a day with the college of medicine – tucson

The more you wish to describe a Universal the more minutely and truthfully you must describe a Particular. – Brenda Ueland

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Wednesday’s adventure begins early as Amy picks me up and we make our way to the College of Medicine. Amy is Assistant Professor in Psychiatry and Director of Medical Humanities. Her and I have been organizing today’s workshops along with Marianna at the Tucson Museum of Art.

We arrive to the college, art supplies in tow, and head to the University of Arizona Health Sciences Library where the plan includes picking up 3D anatomical models. We learn models cannot be taken out of the library. We want them for a drawing workshop. Amy makes a phone call and locates some elsewhere.

We proceed upstairs (or maybe downstairs), across a ramp, down an elevator (possibly up an elevator), getting closer to…I’m not exactly sure where. Eventually, I find myself walking a brightly lit, purple hallway, lined with (too many to count) larger-than-life reproductions of Andres Vesalius’ series, De Humani Corporis Fabrica (On the Fabric of the Human Body).

I’ve always admired the compositions and now this wonderful series of dissection drawings appear as escorts down the long walkway.

We arrive to our classroom and as I organize supplies, people come in. The group is working self-portraits this morning, not an easy undertaking. Medical school teaches anatomy, it helps that most everyone I have encountered in this sort of environment has an understanding of the bone structure and muscles of the face. I give some direction, everyone picks out a paper and a sharpie marker (no erasers!) and begins drawing. I notice there is no hesitation.

James, introduces himself as an infectious disease MD. The question of the primary focal point: Is the mask coming off or is it going back on? The secondary focal point is his bow tie.

Brianna, Palliative Medicine, calls her portrait ‘Tejido‘ and because this is her title, it’s appropriate she add a bit of color.

Amy brings a cut of fresh jasmine from her front porch, to include into her portrait.

Yumi’s portrait will include a blue-stoned necklace that represents aspects of  her mother’s life.

Before closing for the morning, everyone shares their drawing, both form and content. I/We learn something relatable about each person present.

Unbeknown to me, we will be moving to another classroom in another building. Before leaving this area, we need to pick up medical models for the next workshop.

Down another hallway, a male awaits. He and Amy speak before going through double doors. Amy steps back out and waves, signaling with her hands and asking if I would like to come in. I am rolling a crate of supplies which forces me to back into the room. I enter and naturally prop one door open. I turn and slowly realize…I…am…in…THE…anatomy…lab. (Hindsight: Vesalius’ art should have been a clue.) It feels necessary to close the propped door, so I do – meanwhile moving back in awkwardly and uncertain. I pause to look at my surroundings. I feel…a sense of…reverence…for the rows of bodies (donors). It is a large lab and Amy has disappeared into the back which is darkened and seems far away. I note a slight drop in temperature as well as a tad cooler lighting. Though, to my left appears a bright, warm glow of studio lights. Two groups of students are studying (Are they dissecting?) two bodies. Time. Stands. Still. I recall classic “Anatomy Lesson” paintings by both Rembrandt and Galon. I feel stunned and yet honored. I wish I had my camera. I do have my camera. Don’t pull it out. Don’t get distracted. Stay present.

My name is being called; Amy wants me to look at the available models. I walk to the back where she is gathering pelvis bones and shoulder blades. Before we exit the lab, she calls out to the students telling them they are welcome to join us for the drawing workshop and lunch. A few say they may come. We rush out, now rolling a cart as we head (walkways, elevators, ramps, elevators) to the other side of the medical school. We arrive to a large classroom where students are gathering, chatting and eating lunch.

I set out a materials, introduce myself, give instruction and watch as activity begins.

This afternoon’s study focuses on an organ or system of the human body. Everyone has access to a lot of supplies including a variety of mediums.

I move through the group asking questions and sharing thoughts. I want to know the what and why.  A personal story surfaces for each work created.

Amy, who had no plans to draw, picked up one of the medical models and completes a beautiful pelvis. It’s my favorite bone, she says.

She’d shared something with me earlier in the day. Amy! I call out, Tell everyone why you didn’t like your anatomy class. She waves a hand back and forth saying, Because the body is messy!

Today, in the studio, as I work a new drawing – a life-size human study –  I cannot help but think about Amy’s words. #BiologicalSystemsAreMessy

Thank you Amy, for the invite and for the great adventure. Thanks for sharing your world with me.
Thank you to all of you who brought your full selves to the drawing table, made art and shared story.
Thank you to Marianna and the Tucson Art Museum, for all the cool art supplies.
A special thanks to the College of Medicine and the Medical Humanities Program and everyone who made this experience possible.

#NothingInStasis #YouGottaHaveArt #OutsiderInsiderWithNewEyes

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©2023 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BY MONICA AISSA MARTINEZ

a lesson in art making with med students

Arriving to the University of Arizona, College of Medicine in downtown Phoenix, I recall Gillian, who was in last year’s workshop. She’d described first-year, medical school experience to be like drinking out of a fire-hose. Her words are with me as people begin filing into the classroom.

It’s the noon hour and some students arrive with lunch in hand. Others stand in the classroom as it is being set up for art-making. They’re still considering whether they might stay and make art or use the time to study. Several let me know they plan to draw but will be leaving early because they have a class. I welcome all of them to come in for as long as they can manage.

Medical models available for art class.

I’ve been coming in to work with first-year med students since 2017. They are completing their first semester as well as preparing to host their annual Celebration of Appreciation. The evening honors the individuals who have donated their bodies to the anatomy lab. I work with students to create a work of art that will hold an experience and honor their donor. I like working with this group. I enjoy coming to know the unique way each and every one of them  experiences their anatomy class and their donor.

I feel like I stand at two ends; I teach the workshop and I learn. #AboutBeingHuman

I make my way to a table where one person ↓ paints the small intestine. I’m curious about the color. Why yellow? She tells me about her donor’s small intestine and describes how bright and floral-like they appeared. The female sitting next to her explains they shared the same donor. She carefully draws the bottom of the brain. She also tells me everything was bright. They both decide the color and form they experienced with this particular person probably had to do with her age. She was young, they inform me. I respond with more questions. What does this mean? What is young?  She was 66 years old.

Somehow we begin discussing the blood-brain barrier. The male at the table says he’d thought it a separate layer or membrane enclosing the brain. Meanwhile, he stands up and uses his hands to imply the curve of the head, the outer edge of the brain. I’m surprised. Do you mean it’s not!? He tells me, in no uncertain terms, it is not a separate membrane, the blood brain barrier is a ‘property’ of the blood vessels! My minds quickly formulates a picture of endothelial cells lining the inside of the brain’s blood vessels. He repeats himself, both times emphasizing the word property.

I move to another table where everyone is working bold compositions that include bright line, both contour and texture, on black paper. One student has a set of medical lung models in front of her ↑.  She describes the experience with her particular donor. The cancer was in different areas of the body including in the lungs. It is the latter that had the strongest impact and now directs her drawing.

Another student ↑ introduces me to the filum terminale. I can tell by how he has laid marks down, that he is working an area at the base of the spine. I sense his excitement as he shares first noting the fibrous tissue.

At another table someone paints ↓ an (beautiful) eyeball on stretched canvas. She was quick to start and I’m impressed at how she’s pulled it all together in such a short amount of time. We discuss mixing a few colors and laying in different quality of lines.

Next to her another student ↓ focuses on the Circle of Willis. She’s decided that it resembles an alien. I agreed after looking at her drawing.

I make my way back to the first group and to the student who’d informed me about the blood-brain barrier. He’d completed several fine hand studies ↓ using graphite. He shares his very real and very human reaction to his donor’s hands.
At the end of the afternoon, I can’t help but consider the ways we can be confronted by our humanness. Certainly, studying human anatomy is a unique way to learn about another. It’s also a very unique way to learn about one’s self. #ArtMakingDoesThisToo

Practical Teacher by Robin H Melillo

Thanks everyone, for showing up, and sharing your experience. #artmaking
Thanks Cindi, for inviting me to come back. #artinemedicine

I catch Cindi (Director of Art in Medicine) photographing a student and her completed drawing.

#CeremonyOfAppreciation #ProgramOfArtInMedicine #UniversityofArizona #ArtAndAnatomyWorkshop #GottaHaveArt

the prompt is ‘fly”

Like so many events during the pandemic, Bar Flies moved into a virtual space. For now, their usual live productions remain on hold. They ask participants to illustrate a true story, based on a prompt.

I’m invited, along with others, and the theme is…FLY! We can work classic comic style, in photography, embroidery or any other form of mixed media. It can run with all text or even be a collaboration with another. #SoOpenICanDoThis

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It’s July, I’m in Texas visiting mom, when I receive the invite. Oddly (or maybe naturally), I go to the family encyclopedia set of my childhood (…time flies or does it fly?). I pull the F, locate fly and make a copy of it. And I carry it ↑ with me as I fly back home, a few days later.

Back in Phoenix, I go into my studio, not having been in it for a few weeks. Looking out the door, to the side yard, I see a beautiful oriole. How long has he been there? He’s so still. #FlyNot

I gather a variety of material (cuz it’s all an experiment) and begin this illustrated study.
Truly, #OnTheFly.

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Oh…and here are design outtakes!
Thanks again, Amy!

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There are 8 participants → Go look!
For more info → Bar Flies.

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©2021 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BY MONICA AISSA MARTINEZ

mark making – on the fly

Mid-June: I drive through the streets of El Paso, TX, my home-town, with my brother. He takes me through the warehouse district to look at murals and graffiti walls. Returning to Phoenix, I regret not taking photos.

End of July:  For years I noted street art. El Paso nudges me. I’m curious enough to mess with it now.

Though not complicated, I admit, I don’t know what I’m doing. I cut out
stencils and pick up black aerosol spray paint. I cover my mouth and nose with a light-weight face mask. Quickly I learn I love (love) the graphic image. No delay of gratification with this medium. The experience is intoxicating to say the least.

And it’s toxic. It doesn’t help that it’s summer in Phoenix. I am just about done with it when someone gives me color aerosol spray paint. Before the weekend is over I pull out a high-quality mask with mouth, nose and eye protection and I wear long sleeves and gloves.

And so it goes…

I don’t have the language down. Is it a tag? A stencil? Because I am a printmaker at heart, my preference connects to mark-making.

No title, no signature, no sense of permanence, less is more.

Marking space, on the fly.

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Afterthought…
Perhaps things begin with wanting to take the jaguar I am painting in studio, out of studio. One early morning, a few weeks ago, I go outside to photograph the painting. The shadow of the tree animates the composition in such a way, I naturally want to see the big cat outdoors.

He roams.

Today: back to painting in the studio with the plan to finish my jaguar in August.  I feel  satisfaction with last week’s roll.

Though I feel I should give it one more try…and play with the political. It’s crazy out there…

be the rage and be the light

Vanessa: I’m going to be in Phoenix … could I come visit with you?
Me: Yes! 

Thursday morning I drive to the Tempe Center for the Arts to pick up artist Vanessa German. The plan – bring her to Phoenix for lunch (Barrio Cafe) and then to my studio.

I find her in the atrium, sitting outside the theater. After greeting each other she tells me she’s walked out of a production. She reacts to what she hears and sees. I listen as she pulls words together in an organic and real way.

Her sentences are visual and visceral. She draws me into the body with her language. Because I connect to anatomy and its symbolism, I see and feel her right away. I recognize honesty. I like Vanessa, she won’t hold back.

We talk about truth, about honesty, vulnerability, courage, curiosity, compassion, and the value of questioning. We talk about history and education. I am aware, in the background of our conversation, hovers a new president-elect.

We also talk epigenetics, cells, and DNA, ancestors and magic. The woman knows the sacred.

White Naptha Soap or, Contemporary Lessons in Shapeshifting Mixed media assemblages

While we eat, we talk about The State of the Art. We agree the opportunity was/is unique and important, fun and fabulous. Above is my photo ↑ of her sculpture (at the opening), which I sat with for a good amount of time. We catch up with how art and life have played out since then. She’s out there.

In my studio I learn Vanessa is also a photographer. She brings out her i-Pad and shares photos and stories about a recent stay at Standing Rock. My husband I listen intently as she tells us about the people, the water and trees. We are both moved. I need to get Vanessa back to Tempe where she is scheduled to teach a workshop.

I get on the highway back home and think about the fullness of our conversation this afternoon.

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Vanessa is a multi-disciplinary artist based out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She is self-taught.  Her narrative will only expand as she continues to show her work, speak and perform.  She learns, she educates.

Below are her 2 photos and her own written words about them.

artist photo – installation

this was part of my emerging artist of the year exhibition at pca. it was scary sometimes, i didn’t understand that curators helped to shape a show. I’d been use to doing everything myself, hustling, asking friends with ladders to join in a late night install; calling all graffiti artists, paying people outta my own shallow pockets and hugging out an exhausted embrace of gratitude. i truly didn’t get it. one of the most recent installs we did at a museum, and they moved most everything with museum staff; if I touched a sculpture the registrar would take photos of my hands moving over a piece. i am learning a lot about putting exhibitions up at larger and larger scale. I am learning about insurance, shipping, and communicating my ideas to all of the different people at the museum who make exhibitions work. today i am doing a teach-in with the docents at the everson museum of art in syracuse. i will tale you of any interesting bits later.

Do The Whole Thing and Do It.With Your Whole Entire Soul. stand up inside of it.be the rage and be the light.move with it all as though a mountain wit the spirit of excellence lengthening yo spine. write yo own name on a piece of paper three times. three consecutive lists of yo very own syllables and then to kiss your hands.then to hold yo fingers up in the light of the day– splay them and then let them reach upwards to the sky to recognize the face of yo own soul in that there glory: All of the things that you are before the constructed world cobbled itself together, You Have Always Been and Will Always Be. Your Glory is Brighter Today– you have been sharpened. Hold that clarity on yo tongue and gleam with it. Love With It. You have been Sharpened. Let yourself feel good about this sharpening, what will you go to cut? Who will require you to scissor away at their bonds? There iz no thing that can hold you down. We Are The Mighty Ones.

German is an artist who communicates in broad, eloquent form. The powerful force she holds is grounded in love, vulnerability, courage, history (her ancestor’s, my ancestor’s and yours),  truth and magic. Did I say magic? Plenty of magic…

Vanessa German in my studio.

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State of the Art: Discovering American Art Now shown in 2 smaller exhibitions than the original (for practical reasons) currently travels the country. The work has recently left Savannah, Georgia and will open January of 2017, at Dixon Gallery and Gardens in Memphis, Tennessee, Following that stop the exhibition travels to The Mint Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina in April of 2017.

I hope to visit one, if not both showings.

Cards from the catalogue showing each of our work.

career day, every artist is a piece of the continent

Let’s just say that I think any person who aspires, presumes, or feels the calling to be an artist has a built-in sense of duty.    Patti Smith

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Michelle Dock, Gallery Coordinator at Tempe Center for the Arts, invited me to speak at Career day. Friends of TCA, and one woman in particular (whom I met that morning) Robin Trick, sponsored and organized the morning event.  Approximately 100 students from Tempe Union High School District attended the “visual arts” themed talks.

Tempe Center for the Arts

My take on participating in Career Day for the Arts goes like this…

I have a continuing series of blog posts titled No Woman is an Island*;  the posts are about the people and/or organizations that purchase and/or support my work. After my experience today I can also add-on… Every Artist is a piece of the Continent*.   Creative endeavors depend on a whole chain of people, each of them specialized, creative, and willing to move energy… ideas, material, money… etc.  That larger, more complex picture and its process, is as valuable as the solo artists studio process.

This morning we learn about one particular big picture: The Tempe Center for the Arts. Today I get a view of the variety of ideas, work, and workers that had to come together to create this building. Their purpose was clear, because the buildings purpose was clear.  I can simply say that without architects, engineers, contractors and specialized construction crews … my work might not be hanging here today. And without Robin Trick, owner of restaurant House of Tricks, we would not be gathering together this fine morning, to share our work with this group of young people. Without vision, great ideas, and a working and organized structure…life could be pretty dull and slow to move.

The keynote speaker, John Kane, an architect from Tempe’s Architekton begins the event. He  addresses the students in the main theater of the TCA. I listen to Mr. Kane as he talks about how the great building we are sitting in came to be. He talks about the designers, engineers, contractors, various construction crews, and the artists who contributed their skills. There are many wonderful details in this space, and he expresses that all of them have a purpose.  He makes it clear that there was an idea that sprung everything forward.

And we learn that within those ideas there was always a challenge to meet. He explains how those challenges affected the design process and outcome. For example, the TCA sits right under the flight path of airplanes leaving Sky Harbor. No one wants random noise as part of any arts event, unless of course, it’s deliberate. I learn about… attenuation, a related specialty concerning sound. Fascinating. Mr. Kane noted three forms that  influence the final designs of the building: One is the Stealth Bomber (sound bounces off edges and angles differently than it does other forms apparently), and the other is a Conquistador Helmet. I forget the third, because the visual connections of these two is so very clear as they come up on the screen (so sorry I didn’t get photos).

… wondering if the students are appreciating this opportunity to be hearing all of this ….

Afterwards the students are taken in three separate groups (guided by FTCA volunteers) to listen to 3 separate short talks by local artists and administrators that included: myself in the gallery (in front of my work – which is currently on exhibition), artist Laurie Lundquist, who was part of the team of people who designed the bridge outside the TCA, Public Art Coordinator Maja Aurora, and Gallery Coordinator Michelle Dock.

Michelle Dock as I mentioned, is the Gallery Coordinator.  She’s also an NMSU alumni (as am I). During the introduction lecture I ask her how long she’s been at TCA. A year before it opened, she replies.

Maja Aurora, the Public Arts Coordinator (City of Tempe) whom I know from the Dam Art Movement  “DAM-IT” (a bladder burst…long story…artists were given pieces of the rubber to…be creative with. I have 2 pieces).  Maja pulls out her cell phone to share the Tempe Public Art website with us. She explains…you have to click on “Public art self-tour” http://www.tempe.gov/arts/publicart/ And she shares a Public Art Archive Website (enter “Tempe” to see the photos she’s included) http://www.publicartarchive.org/

…and artist Laurie Lundquist. I had a moment to connect with Laurie, whom I didn’t know.  She’s the artist on the team that designed the Pedestrian Bridge that sits right in front of TCA. She shares a bit of the public art process with me. Are you the designer of that bridge? What is your role as artist?  (I don’t have a lot of experience with public art but I’m curious.)  I am one member of a large team. I am an artist, but the process includes a whole bunch of people.  I come in with ideas and sketches, and others have input into what will and will not work. We have lots and lots of meetings.
Click here for info about the construction and some of the bridges facts.

I won’t get to listen to their talks, I head to the gallery, where I’m due to speak, in front of my work.

I enter the space, and…well…sort of forget I’m supposed to be talking about my career. I see my paintings, and I decide to talk about them. Artist as career seems awkward, it’s really my life. Fortunately  I always give a little background when I talk about my work so I do mention my education, and why I continue to stay in Arizona. Arizona has supported me in my work as an artist, I explain.

I share with the students that as an undergrad student I studied metalsmithing and ceramics. And as a graduate student, my areas of emphasis were drawing and printmaking.  I didn’t actually start painting until I left the academic setting. Painting is now my primary concentration. I ask if they want to hear about the work on the wall.  I share content, form, and process.

Because I’m  process oriented I appreciate their curiosity in this area.  I discuss the mediums: Casein and Egg Tempera.  The egg tempera gets them…well…the yolk does actually. What kind of yolk? Chicken? Duck? How does one separate the egg yolk from the egg white? (funny they should ask, click here) Is that all it takes, pigment, water and egg yolk? I do talk about stretching and framing, the work my framer does for me. He does his work and I do mine, I explain. I discuss materials and a bit of the cost. In particular, the cost of the egg tempera itself…which is hardly anything…the egg part that is. One female student comments that sounds like a great profit margin! …there’s lots more involved, I say with a grin, I do all-right.

I mention influences, and give some personal background… they ask great questions. Before it’s all over I’d speak to three different groups and briefly connect with a separate group of visitors from Canada….the gallery is a full house today, and Michelle Dock…is looking calm and collected.

The morning ends with lunch in the Lakeside Room.  Turkey or Vegetarian sandwiches are the choice.  A student invites me to sit at his table, so I do. Everyone at the table ranges in their interests: engineering, photography, architecture and graphic design. Did they realize how much they’d just experienced? Yes. Our conversation starts with architecture, followed by graphic design, moves into western theology vs. eastern philosophy and ends with them showing interest in the arts ability to pique curiosity and thoughts about their future…. excellent.

When all is done I recall the last thing I’d heard John Kain say as we left the theater to move to our individual areas. He said that the Tempe Center for the Arts was designed to last at least 300 years. That’s a long time.  While talking to the students about my work, I noted how long-lasting egg tempera and casein both are. When I make something I think about it being here for 100 – 200 years….maybe longer should I be so lucky.

Examples of the mediums I use go way back to the 1st century, in the case of egg tempera. We also know casein was used in ancient Egypt. Something as solid as cement, steel. stone, and wood, and something as fluid as egg tempera and casein.. can have lasting impact if put together with intention. Buildings, Art,…and the people who make the stuff…and have the ideas….push the boundaries and connect generations.

Current exhibit: Mixing It Up: Building an Identity  closes on Jan.28.  That means you have one more week to see it.

*No Man Is An Island-John Donne

a map of phoenix

Always design a thing by considering it in its next larger context — a chair in a room, a room in a house, a house in an environment, an environment in a city plan.”
Eliel Saarinen

We are all cells in the same body of humanity.  Peace Pilgrim 

I’m enjoying this project so much, I’ll be doing a series of maps one day. My Phoenix map is not yet complete but it’s getting there. Then I’ll have to figure out the hanging system….frame…foamboard…laminate…string…

You Are Here, A Collection of Maps of Phoenix will be on view at Regular Gallery with an opening on Friday, October 21.

Hosted by Jackalope Ranch and Regular Gallery.

6 senses = 1 spirit

traditional milagros

I think I’m almost at the end of this series. I never was looking to understand each body part so much as I was trying to understand, trying to locate what makes the body tick, what makes the mind tick.  What makes me tick. With this last collage, representing a grouping of  body organs depicting the six senses, I find myself searching deeper within the nooks and crannies.

You may already know some of my influences for this work: Mexican Milagros, Yogic and Tibetan philosophy, and lots of anatomy study. I find the body, its structure and its capabilities, exciting. I respect it fully, but maybe it contrasts what I am most interested in knowing.

I’m finishing up four small collages depicting various organs of the body. The one below is in the midst of being composed. It starts out based on the 5 senses, until I decide to add the sixth. I hope to show the completed composition (along with the three others) next Fall in an exhibition about identity.

I’ve always been interested in the subject of identity. I’m sure I’ve shared this before, maybe not…I’ve investigated self as female,  self within relationship (to male counterpart), self as Mexican-American, and as American of Mexican descent, self as (noisy) mind, and self as body.
Now, with more clarity, I’m looking to understand spirit. My spirit, your spirit or more simply, just Spirit.

I hear spirit is easy, simple, playful, never-changing, pointed. Or it’s none of that.  I’m investigating and be sure I will continue to express, in some form or other.  Cause  in some way, I’m just getting started.

writers life workshop at modified arts

I met Crista Cloutier in 2000 when the Hispanic Research Center  of ASU commissioned me to create a lithograph.  At the time, Crista was the director of Segura Publishing where I showed up everyday for one very productive and exciting week plus, to work with their crew and with master printer Joe Segura.  She also directed their gallery. I admired her  ease and professionalism.

Crista, actively involved in the contemporary art world throughout her career, is also internationally recognized as a writer, curator, and artist. She’s collaborated in the creation of artwork with some of the most significant artists working today. Much of the work exists in major collections throughout the US.

In the last few years I’ve connected with Crista via Facebook because today she moves between England, France, and the U.S and contributes to publications such as Huffington Post, The Guardian UK, and You Magazine.

…and guess what…Crista will be at Modified Arts, just after the new year. She’ll be teaching The Writer’s Life Workshop.

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The Writer’s Life is a two-day workshop for both established and aspiring writers. This unique class will help participants find their voice, hone their craft, and create meaning in their life and work. Students will learn how to connect to their imagination as well as identify personal vision and attain their professional writing goals.

If you like to write, and you’ve been looking to:

• Identify your purpose and motives as a writer
• Create professional goals and find the steps necessary to achieve them
• Commit yourself to writing as an artistic practice
• Understand the remarkable power of your muse and engage more deeply with your imagination
• Learn to melt creative blocks

…then the workshop is for you!

Who: Crista Cloutier

What: The Writer’s Life Workshop

When: Tuesday & Thursday, January 4th & 6th, 2011
from 7:00-9:30 PM each night

Contact: Kim Larkin
Modified Arts
kim@modifiedarts.org
602-462-5516

Where: Modified Arts
407 E. Roosevelt
Phoenix, AZ 85004

*Discount registration if you sign up by January 1st or bring a friend!

Learn more about Crista and her workshop…
www.cristacrista.com
www.theworkingartist.info

what goes on and what takes place…my turn

The artist Monica Aissa Martinez (that would be me…)

Awkward. Doing it anyway.

Materials
←In my hand is a jar of cadmium red dry pigment.  I’ve had it since grad school.  Good quality pigments go a long way. I mix dry pigment with egg yolk, and make my own egg tempera. I give the how to, plus a bit of history, both mine and its, in an early post. I write about my framer who once gave me a duck egg, and an ostrich egg (gag) to try out.  And I tell you about my other favorite medium, Casein, yes…the protein. For more about my choice materials click → a little egg, a little milk.

And even though I use paint, brushes and canvas, I identify myself as someone who draws.  It may have something to do with the fact that I never took a painting class. And I teach drawing. Or it may have to do with the fact that I use line, and connect the ends to make shapes. Then I fill in with more line. I wrote about this too → Notes on Drawing and Painting.

My other materials are drawing supplies…pencil color, artist crayon, graphite and large rolls of Arches paper, along with smooth sheets of BFK rag (drawing and printing paper).

The Studio

Well come in…

My messy bookshelf…I bought it at least 20 years ago, from an estate sale in El Paso, for all of $12.00.  It’s crossed 3 state borders, it holds books and special stuff. Best investment I ever made. Books…reading…influence my daily work.  I get an idea from an event: personal or social…react, research, paint. Curiosity. Why do we/people/society/I do the things we/I do?  Who? What? and Why?…read, write, draw…reread, rewrite, redraw. Realize.

Current reading material Rollo May’s, The Courage to Create. So I’m interested in creativity.  I do wonder if there is any originality anymore?  Does something mean anything?  Is anything sacred? The media would have you think not.  I beg to differ.

The Work
I’ve written about my current work as it presents itself, take a quick view if you’re inclined. If you’re not…no fret, see the work in its completed stage next February.

The idea presents itself.

It continues.

Grounding down.

More grounding.

The trunk.

If you did look…fyi…it’s all completely different now.  No, the whole design is not resolved. It’s being finessed. And retitled. I’ll hold that info for a later date.
One of the things that I do most of the time, is make more than one of everything. I work things just a bit different in each instance, I want to know my options before I commit. This is probably how one new work evolves into a series, in my case.

Back to What Goes On and What Takes Place. ↓

In some larger way this is all about where we stand as creative creatures (and/or destructive).  In this case, we choose to create for the good of all of us. The creativity is in the form of a visual, an evolving idea, community, slow but steady progress, a process, a give and take that’s natural, mutually respectful, and consists of continual interaction. Given the political culture these days, I’m sure there’s a societal lesson in here somewhere.

4 different woman…

→Mary, who works with our dessert landscape, organic matter, and new media.  →Myself, who draws and paints the human figure with egg and milk. →Carolyn, who connects to (and connects us to) animals thru her graphite.  And →Sue, who takes all these subjects and more, and freely and deliberately abstracts them

…step out of their comfort zone, to work and share, and create a new experience for themselves and for you, the audience.

WHAT: WHAT GOES ON AND WHAT TAKES PLACE

WHERE: MODIFIED ARTS

WHEN: FEB 18TH – MARCH 12TH, ART DETOUR

WHO: CAROLYN LAVENDER, MARY SHINDELL, SUE CHENOWETH, MONICA AISSA MARTINEZ

We’ll continue to share process and progress here, as it feels right to do so.

I don’t want to forget the various other creative forcesinvolved: →Kim Larkin and →Adam Murray, who offer the exhibition venue, →Modified.
And The →Ted Decker Catalyst Fund. The Catalyst Fund will support documentation and marketing materials. (Take a moment to click on the link, and look at the faces of all variety of creative people the fund has supported.)

To see a quick listing of the all the posts connected to this exhibit, go to → Modified’ upcoming exhibition page.

You can catch more of my work…
Now, at the Mesa Art Center, The Store (prints).

August, An Invitational group exhibition titled, →Converging Trajectories: Crossing Borders to Build Bridges, curator: Ted G. Decker.
Fall 2010, a solo titled, Works. Central Arizona College, in the Visual Arts Gallery.

↓if you missed them, continue on to the previous 3 posts…to see each artists studio, materials and workings↓ or click on their names above↑

what goes on and what takes place, the fourth artist

The artist Sue Chenoweth

Sue introduced herself to me years ago, at an opening. She came in early, shook my hand, and delivered thoughtful commentary about my work. Generous. I knew who she was because people had pointed out her work to me.

I connect to her use of color, the way she fills (2D) space, her use of line, her media and recognizable abstractions. I especially appreciate a quality of freedom she represents. This freedom of composition is uniquely Sue’s.

Right Now
Sue’s work is currently filling up space at SMoCA. The exhibition runs through September. It’s an innovative concept which has her art hanging alongside some of the museums permanent works, in an installation titled, Spyhopping: Adventure with Sue Chenoweth. Intelligent and fun, stimulating to eyes and mind.

Skyhopping Exhibit

Skyhopping Exhibit

The Exhibition / What Goes On and What Takes Place
Sue brings lots of energy to our project. Natural, honest, active and reactive. If she doesn’t know what to do…she says so. When an idea comes forth, she shares it enthusiastically.  I wonder if she might paint this way too. I respect her nature…creative, and in the moment.  She has plenty of ideas for the upcoming Art Detour weekend, and how we might interact with Modified visitors.

When she’s not making art, she’s teaching at Metro Arts, or at Phoenix College. She’s in the middle of moving, when the four of us meet for dinner, to discuss working together.

Not unlike the rest of us, she has a home studio. I love it here, she says.  I must  have my studio at home because I work in little spurts… all day long.  5 minutes here…half hour there… I keep it going all the time, that way I get things finished and have an ongoing  relationship with the work.  It Becomes my days.

I feel the same way. I wonder about Carolyn and Mary.  There are pros and cons to having a home studio.

…some photos of her variety of materials and her new studio space.

I ask about the doll house. The doll houses were in an installation called ‘Hold your Cards’ I had at eye lounge a long time ago.  I ordered them off e-bay.  It is funny how I coveted a metal dollhouse like the one I had as a kid and then got a BUNCH of them.

Both Sue and Carolyn were present at the start of eye lounge. She says of the experience, I was not in the very first show, but became a member when they moved into the Roosevelt space.  I was a member with all the original members though.  It was a great group.  I feel honored to be a part of the beginning. I had the very first show in the new building.  I don’t think there was anyone in the east gallery.

At our meetings, Sue expresses she has no idea what she’ll be doing for the exhibit. I jot her words into the upper right hand corner of my paperwork. Unknown to me, Mary photographs the notes. The photo amuses me. Why did this strike me  as something to capture? Because truly, this is the artists dilemma, we don’t know, until we do…know. It’s also the human dilemma.

I imagine Sue will wait to begin working, because some pressure appeals to her. Consequently I don’t expect to get an image of a work in progress anytime soon. But I do!

I have NO IDEA what this painting will be. I just know it is the start of a new series, but also closely relating and advancing on the last Spyhopping series of paintings. I never ever show this early stage of a painting so this is a rare glimpse into the underpinnings of my work.

…one more thing about each of us…we’ve chosen to document our process and make it a part of the exhibition…though we wouldn’t normally do this…rare glimpse sounds about right.

New Work

She continues…I try to make each layer just as good as the last, so as one peers into a work, it works all the way through. This one is a bit rough yet. No under painting. Landscape that is real but not real. Fragments of life and process showing what it is like to live in our world.

 

close up detail

I ask about her materials. She answers quick… All gouache on paper SO FAR.
Working title? I have no title yet. Size? This is just a starting place. The overall painting (on paper) will be 48″ x 50″.

…I only get starting places to begin…. I have been affected by the oil spill but do not want to make paintings about drippy birds etc. I know the oil spill is the beginning. I am looking at artists Neo Rauch and Thomas Hart Benton. Regionalism and in a way Hieratic scale with Benton..Maybe that is the wrong word to use, but it fits for me. I am also looking at the mosaics of Ravena which I often refer back to them. I like the way color shifts in the mosaics. I am trying to paint like that in places in my painting. There is another fresco that I find interesting and that is at the Basilica S.M. Novella in Florence Italy. Called the ‘Allegory of the Church’ the details of ‘Vices and other sins.” Love the way the different scenes are partitioned off so it looks a bit like a doll house.

While I’m completing this post I receive an email from Sue….For the show I  think I am going to make vacuum formed mountains like model railroad mountains but about 19 inches tall.  Some way smaller.  They would sit on the ground as if they are peeking out of the sea.
Another email follows shortly...It is just an idea.  I have to see where I can have these made and IF I can have them made. I am so so glad that we have until Feb to finish the work.

It’s all just an idea;thought takes on form, and becomes experience. Interaction follows. It’s what art making is all about.

We hope through the documenting and sharing of our individual process, you get a sense of all that may be involved in art making. Creating the whole exhibit, is a collaborative project.  Exhibitions will overlap, work succeeds, work fails, visits to the art store, the frame shop (me), the printer (Mary), the mountain maker (Sue)… Life keeps getting lived, gardens get tended (Carolyn), studios get dirty and cleaned, photographs get taken, discussions keep being had, agreements, maybe disagreements, thinking, rethinking, writing, sketching, working and reworking, details come and go…

This is an idea in motion, generated by four women artists.

WHAT: WHAT GOES ON AND WHAT TAKES PLACE

WHERE: MODIFIED ARTS

WHEN: FEB 18TH – MARCH 12TH, ART DETOUR

WHO: CAROLYN LAVENDER, MARY SHINDELL, SUE CHENOWETH, MONICA AISSA MARTINEZ

I’ll sum this up next time.  I hope to include my work in the mix. Come back.

Click here to visit Sue’s website.
Read the New Times review of  “Spyhopping: Adventures with Sue Chenoweth” at SMoCA Proves Life Is Just a Game

*Sue Chenoweth will be giving a Hands-On  Workshop at SMoCA, on July 1st.  For more info check their website.

Modified Arts.Org

 

what goes on and what takes place…and another artist revealed

The artist Mary Shindell

Don’t even know where to begin writing. Let me warm up.
I met Mary in 2005. We had solo’s in the same month. We got together to stuff envelopes for a joint mailing. She dropped into my exhibit, and I dropped into hers. high above the, was the name of her show. Mary’s not only a current member, but also a founding member of  Five15. Her exhibition consisted of a series of mixed media drawings of Sonoran Cacti. I recall being completely taken in by the drawing. I returned several times to take in all the intricate, meticulously rendered detail, of her Saguaro’s. I knew instinctively, she was also a Printmaker.

Mary draws, makes prints and then some…

It was while visiting her most recent solo, that I realized I wanted Mary to be a part of this project. Initially, the idea was 3 artists, a triad. Mary would make it a 4-person exhibit, a square. What caught my attention… line quality, texture, engaging structure, use of material, and intensity in process. Her use of new media, computer generated imagery and LED lighting, was added engagement. I’d spent the better part of that Saturday afternoon last January, talking to Mary about her process. She’d experienced challenges in both the creating, and the installing of the work. Her husband Rick (Is a pediatric orthopedic surgeon. He’s made stainless steel benches and tables for some of the galleries. He also rebuilds classic cars…the latter, is my husbands input…) helped her to design stands for her sculpture, her son helped her with electrical wiring, various tech’s helped her with the fiber optics, and others with the printing. Mary had problems, solutions followed, sometimes creating other problems, for more solution. I remember thinking…it really does take a village.

No woman is an island. Mary works well in solitary mode, and clearly, with other people too. I admire this.  The artist is an intricate part of the community, and vise-versa.

Afterwards, I spoke to Carolyn. She was more than receptive. She talked about feeling a kinship to Mary, from her work in the local art scene, to her teaching residencies, and art making. The grouping of 4 women artist, for our project, was now complete.
Note: Yes, She is the 3rd artist I tell you about, but she is the 4th one to have come on board.

The Sonoran desert-scape is Mary’s most obvious influence. Right now the plan is 2D  and 3D work for this group exhibit. I’m drawn to the attention she gives her drawing, in its entirety. She sees, she puts down! Again, as I’d noted in Carolyn’s work, with Mary’s too, there is a quality to the mark making and a connection to time.   Her 3D work intrigues me not only because of the new media, but also as you’ll see, it’s a direct evolution of her drawing process.

Mary’s process focused in traditional drawing technique.  About the computer influence she comments,  I was seeking a method to assist in the design and production of large public art projects, I set about learning to draw digitally. The vector lines were so fluid and the potential for manipulation and combination so vast that I began devising ways to use the digital imagery in my studio work.

Her studio contains both a drawing area and a digital workspace.

In a not too surprising detailed manner, she talks about materials and gives us a peek into her process. Here goes…

Her materials, traditional in general are acrylic, ink, graphite, pastel and  (BFK) paper. In new tradition, add in a digital pen, a scanner, and scanned photos and drawings,  the occasional LED light and occasional use of styrene.

Note: In photo below, a CD in the lower left corner, on the cart. Remember our dinner meeting? (click here if you don’t) We all discussed music as a necessary studio element. Mary and I both listen to Leonard Cohen in particular ( of course…I’ve written about him too).

Mary mentions things she saves. The photo above is her used pen tips. These are like trophies, she says, I wear them out making little marks and I keep them around as evidence of my work.
I get this, I save all my used paintbrushes and the last bits of my drawing pencils.

About this photo she explains,  I am spraying symbols that I have made from Carolyn’s (Lavender)garden. Graphic designers use clip art or vector graphics to make symbols, mapmakers use them a lot. I cut up scans of my drawings and photos to make symbols. I can have hand drawn imagery in my digital pieces, it makes them more like drawings for me and puts the drawing in a new , less precious format.

…a few material/ process photos…

I ask Mary about the pretty glove in this photo. …my ‘pretty glove’ is something I wear to protect the outside of my hand on the Wacom Tablet. It is hard plastic and after a few hours it hurts, I can also slide on the tablet better with the glove on-I also use it when I am drawing on paper for long periods of time although I never had to use a glove when I only worked on paper so I think it is the plastic tablet that is causing the problem.

This is scrap from cutting out ink jet printed objects, and a Bougainvillea flower, that didn’t make the cut.

Finishing up our process and materials conversation she adds…But I still love the precious so I work on the drawing board on BFK with graphite etc, in a way I feel like I can spend more time on the hand drawn imagery. I didn’t feel that way at the beginning of mixing the two processes.

And so it continues…what more is in this file Mary?
Mixing the two processes…it’s part of her plan for this collaborative exhibition. Come and see what she finely generates.

WHAT: WHAT GOES ON AND WHAT TAKES PLACE

WHERE: MODIFIED ARTS

WHEN: FEB 18TH -MARCH 12TH ART DETOUR

WHO: CAROLYN LAVENDER, MARY SHINDELL, MONICA AISSA MARTINEZ, and one more other.

Stay tuned. One more artist reveal on the way.

Some links below…
Mary Shindell Portfoilio
Five15, Mary Shindell
One final note…Mary Shindell voted #89 of our top 100 artists by The Phoenix New Times. Click here for article.

Modified Arts.Org

what goes on and what takes place…an artist revealed

The artist Carolyn Lavender

At the conception of this collaborative project, two artist are clearly in mind.  Carolyn Lavender is the first artist I meet and speak with.  I’ve admired Carolyn’s art work for a long time. She’s one of Eye Lounge‘s  founding members. We met last October, when her work The Woods, was up at Modified. In fact, it had just come down. It was in her car. She brought it out so I could look at it. We took it into eye lounge and then proceeded to spend the rest of the afternoon talking…about the work, art, drawing, teaching…politics, religion…stuff. Carolyn’s direct, she’s intelligent and open, and had plenty to say. Shortly there-after, she invited me to her studio. I assumed it would be a quick visit but again, we spend the entire afternoon talking about her art and art making. She’s generous and patient with my curiosity.

The Studio Upon arriving, I walk through her National Wildlife certified wildlife habitat (did i write that right?) front yard. She’s in a regular city neighborhood and her yard is a declared wildlife habitat. Cool! As I move through the garden, I observe the attention to detail. Unstructured structure, abundant variety, beautiful,desert…fun. Unusual in this area. I meet her cats and her dog.

I enter the studio… I’m going to skip the part about the first art work I see…I’ll get back to it later …
A slow 180 degree turn, to take it in. Then another.

Flashback: To a few years back: I’d love an exhibition opportunity with [some specific] artists I haven’t shown with. Lavender.
Flashback, but come more forward: In her studio, hearing about her process and looking at her stuff, the work… I want to work with this artist.
Flashback: To various points in time, I’m waiting, for an invitation to exhibit with specific artists (here in the valley). It’s bound to come. Curator? Gallery Director? Waiting…waiting….patiently waiting…
Flash forward: To one afternoon when I have lunch with Ted Decker. I share my thoughts with him. He says something like, Why are you waiting? Do it! Create the exhibit…all of you. Call them.

Flash: Call, I do. Carolyn agrees to participate and to help make it happen. She’s the one who will eventually contact Modified Arts and propose our idea.

back to The Studio I’ve said this before, an artist studio is sacred space. I don’t take the opportunity to visit one for granted. I’m fascinated by the variety of objects that surround us. Her shelves remind me of carefully laid out still life’s. A scientist laboratory comes to mind, as do Joseph Cornell’s boxes. Eventually she brings out her personal journals and bags of collage cut outs (photo below), the bits and pieces…of her process. It’s private, it’s her own, it’s magic and as fascinating as the finished works.  She cuts out and files photos, magazines, invitation images…you name it.  These become reference for work and some go into journals. It’s this particular memory that will eventually bring the Process element, into the exhibition plan. She brings a journal to write in, and she doodles, at most every meeting we’ve had. Like her yard…I see this as unstructured structure.

The Work Entering her studio I first make (eye) contact with a tacked to the wall canvas that has on it a gridded composite of small, graphite rendered, animal heads. Hypnotizing.
We sit at her drawing table. I look at cut outs, they’re sort of hypnotizing too. I ask about the canvas, does it have a name?

She calls it Portrait. She says in a matter of fact manner, It will be a grid comprised of 200 4” portraits of animals, each of which is making eye contact with the viewer. (I noted that when I stood in front of it) In my mind they are the equivalent of human “head and shoulders” framed portraits. The drawing resembles yearbook photos, but of animals. When I decided on this piece I had, for years, been doing series of self-portraits. At one point I set animal heads on top of my portraits (image below). For me animals have an equal importance in the world and it seemed that this visual arrangement helped illustrate that. The animals were more interesting because they were paired with my images and my images were more interesting because they each had an animal head. Finishing her thought, she says “Portrait” is my attempt to draw attention to animals, in a piece that has only animals in it.

Untitled
Media: Gouache, Graphite, Acrylic on Rag Board
33″ x 22″

Untitled
Media: Gouache, Graphite, Acrylic on Rag Board.
33″ x 22″

Meticulous detail, is one quality that draws me into Lavender’s work. Is that graphite? 4B? 6B? The line work is so clean. I am using 2H and F [graphite pencils]. I’m surprised. I am able to get darks because the graphite reacts differently to the modeling paste/gel medium ground. I’m familiar with modeling paste, I use it, but not with pencil. I’m also struck by a sense, or connection to time, the marking of it, the passing of it. As I look, I wonder out loud, How long will it take to complete Portrait? I complete one head per day. I’m not surprised, I say to her. You’re not? Oh good, I think I’m slow.

I teach drawing, carefully observing and carefully rendering, requires time. The work, each head, is striking. 200…! Two Hundred brilliantly rendered animal heads.

 

Detail of 'Portrait'

Speaking of time, Portrait already has a story and it’s not even complete.

Carolyn tells me that Portrait was conceived of, and started, in 2006. I have never started and set aside a piece of art the way I have this one. I started it in my Tempe studio, but then I drove it to Illinois, planning to finish it during a 2-month residency. But I could not draw fast enough to complete it for the residency. Eventually she returns to AZ and moves out of her (Tempe) studio. She then doesn’t have a wall large enough to pin it to. In the meantime she builds her studio. It wasn’t until May 2009 that I decided to finish it for the October show (at Modified, when I meet her). But after a few months of working it was clear that I would not finish in time. So “Portrait” may be the most satisfying piece to finish that I have ever done.

The Showing I’m jazzed to announce Portrait will make its much awaited debut, in our collaborative exhibition…

WHAT: WHAT GOES ON AND WHAT TAKES PLACE

WHERE: MODIFIED ARTS

WHEN: FEB 18TH -MARCH 12TH ART DETOUR

WHO: CAROLYN LAVENDER, MONICA AISSA MARTINEZ, 2 others.

The working plan for all of us, is to show one large major work, and smaller supporting works, that led to it either  in content or form. You’ll see a few of Carolyn’s self portraits, as supporting works for the larger piece.  Many details have yet to be made.
Yesterday, as we talk about things, we come to the conclusion that our exhibition is a project. A Collaborative Project. We move along.

Stay tuned. Anther artist coming soon!

Click here for  Carolyn Lavender’s Work, Bio, and Resume

You can see one of Carolyn’s drawings, at a group exhibit, this month, May 7th – 21st. 21 Days: Group Drawing Show, now at Pravus Gallery, in downtown Phoenix.

a day, a week, a month, years…of a life, in pictures

Last February I attended a 2 day lecture/roundtable discussion hosted by  SMoCA. The subject was the People’s Biennial.

People’s Biennial I learned, is an experimental, local community-based exhibition that will come to the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, in the fall of 2011. Curators, Harrell Fletcher and Jens Hoffman were present and looking for … remarkable, under-appreciated work by anyone and everyone, especially people who may not be considered a part of the art world. This could include a child who makes dazzling science fair projects; a sign painter who creates fascinating window displays; innovative motorcycle designers; etc.

I immediately thought of my friend Dave, and his calendar drawings.
David is a Cardiologist. He has 26 years of calendars, that he filled with colorful, narrative drawings.

When Dave was 8,  his dad brought home a calendar, a hardcover, desktop ledger. Father asked son if he wanted to use it. Dave began the usual gesture of crossing off days, sometimes writing a note.  One day, a friend, who had a bent towards comic book art, drew a series of pictures in the calendar. Eventually those sketches would trigger in Dave a desire to begin drawing an image a day. Gradually they evolved into a portrayal of the day’s events or his reaction to them.

As Dave says, it quickly turned into a compulsive obsession. More importantly, it became a time for reflection of his life. He’ll admit the act of drawing became the best part of the day. The images eventually become portrayals of his inner life. He layed out symbols of his own codified language, meant to be hidden from the casual viewer, but clear in meaning to him.

Impressing me most, is that this went on for nearly 26 years. As his life got busier; family, work, and needed rest took over, and the drawing came to an end.  I can’t imagine drawing time coming to an end.  Clearly our intentions are different, but it still makes me think. I prefer to imagine, that like Louise Bourgeois, who just died at the ripe age of 98… I will pass in my studio, at a ripe old age, and maybe… drawing.

My first visit to their home, was to discuss a family portrait Dave and his wife, Dominique were commissioning from me. I saw a years worth of drawings, matted and framed, up on their wall. Through them, I learned a bit about the couples personal history.  He then pulled out a box that contained all the years of these calendars.  I couldn’t believe my eyes, a real hidden treasure.  I have on the occasion, spoken to Dave about sharing them.

Last Saturday, at SMoCA, one of the curators from the People’s biennial was present for an open call, to consider work. Yes…Dave took his calendars. I find them to be wonderful visual statements. Framed of course, they’re cool. But the box of them, are an incredible statement, a marking of time; a day in the life, a week in the life, a month…26 years in the life of an ordinary man. They cause me to wonder about my husband, my father, my brother, male friends, every man…and his every day life.

I communicated with Dave this morning. We continue our conversation, he says …  “On Sunday I actually sat down with the calendars to try and organize them a bit more and browse a little bit.  Although they go  from 1970 through 1996, they start thinning out about 1990 and then the last 3 have only a few random drawings….although I knew it was coming to an end because I was so busy, it took almost 3 years to admit to myself that “no, I am not going back to fill them in…”  Stubborn, eh?  Then the last page of the last calendar has the statement:  “The Last Calendar”.  That felt very heavy…”

They’re very light actually, and remarkable. Good luck Dave.

* The commission: I did take some of Dave’s calendar art and reproduced them as framework and compositional elements within the family portrait. Click here to see the post.

JULY UPDATE: Dave’s calendar art was accepted into the People’s Biennial!  

SEPTEMBER UPDATE: 

Gallery 4, SMoCA
October 15, 2011- January 15, 2012
Seven Arizona artists  are featured in People’s Biennial: Gary Freitas, Jim Grosbach, David Hoelzinger, Beatrice Moore, Joseph Perez (a.k.a. Sentrock), Andrea Sweet and Paul Wilson.
MORE INFO

Congrats Dave!

what goes on and what takes place/ the venue

A few weeks ago (April 11th), I wrote about collaborating on an art exhibit, with three other artists. Yesterday, the four of us met with Kim Larkin.  Modified Arts, will host the exhibition.

Modified is run by Kim Larkin and Adam Murry. Kim made the round of studio visits, and then agreed to meet with the group on Saturday afternoon. Adam stepped in to greet everyone, and then he was off.

About the space…it appeals to all of us. It’s open and well-lit.  It has cool sophistication and yet  it retains its original charm. It’s in downtown Phoenix. And it has lots of history.

We do talk a little bit about the history of Modified. And then Kim speaks about their vision as the new directors of the space. She’s grounded. Intelligent.  Clear. Flexible. I had these thoughts, when I spoke to her in my studio, and listening to her in this meeting, I am aware of them again.

She has a sense of integrity we all connect to. I especially like that we discuss the exhibition as a whole experience. Kim brings up the idea of a community component. This is in perfect alignment with our plan.  We’re in agreement about connecting with /interacting with/and pulling in the audience. We want to make the experience accessible and inclusive. Ideas tossed about: showing the creative process through photos, personal material (studio ephemera, studio debris), speakers, event/s, video, and music/sound. How this part evolves, you’ll have to wait and see, just like us.

There will be one large, main artwork from each of us. And a few smaller supporting works, that specifically accompany the larger work. Included is the showing of process, in a more personal manner, will be bits and pieces from each.

Kim mentions bringing fun into the equation. We agree…it’s present already, it will naturally be a part of the end result.
WHEN will all this fun peak? I am really pleased to say…next year, during Art Detour.  Feb 18th- March 12th.

We note to Kim that we plan to reveal the other 3 artists, one a time.  She’s good with this. But as I write this…I’m not so good with it. I want to tell you who the other artists are right now!  Another clue below…..can you guess?

Obviously…four women.  I hope soon to reveal one of the other artist.

We play around with shooting photos and then our afternoon meeting ends. I leave feeling the agreement to create this experience is respectful and beneficial, to each of us and our own individual process of working. Kim offers the gallery, Modified, and we offer our work. In the agreement there is plenty of freedom to really create. It’s the thing that is driving this show. EXCITING.
Win-win for all, including you, if you’re inclined.

WHAT: WHAT GOES ON AND WHAT TAKES PLACE

WHERE: MODIFIED ARTS

WHEN: FEB 18TH -MARCH 12TH ART DETOUR

WHO: 4 Women Artist. More to come soon.

Stay tuned!