Life After Graduate School

New Blog

2011-06-10T09:56:00.000-07:00

I wanted to make a post here about my new blog. I no longer use this blog. I created this one while I was in school to help document what I was working on for the program. I have started a new blog on my website through Wordpress. This offers me more variations and a more interesting layout.

To get to the new blog, please follow this link:
www.rebeccashelly.com/blog

I have set it up to post three days a week:

Happy Holidays!

2010-12-24T12:09:00.000-08:00

I did a little decorating to my garden area for the winter season. All of the boughs I cut from greens on the property. My sister had given me a small evergreen plant years ago and now I decorated it with some more greenery. I had some fun then taking photos of the current state of my garden and making mini greeting cards.
Have a Happy Holiday!
-Rebecca

Making my own clothes

2010-12-09T10:19:00.000-08:00

Lately I have been feeling guilty because my creative energy has been going towards making garments. For years, painting is what I did to work out my artistic needs. This past year, I have been teaching myself how to create garments and it has been challenging and rewarding. I have enjoyed the process. I love getting compliments about my dress and saying that I made it. I get really excited by this. I want to say to people, "You can do this too!" It does take some time and I do already have an art background so it may be a little different for me. Just like drawing, I feel that with dedication anyone can do this.
Here are some images of some of the pieces that I have created.

Burdastyle/Project Runway

2010-10-06T19:12:00.000-07:00

I entered a Project Runway/Rowenta competition by Burdastyle. It is about reusing clothes too make a new outfit. I turned a large suit into a dress. My design was chosen to be part of the 50 to be voted on.
I created this piece out of a linen suit. I took it in to fit me and created a belt.
Check it out:
http://www.burdastyle.com/albums/186/images?page=25&size=small

The Seed Olympics

2010-09-27T10:53:00.000-07:00

This past August, I had a solo show at Falsefront Studio here in Portland, Oregon. The concept for the show was based on seeds competing as if they were in the Olympics.

Artist Statement:
"The Seed Olympics is a camp exploration of my interest in athletes and horticulture. I don’t care for sports. Strangely enough, I am enthralled by the Olympics; the build-up of the games, the extreme power of the bodies of the athletes who train relentlessly and the voyeuristic thrill of feeling as you are a part of it, even if just watching it on television. Inspiration for this show came to me while watching the Winter Olympics. At the time, I was thinking about doing a test run of all of my seeds under a grow lamp. One night, I had a bizarre dream that my plants were competing as if they were in the Olympics. I decided to turn this into a reality and create a short video with supplemental paintings and installation. Thus, The Seed Olympics embodies my interest in growing, craft, video and humor."

The video can be seen here: The Seed Olympics!

If you have any questions or are interested in purchasing a piece, please contact me at rebecca.shelly@gmail.com.

New Work in Rom'n Times Show

2010-01-18T20:17:00.000-08:00

PSU Art Department | Italy | Summer 2009
Monday, January 4, 2010 – Friday, January 29, 2010
Autzen Gallery | 2nd Floor PSU Neuberger Hall | Room 205 | 724 SW Harrison | Portland, OR 97210
Gallery hours: Monday-Friday | 10-5 p.m.

Vanessa Calvert
Cassandra Dorsey
Lori Gilbert
Bethany Hays
Stuart Mayer
Cassie Neth
Jennifer Norton
Stuart Mayer
Bridget Murphy
Ralph Pugay
Rebecca Shelly
Miles Sprietsma
Cody Thomas

The images here are my latest pieces.

1. Jewel Tart I,II and III, Acrylic on panel with mixed media and resin cast frames, 2009.

2. Il Teatro Gelato, Acrylic on panel and fabric, 2009.

Portrait Heads: late second century A.D.

2009-11-23T19:07:00.000-08:00

The Vatican Museum is full of really amazing work. This post will focus more on the popularity of creating busts. If the father figure of a family died, they would make a wax mold of his face and create a shrine around it. The wealthy Romans wanted to have these turned into marble to show their significance in society. The popularity of this probably lead to artists creating portraits of living people.
Some of these heads showed intense emotion that had not been seen in sculpture before. Not all of them were idealized also. Many were true to life.

Colosseum. A.D. 72-80

2009-11-23T17:37:00.000-08:00

The Colosseum is the first art historical place that I came across in my book, A Basic History of Art. It was an immense amphitheater for gladiator games in Rome. It is probably the most known of all of Rome's buildings. When it was built, it was one of the largest buildings; more than 50,000 viewers could be in the building at a time. It was designed so that people could easily move in and out of the structure.
I have seen numerous images of the Colosseum. I mostly saw it for it's size and scale. Janson points out the use of the columns. A column typically is comprised of a capital (top most section:think of it like a hat), a shaft and a base. Each level of the Colosseum had columns with different capitals. On the ground floor, Doric (simple and typically a basic square), the second floor, Ionic (two curved objects similar to a scroll) and the top two floors were Corinthian (highly decorative and similar to plants growing).
Today, the Colosseum is littered with tourists, contemporary greek soldiers trying to gather money from photos, vendors selling mini Roman sculptures and new technologies like group tours with headphones with monitors where you can hear your guide without being right next to him/her and the lazy man's ride, the Segway tour.
Basically, I am interested in how these places will remain the same. We learn about these places in our art history books, but how will these places be able to maintain themselves? Is it through tourists? Sightseers fork over quite a lot of money to view them up close. This means that the tourist is now part of the history of the place.

Pumpkin Pie Gang Plastic Bag Holder

2009-10-22T17:25:00.000-07:00

I needed a break from thinking about art critically. I wanted to make something that was pleasant and offered me a new direction. I don't know where sewing will end up in my work, but I wanted to experiment with the simple act of crafting.

I was inspired by the pie that Vanessa and I made and made a sewn piece about it.
It can be found on my etsy here: Pumpkin Pie Gang

Sewing with a pattern!

2009-10-15T22:23:00.000-07:00

So, I haven't necessarily been good about creating a piece a day. I have made some really amazing cookies, learned the art of how to properly pour a latte with a heart design, modified some clothing and made some curtains for my studio.
I am most excited about my creation today. It took a loooong time. I knew ahead of time that this was going to be a difficult task, but I wanted to see if I could do it. I made a blouse from a 50 cent 70's pattern that I got at a local fabric store. I looked for the perfect fabric for a long time and found this really great design that has some white flowers printed on it.
I worked through the pattern. I would sit for a long time at points and just look at the pictures of how I was supposed to do things. They could seem incredibly confusing and then all of a sudden I would hold up my fabric and see what they were trying to describe. I did at one point sew the sleeve on backwards and had to take it out. That was frustrating. It is the kind of thing though that you have to make mistakes to get better. I will now double check that when sewing.
Overall, I am really happy with my new blouse. I have some more patterns that I may try working with or combining with others.
I look forward for an event to wear this to (perhaps teaching my own class one day...white might not be a good idea for a drawing class though...)

Pumpkin Pie!

2009-10-08T21:35:00.001-07:00

Vanessa and I made this Pumpkin Pie. She had never made it from an actual pumpkin before so I showed her how. My mom taught me how to do it. You just cut up the pumpkin into chunks and boil it until the skins just fall off. After you mash it and it is really easy. A small pumpkin that I bought at New Seasons will make three pies! I am freezing the rest so that I can make some pies this winter. Yeah!
My mom's recipe:

Pie crust (homeade or storebought uncooked)
2 eggs
2 cups pumpkin
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teas. salt
teas vanilla
teaspoon and a half of pumpkin pie spice
1 can evaporated milk
1 tbl. melted butter

Bake 425 for 15 min.
reduce to 350 for 45 min.
when knife is clean, the pie is done!

Let cool and serve with fresh whipping cream!

Mini Cinque

2009-10-07T22:49:00.000-07:00

I made this little painting in honor of the tourist paintings that I saw throughout my travels. Local artists would paint tiny paintings for tourists to easily purchase. This is a 2"x2" acrylic painting similar to the ones that I saw. It is from Monterosso, Cinque-Terre. Most of the buildings are painted a pink or yellow color. This also shows the train tracks that run through the mountains.
I have posted this on my etsy:
Mini Cinque

Day 1. Vinci

2009-10-06T10:54:00.001-07:00

This is a watercolor pencil drawing. The image is from Vinci, Italy. This is the town were Leonardo grew up. These are olive trees that are outside of the museum that houses some of his inventions. I am going to post this on my etsy as well.

starting plants

2009-03-18T12:49:00.001-07:00

I have started the onions, peppers and eggplant.

"Cold Storage" at Worksound Gallery

2009-02-08T20:39:00.001-08:00

For the month of February, my installation Cold Storage will be on display in the group show, White Noise at Worksound Gallery.
PORT even has a video of the opening on their blog. It ends by going into my iceberg; similar to my own video.

Artist Statement

Cold Storage

Mission Statement of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault:

“The purpose of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault is to provide insurance against both incremental and catastrophic loss of crop diversity held in traditional seed banks around the world. The Seed Vault offers “fail-safe” protection for one of the most natural resources on earth.”

Currently, our world’s seeds are stored in a well locked tunnel on a quiet island of Norway. This vault is naturally cooled with freezing Arctic air and is surrounded by slowly melting icebergs. This construction is basically a safety deposit box for seed banks around the globe. For the “Cold Storage” installation each iceberg has been systematically created based on this vault.
Each of the icebergs are represented by a different continent. Each form is constructed with the countries from that particular region. The size of each country is based on the amount of seeds they donated to the vault. This changes the look and dominance of each country.
Two hundred and twenty countries store seeds at this vault and one wonders how these will be protected. If there is a global disaster will this single vault decide who has the most power? Could the country with the most seeds have supremacy? Of all the countries India would become the dominant authority; it holds over 45 million seeds at Svalbard. The second highest would be Mexico with 15 million. The smallest country is Equatorial Guinea with only 43 seeds.
A seed vault offers global insurance against disaster. Seeds are already disappearing and this vault should protect future generations. It seems like something from a science fiction novel, but this is our reality.

Opening

2008-11-16T12:37:00.000-08:00

The opening reception went really well. There were a lot of people interested in the subject of Victory Gardening. Many pointed out that maybe Obama will reinstate it. The bands were also really great and it felt good to give this body of work some focus. I will take parts of this for my thesis show.

Solo Show at Launch Pad Gallery

2008-11-03T00:19:00.001-08:00

In November, I will be showing my current project, Local Victory at Launch Pad Gallery here in Portland. I have been working on a lot of new approaches for the show: plywood cutouts, resin, colored pencil, and poster printing. Some of the processes have been difficult, but it has been great pushing some limits for myself.
For more information, please follow this link: Launch Pad

Second Year MFA Show

2008-09-13T10:11:00.000-07:00

For the month of September, the second year MFA students have installed work that represents what we have been working on this past year. I decided to hang the first of four seed order paintings and create an installation of my "Local Victory" projects. This summer, I spent a lot of time in my yard. Being able to watch the growth of your food can be really satisfying. I wanted to include these plants in the show because they are also part of my work this summer.
Since I plan on having lots of plants in my thesis show, this was great to see how the plants do in this space. I put a sign on the tomato plants saying that people can eat them and it is rare that a red one sticks around. I think that people like the opportunity to interact with work in a gallery space because so often they are not allowed to.
Currently, I am working on connecting with some other organizations to see if some of these posters can be useful. On my "Local Victory" blog, there are many links to websites that are pushing the idea of contemporary Victory Gardening. This project has really been thought provoking for me and I hope an influence with others as well.

New Poster

2008-08-30T12:09:00.000-07:00

I have been having fun reworking my drawings. I came up with this image.

New Drawing

2008-08-30T10:55:00.001-07:00

I have enjoyed working on my current paintings, but I somewhat miss being more abstract. I like the combo of recognizable with abstract. So, I did a little drawing from a glass, paper cutout collage that I had created. This is a 6"x6" watercolor pencil drawing on paper.

Seed Orders 1997

2008-08-16T11:01:00.000-07:00

I finished the first of four seed paintings.

The Round

2008-07-06T10:57:00.001-07:00

Last sunday, I was part of an event called the "Round." Here, three musicians, a poet and two artists were on stage together. There was a good crowd of people and the atmosphere was really interesting. I have never drawn in front of people before, but I found it fun. The musicians were Nick Jaina, Michael Apinyakul from Shoeshine Blue and Sean Flinn from Invisible City Rockets. Poetry was from Trvino Brings Plenty. The other artist was Hillary Berry.

Drawing on the cover of the "Portland Review"

2008-07-06T10:53:00.000-07:00

My drawing called, "Repression" is on the cover of the Portland Review. It can be found at Powell's Books. The image is reversed on the other side so that it mirrors itself when you open it.

Local Victory Posters...

2008-06-27T15:54:00.000-07:00

There has been some interest in these posters. I would love to get these out to people and their communities. I am currently brainstorming on that aspect of the project.
For now, if you are interested in them, send me an email I will get in touch when I have that part completed.
Thanks for all the excitement with this project!

Painting in process

2008-06-20T14:53:00.001-07:00

This painting is part 1 of 4 seed paintings. Every year of our family garden, my father kept track of seeds that were ordered, the plants started and the growth of the garden. I borrowed four of his journals and have been trying to find the exact varieties that he ordered. I have found that even though the earliest year was 1992, there are many seeds that are found with different companies or no longer available at all. I decided that this might make for some interesting paintings.

Local Victory Blog

2008-06-18T10:59:00.000-07:00

I started a blog for my "Local Victory" project. I am going to collect stories and images of people and their home gardens. There are a lot of people deciding to grow their own food and I think that it is very inspiring.
Here is the link:
Local Victory

The End of Food

2008-05-29T23:31:00.000-07:00

As I have been doing research for my thesis, I came across an article that really talks about the reasons for a contemporary "victory garden" poster. I will talk about it in my presentation, but if anyone is interested in reading about our current food climate, here is the article.
The End of Food article

Free Tree Start Project

2008-05-23T15:03:00.000-07:00

As I have been working out what my thesis project is going to be, I have been thinking about a few aspects of it. One part involves giving people vegetable starts to get involved in creating a garden right away. Before that though I wanted to experiment with the act of giving starts. As I was weeding, I came across a bunch of Maple Seedlings that seemed to be in good health. I decided to make them into a project. I gave them little tags and put them in water on my corner. I put a free sign because I wanted people to know that it was a gift of sorts. I felt that something that could be tossed might actually become a use for someone. I encouraged people to contact me with pictures of where they planted their starts.
I really do not know if anyone will take them or just toss it off as some "hippie" tree hugging thing. This made then realize that for my show, I really want it to be more thought provoking. As I write this, I am watching a documentary on Andy Goldsworth. I could really do something interesting here with design and interaction.

If you would like to contact me with pictures, my email is: rebecca.shelly@gmail.com

Artwork at Crema

2008-05-23T14:51:00.000-07:00

I hung some work up at Crema on se 28th and se Ankeny. The show will be up till July 1st.

2008-05-15T01:49:00.000-07:00

This is what I was picturing with the images. I think that I will add the text directly onto the drawing. At this point, I could go either way with the work.

First Drawings for Posters

2008-05-09T19:06:00.000-07:00

These are watercolor pencil/paint drawings on paper. They are 27.5"x 35".
These images came from photos of my childhood growing up in the garden. I plan on interacting with other people and making these images not just about my childhood but more of a way to talk about home gardening.

Future of Food!

2008-05-01T10:49:00.000-07:00

I recently watched a movie that really upset me. It upset me in a way that I want to do something about it. It involves my current project, so this gives me another element to push. It is called the Future of Food and it talks about Genetically Modified Food and our government.
Future of Food Intro
and,
Future of Food video

Contemporary Victory Garden Posters

2008-04-25T20:38:00.000-07:00

For part of my project, I am going to be recreating the use of the "Victory Garden" posters.
As I am doing more research into this, I am wondering how these could be relevant today. What I am learning, is that due to the war right now and a build up of other issues, that gas prices have been affecting our transportation of food products. It makes sense then, to buy local or start home gardens. This also would mean supporting the local economy and eating fresher, healthier products. So, my slogan for these posters will be, "Local Victory." Portland is already a place that supports the local farmer and even the small home garden.

new york trip...

2008-04-20T10:52:00.001-07:00

New Museum

Local Portlander, M.K. Guth's piece at the Whitney Biennial

White Columns

Chelsea

Painting?

New Project

2008-04-19T20:02:00.001-07:00

My new direction has been inspired by some journals that my Dad wrote in my childhood. While home for spring break, I spoke with my parents separately about their experiences with organic gardening. My mom doesn't know what first interested her with organic gardening. She feels that it was just something that was typical of the era. In the seventies, she attended the University of New Hampshire and studied plant science. Her and some other students pushed to get one of the green houses to be purely organic. They were not able to do this then, but today this is now available for students there. When my parents met, my father was interested in gardening, but it was my mother who introduced him to choosing to grow things organically. I grew up working with my parents in the gardens, but I have not focused before on why they chose to grow certain things. My father chose to grow things to maybe influence growth of other plants or to distract insects. Some varieties worked better than others and with organic gardening there isn't much time to make mistakes. Once something worked, he would keep working that or try something different the following year. His journals were a way to look back and document what worked and what needed to be changed.

What I am anticipating for my project is as follows:
Part 1:
4 5'x5' oil/acrylic paintings for each year of the journals.
-These will be based off of each year's seeds. (1991, 1993, 1997, and 1998)
I have been researching each company and variety of seed that he chose to buy that year. It is really hard to find some of these seeds now. The paintings will be composed of images of these varieties. I will have each diagramed also to show what still can be found with these companies, if it can be found through another company and then if it is no longer available. It is really interesting to think that these varieties that I grew up with I can no longer eat.

Part 2:
6 3'x4' watercolor pencil drawings on paper
-These images will be what I consider "backdrops" for the body of work. These will be drawings taken from photographs of me growing up in the garden. These are what I consider documentation of my childhood rather than just a nostalgic image. I am not commenting on how wonderful it was, but more how interesting this was for a child. At an early age I knew how things grew, and the work that needed to go into this. With a combination of the other work, I hope that this will be more apparent.

Part 3:
Projects based off of excerpts from my father's journals. These might be purely text based or maybe even a document that people could take with them. My father has been interested in something happening with these journals so I would like to work with him on maybe even making them available for the public.

Part 4:
Exploration of organic gardening via growing my own vegetable garden. I will be working with my roomates to grow our own organic garden and document that. Through my father's and other's advice, I will be exploring concepts with gardening. Through this, I will collect imagery to potentially use for new work. Also, I am hoping to come up with an installation of sorts that will go with this other work.

Latest piece in "Alphabet Soup" show

2008-03-03T10:16:00.000-08:00

This is my latest drawing. It is a watercolor pencil drawing on museum board. It is called "Repression." It will be at the Mark Woolley Gallery at the Wonder Ballroom.

Alphabet Soup at Woolley at Wonder
A Group show about Gender Identity, Sexuality and Labels

128 NE Russell St.

The show will run March 8-22, 2008

SHOW OPENING/DANCE PARTY WITH DJ GLOBALRUCKUS & OTHERS:
Saturday, March 8th 2008, 5pm - Late

SHOW CLOSING/DANCE PARTY WITH DJ'S:
Friday, March 21st 2008, 5-pm - Late

New Painting

2008-02-21T23:37:00.000-08:00

Here is a piece that I made from a trip I took with my sister and her fiance this past christmas to Yosemite.
I am not sure yet what to title it. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know.
Thanks!
wow. someone used my comment space to spam me. it wasn't that it was a bad title, just a little unwanted advertising.
spamming is lame. i now have had three spams on this one post. is that necessary? i will have to delete this image soon just because of this. that is interesting, but more annoying than anything

funny painting project

2008-02-19T11:36:00.000-08:00

I was told recently that I should check out Komar & Melamid's collaboration. I found this site and it is hilarious! They interviewed people from selected countries to find out what people enjoyed or hated about paintings. They then created paintings for each country to show the differences. Most of the countries like a bluish landscape with a tree and hate brownish abstractions.
To check them out:
The Most Wanted and the Least Wanted paintings
For more info:
the website

New piece

2008-01-24T11:13:00.000-08:00

I tried to finish this piece for the Children of the Revolution show, but it was still wet. It is called, "I am Sorry." It is oil on canvas.

Children of the Revolution Show

2008-01-24T11:01:00.000-08:00

This was from the Portland Mercury

My piece is to the right. It is called, "Adolescent Exploration via Nancy Drew"

This year started off with being asked to be part of Children of the Revolution. It was an event where 35 Portland artists had work up along with two nights of Portland bands. There are so many Portland artists and musicians that it was really great to see them come together for a show. Ususally, it would be one or the other, so this made it an intersting opportunity.

Thirty. The night of the show...intense

2007-12-09T22:28:00.000-08:00

At 6 pm, when I showed up, the place was already full. It wasn't supposed to start until 7, but people were already scoping out their favorites. The artists were able to have first pick of the work. At 7, the packed house was asked to exit back out the door and then line up outside. As they went in, they were then given stickers with their names and were able to purchase the work. Well, this created a frenzy and the place filled up again and everyone was squished like sardines. Till 9, there was still a line around the building up Burnside. The place remained packed even up to its closing at 11. It was crazy. It felt like it was a rock star/art show. There was music and drinks and a really intense atmosphere that one does not get during a usual art show. I sold 17 out of my 30 and bought an amazing piece by Rebecca J. Becker. I had a lot of fun and did not realize the show would turn out to be such a frenzy. I love these kind of unknown adventures.

Thirty Show: Native Oregon Plants

2007-12-03T10:57:00.000-08:00

This is my work for the Thirty show. Below, please find the press release for the show. It would be great to see people at the event. I am curious to see what the other 29 artists did with their time.

Om Tradition Arts

14 NE 10th Ave. Portland, OR 97232 (at 10th and E. Burnside)

One night only, Dec. 7th, 2007 7-11pm

Thirty! is a 900-piece affordable art extravaganza featuring the work of
thirty Portland artists, both established and emerging. Each selected
artist was challenged to create thirty 7” x 7” original paintings in just
thirty days. This exciting and unique concept creates a space for artists
to push the boundaries of time, size and style. The resulting 900
paintings on pine panels will be available for thirty dollars a piece.
The paintings will be hung salon style at OM Tradition Arts on Dec. 7th,
2007 for a one night only frenzy, in conjunction with the Central
Eastside’s First Friday Artwalk. This is a cash only event you won't want
to miss!

A percentage from each sale will benefit OM Tradition Arts, a new movement
arts studio, also hosting rotating visual art exhibitions. OM’s mission
is to provide affordable classes to the community in various traditional
movement arts (yoga, capoiera, dance, martial arts, etc.)

Native Oregon Plants Information

2007-12-03T10:34:00.000-08:00

For the work in my Thirty Show I used a poster created by the Portland Environmental Services. For more information on this, check out their website:
http://www.portlandonline.com/bes/index.cfm?c=32142&

Portland Environmental Services offers this information about local plants:

Naturescaping is landscaping that allows people and nature to coexist. By incorporating native plants into your yard, you can attract insects, birds, and other creatures and help keep Portland's rivers and streams healthy.

If you would like to see some of these plants in their native environment, check out the following places:
* Oxbow Park, 3010 SE Oxbow Parkway, Gresham
* Forest Park, Northwest Portland
* Powell Butte Park, 162nd & SE Powell Blvd.
* Leach Botanical Garden, 6704 SE 122nd Ave.
* Tryon Creek State Park, 11321 SW Terwilliger Blvd.
* Berry Botanic Garden, 11505 SW Summerville Ave.

Guardino Gallery Show: Little Things

2007-12-02T09:45:00.000-08:00

This is my work hung at my show. For more info, check out Guardino's website:
www.guardinogallery.com

another piece

2007-11-10T11:05:00.000-08:00

right now, as i finish my work for the shows that i am in, i am trying to piece together what new work i want to expand upon. as i do this, i am posting them to see what feedback i can get.
"repression" this will be a watercolor on paper. maybe a smaller piece 18"x24"

new work

2007-11-07T10:53:00.000-08:00

these are some images that i recently created. i am interested in introducing the figure into my work, but i do not want it to be a narrative. by adding a little of the figure, it gives a hint of a story, but still some ambiguity. i might turn these into drawings or paintings. they may just work as manipulated photos. however, by turning them into paintings these will be a real challenge

"love can't last on consequences" i think this one will be a 60"x60" acrylic with overlay of oil painting

"your fireworks were my addiction" this will be an oil on 24"x36" canvas

"awaiting that day" this will be a large 30"x70" oil painting

mistaken identity and mississippi studios

2007-11-03T09:49:00.000-07:00

i was really excited to catch this picture of larry rinder

then, i realized that it wasn't him, but it is so hard to match a beer cozy to a face these days.

i was under the impression that larry rinder's lecture was going to be set up differently. i enjoyed hearing about the work coming out of CCA, but i wanted to find out a little more about his history and experiences. as a grad student, it is good for me to hear him talk about work that is being created around the same time as my own. it was even harder to hear that students coming from one of the best MFA programs are not even funding their lives through art. i really liked how he wanted to bring up the idea of giving business advise to students. that is something that i feel would be a really important part of school but is left out. for some "object" makers, work can be sold and it feels good to sell the work. in my undergrad, they touched a little on that, but it was always this hush hush thing. going to art school is about building up your concepts, techniques and studio practice. it really can develope someone. what happens though is that you get to that point and you wonder, "what do i do next? where should i show? can i show this work?"
it has been an interesting experience learning alongside "social practicers." talking with them recently has been interesting because many of them are also "object" makers but are more interested in the interactive social part of what art can do. i think that this is an amazing venture, and one that will be morphing the "art world". what it does show to me is that i am more of a "traditional" artist. it will be interesting to see if any of those concepts will creep into my work, but i want to stay stubborn in my art practice. it is hard because you want to push yourself to do work that is compelling to the "artworld," but i would love to be able to just paint. be a painter. sell my work to sustain my life. it is an idealized world, but one that i would like to try for. is that ok?

so, after the lecture, i went to mississippi studios and was still processing some of the things that were brought up in the lecture. it was a cd release show for Run On Sentence, The Builders & the Butchers, and Shoeshine Blue. they were all folky, eclectic and emotional. it felt good to go to something were i was able to just sit back and let the music take over. going to all of these lectures has been great, but this was a different "art" experience. folk music has a history of giving people the chance to overcome something difficult in their lives. i want to paint as if i were writing a folk song. i want to deal with many of the emotions that are going through me right now and interact with people in that way. maybe that can be my social practice; practicing letting myself go to influence someone else's emotions quietly through my paintings.

Guardino Gallery Show

2007-10-27T15:36:00.000-07:00

I have been working on small pieces for this show. I have some work that already would fit the size requirments, but I am making all new work. I want the sizes to be the same. I am trying to maintain a similar look to what I got into the show with, but also allow myself to develope those ideas just a little bit more.

Also, the Portland Environmental Services gave me permission to use their poster as part of my "30" show. Now, that it is all planned out, I just need to get the panels and start making.

Lecture Possibility

2007-10-22T11:02:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Storm Tharp came into Art Media and I asking him if he had ever lectured at PSU and if he would be intersted in that. He is one of my favorite local artists and his work would be really interesting to hear him talk about. He said that he would be nervous, but would enjoy the experience. So, I told him that I would try and make it happen but that it wouldn't be until the following year. He was recently written up as an emerging artist from Modern Painters, has been in numerous shows in the area and would be an incredible asset to our program. Just saying....

Gorge Sold!

2007-10-20T13:57:00.000-07:00

I sold my "Labor Day in the Gorge" painting today! I am sad that it is gone, but the couple that bought it seem really great. I feel as if this piece was a real stepping stone for me. I need to sort what I learned with it and use that in new work.

native plant inspiration

2007-10-09T10:13:00.000-07:00

Recently, I was asked to participate in a fundraiser/art sale. It consists of 30 Portland artists making 30 paintings in 30 days. That is a daunting task on top of which I am trying to create my graduate body of work and work for the "Little Things" show at the Guardino Gallery. Some of my friends will also be in the show, so I decided to go for it. What scared me, was not wanting to make work that would "sell." One of the reasons why I am going to grad school is to try and break free from that idea. How then, do I use this opportunity to do something a little more "academic."
During our dinner for Jean-Marie, I was joking with some of the other MFAs about a Native Plants poster that happened to be on the table. Then, an idea ran at me. I could recreate this poster, but on these panels. Using, the codes for each plant, I could make up a new system to paint them. I am thinking maybe a basic line drawing of the plant as a base and then paint the image using similar colors. An example would be maybe the background color for "shade" plants to be blue or something that needs wet soil to have shine on part of the image. This would give me rules to follow and thus make it easier to create all of these pieces.
I would then make a key for each so that the person getting the piece would know a little bit more about this plant and its care.

Seattle Trip

2007-09-29T21:29:00.000-07:00

On Friday, the MFA students went to Seattle. It was a concentrated day full of visiting the new sculpture garden, museums, galleries and Harrell Fletcher's Come Together event at The Henry.
I enjoyed the Richard Serra piece. I had seen some of his work in NY, but I enjoyed it being in an outside environment rather than a gallery. I also was really excited to see Mark Dion's installation. He was one of my favorite lecturers from my undergrad at the Maine College of Art. Maybe I also liked that I have been interested in plant imagery and this piece had some similar aspects to projects I have done myself. For a show in Portland, Maine, I potted and labeled common weeds to give them more importance and to try explain their value rather than their unfavorable identity. He also labeled "weeds" and these were actually then locked up in a museum.
I also was really intersted in seeing first hand Patricia Piccinini's work at Frye. She is one of my favorite contemporary artists. I enjoyed how awkward and terrified I felt around these creatures. After awhile, I started to feel comfortable with them and it makes me wonder how I can use some of these ideas of fear and safety with my own work.

Artwork at Vino Paradiso

2007-09-24T16:33:00.000-07:00

For the month of September, my paintings are at Vino Paradiso with my best friend Michelle Ramin.
417 NW 10th ave.

Introducing My Work

2007-09-22T17:01:00.000-07:00

I used these images to show my recent work. The first image is "Hidden Agenda." It is oil on canvas and is 24"x36". The second one is "Desperate." It is watercolor and gouache on paper. It is 18"x24". The final image is "Labor Day in the Gorge." It is watercolor and gouache on paper. It is a diptych and is 22"x60."