The issue as I see it...

Dear All Political Candidates, Lobbying Groups, and Anyone else who has an opinion,

Just because you believe something, that does not mean it needs to be made into a law. The solution is really much simpler than writing legislation. Just don't do what you don't believe in. If you don't agree with abortion, then don't get one. If you don't believe a person shouldn't marry some one of the same sex, then don't marry such a person. Some one might think like Mitt Romney says, "I believe a marriage should be between a man and a woman." Well that's one thing. I won't give you a cookie for it, but you can think that if you like. I'm going to think what I like. For example, I think you shouldn't be allowed within 50 feet of a camera that will allow you to spout your bigoted views and share them with others, but I'm not going to make that a law because you too have freedom of speech. Don't stamp out personal rights and impede the liberty of others to govern themselves as they see fit. You don't have that right. kthx.

PS Stop idolizing the soldiers and veterans who fought and continue to fight as you say "so bravely for our freedom" if all you're going to do is write laws that limit our freedom, yes, that freedom, the one you are worshipping them for fighting to protect.

Almost Famous

Okay, not really almost famous, but it feels like it. I posted my first video to youtube, and it's already been viewed a few times. haha. Check it out

"Making a Maquette- Clay Figure Sculpture"

I'm in love with my past

I don't write poetry EVER. However, this was an assignment for a class, and I actually like it. I'm in love with where I'm from, who I'm from, and what I've done.


Where I’m From

I’m from the middle.
I’m from the dirt in the garden, red from the clay,
Clothes on the line and hiking to the dam.
I’m from Sunflower perfume and English Leather cologne
during bedtime prayers.
I’m from glue on my fingers and making astronaut cats.
I’m from anything for family,
Spring peepers and blankets by the water,
Late nights on the bleachers.
I'm from bunk beds, diners, and drives,
Caking Fells Naptha on my poison ivy,
Secrets in the crawlspace.
I’m from the muddy water from the river on the Zimmermans’ farm,
The Lord’s prayer and God bless America.
I’m from a very human body,
Chicken pot pie and pork and sauerkraut.
I’m from imperfect relationships, strained relationships,
My siblings are friends, and my friends are siblings,
From the middle.
I’m from Dad’s logic and Mom’s thought.
I’m from a good shot,
Something strong.
I’m from busy hands,
A family with tough hands
And unconditional love.
We have sturdy legs, too.
I’m from the smell of gunpowder and gun oil
And doughnuts in the snow.
I’m from the mass of darkness in my mind.
I’m from the 80-100 rule and many late nights
And clay dust that cracks my skin and covers my clothes.
I’m from lightning bugs and shooting stars and dandelions.
I’m from small schools on hills.
I’m in between the farms and Charm City,
Promise rings and bigger dreams
In a little pond.
I’m from empowerment for everyone,
The pink lollipop lilies in my garden
with pistil and stamen,
My pride as a woman.
I’m from love and loneliness.
I’m from the clay under my nails,
From thinking for myself,
And a strong muscle in my chest.
I’m from the middle.

I'm in love with my past

I'd Follow the Black Rabbit

In July I attended a workshop at Baltimore Clayworks called Into the Wilderness with Beth Cavener Stichter. This was probably the best thing I did all summer. It's not often I blog about things other than my own art, so heads up, she's good.

This three day workshop included a demonstration of Beth's building process, which she has spent a great deal of time developing and is very specific to her style and materials.

The first day was spent entirely on maquettes and armatures. I always knew sketching and maquettes are important to the artistic process and the development of ideas, but I never spent much time with anyone working on these things. Beth builds multiple maquettes with an oil based clay and bamboo skewer armatures. This gives her the ability to move the armatures many times, leave them out for observation without worrying about drying, and the skewers act like a skeleton maintaining realistic looking joints. The maquette is all about the gesture and roughing out the form.

This is an improvement for me, as I hadn't imagined oil based clay, and my maquettes are often little gestures that always are broken somehow just a few weeks into building. The skewer skeleton is genius.

Her armatures are a work of engineering genius. I've attempted to use piping for armatures before, but it wasn't appropriate for the way I build. Beth builds solid, packing clay around the pipes and using a 2x4 for shaping. People have suggested building solid to me before, but it never made sense. Building solid figures creates a much more realistic muscular structure that I couldn't get to translate in coil building. I guess I just needed some one to show me how to do it because I couldn't visualize how building solid then hollowing and compressing would work in my head.

The next day Beth continued her building demonstration and gave an in depth lecture with a power point that illustrated her entire process complete through firing (which is something we couldn't do in a 3 day workshop). I've already adopted some of her firing tips for my own work. I had to take off the legs of one of my pieces to make it fit in the kiln, and I used her techniques for including registers on the pieces and supporting the reconnection points to prevent warping during firing.

The last day was essentially a big q&a session with Beth. We talked about everything form the concepts behind her work to the many epoxies she uses (and why). We also covered her surface techniques. Beth often paints her sculptures, which if you've been following my posts, is something I'm experimenting with. Her painting process was so much more involved than mine, but I learned I should probably use a primer and should probably try thinning the paint and using some smaller brushes.

I wish I could write down everything I learned, but my time and attention span are waning. Big lessons I learned from Beth: she doesn't sculpt anything or put anything that's not necessary, she works a lot like I do for a conceptual standpoint, maquettes maquette maquettes, support support support, and sculpt with shadow. I also need to practice my mark making. Beth's gestural mark making is one of the most seductive thing about her pieces.

She also has me thinking a lot about my use of the figure. There are certain things a figure can and cannot do. There will always be a certain psychological alienation of the viewer from my figures because when do we ever see a naked person in the middle of a room. She uses animals because they are familiar and can be anthropomorphized, but different enough that the viewer can identify psychologically without being entirely vulnerable.

I'm still working out a lot of the information I got from the workshop, and I'm completely frustrated that grad school has started thus limiting my time to have my hands in clay. But mostly I'm excited to give some of Beth's techniques a try and get really big with my my lady figures.

For those of you choosing not to go to Beth's website (although you really should) here is a taste of some of her work:

Rebel Forces

Here's an update on the last piece finished for my senior exhibition. She's called "It's not sexist, it just looks better."

What inspired this piece was a comment my old figure sculpture professor made. He was explaining to us that when sculpting the female figure, we should make the head smaller than is proportional. As part of his explanation I directly remember him saying, "It's not sexist, it just looks better."

Let that one sink in for a moment.

I decided with this piece to leap from the half life-size scale I had been working with into a life-size scale. This was also my first attempt with painting my figures instead of glazing. I see technical flaws galore, but for a first attempt, I'm happy with how she came out. I'm really exciting about the paint, because it allows my mark making to come through in a way glaze and terra-sigillatta don't.
With this piece I also decided to play with proportions. I am fascinated with how manipulating or mutating the body affects the viewer. For me it often creates an unsettling, visceral response I can feel in my body. So I exaggerated the head, hips, and spine. Her position is slightly defensive, but her gaze is aggressive. The hand on the chin is a nod to Rodin; if I'm screwing with male sculptor's perceptions of female sculptures, I almost have to acknowledge Rodin and his posse.

From here on out my sculptures are just going to get bigger.

Senior Exhibition

Oh this post is embarrassingly overdue. But in my defense, life has been nonstop since graduation (I had this silly delusion that it would slow down at least for a moment). A lot of great things have happened: first sale of a figure, first gallery show at the Meltem Birey Gallery in Philly...first day of grad school today! Yes, I'm working on my Masters of Art in Teaching at MICA now. In the next month or so I will have images of new work to post from my MAT thesis "Before, Behind, Between, Above, Below"

My senior exhibition was titled "What is Woman?" located in MICA's Decker Gallery consisted of four figures dealing with various aspects of gender construction. It seemed like a tremendous success to me, and I got some great feedback.

This is the artist statement I had posted at the show:

The figure is a natural form of expression for my thoughts. Ideas manifest themselves as bodily gestures. The female nude is a deeply rooted representation in the history of art, which establishes a cultural context within which I must work, while providing a springboard from which I can develop the concepts of my art. When creating my work I also consider that human experience begins in the consciousness of the self and body in relation to objects and space. The gesture of the figures is an element the audience can feel, relate to, and ponder.

My work is concerned with issues of feminism in Western society, particularly sexual power structures and gender binaries. Gender is a misconceived notion by society at large. What is Woman? Through whose eyes are we seeing our gender, our world, and ourselves? How should we define gender? My figures aren’t answers to any questions, but they are the results of examining how we interact with, respond to, and act within those socially erected structures.

Education is power, so I read everything from Simone de Beauvior to daily blogs to learn about feminist issues. I also spend time observing and gathering information about gender and sexuality from contemporary culture, including movies, music, the media, and politics, as well as the people in my daily life; peers, teachers, students, and my family. Drawing heavily from this research and autobiographical experiences, my work is often critical, sometimes humorous, but most importantly empowering.

Expectations, 2009

Hey Baby, 2009-2010

Pistil and Stamen, 2009-2010

It's not sexist, it just looks better, 2010

Here's a look at my beautifully designed showcards and business cards courtesy of my great friend and brilliant designer Andy Mangold