VOW 2013

I am currently spending my time trying to write and hone my applications for this years Voices of the Wilderness artist residency.  I applied last year but was not accepted so I am trying again this year. It seems to me that these residencies are far too good to give up on. I would just LOVE to get one of these. They are right up my street. You get to go to a wonderful remote location here in Alaska, accompanying some rangers and helping them out with their tasks, while making some art on the side. So here' hoping. I'll just keep plugging away and it, and keeping my fingers crossed.

Animal Masks

Something I also came up with just before the holidays was these masks. I am hoping to expand my selection of animal choices in the future too. I have these up at the GCVA along with my prints so we will see if anyone is interested in them.
These are a bit of a shout out to my 9 year old self - a true nature nerd who was always nerding out on animal facts and watching documentaries.

Each mask is hand screen printed, with some additional inkjet printing for the text. There are some instructions of how to cut these out and attach some elastic to form the masks as well as a few short facts about each wonderful Alaskan creature.

Future ideas include Arctic foxed (in both summer and winter), a brown bear and some more birds.

Girdwood Center for Visual Arts

So, I recently joined the GCVA - the Girdwood Center for Visual Arts. It is a small artist co-op here in Girdwood, Alaska that takes it's form as a small gallery up at the top of the valley. It is a non profit that is supported by our membership fees and a percentage of the sales prices for any of the pieces sold there. I thought I ought to share a little of what I have on offer there. The pieces are really a break from the abstract work that I consider my personal work, but, hey, a girl's got to eat! I've been having fun coming up with ideas that could be more marketable there and that are not as intricate and labour intensive as the work I do for myself.

Some of this work was also on show at Jack Sprats over the holidays.

These are all linoleum block prints of places in and around Girdwood and Turnagain Arm. They are just small little guys - around 2 by 3 inches.

I also have some small wood block prints in the gallery also.

Things I've been oggling lately

Sometimes I get caught up on Pinterest, whiling away a good amount of time looking and eye candy goodies. This makes me feel like I am wasting my time. But sometimes I really do come across some good finds, and here are a couple.

Firstly, Jacob van Loon and his paintings. The line work in them really reminds me of some of my work, bute he gets so much texture, colour and depth into his layers that I feel heartened in my quest to build more of those things into my own work.

Secondly, Roanna Wells. I remember coming across her work when I was studying, but it is always nice to be reminded of it and revisit it. I like her use of patterns and the meticulous and probably rather monotonous way in which she must work. Once again, that reminds me of my own practice. I really do see value in such working practices and a sense of slowing down. I also like the mapping element in this latest work.

I came across her on Art Hound which I added to my bookmarks as soon as I found it and will be revisiting often.

One more interesting thing I found this week was on Radio Lab  (which I love). They featured maps by french artist Armelle Caron, or rather they are deconstructed maps. The artist takes city maps and disassembles and catalogues each one, creating a collection of now arbitrary shapes taken out of context. This is Berlin:

More feathers and wood

Another one of the objects I have been making recently. I am trying to picture what a collection of these things would look like. They are fun to make - perfect for these rainy days we've been having. I need to start taking some decent photos of them.

New work in progress

This is a new idea I have been playing with recently, amongst some others. I've been collecting burls (and I really don't know if this is what they are called) in the forest whenever I am hiking. They are remnants of old parts of trees that were either knots, or placed in which branches formed. Once they have broken down enough, they form these cool shapes that I would love to do something with. I really wanted to work with these but I am certainly a little apprehensive, since I really haven't done much in the way of 3D work for a long time. This is the first one I have worked on. I sanded it down...patiently, waxed and buffed it and then added some weathers. It's still in it's very early stages but right now I picture a collection (of better executed samples) in the form of a kind of Victorian collectors case with a number of specimens pinned to a white background. I'll keep working on it, but I thought it was important to make a new post here, since it's been a while. 

Mezzotint Workshop

Last weekend I attended a one day mezzotint workshop at UAA led by visiting Canadian artistGuy Langevin. Guy really is a master craftsman, an artist, a poet, a teacher and also a nice guy to spend a day rocking copper plates with. So here are some photos of us doing just that.

After 5 hours working on a 2.5 by 3 inch piece of copper, I had just about rocked it to a point where it would print a nice velvety black.

My handywork and tool.

This is a photo of a section of one of the prints guy shared with us. One of my favourite things about his work is the way he makes the process visible. Here you can see the lines he rocked into the plate and the variety of angles and density of the marks.