Noname - Telefone

How wonderful is this mixtape?! If you know me you know how much Chance the Rapper's Coloring Book is my jam. This up-and -coming MC, also from Chicago has been featured on all three of his releases. This has been my companion in the studio for the past few days. Take a listen!

Print studio all day again. I had slightly more success, and was able to finish a print, while another is 2/3 of the way done. I think I'll take a break from printing tomorrow.

I spent most of the day in the studio. I made a lot of progress, but the prints I ended up turning out were sort of disappointing. The ink I'm using isn't cooperating. I'll go back at it tomorrow and see what I can salvage.

I finally started printing today. I feel like I have been doing so much planning and sketching so far this month, and it was nice to produce some prints.

410 Project Bike

Yesterday, Dana Sikkila and her crew stopped at the Anderson Center on the second leg of their bike trip across the state. Dana is the director of the 410 Project, a gallery located in Mankato, MN, and she and Kyle Zeiszler are embarking on a 500 mile trip to visit eleven artists in southern Minnesota, and conducting interviews in their studios. Ryan Sturgis and Michael Chalhoub of True Facade Pictures are documenting the whole trip for a documentary that will air in October.

It was really fun to get visitors midway through the residency. I showed everybody around the sculpture garden and shared a little bit about the history of the campus. I had lots of fun with the interview even though it was a new experience to answer questions on camera. Dana is a really knowledgable artist and she had some engaging questions that kept the conversation lively. After spending so much time focusing my attention inward and directly at the work it was really nice to share some of my thoughts externally. 

As part of the trip they are gathering a piece of artwork from each artist for an exhibition back at the 410 Project in October. I gave them a smaller painting to take with them, and its cool to think that my piece will travel over 400 miles, and visit so many studios. It's right in line with my themes of transit and place.

Check out the other artists Dana will be visiting on her ride, and consider making a donation to the project on they Paypal page. You can find daily video updates like the one below on the True Faced Pictures Facebook page and on Dana's page.

 

Shelley Caldwell, Installation and Collage – Delaran
Julie Marie Fakler, Painting – Faribault
Cameron A. Jarviss, Painting and Mixed Media – Red Wing
Erik Noren, Custom Bicycle Frame Builder – Minneapolis
Meranda Turbaka Turbak, Painting – Stillwater
Jacob Yeates, Drawing – Minneapolis
Brian Geihl, Printmaking - Crystal
Betsy Byers, Painting – Saint Peter
David Mauch, Glass Carving – Eagle Lake
Gregory Wilkins, Mixed Media – Mankato
Niko Warmka, Painting – Mankato

A visit from the 410 Project

Today I got a visit from Dana Sikkila Murphy and her crew as they made the second stop on their bike trip through southern Minnesota. It was a cool new experience to be interviewed on camera, but it was definitely a relaxed experience, and more of a conversation between all of us about what I've been making so far, and just the nature of making art in general. I'll post more details tomorrow, and will include links to pages where you can follow their journey. Good luck on the rest of the trip, you guys!

Photo credit: Kyle Zeiszler

Photo credit: Kyle Zeiszler

Weekend Adventures

Saturday

  • Ran some errands in Red Wing before heading up to the twin cities.
  • Locked my keys in my trunk while waiting for a haircut.
  • Spent a good chunk of the afternoon waiting to get my hair cut.
  • Shoutout to Tony Ernst for letting me use his drill press to make holes for the next step in the paintings I'm working on.
  • Went home to Cottage Grove for my brother Chandler's grad party. He is heading to the University of Minnesota, Duluth next week.

Sunday

  • Stopped by my former professor Priscilla Briggs' house where she is having a studio sale this weekend to raise money for photography book she is putting together. It was really nice to catch up and talk art with her. I also got to meet her friend Judy, a printmaker who has done work for Red Dragonfly Press here at the anderson center. 
  • Purchased two photos for my collection.
  • Made it back to Red Wing, and put in some time at the studio figuring out how to construct the paintings I'm working on.
  • Had a Skype meeting with my collaborator for the Chatfield show. We are close to deciding on a title.
My brother Chandler and tow of his high school friends

My brother Chandler and tow of his high school friends

Priscilla Briggs next to one of her photos

Priscilla Briggs next to one of her photos

Working on constructing one of my paintings

Working on constructing one of my paintings

2016 410's Project Bike

While I'm down here in Red Wing I'll be getting a visit from Dana Sikkila, the director of the 410 Project in Mankato. She is embarking on a 500 mile bike journey to visit 10 artists in the state, and collect artwork for an exhibition at the 410 Project gallery space in October. The whole trip will be documented by True Facade Pictures for a short film. I'm so excited to be part of this adventure and exhibition!

If you feel like supporting this exciting project, pay a visit their page to make a donation.

Productive day

I had a really productive day today. I got up kind of late, and didn't make it into the studio until 10, but I think I've reached the point in my current projects when I have gotten a lot of thinking and planning out of the way, and have the full bandwidth to devote a full day to just making work, and moving paint. 

I had a huge breakthrough with the two paintings I just started. for these, I decided to forgo the orange ground that I have been using to start all my paintings in the last few years, and started with a fairly detailed pencil drawing. I blocked in some large shapes last week, and today I decided to go back over the paint with my pencil to reinforce the structures and angles in the two scenes. I've been looking at the work of Andrew Wykes (look at his paintings every day, and go see any show he has). He has a style where he breaks up the space with very bold line work, and uses tape to create really hard edges and bright pops of color to depict scenes that are slipping in and out of abstraction. I'm not attempting to make anything as breathtaking as he accomplishes, but the lines are really helping me think about how the objects in my paintings sit in space. This is especially true in the landscape I am working on, as it is devoid of the rectangular buildings that I'm used to painting. I'm thinking about the natural landscape, and how it can be thought of as existing in some sort of framework, even before humans arrive and impose one explicitly. 

I also moved ahead with my series of prints for the show. I'm planning four prints, and finished tracing my images for two of them, and either tonight or tomorrow I can start transferring those images to the linoleum blocks so they can be carved. I think I'll give a detailed account of how linocut printing works on here, because I think it's fascinating it allows you to create multiples of one image, and the because there is such a shift in the way you think about image-making when you go from painting to printing. 

I have to go buy wood for two more paintings tomorrow, and I'm a little bit apprehensive. I stopped at Menard's  yesterday, but when I saw the number of varieties they had I panicked and ran away. I'll be braver tomorrow. 

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Starting a painting

The feeling that accompanies starting a painting is knowing that it could be the best thing you've made or it could be the worst thing, and not knowing which yet. You have to start with the premise that this image you are about to create is something that should exist in the world, and that premise can feel true or completely false depending on the day. There are so many small decisions between the final product and your first instincts at the very outset, and an infinite number of combinations and links between these decisions exist during the process. With the first brushstrokes I try to leave myself lots of room to change my mind, and instead of painting what I want to the viewer to end up seeing, I just jot down notes with the paint about the colors, shapes, energies, moods and spaces I want the final product to depict. It's so much more about the feeling of it rather than something to look at when I'm at this stage.

Travel day

 spent so much time traveling today:

  • Up early to drive down to Chatfield for some painting.
  • Worked on some sketches for the Chatfield show and started one painting.
  • Decided I definitely don't like painting on site. All the things that need to be brought with you and set in place are a drag, and the obligation to get as much done in the limited time is stressful.
  • Stopped to pick up some historical maps of Chatfield, and old census sheets.
  • Drove back to Red wing for a nice nap.
  • Skyped with my collaborator, Miranda, to exchange ideas, develop the show thesis and make a timeline for finishing the work.
  • Nice soak in the tub.
  • Drove to Minneapolis for dinner and drinks.
  • Stopped at home in Cottage Grove to give my mom her birthday present, and pick up some more materials for the studio.
  • Back to Redwing for some much needed sleep.

I was instilled with a healthy fear of snapping turtles I think around the same age as I and every other young person learned to fear sharks

Studio space

Forgive me for not posting yesterday. The internet has been really spotty hear, so getting work done online is rather slow. Thursday was my first full day to work in the studio. The studio space they have given me is pretty nice. I would estimate it is 24 feet by 40 feet, with large South-facing windows and double doors on the opposite end so I can leave it open to the breeze when it is nice. There is plenty of wall space, and more importantly, lots of tables so I can spread out as much as I want. 

Being here has immediately made me more relaxed and less anxious about getting everything finished for the upcoming Chatfield show. It's something about the dedicated work space, solitude and endless free time that has helped me think through my ideas, and get a better grasp of what I want to present. So far I've just been doing sketches and doing a few composition exercises. I hope to start actually creating the paintings and prints by the middle of next week.

Let me know what you would like to know about the Anderson Center. I'm guessing that days will start to feel the same once I get into the habit of working every day, so let me know what would make this more interesting.

Also, let me know if you know anybody who owns a drill press. I'll need one later in the month to finish a piece. I feel like I'm playing Poke'mon go, except with power tools.

Community Service

For the community service portion of my residency I helped out with Sparkz (Spark Z?), a summer camp held here at the Anderson Center by some of the teachers in Red Wing. This week is art week for them, so two of the other residents and I talked a little bit about our art and our practice, and then the rest of the morning was spent painting in the grass under the trees. The 7th and 8th graders collaborated in small groups to create a painting on large boards that we provided, while we assisted and answered questions. Art Kenyon, who is a permanent resident here, and my next door neighbor in the studio building, organized the whole day and provided the materials.

First evening in the studio

I went into work in Minneapolis today, so I didn't have a chance to work on anything in the studio until after dinner. I started by doing a quick free-writing exercise to think about collage and its relationship to painting.

Getting ready to create an abstract collage piece. I'm thinking about the motions that I am going to make to build the layers. It's all about separating elements from themselves and combining them with others. Cutting and tearing and looking and shifting and thinking. Working with objects instead of just colors. Everything is already a thing before I touch it. I'm not bringing anything new into existence, but rather just changing its context. When I'm painting the paint kind of doesn't exist until I spread it on the canvas, and even then it may not exist in a meaningful way yet. The imagery of familiar places attaches meaning to the paint, even as the paint is attached to the canvas. By the end there is some meaning in the paint itself that is independent from the meaning that the imagery lends it. Sometimes this meaning arrives first or in the middle. For this collage I'm thinking specifically about cutting glass into smaller and smaller pieces, using clear gesso to separate layers. looking at the bottom of my bin for a page to use, and pouring orange paint.
 

Half-finished collage piece

Tomorrow I start my residency at the Anderson Center in Red Wing. I'm feeling a mix of nerves and excitement. I'm just hoping I can clear my head and be productive.