Announcing: Drought - Sliding Door Gallery, Denver, CO July 3rd - 31st

Friday night is the opening for a new group show at Sliding Door Gallery - I'll have a couple new pieces on display. The show runs through through the end of July, and looks like it will be a good one - many other Sliding Door artists will also be showing work. I hope to see you there, if you're in town!

Details:
Opening Friday: July 3, 6 – 10PM (CLOSED JULY 4)

In this group show, artists of Sliding Door Gallery address the concept of drought with its various connotations. Apart from its literal meaning, "drought" can refer to the prolonged lack of anything material or immaterial. The wide interpretational field of this topic allows for addressing themes from the economic crisis to a lack of artistic inspiration. While the context can be on an individual or societal level, the issues can be emotional, psychological, financial, environmental, or spiritual, to name only a few ...

Regular Gallery Hours:

First and Third Fridays, 6 to 10 pm
Otherwise, Fridays and Saturdays 12 to 5

Sliding Door Gallery is located at 766 Santa Fe Drive, Denver, CO

Inspiration

I'm participating in this artistic project, A Book About Death in New York. The idea is for 1000 artists to create an edition of 500 postcards about death.


Death and loss are a huge part of my personal inspiration. This set of images started with the loss of my grandmother, a woman who was highly influential and important in my life. But beyond mortality, there are so many facets to the concept of death, that it is a topic often dealt with by artists. As a way of coping, as a fascination, and as a way of understanding.

My day job involves a lot of death, as someone who works in a law enforcement photography lab. I see photographs of fatal crashes, and people who have been ejected from cars and motorcycles, car vs pedestrian crashes, and so on. In some situations, death almost becomes a mundane part of daily life. As artists, we should strive never to view death, or life, as mundane. The profundity of what we have, and how fragile it is, is ripe for a multitude of interpretations.

Elinor Carucci

I've been thinking about Elinor Carucci's work a lot recently. I think it's the lighting, but also the subject matter that is drawing me in, because I'm starting to see intimate portraits in my own home. Last night, for example, we had a heavy rain (rare, here in Colorado where it's been quite dry) in the middle of the night. My boyfriend got up and stood before the window, looking out. Despite my complete inability to see without my glasses on, I was able to discern in the light and dark that this was an amazing image that I really should capture. I didn't though.

What intrigues me about Carucci's work is that she does stop, right there, in the middle of it all, and she will take that photo. In her Closer series, the one most every has as an introduction to her work, she has images of intimate moments with family members, with amazing lighting, it's sometimes a challenge to look at them and say "this is a setup shot" vs "this is a grab the camera as it's happening" shot - they all blur the lines both ways.

I've always felt a little personally reserved when making work, photographically or otherwise, and looking at work like this is both a pleasure and a challenge for me, because the images are undeniably beautiful, but also jarring in their bluntness. It may be my good old midwestern upbringing showing through - reservation and modesty are pretty good keywords for my typical mood and approach for looking inward.

But there is something in these images that makes me want to get out there and play with the camera, capture something, see something I wasn't seeing before....either because I wasn't looking, or because I was trying not to look.

I will not avert my eyes

There is a lot of work out there that deals with discomorting subjects, in such a way that you feel perhaps you should look away - but the photographer is in the middle of it, and if they can stand to stare, why should you look away?

I am going to try, for a while, to just take that shot when I see it. Carry the camera everywhere I go. Photograph the discomfort, photograph the light in the window at midnight...not with a final project in mind, just with the goal of getting a shot. Any shot.

Maybe in the end I'll post some of them here. Maybe I won't. But I won't avert my eyes.

In the meantime, look at some more of Carucci's work.

Things in the art world I am thinking of...

1. Self Promotion
2. Residencies
3. The artistic community
4. Ego
5. Specifically, the Vermont Studio Center residency
6. Th mprtnc f vwls
7. Photogrammetry
8. Anxiety, Desire and Loss (isn't that always though?)
9. The Epson Stylus R1900 vs R2880 printer

What are you thinking of?

Worldwide Pinhole Day

I'm terrible at remembering to get my butt in gear and set up for Worldwide Pinhole Day which is ....surprise surprise....TODAY.

You'd think I could at least keep this together, you know? It's been a busy month though, and I didn't quite make it out for the day, but I have before...the photo to the left is a collaboration from pinhole day 2007 with myself and Katie Taft - she brought some of her petit amis to the Zang Mansion where a large group of us gathered to celebrate/practice/experiment with Worldwide Pinhole Day, and I took off with her little sculptures, placing them about the yard and photographing them.

I've also done some of my own work with pinholes, like this house on the left, building my models and placing them in the landscape and photographing them with the pinhole camera.

Some people build their cameras out of oatmeal boxes, shoe boxes, or any other contraption. I like the ability to move about and be flexible when working with pinholes, so I bought a lenscap from the Pinhole Resource a couple years ago at the SPE conference. (Yes, even at a conference I can find a way to shop.) The pinhole resource is an amazing (dare I say it) resource for pinhole photography training, supplies, books, and knowledge. I bought the Nikon body cap from them, which allows me to run slide or print film through my manual nikon camera as normal, but adjusting the exposure for the teeeeeny weeeeeny aperture that is the pinhole.

I'm planning on moving up in scale to shooting pinholes with my Mamiya - I am ashamed to admit it, sort of, but I am not all that certain where my manual nikon is right now (that's what I get for moving twice in the last 16 months) - I am pretty hopeful that it's in storage (that's where I am hoping a LOT of things are located).

The nice thing is that I can shoot with the pinhole, get the film processed and scanned, then go in and do additional manipulations in photoshop, and then print it out, and then do additional surface manipulations, if I choose. If the image doesn't want all that work, I can just do a straight print (like the houses) - and it works just fine.

Pinhole photography is a flexible art that not only hearkens back to the beginning of photography, but it also has adapted to the current world - don't want to worry about film, processing, all that? Just buy a body cap for your digital camera! Want to experiment and go back to the old days, setting up a big camera, having people hold still, long poses, and highly structured images? Get a Leonardo 4x5, 5x7 or 8x10 pinhole camera. I know people who use these and love them - you can even use them in the studio with lighting for very interesting effects.

I'm planning on visiting Hawaii and Paris this year (and Michigan - you'd be surprised what you can photograph there) and I'll be taking my cameras and body caps to do some pinhole photography - it's an amazing way to slow down, view the world, and see what comes out with your images. If you can't make it for Pinhole Photography Day somewhere in the world, take time out to make your own camera, and give it a try! (this is also fun to do with kids).

Art-making/List-making

I am lucky enough to be in a position to have vacation days at work, and earn them at a regular rate (which means I can predict when to take a vacation, how long I'll have, etc.) I am taking advantage of that system right now - I usually work 4 days a week, 10 hours a day, but I've taken today and Monday off, enabling me to have a 5 day break from work-related duties...

It's nice!

It's also my birthday present to myself, as I turn (cough cough) on Sunday.

I had a couple people ask me (outside of blogger world) what I would like for my birthday, and while I can't necessarily say I want one thing or another, I've compiled an amazon wishlist over the last several years - which works in multiple ways - I like that I can bookmark things that I want to pick up (research items, books that I feel would be helpful, recommendations I've received) and a way to buy them when I get a little chance to spend some money - but also, it helps to identify what my interests are - looking over the list as a whole a couple weeks ago, I realized I needed to split it into sections, as it was just too unweildy and complicated for anyone to bother scrolling through. Fortunately, you can move things around, rename lists, mark them public or private, and so on....so, I did.

And it became obvious that I have some very specific areas of interest:
Art, Photo and Theory (obviously, considering the title of this blog)
Memory & Trauma (with specific reference to the Holocaust, but also in a general sense)
Process & Practice (about being an artist, making art, etc.)



With everything else breaking down into Web, graphics, business stuff; Movies and DVDs; Other books and stuff...

Which makes it interesting. I post these links not as a "hey, it's my birthday, buy me something" (though if packages showed up at my door, I'd be tickled pink, haha. ) but more that I was thinking about it in response to another's request - and also in the light of what I am doing with my 5 day vacation from work. Part of the time is planned for the studio, where I have some boards waiting to be painted on, but also some of that time is going to be spent planning the future.

Due to a mixture of circumstances, some of my own making, others not so much, I was unable to finish graduate school the first go-round. Of course, I've been thinking about it again as life has settled into a steady pattern, and I've been more active in my work and in the community of artists (last year was not the best year for art making for me, frankly). I've had to really evaluate what it is that I want my work to do, and how I want to go about making it, who is inspiring me, why, and all that jazz.

So looking at these lists, I can begin to identify what I need to be doing, both art-wise, education-wise and professionally.

The patterns that I see also include the people I am looking at/inspired by, which helps to identify where perhaps I should be going to graduate school too - but not necessarily.

Anyway, in light of this, here is a list of who *I* am looking at - and if you have any recommendations to add to this list, awesome! Post them below. Post book recommendations too, if you see something on my list that makes you think of something YOU think I should read. I can definitely add to any list of things I want to read.

Artist/Writers I am currently Inspired By:
Dora Apel - Wayne State University Professor of Art History - I actually took one of Prof. Apel's classes way back in 1999 or 2000, as an undergraduate at Wayne State University before transferring to University of Colorado. She has definitely had a major influence on my thinking.

Artists:
Brian Delevie
Shimon Attie
Rachel Whiteread
Cardiff & Miller
Craig Kalpakjian
Emily Jacir
Mike Kelley

And this is by no means an exhaustive list (I used to have an exhuastive list online, but I deleted that section of my website. Ooops.)

Who are you looking at? Why? Have you identified any set areas of investigation? Was it something you set out to make enquiries into? Did you fall into it, realizing a pattern of ideas was taking shape under your examination?

I'd be interested in hearing from readers of this blog as to what/how you are getting to your "sources" of your work...

Up and Coming

I woke up this morning about 6, and as usual, spent about an hour working on website stuff (for someone else - my site is still under construction....it's almost done though!) and then got ready to pick up my friend Kay Tuttle from her house. Our early morning sojourn was to head up to Fort Collins to Front Range Community College to meet up with an associate, Karl Dukstein, director of the art program at FRCC. Our job up there today was to jury the spring Student Art Show. It was no easy task, but it was a wonderful, fun, rewarding morning.

About 70 pieces had been entered into the show, and I can honestly say that nothing was bad. I am very impressed with what is coming out of FRCC's art department today. There is a conception among some college circles that community college art departments are 'hobby programs' - and yes, there are some students who attend these programs with the intent of brushing up their hobby skills. However, I caution people to NOT assume that is the case as a blanket rule - some of the best artists I know started at the community college level, myself included.

We saw a large variety of work, including a LOT of color and digital photography, some black and white photography, painting, metalwork, fabric arts, drawing, and more. It was a challenge to narrow down the field, but we started by eliminating work that was seriously lacking in some kind of attention to detail - and this was difficult. The rules we were presented with stipulated that the work was to be created for a class and produced in the last 3 semesters. We were cognizant of the fact that students can't always afford the best framing, so we didn't pay attention to that unless it was an obvious issue. However, there were some cases where just the addition of a piece of paper in a frame to provide a background to an image would have moved the print from the 'out' pile to the 'in' pile. Other things we had issues with were just production quality - dirty scratched negatives should be cleaned before printing, for example. However, for the most part, we judged work based on how it compared with the work in the same medium, and we consciously attempted to draw a broad selection of skill level and media, so alongside a matted and framed color print with a strong conceptual theme, we selected a simple black and white photograph of stairs - because it really is about looking and learning - and all the work showed some kind of learned value.

While we juried the work, we also had interesting conversations about not only our own experience with the work we were looking at, but also with past exhibitions we were (and weren't) juried into, and our educational experiences. Every artist goes through these experiences, and it isn't necessarily that you are a bad artist, or making bad work, if your work gets rejected. It may be that your work just didn't speak to that particular juror. Your work may not have been presented in the best light (a great learning opportunity) - or there just may have been something better.

In some instances - *some* instances - if you have a question about your art, and why it was or wasn't included, you may be able to ask the show organizers if you can get feedback from the juror. In previous times that I've juried shows, I've given each entrant a written paragraph of feedback, or I've made it known to the organizers that I'm more than willing to provide feedback. I think that this is especially important in student shows, because sometimes, it really isn't that your work is bad. It's just...something. And I wouldn't be able to tell you what that was until we had a conversation about it.

But the moral of the story is *don't give up* - rejection happens. It happens forever, basically. One of my professors in undergrad (just a few years ago) went to a portfolio review event, and received negative, brutal feedback about her work. Less than a year later, she received a Guggenheim fellowship. Just keep going.

As far as the show goes, I believe it opens on Monday the 13th, and the award ceremony is on the 22nd of April. Congratulations to ALL the artists who entered. It takes guts and courage to submit your work for judging, and it is all part of the learning process. I am honored that I, along with Kay, got to have the opportunity to see your work, and I am VERY excited by all of it.

I'm standing behind you

Some of my work is currently on display in the Words Works exhibit at Abecedarian Gallery, and it is a phenomenal show - I am so thrilled to be included in it. The amazingly talented artists that Alicia Bailey selected for this exhibit are outstanding. I pretty much went through the whole exhibit nudging my boyfriend and saying "We should buy that. Oh, we should buy that. Oh, that, that right there, we should buy that!" I've never been so enamoured with a show before...and that I was in it too? That was just too much.

The opening was on the first Friday of March, but since that's the big "opening night" in Denver, it was just way too crowded to head out there. Instead, we went last Friday to the artists reception that Alicia Bailey held, on what is being called "Collector's Night" - a less traveled 3rd Friday of the month. There are still crowds, but it's about 1/5 of the First Friday crowd. It's a much better vibe, because you get people that are really looking at the art, talking to each other about it, and you can over hear their conversations.

The work I have in the show is my family secrets series - I guess it's a series....that was first shown at Altered Esthetics gallery in Minnesota for their Dirty Little Secrets show. It's a piece that's been slowly improving, and what I really needed to make it better was to actually sit on it for some time (which I did - the beginnings of this work came out of my studio in the fall of 2005) - and it's ready to start growing again. This is wholly due to seeing the work up in the gallery, and hearing people's reactions to it. One girl was looking at the whole piece, and just leaned over to the person next to her and said "It's so sad" - and she sounded really sad too.

Hearing that made me really happy!

Not because I like people to be sad, but I love being anonymous at galleries when my work is up, and listening to the reactions that people have about the pieces. When I am in a show, I try to be present at the opening, but not really "present" - more behind the scenes. Usually, I'm pretending to just be a patron, because I want to hear what you have to say without trying to impress me, or make me feel good about my work. So the collectors night reception was an amazing opportunity for this, because I could linger near the work on occasion to overhear the reactions...and those reactions make me think of further ways to push the work.

It's making me really think about the lifespan of an artpiece, and how really the "completed" piece is defined. I guess the fact that I see additional room for this work to grow means it is a 'series' - and the individual pieces themselves are also 'works' - and they do fit into a larger body of work that I do, based in text, memory and loss. I've been thinking about it since that night, and I continue to think about it. I'm a big thinker when it comes to my work. I'm slow about it, methodical, thoughtful....mabe a little of a procrastinator even. Not because I am lazy, but because I really just put a LOT of thought into the work, and then when I sit down and *work* on it, all that compressed thought from the last however many days and months of thinking just pour out into the work. I tend to explode like this in a lot of my working styles too....think heavily on something.....and then obsessively work on it for 30 hours straight.

Which brings me to my favorite day of the week - Friday. For a lot of people with jobs, Friday is the day that the week is over, and the end is in sight...but for me, Friday is the weekend. I made arrangements at work for a 4/10 schedule, so I work 10 hour days Monday through Thursday - Friday mornings I wake up bright and early (5:20 today) and I've got 3 whole days in front of me, all scheduled for me. My boyfriend works all 3 days, so I get a big open studio to myself (he gets to work in it M-W by himself) and the coffee pot, and the freedom to walk about the apartment ranting and raving and thinking, and stopping, sitting and reading, and so on...in peace. I love it.

And today is Friday. I'm sitting here at 6 am, watching the neighborhood being plowed after yesterday's blizzard, and seeing the soft pre-dawn light of civilization in snow, and I'm so happy. It's Friday.

PS: There is a MUCH better picture of me and the work posted at Denverarts.org.

I'm in another show this month!

Abecedarian Gallery Presents:
Words Works
an exhibition of regional and national artists who use text as both a conceptual and visual element in their work

March 6 - April 18
Artists' reception Friday, March 20 6-8pm

Abecedarian is located at 910 Santa Fe Drive, Suite 101
Denver, CO


Artists in the Exhibits
Denver area artists included in the exhibit are Gail Watson, Joan MacDonald, Katie Taft, Kirsten Vermulen, Kimberly MacArthur Graham/Kathryn T.S. Bass, Lara Schenck, Mia Semingson and Rachel Hawthorn.
Also exhibiting are Evan Jensen (Annapolis, MD), Donna Price/Juliane Leitner (Asheville, NC/Altmuenster, Austria), Heidi Zednik, (Asheville, NC) Melissa Duckworth (Royal Oak, MI), Sue Anne Rische (Lubbock, TX) and Tate Foley (Athens, GA).
Special Events

Artists' Reception March 20 6-8pm
Open First Friday (March 6) 'til 8
the district is crowded on First Fridays
for parking/shuttle info click here
NOTE: Abecedarian has a no food/beverage policy on First Fridays and closes earlier than other galleries in the district.