love this...

But once in a while the odd thing happens,
Once in a while the dream comes true,
And the whole pattern of life is altered,
Once in a while the moon turns blue.

W.H. Auden

Breathing...

I'm feeling calmer now -- seeing the light and narrowing down my TO DO list!. Graphic designer now has the approval to proceed on the invitation and catalogue. Had good meeting with MDC yesterday and finally feel as though everything is on track. ESPECIALLY since I've bought a little more time with the opening date now set for December 2. . Not only does this give me (and the graphic designer) a bit more time, but it will open just before Art Basel -- chances are more people will be in town for the opening. Everything is exactly as it should be. I just have to always remember.

Angsting

Thinking of different approaches for installation of A of A. My previous concept for the Centre Gallery involved blowing up each page to 22 x 30" and pinning them on the wall but this won't work for the new space. Now I'm thinking of printing the pages out at various scales and suspending from the ceiling with monofilament. Still thinking...

New Space

I'm having to rethink things considerably now that my exhibition space has changed. I went over to the Freedom Tower and took some pictures and measured all of the walls. The windows will all be covered over and the dark piece that you see at the left edge of the photograph is a moveable wall that will not be in the space. I need to figure out how many pedestals I can work into the space without overwhelming it. I want to maintain a feeling of a clean clear space.

A day in the studio

Change of Venue

Quite exciting news yesterday -- my exhibition will be moved from the Centre Gallery at Wolfson Campus, Miami Dade College to the newly renovated Freedom Tower. As my architect hubby says, it's the best building in Miami, built in 1925 as the headquarters and printing facility for the Miami News. Recently acquired by Miami Dade College, the facility has been transformed into a beautiful space for art exhibitions and installations.

My new exhibition space will be quite a bit smaller than the Centre Gallery but is definitely a better location. The exhibition will open in late November -- date to be confirmed -- concurrent with a large exhibition of Salvador Dali. All very exciting and more to follow...

Time-Lapse Test

I've been playing around with doing time-lapse movies of my studio process. Kind of fun!

Beginning work on installation

I beginning working on an installation piece for the exhibition that will include MANY hanging book structures. I am creating the pages in Photoshop and then printing out. Sort of fun to work in this media for a change. Having fun!

Also read this quotation this morning from Sir Isaac Newton that I find quite amazing:

The changing of bodies into light, and light into bodies, is very comfortable to the course of nature, which seems delighted with transmutations.

~ Sir Isaac Newton

Can't Believe it's September!

Hard to believe that the summer is gone and I have just two months until my exhibition. And now is the time that I need to finalize all of the copy for the catalogue and my statement --EEEK. It is hard for me to write about my work and I was hoping that doing this blog would help. I suppose it has to some extent. But overall I'm happy with what I've produced so far but I plan to continue, allowing me some wiggle room for editing during installation.

I spent most of Labor Day in my studio, happily painting, listening to podcasts of Eckart Tolle and being in the NOW!



But the day started with an early morning trip to the beach with Baci, spoiled-beyond-reason yellow lab.

Green Door Part II

I think I've finished this piece -- the first in a series of petal or portal-shaped pieces. I added some silver paint to add another dimension. I like the shape, and it references some of the flag books that I've created for the show.

Green Door

This is a new petal-shaped piece that I'm still working on...

Seed Bed

This is a piece I've been working on and I finished today (I think). Not sure if I love it... a bit labored. It is a triptych, each individual piece is 16 x 20" and the total piece measures 20 x 50".

Circles Circles Everywhere

Am working on a series and feel like I'm going in...

Shapeshifting Diptych

This is a piece that I started when I was up in NC and finished a few weeks ago. I went back to my flowing lines and integrated some of the round/bubble elements. I'm pretty happy with it...

Pollination Cycle

Finished a series of 7 pieces when I was in North Carolina.  Pretty happy with them... all part of a continuing Pollination Cycle...  Also very happy to have found a mill that prepared circles for me that are very nice -- good plywood and easier for me to attach the veneer along the sides. 

These are the first 3 in the Pollination Cycle... they are 18 x 24"

Moving Forward

Feel like I've been in a state of overwhelm for the last month but am surfacing... swimming toward air. Just had a good meeting re: my exhibition and we leave for two weeks in NC on Sunday.  I really find that I can be creative there -- lovely environment and not so many distractions! 

I'll be focusing primarily on pieces for the walls and will do a series of circular pieces titled Water Rising.  The circular elements will be grouped to mimic water molecules. 

TUNNEL VISION

I've done a series of tunnel books for the exhibition -- they are titled Sometimes, Always and Never.  I made them on the computer using photographs I had taken, scanned artwork and Photoshop.   I learned the tunnel book process at a wonderful workshop with Carol Barton and have made several since then. You really can't enjoy the book unless you there, with you eye up to the peep hole. 

Shibori!

I've been playing with silk and dyes for the past few days. Inspired by Jen Beauchamp's wonderful tutorial on shibori  (http://tomoebookarts.blogspot.com), I have been reliving my textile and fiber arts days at Scripps with the wonderful Neda Al-Hilali. She was such a great teacher and her work so strong.  The following is my 2nd try:

I started this process to make book cloth  but I don't think I can bear to cut this up -- I wore it today as a shawl/scarf! But I need to figure out how to incorporate shibori into the exhibition. I'm really loving the process...

Alphabetica of Angst

Earlier this year, I created a book titled Alphabetica of Angst or How I Purged My Fears.  

It is an ABC book that lists, alphabetically, some of my fears and anxieties.  The process of creating the book was freeing and fun --  I think it is a healthy thing to take a look at the things that cause us to feel queasy! I entered the book in a nationally juried exhibition of contemporary artist books, Secrets and Lies at the Sandy 23 Gallery in Portland and was happy that it was accepted. This is a link to the online catalogue for the exhibition.  I realize that I need to enter my work into more exhibitions -- put myself out there. Funnily enough, this is one of the things that causes me anxiety!  Hmmm....

Flight

This is a flag book that I started a few months ago and finally finished today.  I realize that I have quite a few pieces that are in varying stages of completion and I decided that at this point it's a good idea to finish what is in process before I start any new work. I've titled the book Flight and have incorporated words from a poem titled Time and Memory by Dag Hammarskjold. The flag elements I painted in watercolor and the end papers I found at Kate's Paperie in New York (love that store). I attached the words as flowing lines from the tips of the flags.  

Pollination Series... new work

I'm working on a new series titled Pollination.  They are watercolor and mixed media mounted on board and are fairly large -- each one is 17 x 48".  I'm having fun playing with the circular form as well as experimenting with some acrylic pigments with iridescent effects (especially love Golden Fluid Acrylics' Iridescent Pearl).  People see different things in my work -- underwater vistas or forms floating through space.  I  enjoy keeping things ambiguous! These will be wall pieces for my exhibition -- some of the "unbound." 

Earth's Adventures -- a book project in progress

I began working on a new book project in North Carolina and it has been sitting since I got home --  there hasn't been too much time in the studio since arriving back in Miami.  This is my constant challenge -- to find time to create, keep current with all of my freelance projects and maintain some kind of balance (hence a day of sorting Lego). 

The process of creating this book was quite different from my usual method. In this project, I used an existing binding -- the cloth covered boards of a  text book, Earth's Adventures, that I found in a thrift shop.  A children's book on geology published in 1942,  I liked the title and the faded color of the cover boards. I removed the text block, gutting the book.  I then made paste papers on very heavy watercolor paper and began painting with Golden fluid acrylics and drawing with graphite and opaque silver and white pens.  

Once I am happy with the pages, I will integrate pop-ups for several of the pages (the two forms to the right of the book will be pop-ups, floating over the pages.) I've been thinking that I need to incorporate some text but have yet to find the right match. Any ideas out there?

What I Did Today (Not Art)...

Embracing well-honed avoidance strategies, I spent a good part of the day disinfecting and sorting the motherlode of Lego, acquired this morning for my nephew Peter at a garage sale.  I had fully intended to spend the day in the studio, organizing and getting my Miami space in order. Didn't happen. 

But I had fun, sitting in the sun, splashing in the water.  Did I waste the day?  I don't think so!  Peter is going to enjoy years of Lego and maybe I needed to play. 

Back to Centre

Five years ago I left a comfortable County job for the uncertainty of freelance work and time to make art.  It was the best choice I ever made.  I have more satisfying freelance opportunities than I can handle and this fall, I will have a one-person exhibition in a 2500-square-foot gallery (working title: Bound/Unbound)! 

And it all started at the Centre Gallery -- or back then it was the Mitchell Wolfson Jr. Collection of Decorative and Propaganda Arts -- my first real job.  I left the gallery in 1987 and now, twenty-one years later, will have an exhibition in that same space.  It feels deeply satisfying to be returning with my own show, a full and beautiful cycle. 

And so I begin my blog at the urging of the amazing Jane Powell of Random Arts in Saluda, North Carolina.  I am seven months out from my exhibition and I will use this space as a venue to document my progress, process some of my thoughts, and almost certainly to vent!