the ceremony...

Yep. It's just the three of us in MFACA 2012!

Best. Moment. Ever.

And finally, this is awesome, also taken by my dad. Looks like a creepy continuation of the Pope Pius scream painting by Francis Bacon to me. Fred's looking like he's gleefully strangling Jess...

She said she's gonna print this one and frame it. HA!

What Just Happened?

Whew, as you can see from my last post, there were a lot of things going on...and there was more last week too. First, I was asked by my professor, Cinder Hypki, to present to the first year graduate level MACA/MFACA class my ideas about sustainability as an artist and self-promotion. It ended up being a really great presentation, the students were engaged, they asked plenty of questions and it ran for two hours. And here I was thinking I didn't have enough material. I was clearly wrong.

Later in the week, the undergraduate students from my GTI class had their student conference (reflected above). It was very impressive, and some of them performed the best they ever had this semester. Marked improvement and critical thought...that's all we really want. With Professor, Robert Merrill at the helm and the smartest, most socially conscious art students around...props to both semesters of Global Perspectives: Politics and History. I had an incredible year, I'm really going to miss that particular teaching environment.

 

Her Curves and Angles

Also this piece, Her Curves and Angles, was sold shortly after the giant public auction I attended, Lotta Art! for School 33 Art Center in Baltimore...coolcoolcool. I'm very glad that in the end, it sold to someone whom I've been told is thoroughly awesome. I know she'll take good care of my girl.

And guess what, graduation is tomorrow and our public reception for Heartland is Saturday 5-9 pm at MICA PLACE. So much!

Next week is going to be such a let down for me, I can tell already.

So Many Links

I have so many images of events I helped to organize this past week! I put them all on flickr...I am still waiting for the final reception on May 12th, but I have images of <3 Heartland: Artist Talk and the Art That Circles The Earth Exhibition and Curating to Provoke, a curatorial panel which was organized by my IACP class at MICA this semester. Here they are, enjoy!

Art That Circles The Earth Exhibition
http://www.flickr.com/photos/artinshanaty/sets/72157629932165777/

<3 Heartland: Artist Talk
http://www.flickr.com/photos/artinshanaty/sets/72157629567942768/

Curating to Provoke
http://www.flickr.com/photos/artinshanaty/sets/72157629584243138/