Making Arrangements
When you are getting started with an experimental piece, be sure to document the work! Sometimes experiments fail, but the photos can become artworks in their own right!
These are evolving into a new series: TACTTF ( = They All Came to the Funeral :-). Of course all four images here are versions of myself…
I am on Susie’s list for art on the walls at 1012 Coffee Bar in July. I have lots of new work ready to hang; work that has not been displayed in town. But how to choose? I want to have professional looking “show”, with works that look good together and in this narrow display space. I would also like to price the work suitably, and choose some work that might actually sell (so probably something fairly affordable). Of course I don’t want to under price work that I would just as soon keep to hang at home, or might hope to show off in a gallery somewhere.
I could frame and show some digital prints as well as original works, and price them accordingly. But P.T. art customers probably don’t buy framed copies much, when there is a lot of affordable original work around. I should probably give up on the idea of sales. The odds are that nothing will sell, and that would certainly simplify things!
But I still don’t know what to show!
I think I need help!
Burials the Drawing, framed
It would be so lovely to have a professional framer doing the work, and to choose custom frames, but that is not an option on my budget, so I store cheap used frames, and re-use them. I have to be creative with sizes, since I rarely mange to end up with a finished piece that fits the size & style of mat and/or frame available.
It is quite a challenge, and a major chore. My studio is not very clean, never dust free, and I have to try very hard to avoid including fragments of art materials, fingerprints, and more inside my glass. I find it all stressful, but what a relief it is when I am finished! Now I just hope no one will find something unacceptable that I have missed seeing! Still, if they do see a problem, I hope they tell me…
Burials the Drawing draft 7
It contains several elements that appear in my work: the soft, pillowy “fields”, the wrapped figures, and the organic, leafy elements. And smudging, of course! All this rather satisfies my psyche in some way. While some may find my mummy figures and these more abstract wrapped shapes worrisome or even morbid, I do not. I find them somehow comfortable/comforting!
Gaze Even Here … I
These drawings are part of a set with the burial sculptures that I have been making from beeswax, gauze, driftwood, and found objects.
I even have the title for this collection: “Look Even Here…”. The title is drawn from an aticle in Orion magazine (Nov/Dec 2012), by Trebbe Johnson, titled “Gaze Even Here”.
The article, and my collection, is about looking at something which we might prefer not to look on. Trebbe uses the work “gaze” and her article explains her concept. I don’t want to use her whole article, nor do I want to write my own complete essay. But her thoughts relate well to the work I am doing. And I am working on a few of my own words that I hope to include in a future exhibit of this work.
Gaze Even Here … II
Look Even Here
This exhibit is based on the premise that it can be valuable to really look, with an open mind and heart, on even those aspects of reality which may frighten, horrify, or repel.
This is not about catharsis through fiction. This is about acceptance. It can be helpful to accept the realities of the world we inhabit, in all its aspects.
This is about learning to live with sorrow, fear, and even devastation.
This is about learning to live with death.
Caretaker Mask: Both Eyes Open
The Caretaker mask is on display with other recent wax sculptures.
What is the story here?
Who is hurt? How were they wounded?
Will the bandages help?
Who is the Caretaker who applies the bandages, and watches over everything?
Can she stay awake?
A Caretaker cannot forestall death: death will come eventually even if we all stay awake and pay attention.
So what will death look like?
Will we sail away, wrapped in our dreams?
Bandages & Wounds, on display at the RoseWind Common House
