productive…maybe?

I have been busy, but i still have nothing finished. I am working on transfering my website to my wordpress blog. The domain name is switched and now I am working on putting my are and bio/cv on the page. I shipped a painting to Augie for the Alumni Invitational and I have been applying to a few group shows across the country. I have also been looking into artist residencies for this summer. Hopefully I can find a good one in Europe. Audrey is also looking so hopefully we can go to the same city in Europe, that would be the most amazing thing ever. Im also working on my art inventory and I think that will take forever, but now is a better time to start than later. I also think that I am learning what direction I want my art to go. I have 2 meetings with faculty tomorrow to discuss my art and direction. On a side note I am going to attempt to get a couch or futon for apartment finally. I am getting annoyed that the only place I can sit is my bed and its so comfortable and breaks my productivity. I am also starting to work out in the mornings so hopefully that will help with my energy and overall health haha. Anyway ill be posting a picture of the underpaintings before I print on them with the last drawings I just did.

best paragraph yet

I am currently studying for my MFA at the University of Idaho. My work focuses on creativity, invention and media. I enjoy creating formal, rigorous, technically demanding art. I value drawing as the basis of all of my work. My art is informed by the everyday peculiarity of objects that seem to have lost their way in a hectic world. My art jumps out to bring attention to the gaps between generations and the decay of personable humanity. I believe we have forgotten something about what it means to be human in our world of digital relationships and I hope to remind you of this with my art.

Rough Draft 2

I am currently studying for my MFA at the University of Idaho. My work focuses on creativity, invention and media. I enjoy creating formal, rigorous, technically demanding art. I value drawing and do it all the time. My art is informed by the everyday quirkiness of objects that seem to have lost their way in a world of wireless communications technology. I believe we have forgotten something about what it means to be human in our world of digital relationships and I hope to remind you of this with my art.

The objects I choose to represent are formal and are becoming more and more an exploration of my own style. In the words of Jerome Witkin, “If artists were certain, he or she wouldn’t make art.” This statement gives me determination to make work even though I don’t have it all figured out. I consistently discover places and art movements that my art belongs. I am an ethnographer of my generation. An artist as ethnographer goes out and experiences the world by means of his or her senses, interprets those experiences, and creates an artistic representation based on this interaction between subject and object. My art jumps out to bring attention to the gaps between generations and the decay of personable humanity.

Artist statement rough draft

I am giving each and every one of you an opportunity to tear this apart, please help

artist statement rough draft #1
The type of learning that I have been exposed to is very skill-based and designed around the formal principles of the arts. The position my learning has put me into up to now is the Bauhaus era where creativity, invention, and medium are the primary focuses. My education started with a focus on drawing, which built my tactic knowledge and gave me confidence in pursuing other forms of medium.

I am in Graduate school at the University of Idaho for interdisciplinary arts. The focus in my art is communication and the progression of communication. The objects I choose to represent are formal and are becoming more and more an exploration of my own style. In the words of Jerome Witkin, “If artists were certain, he or she wouldn’t make art.” This statement reminds me that I do not have to have a certain concept or place in art as of now.

I am learning every week where and why I may fit into different categories such as formalist or artist as ethnographer. An artist as ethnographer goes out and experiences the world by means of his or her senses, interprets those experiences, and creates an artistic representation based on this interaction between subject and object. My art as well as myself as an artist are constantly evolving and are in a transitional stage.

all it took was a fly

So I spent alot of time in the studio today. My day started off slow with college football on, but I stopped by the Moscow building supply and picked up a drawing board and some other things. I was off to the studio for the night.

Being productive came slowly but surely. I measured out my frames and the canvas and I cut out the correct sizes, then they were gessoed. After they dried i hung them on the wall ready to be painted.
Now it was time to figure out what I was going to paint, so I began to draw. Well i sat in my chair and got on facebook and surfed the web for awhile. This fly was bugging me the entire time and I finally sat still and waited for him to land. I sat there for maybe 10 mintues waiting for him to land. I got him with my paper towel roll but did not completely squish him. I decided to draw the fly. I drew maybe 6 or so different angles. From there I was on my way to juxtaposing my phones and flies and im pretty excited how they are turning out. I will post pics tomorrow but after being at the studio for 9 hours I was beat so I did not take the pics for YALL goodnight

first open studios

This week has been tough because of the whole introduction of theory. My brain hurts and it hurts bad. I need to just remember to make work, I have 3 years to develop what my voice is going to say. I am rather burnt out after the last few days.
We had a guest speaker who is a printmaker that spoke about her work. She did alot of decorative work, or work that looked good and pretty and worked well as a composition. She declared herself as a formalist. One thing she said that she makes artwork for the beauty, which can be the subject for conversation across the board. It was nice to see her process of printmaking. She focuses not on multiple copies but using many of the same images and rearranging her compositions. Her name is Amanda Knowles, you should check her out. It was just refreshing to hear that art is made to be formal and not only conceptual. It was a relief.
Yesterday I dealt with a fainting student, who fainted twice. I was sooooo happy that I didn’t need to change shorts afterwords if you know what i mean.
Today we are having our first open studio. The grad students sit in their studios adn wait for professors to come around and look at our work. Pretty exciting stuff, but I will type this out while they come in and give me advice.
#1 My color is vibrant for my potential concept of the death of communication, so I need to think about my color and the moods it reflects.
#2 My painting is good and my use of color is innovative. My paintings of the phone objects are sculptural and are strong formally. The concept will come just make work.
#3 Form is important just keep making work.
hmm well hopefully more faculty will come to the next one.

…

Sorry it has been a few days since I have written on my blog. The end of the week was mind draining as far as art theory and thinking in general goes. I have not made any art in the last few days either. I made a box for shipping a painting to Sioux Falls for an alumni show at Augustana College. They chose my “Snake Beard” painting.

I have tried transfering images from an inkjet print onto a sketchbook, did not work. I need help. I am also looking for inks to print with over my oil canvas’s. I have spent alot of time researching, but the studio here only wants water-based inks and I can deal with that i guess. I think I will just be painting acrylic and then printing and then going over it with oil paints. I am getting ready to build a bunch of panels to paint on and hopefully be able to print on them alot easier.

Yesterday we had a kick ball game again Washington State Uiniversity. It was Art grads vs Art grads. We were short handed but we pulled it out. It was funny seeing all these artists playing sports especially since the stereotype is that artists are uncoordinated. It was alot of fun but I am so sore today. I am hoping to get alot accomplished this week so stay tuned . goodnight