Project -home.

I am working on concepts of home and safe-sometimes home is safe, sometimes not. Perhaps home may be viewed as an old friend--whose character is a mix of humanity--that good and bad together -that makes us human --a place you love warts and all.  Thorns and tornados and perfect autumn days--

I will pull the  quote from George Eliot  (replacing friend with home) 

A home is "one to who one may put the contents of one's heart,chaff and grain together, knowing that gentle hands will take and shift it, keep what is worth keeping and with the breath of kindness blow the rest away." 

I paint a lot of tornados

Prickly pear = home

September 28

The incredible possibilities of this class include time for each of us to heal and rest and regroup and recover. I am honored at the trust each of you have given this class as you honestly share your need  to pause or take time for yourself. In order to keep the flow going, when you post do so within the week we are working. Meaning if you are late on a post do so this week. Let us know you are catching up and simply write more. Because I am not asking questions (well not book related questions) and we are not all reading the same text this can work and I think it will be easier than checking back through the past weeks.

This is your graduate class, the research you complete is for your degree. I hope you take the time to explore and really look into issues surrounding your interests. it is OK to switch gears, follow another path or stay on one very specific topic for the whole semester,  Again...you are the expert of your work.

As for me, it is slow going. I just learned I need to use a cane for a while because I over worked my knee. Although I was cleared for swimming I do not think any of my physical therapists or my doctor really understood what lap swimming means. They certainly did not understand what I would be doing to my knee when I kick of the edge of pool. And helping unload 19   bags of pinon firewood was the icing on the cake. I will be decorating the wood looking steel cane this am so I somehow do not feel so old. I have a new respect for recovery of all kinds. There is no magic pill that simply makes all the pain go away.

My slides (just the artists book) are ready to be transferred to a zip drive or flash drive, always get confused. I will take in the doll slide today. I am scared and excited. This is a dream I have had for a very long time.  I realize this fear is what has always kept me from really promoting my work, so my assignment this week is to take the next step. That is all we have to do, the next step.

A question to consider this week. What part does community play in your work? How do you create community that is supportive of your work?

September 21

Good work everyone. To readdress an issue Emily presented....I put the date your post are due as the header. This is to keep us on track and going. I accept that life can throw us all types of curves and I am not marking off points for being late. I honestly want to know what you are doing each week and how it is going.  And what you have to say to each other. ASK QUESTIONS. Plus if you are anything like me I need a deadline or I will manage to put off any writing till next year.

Keep going and making connections to your research. It is perfectly fine how ever you do this as long as you know you are exploring your chosen subject/concept.  Thank you to all who share sites or others bits of information that is what this "class room" setting is for...a dialog of ideas. I hope most of you will be at TAEA and we can maybe actually come together for a bit. We will be having a TTU Alumni Reception on Friday afternoon/evening so that might be a good time.

As for me it seems as I have done very little this week. I have only taken notes for my stories that will go with my little books. I am still waiting to get them back. At times I think I am crazy for doing this and wonder what was I thinking.....my answer to self is usually "why not"....just trust my artheart. The same advise I give each of you.

So a couple of questions to ponder this week based on last week's posts. Why natural dyes? Why do we go to museum? Why do we brother making art?  How long does it take to heal? Can I possibly say anything new?

Just random thoughts.

Sept 14, 2014

This is so much fun  to read how each of you are exploring and discovering new avenues for your personal research.  I will continue to respond to each posting during the week with new comments to begin each week. I want to challenge each of you to begin asking questions of one another about your work. Not nasty mean spirited questions but questions you would ask a friend over coffee. Think of ways to  push each other a bit and allow for deeper responses.

I thought long and hard about my reaction to Lynn's comments on museums and realized around 5 am that my venting was in reference to the Tech Museum and not any museum I have visited recently. My personal history with the Tech Museum working as a security guard/exhibit designer/assistant to the director/curator of art was an intense experience that was my exposure to public education in a non traditional venue. I continue to take it personally when I go to the museum and see what it has become vs what I know he was on the verge of becoming. So, dear Lynn I apologize for using your wonderful information as a platform  for my bitterness.

Some thoughts on my work. The process of going through thousands of slides was overwhelming. I set the pace of one box a day (file boxes jammed backed with little slide boxes) because i knew that if I had all the boxes (10 in all) in front of me I would never begin, just as I had not touched them over all these years. One box a day was doable. As  I literally held each slide to the light I was thrown back in time to when I created the work and all them emotions that contributed to work. My work has always been romantically autobiographic....stories from real mixed with fantasies and dreams. These stories returned with all their tears, laughter, fears, daydreams, hopes, regrets, longings, meanderings, musings, mishaps, and secret desires.

I had little plastic containers to hold the various groupings: artist books, prints, dolls, alters, sculptures, paintings, drawings, and installations. What become very obvious was that no matter what form my work took I was still telling stories. Sometimes as with my dolls the stories were hidden or so obscure that they became one story. I found works I had totally forgotten . Never a print or book, because I believe the time it takes to pull a print or make a book is too intense to forget, but many paintings/drawings and a few alters. Odd to see a work I knew I had  made but  had not thought of  in 20 years. The other revelation was that all my installations were/are based on being an Adult Child of an Alcoholic. Never, ever realized this  very obvious fact till this process. Mind blowing.

I am beginning with my artist books. My book of little books. The slides are in the VRC at Tech and they are slowing being transferred. Seems this service has always been available but only the art historians use the service. Now I have to begin writing the stories about the books.

One bit of advise. Document now! Take the time to record your work. Your efforts deserve the time it takes.

Sept 7,2014

What an intense list of readings and proposed projects. Good work everyone.

As many of may know I spent my summer after first session in Junction having eye surgery and then knee surgery, so lots of down time to think, thus this class. As I mentioned in my response to Germain's post, it was his book list, Martha's list and proposed works and Carleen's suggested trips that inspired me to re-think how a class works. I am tired of being the only one who knows how bright and creative and experimental and curious each and everyone of you are. This way we all share the outcomes of our artistic passion/purpose.

I never teach a class without being a part of the class so for me this semester I have set up a long over due project. I am going through all the slides of my artwork since graduate school (1977). I am putting them into general groupings like artists books, prints, alters, bead and sequins, or installations. Next I will go through each of these groups to cull out the duplicates. The final group will then be transposed to digital format. From there I will use blub or some other site to crate little books on my art. Each book with have stories, histories or context.  I am excited and slightly overwhelmed and maybe a little nervous.

So, lets all begin. When you post give us a full report. Pretend for a bit that we do not know each other and you have to explain this to an audience of strangers.