phase 3 redux - don't be afraid of a big project, but try to go about it the smart way

finished carving and printed the crown! I'm so happy with how it turned out :)

It's been a busy art week :). Early in the week I went on a visit to the studio of Ed Rice in South Carolina. I love visiting other artist's studios and hearing about their work! This visit was especially fortuituous. Ed recently completed a large series 50 paintings of Fort Frederica, in which he set the iconography and composition while changing other variables (scale, color, material, support). The paintings are at the same time similar and unique, and the tension between the collective and individual is something that interests me.

This week also marked the beginning of spring. I feel like my mind is like a projector going from "standby mode" (winter), into "warm up" (spring), to be followed by "on" (summer), and cool down (fall).

Spring figure drawing has also started up.

15 minute

20 minute

Philosophy by Albrecht Durer, 1502

It was almost exactly a year ago that I went to VCCA and made the first giant collage Lacrimae Rerum, which paved the way for The Forest of And, And, And, Eros et Thanatos, and Spes. 

A year ago, I didn't know that I'd have the opportunity to learn engraving in Colorado with the American Numismatic Association and in Massachusetts at Zea Mays with Barry Moser.

When I ask the question: "what do I want to make most," I have the beginnings of an idea. It's something much bigger than my work space, so I won't be able to see it until its installed (surprise!), and I may need some additional technical skills. 

Which brings me to phase 3 redux - don't be afraid of a big project, but try to go about it the smart way. Before I jump in, I'm researching and trying to come up with a game plan to address/refine things that have come up from making the other big collages

I've been mulling over Durer research for months. One piece that I can't get over is The Triumphal Arch of Maximillian I, 1515. It's gigantic, almost 12 feet tall, and made from 192 separate blocks - Amazing! I heart Durer.

He wasn't alone on this. The architect, Jörg Kölderer designed the overall appearance and structure. Durer drew the scenes with the help of assistants, and master printer,

Related pieces are at the Beinecke Library at Yale
and the Morgan Library in New York

I particularly like the Visconti-Sforza Tarot Decks. 

Hieronymus Andreae carved and printed the blocks.

Other things on my mind: tarot cards, tapestries, and Byzantine icons.

Heroes Tapestry, ca. 1400–1410

South Netherlandish

Wool warp, wool wefts; 168 x 250 in.

Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY:

 https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/32.130.3b,47.101.1

Icon with Christ, the Virgin and the twelve Great Feasts and Saints,
The Byzantine and Christian Museum:
http://www.byzantinemuseum.gr/en/collections/icons/?bxm=2402

memories of  my student work - faux-stained glass, 2009 

From my own archives, I've been reminiscing about this piece that I made in 2009 while I was in school. I think of it as "faux stained glass." It's 6 translucent pieces, about 45 x 45," and it covered the window of my studio apartment. The materials were picked up at the local stationers for probably less that 2 fancy cups of coffee - sharpie and acetate stuck to plastic with electrical tape. Now, I think it's really funny - because how obsessed with stained glass does a person have to be to decide that this is the best solution to the problem: "my window looks into a building"? hahaha. Not coincidentally, the figure in the center bottom row is based on a Durer.

Possible reasons this is on mental refrain? (A "things I like" list):
-it's a conglomeration of pieces made up of more pieces
-it has a limited color scheme which helps unify it
-there are lots of intricate patterns as well as areas of flat color for visual relief
-it has translucent layers with drawing on both sides of the material
-it shows things I like (a bird and plant, figure, unicorn, patterns)
-it became part of the architectural structure of the room
-it has both detailed elements and an overall design so that it works up close up and far away.

I haven't quite figured out how to put all these elements together, but I feel like I'm getting closer. I like the idea of building a massive multi-part architectural installation, but I feel like I need to be strategic so I can make, pack, move, and assemble (and then store) everything by myself. And there's a timeline...

Hmmmm...

crown and faces

This week's faces are based on photographs that I manipulated on the computer. I "pulled" the face at an angle (like a digital version of an El Greco ;)); then drew them with pen, pencil and gold ink on translucent cardstock working on both sides of the paper to give the images depth. Then I burned the edges (It was fun! I did it in several small steps and had a fire extinguisher ready, but thankfully didn't need it). The center face is spray paint and ink stippling.

From Harley 4338, 
Book 2 of Boethius, 
Consolation of Philosophy,
attributed to Jean Colombe,
1477

It sort of reminds me of the character with eyes on its hands in the uneatable banquet scene from Pan's Labyrinth,(a movie I only saw once, but made a big impression.)

The other thing it reminds me of a little of is an illustration from an illuminated manuscript. I've been thinking about allegorical figures and recently came across this illustration from a 15th century French version of Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy  in the British Library:
   http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/
ecord.aspMSID=8419&CollID=8&NStart=4338

I also started carving a new block which will become part of the same piece.

the latest block, in process, app. 15 x 15" 

Photographic Fairytale of the week:

These are from
  http://www.twomomscookies.com/
and I can attest that they
were as delicious as they are adorable!  

Once upon a time (March 10 - 17, 2014), there was a little human who lived in a little house by a little lake in the frozen North. Everyday the human woke up thinking "what can I make today?" and so it made things. Sometimes the things were beautiful, and sometimes, they were not.

Always two fearless and fluffy feline assistants were there to help (unless they were distracted by a particularly sunny napping spot or squirrel-watching elsewhere).


The human loves to make things with the feline assistance in the little house. But the human is cold. It's heart is starting to freeze.

It goes on a journey to the Great Pine Forest of the South. On the way it sees beautiful things.

By Charles Chester French -
 in the Albany Airport

 It flies and things look different from the sky.















. Everywhere it goes it is watched.  Finally, it reaches its destination...

a photographic interpretation of
DiChirico + Panopticon 

There are family and friends, and the human is happy

bunnies and fish

“As I see it, life is an effort to grip before they slip through one's fingers and slide into oblivion, the startling, the ghastly or the blindingly exquisite fish of the imagination before they whip away on the endless current and are lost for ever in oblivion's black ocean.” 

                                                                                                         ― Mervyn Peake

still testing out different backgrounds...

drawing on and adding metallic ink to
 the eye and cutting out 7 bunnies
took a few days

Then I printed more goldfish on paper
I had toned neon orange.

 I drew on them to individualize each one and added metallic ink to the eyes

 

The fish isn't glued down but suspended on a string so that it swings back and forth,
 like it's swimming. It's a mobile in a shallow space and the brads not only attach the
  gray and blue marbled paper, but also prevent the  mobile from being flatted

phase 2 redux - observe the laws of equivalent exchange, wrap up

"I want to learn more and more to see as beautiful what is necessary in things; then I shall be one of those who make things beautiful. Amor fati: let that be my love henceforth! I do not want to wage war against what is ugly. I do not want to accuse; I do not even want to accuse those who accuse. Looking away shall be my only negation. And all in all and on the whole: some day I wish to be only a Yes-sayer."

                                                                                                                     - Nietzsche, The Gay Science

Amor Fati - a science fair backboard put to good use ;)

Funny thing - I set out to make an Amor. Couldn't. Made Fati instead. Then recognized a connection between the two - Amor Fati, from The Gay Science, hahaha! I listened to this last spring on audiobook (free from Librivox as "Joyful Wisdom," a different translation of the same title: https://librivox.org/the-joyful-wisdom-by-friedrich-nietzsche/ ). I think this is really funny and corresponds well with my concept of "Unhope." The black background is a tri-fold science fair backboard. I think it's a good way of turning something mass produced (and honestly, associated with unpleasant memories for most people ;)), into something particular and special. It's also funny to me because it shows what I would offer up in place of scientific knowledge (there is no STEM field career in my future I'm afraid ;)).

I kid, but in all seriousness, I think this is the conclusion of phase 2 redux - observe the laws of equivalent exchange. I feel like I made some good exchanges - for example, instead of cutting the foam core backing into specific shapes like with Eros et Thanatos, which was time-consuming, boring, and involved lots work with an exacto knife (always risky for the clumsy :p), I used the tri-fold board and let it be what it is. It works well and reinforces my ideas about general vs. specific, manufactured vs. hand-made, and seen vs. unseen sources of knowledge. 

For other things, I find exchange is not possible because there is no equivalent. I just read a good example in The Ocean at the End of the Lane, by Neil Gaiman. The main character's kitten dies, and a visitor makes a well-intentioned but misguided effort to offer a different cat in its place. In cases where exchange is not possible, I think there is still unhope - the capacity to love what is present (even if what is present is memory/absence). 

Enough philosophizing - more pictures! I also tried printing the bunny - tried (sigh).

bunnies, bunnies, everywhere

I wasn't entirely successful at printing them.
The block is too big to be hand printed easily (at least by me ;)),
and the water- based ink was drying too fast for me to cover the block evenly,
 even with extender :( (will have to rethink this and try again later).

but I got enough to get an idea of what the print might look like if  I were able to print it,
and I will find a use for some of these prints, which remind me of the "ghost animals" I was working on
 earlier this winter.

I also cut out the fish, drew on them with black color pencil, and added silver ink to the eyes.
I've been trying different papers in the background, and, so far, this is my favorite.

Mmmmmm - goldfish
Do I dress to match my artwork or does my artwork match the things I already encounter in life?
Not sure, but I do enjoy the ultramarine headphones ;)

phase 2 redux - observe the laws of equivalent exchange

So happy for it to be 45 degrees! I enjoyed the break in the weather walking around outside and made a visit to "the Lady of Hudson" (fun and studying the sword as a potential object to appear in the hands of one of my allegories).

carved linoleum

The rest of the time I was inside making tiny pen patterns with a red .005 micron. This started as one of those black velvet color the pattern posters from the grocery store. I worked on this for a few days early in the week, and, at first, it seemed like a kind of random thing to do. But then I made the bunny.


The bunny is carved into my new linoleum with lots, and lots, and lots of tiny little cuts. I realized making the poster was just a warm up to practice mark-making and hand control.

the dark grey comes from graphite - I rub a pencil over the surface to see
which cuts show up and get an idea of how the print might look.

with my index finger for scale

A funny thing - I didn't cut myself once making all those cuts - I cut myself getting the safety top off the new tool. (No worries - it wasn't serious and every good block gets a little blood on it at some point, right?)

I also kept working on the mini-hopes (though I think they may be fati more than hopes.) I'm happy with how these are turning out - the different metals in the joints, the gold thread at the hands and wrists and the ornament, and all the different shades of black in the figure and the frame and the ornament - it's subtle, but (hopefully!) striking. I also like that even though they'll hold a pose, they're articulated. The wings and joints all move, so they always have the potential for change. I haven't made a decision yet about the backgrounds, so I tried a few things in the photos (ah, the joys of collage!) Next up will be the implements for the hands and putting them all together...

Phase 2 redux - observe the laws of equivalent exchange

Current state of  Hope and Unhope
Unhope doesn't quite fit, but I'm going ahead with it (maybe someday, it will be installed on a bigger wall? ;))

new this week - feet!

 As soon as I saw the weather report, I knew I'd be spending a few days within a 2-3 foot radius of the central heat vent, so I decided to carve the blocks, print, cut out and start to assemble these - mini hopes.  The idea is that the image radiates like a fractal (it self-repeats on a smaller scale). By carving blocks I can repeat elements while also changing factors like the color or pattern of the paper (repetition with variation). The print on toned paper acts like the mid-tones, and then I added white and black by hand so that each piece is related, but unique. For the body, I'm thinking I'll do something similar to my avatar puppet, and the hands will be holding a variety of things from playing cards (flowers, feathers, swords, axes). In a sense, these do relate to exchange, because I'm trading some of the individuality for multiplicity - I took the energy that would have gone into manually producing a single large piece and dispersed it among the 4.

In terms of phase 2 and exchange, I feel like this week was more about accepting things for which there is no exchange. Just before the storm hit - I got a box. In the box, were more specialized carving tools, linoleum, and books (Medieval Woodcut Illustrations extracted from the Nuremberg Chronicles and the Complete Etchings, Engravings, and Drypoints of Albrecht Durer). As much as I've been thinking about these mini hopes for a little while, I don't think it would have been possible to make them without the new materials, and I had so much fun during the storm looking at the books (waves the "I'm a big nerd" flag :)).

fragments of hope in a plastic baggie

 

 I also spent some time working on storage.  I've been thinking and thinking and thinking about how best to store some of the parts from Eros et Thanatos, and finally, I think I may have come up with a good solution (at least as a starting point). I velcroed the pieces to a sheet of cardboard. (It's not acid free, but the drawings are mounted to acid free foam core and then there's the layer of velcro between the foamcore and the cardboard, so the drawings are not in contact with the board). Then I stapled a layer of mesh fabric around the board so keep everything flat and protected, but still visible. I put grommets in the cardboard so that the whole thing can be suspended from my storage shelving unit - voila!

Where did the sidewalk and the road go?
(That dot is a side mirror (!?!))

Since I was inside, I did a little home
 improvement - I put a shelf over the door
to keep my terrariums and faux-taxidermy
out of  paw's reach. I couldn't resist adding
a little decoration.

My clever feline assistants both decided that the best
place to wait out the storm was on my pillow.

Mini wonders: "Ummm, Mom,is this normal?"