Thoughts on an artist statement….
January 22, 2008
Over the past month I have been encouraged by my mentor to give myself a break from painting and take a break, think about my work, and write. I have not been in school for the entire month of January. This past week I have been lying in the sun, reading books, and endless magazines trying to escape for a moment before school begins and I am back working on my thesis project. As an artist, I believe you have to take a break otherwise you get burnt out and never come up from the endless cycle in your head of producing and creating work.
Anyhow, all that to say I have been thinking about my work a bit. Excited about a new direction and watching it evolve. I have let it drive me and show me where it wants to go, but now I have to begin asking the tough “why” questions so I can begin to formulate an artist statement. I am not convinced that every artist works this way—creating, letting your work explode out of you, and then realize what it is teaching you and saying to you. It almost is a spiritual experience when you look back to see the work you have created and not even realized the extent of what it is communicating. I am sure other artists are more intentional and plan their conceptual agenda first and then execute the work. Neither is the right way. They both work. They both end with the same result. At least for myself this is true.
This new work that I have been exploring and birthing needs questions asked and now it is time for me to answer them. I am not sure I am ready to answer them as I learn new things about the work with every new piece. Some of the questions I need to begin asking myself have to do with the formal qualities that will help me finalize my conceptual intentions, like why integrate sewing into these pieces? I have been very interested in working with string, sewn tracing paper in particular. I have never used a sewing machine in my life and just began using one this past year. I am drawn towards the tight line it makes, the precise stitch, the control it adds to an abstract painting. I am drawn towards the way the sewn line interacts with the graphite lines I am drawing. The graphite lines are minimal and are expressive. They are sometimes drawn quick and sometimes drawn slower with more precision, similar to how I use the sewing machine. I like the idea that sewing machines are used to bind two things together to make them one. I like that they have been used by women primarily in the past.
I think it is interesting the paradox that arises in the work being that I am using a medium that has been primarily used by women in past generations, but then I am combining it with a painting approach that was essentially invented and established mainly by men breaking rules. These conceptual innuendos were not intended to show up in the work, but it has unbeknownst to me. I can see how these ideas could seep out from my work being that these are things that I struggle with–the role of women in society (both past and present), the pressure society puts on women from a more conservative view to a more open minded view, the desires within a woman’s heart (being that they differ within each individual). I see these things are not just thoughts floating in my mind, but something I long to bring resolution to in my own life. I am learning who I am as an adult and continuing to develop my sense of self here and now. Some of that might be exposing itself in work as you can see the struggle between “nesting” and “flying.” Maybe the sewing alludes to just that. It begins to draw a seam between the desires to “nest” and to “fly.” One is not better than the other (well, depending on who you are talking to). It does not need to be two separate pieces of a person but can coexist. A woman can fly and nest. This is obviously not a new concept for the majority of men and women in the 21st century but for some reason I need to learn that lesson. I need to instill it into my own life and be okay with that. Seasons of life. Seasons of the soul. Seasons within art making. Seasons. They are not meant to be isolated. They are meant to be hemmed together, sewn together, patched together. The ugly, the beautiful, the plain, the mistake, the goal reached—all make up the story.
New Work- Sewing and Acrylic Glazes
October 23, 2007
So I have started a new body of work with a different approach to the process. Recently I have been meeting with a young professional female artist from the Bay Area who teaches at the Academy of Art in San Francisco. She has been encouraging me to work on multiple pieces at once, getting as many paintings as possible in progress so that each painting will inform the next. It has been extremely helpful.
I have started a new body of work on paper using acrylic glazes and sewing. The content and colors were inspired by a thought floating around in my mind, “why even create art at all?” I began to think about what it was I was doing. I have created plenty representational pieces with strong conceptual agendas, but now that I have begun to work abstractly the concept is less clear. I realized the answer to my question was pretty simple. I am drawn to creating non-representation work because it is a time for me to escape. They are childlike escapes for me. I don’t know if that makes any sense, but do you ever feel like avoiding the world you live in just for a few minutes. As I am getting older I keep glancing at children playing at the park or walking with their parents without a care in the world. They have embraced simplicity. They are living in the moment. Having fun is their agenda. I miss those days where there was so much room to just play.
So I began to think about why art has impacted my life. Well, it makes me slow down. It allows me to escape into a place that is easy and slow. These small paintings on paper represent just that. They are meant to be sophisticated abstract landscapes that allow one to escape when viewing them.
Mixed Media on Paper
October 23, 2007
