Yup, thanks to the amazing Susana Arias who is helping organize the event, I’m going to be giving an artists talk as a part of the 10th Anniversary of Sculpture IS alongside a few other amazing sculptors from our talented county! Save the Date and come hear me talk about taking my work out into nature!
Thursday May 5th, 2:30
Cabrillo Gallery
Cabrillo College Aptos CA
I sat in my car by the cliffs on a very wet morning, half watching the waves pummel the coastline and half scrolling through my phone while I contemplated taking the dog out for a walk in this unpredictably drizzly day. I came across this post on NPR about A Great Teacher, this particular article was about an elementary school art teacher.
After reading through the quick and cute illustrated article, I took the dog for a walk (despite the rain) and while we walked I thought about all the great art teachers I had. I tried to remember back if there was a moment that they boosted me up or that they let me down, a defining moment that led me down the path to become an artist and art teacher myself. But all I could remember was that they were my heroes, they were in charge of the space that I wanted to be all day long: the art studio.
As all these thoughts were mingling in my head, I found myself crouched down in the mud trying to get my camera to focus on these beads of water lined up perfectly on the blades of grass along the path. They were beautiful and tiny and so easy to pass over. I was reminded of a very early art lesson that started with something to the tune of train your eye to see everything, then train your hands to create what you see which was a more poetic was of saying, “We’re sketching landscapes. If you don’t see lollipop shaped trees, don’t draw any.”
What if I hadn’t had great art teachers to train my eyes or my hands, where would I be? From elementary to high school to university, this group of talented misfits gave me a safe, creative space to enjoy who I was and become who I am. I am forever grateful.
Awhile back I wrote a post about Why I Teach Community Clay Classes and after 15+ years of teaching, I hope that I’ve done (and continue to do) justice to my responsibilities as an art teacher.
The Bone Branches are small discs of clay thoughtfully configured using steel cables within the crook of a branch, reminiscent of a web between tree branches catching the light. Unique pieces like these can blend in with everyday objects while holding their own in a room. They have an ikebana inspired style of minimalism and balance to them that contrasts the natural world with the urban.
Only 4 of these pieces are now available for sale in the online shop! If you’d like to see them in person, visit Mulberry Gallery in Aptos. Learn more about these pieces here: Bone Series
After nearly 20 years of teaching community clay classes to everyone from 3 years old to 80 years old, I’ve amassed a huge arsenal of project ideas. I thought it would be great to share these ideas with other teachers who want to do clay in their classrooms.
I have been working with the amazingly talented Kathy Barbro of Art Projects for Kids to design a Create with Clay PDF book of classroom tested clay projects and our first one is ready to download.
For $5 you get a PDF download of 5 projects that you can do in your classroom. This first book includes Pinch Pot Ice Cream Bowls, Textured Turtles, Slab Constructed Pencil Holders, Textures Charm Boxes & Hand Bowls. All of the projects show step-by-step photos and descriptions of each project to make it easy for anyone to create with clay.
New Work from the Bone Series will be hitting the online shop soon! If you’d like to see these pieces in person, they are on display at Mulberry Gallery in Aptos Village, swing in and take a look!
The Sculpture IS: exhibit held annually at Sierra Azul Gardens in Watsonville is celebrating it’s 10th Anniversary this year! To commemorate the event, there will be an exhibit in the garden AND at the Pajaro Valley Arts Council Gallery. This is one of my favorite local shows, I’m so excited to share that I will have work in both exhibits this year, so save the date!
Sculpture Is: 2016: In the Gallery
May 4 – June 19 2016
Opening reception May 15, 2-4
With demos and hands-on presentations: 10 -2
Sculpture Is: 2016: In the Garden
June 1 – October 31 2016
Opening reception June 9
The re-post below is from my sister-in-law, painter Kristen O’Neill. She is a fantastic contemporary landscape painter who paints portraits of places in nature. She finds the essence of those spaces and lets you into that world. I’m so lucky to have her paintings in my house and her skilled eye to critique me when I’ve lost my artistic way. The post below is her answer to the question every artist has heard at an exhibit, “How long did it take to make that?” I’ve thought about writing my own answer to this question but I really couldn’t say it any better…
By the way, you can commission or buy a painting from her here: Kristen O’ Neill Art Enjoy!
The most common question I hear at a gallery opening or a festival show is “how long did it take you to paint that?”
It is a fair question. It is also an easy and safe question. People ask this when they are interested in my work and my process. They may possibly be asking in relation to my price (is it really worth $800?).
I want to have an answer for you. But I don’t. Not because I haven’t tracked my hours spent at my easel (because I have). Not because I lost track of how many hours went to that particular painting (I may have, but could rough out an answer because I know my process). The truth lies in the fact that the question is too small for my answer.
Let’s pretend I spent 20 hours on it, in front of the easel time. That is probably the answer I should give, but it is an incomplete answer.
I spent 5 minutes mixing the gray for the rock.
I spent 15 minutes mixing an EXACT copy of that color when I realized I wanted to change the way the edge of that color interacted the next day and no longer had the color mixed on palette.
I spent 20 minutes on clean up (brush cleaning, palette scraping, general clean up tasks) every time I was interrupted for more than a few minutes, or at the end of each painting session. Or when the baby decided she really wasn’t going to take that nap.
I spent a lot more time just looking at it. There is a great scene in the Netflix show “Grace and Frankie” where Lily Tomlin’s character states that she and her painting “aren’t talking right now.” As I write this I am currently casting sidelong looks at an uncooperative painting. Earlier I was trying the silent treatment. The painting always wins these silent wars. I have kept works in progress in my bedroom. I stare at them as I fall asleep, and when I wake up I am looking again for some sort of answer I swear it must have in it. Often I find my answer. Sometimes I find that my answer is that I have a critical error and must start again.
My favorite painting is one that I hang in my bedroom in and find no areas that I want to fix.
But if we put what I’ll call “skill development” aside there is still research and inspiration. I am currently working on a series centered around the beautiful Umpqua National Forest. It takes time to drive there, and hike to the spots that I am painting. I took over 850 photos on my last hike. It would have been more, but I ran my battery completely down from a full charge. Sometimes when I take a photo I know I will be painting that scene. Something feels right. Sometimes I spend a couple of hours pouring over the images figuring out which are the closest that show what I felt from the place.I have painted since my first watercolor set in preschool. But lets discount the first 15 years of painting and go with college level and beyond. When I make a painting now, it isn’t a stand alone moment. It is years of practice and learning and experimentation poured into it. It is a slow development of techniques. Hours of practice mixed with hours of research. Hours of time spent in museums, galleries, festivals and fairs looking at art.
More then once I have had to return to the very spot to solve a problem. What does it look like with more sunlight? Was that a far away tree or a close up branch? What happened in that dark spot there? Often the issue is color. The camera decisions and my decisions are not the same. It likes to turn the whole world blue when I’m not looking.
So when you ask me how long it took, I’ll say 20 hours. But feel free to ask me more because that isn’t the real answer.
“Little River at Wolf Creek Trailhead” is an example of my Umpqua National Forest series.
In this painting you can see the smooth yet contoured river bed rocks that are normally under several feet of water. During the drought they became visible and made these interesting and graphic patterns. It was fun to explore them with painterly brushstrokes. I also loved the way the late afternoon sun broke apart as it fell across them. Like it was hopping across the river rock.
This painting is available for sale here and took 5 hours to paint, a 3 hour hike, and 3 hours in the car round trip, not including bathroom breaks for the kids.
If you missed the launch in yesterdays email blast (duh, join the email list), then here’s the link to the newest work coming out of the studio. The Lichen Series, which started as two indoor wall installations has evolved into an In The Field Installation. All the pieces in this series play with ideas of death and regrowth, the power of negative space and the contrast of dark and light. This piece will be part of an exhibition later this spring, details to follow. Here is the link to the In The Field | Lichen Series Portfolio page and you can watch the video of the installation below. Enjoy and feel free to share!
Here’s the monthly wrap up of everything going on at the studio…
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The biggest compliment you can give to an artist is to buy their work directly from them. That way they receive 100% of the sale, as most galleries take 50% of every sale to cover their costs. Artists have work in a variety of price ranges, so chances are you can probably afford something from them.
Think about going to the theater or a concert, you buy a ticket, maybe not front row, but there is always an affordable ticket in your price range. Visual artists let you look for free but that doesn’t mean it didn’t cost them anything to make the work, set up the exhibit and market the event, and you usually get a free glass of wine out of it too! So buying a small item from them helps them recoup their costs and says “Thank you!” for the exhibit (and the free glass of wine).
But of course it is unreasonable to think that every single person walking through an exhibit can or will buy artwork. So, if you are not in a position to buy, how else can you support your favorite artists?
photo credit: Nina Hipkins
You may not be able to afford to buy their art, but you probably know 10 people that can. Word of mouth is one of the strongest forms of advertising and rather than recommend that your friend buy that new pair of shoes, how about suggesting your favorite artist to them?
You can also ask the artists for a small stack of postcards or business cards to pass out to your friends. It’s so easy to share artists work on social media, or to forward their email newsletter onto a colleague. And if you really want to go all out, channel your inner Avon-lady and host an exhibit at your home, invite your friends to come and talk with the artist about their work.
Share opportunities with them. Do you know someone opening a restaurant, a new office, or a gallery? Introduce your favorite artists so that they have the opportunity to show their work. Share the art you love with your world and you will be supporting the artists.
Thanks for supporting independent artists!