Read this Blog post

I haven't posted in a while because I've been busy teaching but the kids are making some amazing videos. While I ponder what to post next please go over to this blog and read this amazing post: http://www.austinkleon.com/2011/03/30/how-to-steal-like-an-artist-and-9-other-things-nobody-told-me/

But do come back soon. More soon.

Paper, Books and Wood

A material doesn't have to be strange to be amazing in different people's hands. I've come across some art that is reminding me of that fact. I'm going to avoid collage because I could be sitting at the computer all day but there are a few artists I'd like to point you to that use paper that I can't wait to share.

First, there is Andrea Dezco whose work I've been admiring for years. I just checked her website and was blown away to see that she was doing large scale tunnel book installations, oh how I'd love to see this in person:

 On the less ambitious side, I recently saw some beautiful portraits in a cafe near my house by artist Joey Bates. He combines drawings with layers of matte board, so that there are these really interesting cut-away parts with other things going on in them. It's hard to tell what's going on here without seeing it in person but there is a 3D part in the shirt portion:

Another cool layered piece was shown in a book arts show at the Lee Gallery here in Seattle about a year ago. It's by artist Leo Morrissey:

Finally, my friend Angela sent me to Anna Parkina's work this week, it's apparently showing at SFMOMA. It's wood, it's layered, it's cool cut out. I think it fits with this other work. OH, and.. ok, I can't help throwing in a collage by her. Look her up, she's amazing.

Cuts, burns and caulking

I've been messing around with materials some more. This week in our last class with Kiki Macinnis (sad) I got into drawing with ink using this pen tool I had made for me that is made from a piece of olive oil can (this pen is the model from which we made mine):

The way I was using it only allowed me to make straight lines. This is just a second pass at the idea but it gives you some idea. I drew on glassine.

 I was drawing with my friend Kristen (definitely check out her art) and afterward she sent me the art of this really amazing artist who I'd never heard of named Susan White. The image below, and a bunch of her other art is made by burning. I've tried burning paper with a wood tool and it gave me a headache but I love the look at if there are other good ways to do it I'd like to know. But check this out:

Last, the other fun I've been having recently concerns image transfers. I made a big print (I think it was laser) when testing a printer at a school I work with. I didn't like the paper so I decided to try to make a transfer. In researching, I found out that you can use a low odor caulk to make transfers. It really works! Check out Self Representing Artists if you're interested in more information on that issue.

If you have other thoughts on unusual materials that are useful in art making please send them my way.

Now to find some time to make more art...

Gail Grinnell's amazing art

Today I had a great time in a wonderful class at Pratt taught by Kiki Macinnis, we used ink on glassine, dripped ink and squeezed ink between pages (there's a name for this but I've forgotten. I showed Kiki a little of my work and she suggested I look at Gail Grinnell's art. I'd seen it before at the Bellevue Art Museum but not remembered her name. OH boy! Ink and sewing and translucency and breaking off the rectangle of the canvas/page/whatever.  But what in the world is spun polyester? Anyway, check this out.

It was very hard to choose. See more at:
http://www.gailgrinnell.com/index.html

More on Larry's class

I realized I should post a couple of the images I made in the class I wrote about below. I had a lot of fun. Different kind of work for me but it got me thinking.. Who thought I'd be using the copier to copy thread, wrapping paper in yarn and waxing it? I realized I really enjoyed the lines themselves and the different thicknesses. Controlling thread and yarn was near impossible. Here are just a couple from my big pile.

Larry Calkin's Silhouettes

I've decided to start this blog by thinking about how people use materials in interesting ways. I took a class with Larry Calkin at Pratt in Seattle recently. The most inspiring thing about the class was the inch thick pile of cheap printer paper on each of our desks. Larry said, "I want you to do something with every sheet of paper by the end of today." This both freaked us all out and also liberated us to just get to work. I never used all my sheets of paper but over the next few days I waxed, burned, crumpled, sewed and punched holes in my paper among other things.

The lesson here is: Use cheap materials and just make stuff, something might come out of it.

Another lesson from Larry: Make repeats, don't try to make something new all the time but make more than one of something, you'll learn something new each time you make another version.

Larry has tons of examples of his art online. I really like this silhouette piece. More can be found here: http://www.calkinsart.net/projects/