TCA Draw-A-Thon 2020

Tempe Center for the Arts will be hosting their annual Draw-A-Thon.
This year it’s going virtual. A live, on-line, real-time event!
12 Hours/12 Artists
RSVP → Facebook Live

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Next weekend, June 6th at 9am, Michelle Dock, Gallery Director at TCA, will host an Exquisite Corpse Workshop. Last week she invited Mary, Carolyn and myself to draw one (for fun).

In general, I keep to the size of the paper Michelle suggests. And while she notes a light-weight paper, one can fold, works best, I prefer a heavy duty sheet of drawing paper (which means we can’t fold it). Ok, I want 2 sheets of drawing paper (can’t fold either).

I rip an 8.5″ x 11″ sheet of BFK white and an 8″x10″ sheet of Arches Black.
I take the direction of exquisite corpse very literal and start drawing. I cover my area and pass it on to Mary who works her area, followed and completed by Carolyn.

Can you tell who does what?
What’s your best guess for how much time we take with each small drawing?

face mask, microbes and devil’s tail

Mary and Carolyn both like the paper and choose the medium they are familiar with.
Yes, we each enjoy the drawing!

Interested in making an one? Join Michelle Dock next Saturday at 9, for her workshop. You have plenty of time to gather up family or friends and your drawing material.

Should you want to experience other approaches to drawing (Hey! DRAW all day!), follow the link to the list of workshops and the artists involved  → EVENT SCHEDULE  (includes morning, mid-day, ffternoon/evening)

WHO: TEMPE CENTER FOR THE ARTS
WHAT: DRAW-A-THON
12 Artist/12 Hours
WHEN: Saturday, June 20, 8am-8pm
WHERE:  TCA is coming to you! →  Facebook Live  RSVP

All levels, all experience, all ages welcome! Use phone, I-pad or computer. And share your drawings with the hashtag #tempearts #GalleryAtTCA #DrawAThon

OH HEY! They have a free coloring book for you to download! My coyote is in there along with other cool images from artists near you. → PDF

#gottahaveart

cadavre exquis (in physical distance mode)

Warming up to draw an exquisite corpse AKA exquisite cadaver, originally known as cadavre exquis. The method of working is a technique invented by the surrealists in the 1920’s. Shout out to #AndréBreton!

I do believe I defeat the point (though not the one that moves to create the line) of working an exquisite corpse when I practice solo this oh-too-fast-for-me sketch. You’re looking at the outcome of 90 seconds or less.

Visual Arts Coordinator Michelle Dock, contacts me interested in a sample study of an exquisite corpse made by 3 artists. She’s in planning for the Tempe Center for the Arts annual Draw-A-Thon 2020 this June. This year workshops will all be virtual.

After completing my own single, small, ↑  practice sketch to see if I can work quick and reference-free, I take a clean  8×11″ piece of paper and measure out 3 even horizontal folds. I choose and draw into the middle space. I plan to deliver the 1/3 completed composition to Mary Shindell tomorrow and then eventually Carolyn Lavender will receive it. They’ll each draw into a section. This is collaboration in the time of a pandemic.

Three women who draw. Careful organizers of space. Letting go of order (creating a new order).

Mary’s easy, she’s done this before. Carolyn hesitates when I ask. I suspect it could be fun. I’ll share the result with you and give you more info about Michelle’s workshop soon.

Did I cheat by practicing? This is as spontaneous as I have ever been in the studio, I broke a few habits, I like it and I’ll be doing it again.

#Fluid #Unpredictable #SequencedCollaboration #VirtualSurrealism

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©2020 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BY MONICA AISSA MARTINEZ

12 weeks – neuron to mandorla

Artists-in-Residence:
We re-organize work-spaces Thursday, at the Tempe Center for the Arts, preparing for the closing celebration of our summer artist residency Friday evening.

Twelve weeks – they fly!

Crossing paths with the many people at TCA including employees, docents and guests (many guests from around the world!) is one of this residency’s perks. I especially enjoy getting to know and work alongside artists Kyllan Maney and Bobby Zokaites.

Kyllan’s Radial Patterns are full of spiraling detail. I’m impressed by the relaxed, yet quick pace at which she moves. The generous Kyllan (she shares a lot with me) has a most notable ability to bring together community.

Bobby’s nature is full of curious and intelligent play. His color scheme for his many compositions is influenced by Dr. Suess. We spend many afternoons talking and cover everything from the elements of design to the business of art. I watch as he constructs his robotic designs. And for the record, I envy his ability to construct a cool sentence.

The three of us connect on a few occasions talking politics – history and world events. And art.

My work: 12 weeks from the Neuron to Mandorla

Understanding the healthy brain seems necessary to understand the brain with dementia. I first study the neuron and in this I discover a variety of supporting glia.  Looking at all the various parts of the brain, I also emphasize and draw the hippocampus and I isolate and draw the motor and sensory cortex.

The Homunculus – Photographed by Tricky Burns

In June I come across an article linking mitochondrial dysfunction to Alzheimer’s Disease.   I feel sad to know the form I tend to favor in a cell is one of the first to redirect in AD. The mitochondria ↓ are the powerhouses of a cell and produce about 90% of the chemical energy needed for the cell’s survival.

Mitochondria

Last week I read about the endoplasmic reticulum (ER)  in Alzheimer’s disease. Consider the ER ↓ like a road system moving into and throughout a city allowing for transportation of goods. Within the cell these passageways allow proteins (“the goods”) to move from the ribosomes (red ↓ dots below).

Based on work I complete a few years back, I know about unfolded or misfolded proteins. Now I make their connection to the amyloid plaques in AD.

Endoplasmic Reticulum with Ribosome

My first study in this residency introduces neurons and microglia. My final study in the residency has me return to the neuron. This time it is a diseased and dying neuron surrounded by amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles.

dying neuron drawing in progress (front of drawing)

completed dying neuron (Back of drawing)

The completed drawing of a dying neuron appears like a sacred mandorla holding space where opposing worlds and forces meet. A subtle (not so subtle) location where heaven and earth, the divine and the human interact.

The residency is over – the work continues.

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A special thanks to gallery director Michelle Dock and all the crew (Tricky, Brady and Anthony) at the Tempe Center for the Arts. Thanks to all the docents who shared personal stories with me. You do a fine job of sharing the work with the public.

Thanks again to Kyllan and Bobby, my fellow resident artists. I hope you both know how much your hearty laughter served me this summer.

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The Artist-in-Residence is over but draw: the art of curiosity and innovation continues to Sept 1st at TCA.

Mom, who had not seen dad’s study, saw it yesterday.

can a robot create?

The 12-week artist residency at the Tempe Center for the Arts has come to an end. Most every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon you would have found me working alongside or talking with artist Bobby Zokaites. Today I welcome Bobby as guest writer.

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My Name is Bobby Zokaites, I’m a local sculptor here in Tempe Arizona, my tag line is, “Engaging the imagination through the creation of large scale objects and spaces.” This summer I participated in the Tempe Center for the Arts exhibition and residency “Draw.” For those in the know, sculpture cannot exist without drawing, in fact most sculptors are very proficient drawers. However, I was included in the exhibition because of a project that, on the surface, seems to challenge the very notion of what it means to draw.

The premise is simple: can a robot create art?

I began this line of inquiry in 2005 during a sophomore painting class at Alfred University and in response to the ever-ubiquitous self-portrait assignment. The history of art is littered with self-important, foreboding and grandiose articulations of the portrait and myself, being 19, of course wanted to join this history. By asking a robot to make art, I had the idea I was creating a portrait, an expression, an illustration, of a generation growing up within the digital revolution.

And so, I purchased a robot—a Roomba vacuum cleaner. Equipped with propulsion, preferences and aversions, the Roomba was already well on its way to being an artist, but lacked the tools needed for painterly expression. To provide it this, I simply removed the vacuum components and added a very basic foam brush and paint reservoir, creating something akin to a homemade marker. The first painting made was such a rush, my mission after that was to get out of the way to let the Roomba do just whatever it was going to do. Large black brush strokes combined with delicate tire treads on a white background these first paintings, produced using India ink on gesso-ed panels, existed in the tradition of Abstract Expressionism; Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline, and the like. I felt that reexploring this canonical aesthetic with contemporary technology would be fun, and it was, I thought that updating this aesthetic with contemporary technology would be fun thing to do. Which it is, fun, the public likes it because they have a different way into the paintings. For me however, with every successive painting I lost more of my own control, agency, creativity, my own self-expression; I had given it to a robot and so, the process became very existential and surreal.

I was still a student and incredibly young so I set this project aside to focus on becoming a sculptor. I took work as the site manager at Franconia Sculpture Park, learning the pragmatic skills associated with the production of large-scale sculpture. Sculpture became my way of regaining and developing my voice, and gave me the opportunity to have visible impact on my immediate surroundings. I became an educator, teaching others how to use tools, to manipulate materials, and to develop their own agency. Currently, I’m involved in several municipal projects, in a way I see this as being involved in governance, a way to add a unique flare to the urban environment.

In 2016, I was asked by the Center for Science and Imagination at Arizona State University to readdress the Roomba paintings. I dug out the now-decade-old robots and made a very large painting, this time on canvas. We produced a 4-minute video in which we decided to bring the relationship of artist, human, and robot to the front on the conversation.

“Draw” has allowed me the time to further address this relationship. I’ve broken the process down into its components: where do I have choice, when do I need to react, and when do I hit stop? Conversations with Monica Martinez and Kyllan Maney, the two other artists-in-residence, have helped with the transition back into thinking towards two-dimensional output. Considering aspects as simple as how colors lay on top of each other, composition and line weight, to those factors as detailed as the viscosity of paint and pigments, I’ve become a painter. Although to study these things I’ve had make more paintings resulting in more failures; some winding up so far gone that I’ve painted over them right in the gallery (much to Monica’s initial dismay). Over this summer, I’ve changed how I think about these painterly concepts several times, using different aids and brainstorming techniques. Dr. Seuss has the most amazing grays, and since his books are well-known for inspiration, I made four paintings using his color palettes.

In addition to the ‘shop talk’ between artists, large school groups would stop through providing several other opportunities to re-examine and re-explain the conceptual parts of the story. Now that I’ve identified where my choices are in the process, I have more involvement and the paintings are more collaborative, less reactionary. Engaging a larger community in the process has brought new points of view, new conundrums, new humor. In keeping with some of the light-heartedness of the project, Tricky, TCA’s preparator, even named the Roomba, “Mayhem”.

Though I’m not the first person to use robots as a way to produce art— American artist, Roxy Paine uses robots to produce a variety of sculptural objects and Leonel Mora of Portugal even has robots that sign their own drawings— my own contribution is in the realization that a commercially available robot was, even 10 years ago, sophisticated enough to produce its own paintings; proving the mantra, “any significantly advanced technology is synonymous with magic.” Along those lines, many people are fond of Frankenstein, Blade Runner, and the Terminator as cautionary tales of technological advancement and morality. However, with the Roomba project I’ve always gravitated to the earlier example of John Henry, the steel-driving man. His story, is one that pits man against machine, in a race to build the transcontinental railroad. All of these stories present a dichotomy when in reality man is not in opposition with machines. Modernity, with is mechanized metaphor, encourages us to idolize efficiency and progress, and in doing so, reduce individual labor. The paradigm of this train of thought has put me in an interesting head space: on the one hand I can anthropomorphize the Roomba, reducing my own self-importance, or I can claim authorship and be seen as an “artist” and “painter”. Truthfully, my preference is still “sculptor”, though I would accept manufacturer as well; both of these terms place importance and thought on to the tools and processes associated with production. With the Roombas as a tool, I can create an infinite number of composition.

present and re-present

Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the leading cause of neurodegenerative dementia associated with aging, affects over 5 million adults in the United States and is predicted to increase to 16 million affected by 2050. – Alzheimer’s Association 2017 

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Looking at the PET scans  – I recognize his profile. This is my father.

Talking to my sister Mercedes, she reminds me how for years when one of us called out Dad! he’d yell  back, YO SOY EL SEÑOR MARTINEZ! 
I smile. I don’t ask if he still does this.

It’s natural when I make art to think about it as installation. I want some sense of a bigger picture. With this particular work, I imagine a small series of studies and words. Maybe the words are text (as marks) across a wall.

I ask mom, my 4 sisters and brother to jot down thoughts/words about dad, past or present, as I make a small scratchboard series of his PET scans.

Mercedes: His funny sayings – CON UN DIABLO!!

Dad never really cusses in front of us. My guess is this saying is his version of Damn it!

Elisa: He likes to play with words, he always has. Every time we pass a one-way sign or stop at a four-way stop sign he says…”un guey”. “Cuatro gueyes”.

Dad’s humor includes playing with words and the English and Spanish language. 

Elisa: He used to say grocerias for groceries. Now he says, narizona when we get to Arizona Street.

Elisa also sends recordings she’s made of some of their conversation. In one recording she asks dad about his sister Carmen, who died last month at the age of 99.

Elisa: How many years between you and Carmen?
Dad (who is 86): I don’t know, followed by a long pause, she was old enough to scold me.

Mercedes: He liked Gabriel-Garcia Marquez’s, Cien Años de Soledad.  He took us to the Plaza Theater to see 2001: A Space Odyssey when it first came out and Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein at Plaza…Jaws and Star Wars at Cielo Vista. 

I laugh because within minutes of Young Frankenstein starting, I saw in his face he’d  regretted it. Not a kid’s movie dad!

Mercedes: …summers and swimming, Washington Park and Armijo….with all the neighborhood kids.

Dad, for many years was a summer life-guard for the city summer recreation program. He took us to work with him every day, Monday to Friday (lucky mom). And along with us, he often did have many of the neighborhood kids piled into the station wagon.
He swears he taught me to swim. Maybe I didn’t pay attention. His mouth dropped when years later, as an adult, I told him about the afternoon I almost drowned at my best friends house.

Mercedes: He liked Yoga!

This comment brings back my 10-year old self, skipping over him as he holds Cobra Pose.

Mercedes: …candy apple red Alfa Romeo. Guayaberas. He taught me to make Gin and Tonics. He likes to eat :).

Gin and Tonics?!

Analissa’s memory takes her back to high school:  I went to the library to pick a book, I chose One Hundred Years of Solitude by Garcia-Marquez. He read it with me. He went on to read everything by him, took a class on the author and later magical realism. I thought that was cool – he made himself an expert just like that. I once went to play cello for a class he was taking. I forget the class, but I played the same program as Pablo Casals did at the Kennedy White House. I sensed he was proud.

Analissa (younger than the rest of us, never knew dad the lifeguard, but does know dad the swimmer):  I would go swimming with him, since I was a little girl. He taught me to swim. I have specific memories: his cadence and body movement and endurance – his swim bag and goggles, flip-flops and little shampoo bottles. The last time we went swimming I sensed it would be our last time at the pool together. So I stopped and just watched him swim the whole time.

…We once looked up the town he was in, in Germany, on Google Earth. It was exciting for both of us. He had 3 memories: The train station that would take him into town, the ‘biergarten’ where they would drink, and the cathedral where they’d go to church after drinking all night on Saturday, then back to the train station. We found all three of those things, they were still there.
Dad is funny. 

Chacho, my brother, notes John Nichols and the Milagro Beanfield War – When I read it, at Cathedral, he told me it was one of his favorite books.  He would read it at least once a year. He likes Hemingway. When I was reading For Whom the Bell Tolls he would tell me about it. He had the movie on VHS.
His favorite drink is Negra Modelo.
‘El Sapo High’…He says this every time we pass El Paso High School. 

Clearly Dad read a lot and – he suggested I read Cortázar’s Rayuela and also the English translation titled Hopscotch. The book had instructions in it on how to read it. Apparently it bounces from the past to the present. Instructions?! Too complicated dad!
It’s still on my list.

One of my sisters never responded and mom wasn’t sure what to say. She’s in the thick of it with taking care of dad.

As Artist-in-Residence, I focus on dementia and Alzheimer’s this summer.

I sit at my drawing table at the Tempe Center for the Arts, talking to people who come in and share their personal stories about how dementia touches their lives. I’ve connected with professionals on the issue. And last week a chemical engineer visiting the gallery talked to me about President Reagan, who died of Alzheimer’s. He was known to drink a coke a day. This chemical engineer, who spoke 5 languages, told me about a project he took in Japan shortly after graduating and consequently he never drinks out of aluminum cans if he can help it – only bottles for him.

…I know I want these small scratchboards bigger. I admit, this summer it sometimes feels odd to be working with new materials, mixing colors, and laying out ideas.

Raising awareness…my own and yours.

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Tempe, AZ →  Dementia Friendly City
More → The Alzheimers Association
Special TIME Edition June 2018 → The Science of Alzheimers

cortical homunculus

This last week artist friend Tim, who has an undergrad degree in Neurobiology, sends me an image of a figure. Cortical homunculus, thought you mike like it, he writes.  He explains…a map of the nerve receptors in the brain as related to scale on the body. I know the 2D version of this 3D form and immediately  make the connection.

Cortical homunculus! Why didn’t I ever look closer and why didn’t I note the cool name (words always pull me)?  Homunculus is Latin for little man, add cortical and you have a cortex man (a man in the brain!). The depiction basically represent a map of the body, more specific, nerve fibers from the spinal cord, that end at various points in the parietal lobe formulating a map of the body. I see mostly male (it is a little man, after all) though I do find female representations.

Initiated by Dr. Wilder Penfield who envisioned an imaginary world in which a homunculi (a very small humanoid form) lived. He and his colleagues set up experiments to produce a topographical brain map and a corresponding homunculi.

I enjoy working out the composition and now that I understand, I plan to draw more of them. No doubt, my versions will include the female in the brain!

I label as best I can considering the space I set up before I know all that I will include. One side of the homunculus maps the sensory nerves, while the other side maps motor nerves. ↓

Sensory Cortex (sensory body map)

Motor Cortex (motor body map)

Scheduled to facilitate an adult workshop in mid July, for my artist-in-residency, I now consider the color, line and text of the Cortical homunculus.

draw, the art of curiosity and innovation

Artist-in-Residence studio spaces

One of three artist-in-residence, I will spend a couple of days, for the next 12 weeks, at the Tempe Center for the Arts (researching dementia and Alzheimer’s). They (we) set up our 3 studio spaces ↑. Mine includes a desk that resembles the one I have in my home studio. ↓

My studio area, and the beautiful braincase

Now to get used to working in a public space…

Arriving early, I decide to organize a blog post. My computer is not picking up wi-fi. Ahhh… I forgot the USB cable to connect my camera and computer. But hey, my camera works!

I enjoy looking closely at the work as I shoot details.

Ryan Carey

Beth Shook

Carolyn Lavender

Laura Tanner Graham

Christopher Jagmin

Mary Shindell

Matthew Dickson

Hyewon Yoon

Bobby Zokaites (Artist-in-Residence)

Kyllan Maney (Artist-in-Residence)

The gallery includes several art maker ↓ spaces.

Before the afternoon is over these women ↑ (who before entering the gallery were out enjoying Tempe Town Lake) walk over to my table. They want to talk about my work – the drawing of my father in particular. I gather they’re related: mother, daughter and grand-daughter. We talk about their family, aging and dementia. I also talk to a couple of other people including a friend who is an artist.

I drive home knowing we are all in this together. The connector is art.

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We’re working things out. Hours subject to change until they’re not…
I’ll be in studio on Tuesday and possibly Thursday
Kyllan Maney considers Tuesday and Thursday or Saturday.
Bobby Zokaites plans for Wednesday and Saturday.

TCA has a drawing workshops scheduled almost every Saturday for the duration of the summer. More info →  draw: the art of curiosity and innovation
 

neurons and glia (and my father’s brain)

Are you in the neuron? Or is the neuron in you?

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Steeped in the study of the human brain, I am in preparation for an artist residency at the Tempe Center for the Arts. Consequently I know my brain changes as I learn, while I draw, and even now as I write. I mean it is really changing.

And I guess I can say now my father’s brain is changing too. Dad’s been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. For awhile I understand (more or less) he has dementia – I now know (more or less) he has Alzheimer’s. And because my father has Alzheimer’s (the most common form of dementia) I decide to focus this summer’s residency on both the healthy brain and the  brain with dementia.

Where to begin….
The residency calls for me to work at the Tempe Center for the Arts (I am 1 of 3 artists that will be in residence this summer).  I can’t help but consider the public. Actually I am always aware of the public, but more in the form of viewer (of the completed work) and not necessarily as part of the process. I will engage with visitors in a thoughtful manner.

While I’ve drawn many studies of the brain in the last few years, now I feel the need for a brain basics course (101). I consider the primary building blocks of the human brain – neurons and glia (neuralgia).  I spend days looking at imagery including the drawings of Santiago Ramon y Cajal (The Beautiful Brain).

I draw and paint a neuron↓.

Neuron Study

I draw glia ↓.  I didn’t know there’s a variety of glial cells!

These particular cells are key in maintaining homeostasis. I think of them as a sort of maintenance crew (though they’re more than that). While I’ve found different ratios, overall it seems glia outnumber neurons 10 to 1 (I’ve also read 6 to 1, 3.75 to 1).

Oligodentrocytes

Astrocyte

 

Microglial cell

I enjoy detailing the small preliminary study ↓ (not finished yet).
Note: At this point I better understand where abnormal plaques and tangles, as seen in Alzheimer’s, form.

This week my mother sends my father’s brain scans to me. The day the disc arrives, I pop it into my computer. I recognize my dad’s head and  profile. I manage to bring in (and change) the color of the basic black and white scans. I see them light up and they’re beautiful. There are 4 images, 1 rotates while 3 are static. I figure out how to move through layers of the brain. What am I looking at?  I sober up.

I recognize general areas of the brain though I don’t know how to read the particulars of the images. I hope to find someone who can help me make sense of things.

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We’ll be installing in a couple of weeks…
Tempe Center for the Arts

The Gallery at TCA presents
draw: the art of curiosity and innovation
May 25-Sept 1
This interactive exhibition celebrates a wide variety of creative media, styles and techniques that incorporate drawing. The “draw” experience includes fine art displays by local artists, exploration stations for doodling and art making, live artist demonstrations and multiple workshop opportunities for all ages.

Meet Artists-in-Residence through Aug. 3
Kyllan Maney, Monica Aissa Martinez and Bobby Zokaites
 → for more info

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Last month I had the privilege of spending an afternoon with Dr. Jay Braun, ASU Emeritus Professor of Psychology. We talked about the healthy brain and the Alzheimer’s brain. Exercise, he says, is the most important thing one can do to maintain a healthy brain.

I’m off for a run now…

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where art and science intersect

The title to this post is the direction I plan to take a 7-minute talk yesterday.  I discuss both art and science, but I never do say they intersect in my studio – every single day. It’s true. They do.

I am among 4 people Michelle Dock invites to take part in a STEAM themed panel for the annual AZ SciTech conference, held at the Scottsdale Center for the Arts. The general focus for the conference is STEM. I am there to bring ART into the conversation.

Michelle makes introductions. I walk center stage and greet the audience ready to begin -and the only person in my mind, at that moment, is Leonard Da Vinci. I let go of my opening line and talk about him. He designed a tank, a submarine, a flying machine and he brings perspective into the picture plane. He covers all the areas of STEM before STEM even exists. And he certainly covers STEAM. He is the archetypal Renaissance man, I say to the audience.

I don’t plan to begin my talk with Leonardo, but it feels right. Truth is, along with old and new medical illustration books, microscopic photographs and videos – his anatomy study is always somewhere on my drawing table.

From Leonardo I return to the 21st century and introduce my Cell/Map of Phoenix (no photo) and naturally follow with the recently completed Portrait of Sophie, a Study of Trisomy 21. Cell structure, the nucleus, chromosomes, DNA and genes are the connecting threads. I look at her for a good while before I can say anything. I’m struck by how large and bright the form stands on the screen in front of me.

And because I have two minutes to spare, I gather my thoughts and end with my work on mylar,  Anatomy of the Thorax (anterior and posterior view),  influenced by a Gunther von Hagens’ dissection. I refer to him as the Body World’s guy. I can tell by their reaction, the audience knows who he is.  Do they know he’s influenced by Rembrandt? Gunther always appears in public with a fedora, in honor of the painting The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicloaes Tulip.

Can someone tell me why it isn’t STEAM all the time? Art is a powerful language communicating via line, color, texture, form, repetition and all the other elements of design. It enters into all the other fields. If Leonardo was alive today, it would be no other way. Maybe that’s why he takes over my brain…

So … Where do art and science intersect? In my studio, on my drawing table, on my paper and canvas – each and everyday!

Also on the panel:
Michelle Dock, Tempe Center for the Arts (Moderator)
Catyana Falsetti (Forensic Artist)
Dianne Hansford, PhD (Special Modeling)
Konrad Rykaczewski, PhD (Biomimicry)

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You have a few more days to catch STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Arts Mathematics) at the Tempe Center for the Arts. It closes this Saturday, Sept 17th.

no woman is an island

Mary leaves the studio with my house fly. It comes as a surprise when she asks about my bugs and ends up with this small mixed media painting on panel. She looks at two of them. I think she said she liked the creep factor in this work.

I particularly enjoy this afternoon meeting with Mary Erickson. Our paths crossed years ago when I did some things with the Bilingual Press (ASU) through the Hispanic Research Center. More recently I know Mary through the Tempe Center for the Arts, where she is the coordinating consultant for online curriculum. We meet to discuss art, education, and in particular – STE(A)M (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) –
yes both the bold lettering and color enhancement here are mine.

Before we get to work I learn things about Mary – mostly that she is a force. And she is generous. She shares much with me, including that she grew up on a farm. I get insight into how she processes. She tells me how she chooses to situate herself in meetings. As we speak I have to wonder, could I learn to maneuver through life in the way she does? I’d like to.

Our conversation includes health and body awareness (naturally), feminism, culture, as well as age, work and education. I learn the word andragogy, associated to adult education and learning.

We get to our discussion about art and education. She is designing curriculum for a STEAM inspired exhibition organized by the TCA that will include art installations, scientific displays, educational text panels, videos, hands on projects and workshops. My anatomy studies will be a part of the summer presentation.

We go back and forth looking at samples of my work and talking about process and materials while she considers lesson planning. What I forget to tell Mary is that I know of her curriculum through my sister who directed me there some years back – Creating Meaning in Art.

More and more I realize how my work allows me to cross paths with interesting folks. Dr. Mary Erickson is one of those people. She is a Professor of Art at Arizona State University → more.
Thank you much Mary, for everything. I enjoyed our afternoon.

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The blog posts titled No Woman is an Island acknowledge the people and/or organizations who support me and the work I do.

a virtual artist residency

Back in June of 2013, Tempe Center for the Art’s Michelle Dock approached me with this project:

The Gallery at TCA is getting ready to collaborate with several local high school art teachers and ASU professor Dr. Mary Erickson to conduct an innovative art education project. We are calling the project a “virtual artist residency.”

She explained it would entail artists making themselves available via email to a small group of high school students during a 2-week period.

All of the participating students will be given a TCA workbook. The workbook will help them research the assigned artist, develop interview questions and ultimately lead to the making of their own artwork inspired by the residency. Each artist will be assigned to one specific art teacher and that teacher will assign the students to each artist.

Having worked with both Michelle and Mary before, I trusted it would be a worthwhile experience. Though I had no idea what to expect, I accepted. Art teacher Kathy David coordinated the email correspondence and we completed things the first week of December 2013.

Two months later I am pleased to introduce you to the work of Neilly, an IB Visual Arts student. Her list of questions to me were thoughtful and well-prepared. I had to step away from the computer regularly as I carefully considered my responses to her. I won’t give you all the details of the Q and A (because it really is 2 weeks worth of emails!) but I will share a few topics we covered and show you pages from Neilly’s journal.

Neilly began by asking about my Latino background, childhood experiences, and any traditions I might still uphold.  Who might be the audience for your work? she wanted to know. What is it like living in both American and Hispanic cultures? Neilly is Filipino-American.

We discussed some works at length. A drawing titled Gluttony (2008) caught her attention and she questioned how the image reflected American and Latino culture. In addition she wanted to know the media. At her request we covered artistic influences and media specifically in relation to Mexican culture.

She was curious about a community workshop I designed called  the “Who Am I?” project. The questions I ask participants to consider are: Who am I?, What am I?, What is this world and what is my relationship to it? What are ‘your’ answers? she inquired. Eventually I would learn her answers.

We discuss my current body of work titled Nothing in Stasis. She made associations to the work of Gustav Klimt. She watched one of my process videos on YouTube and asked about the background music which I’d composed with another artist.

Clearly Neilly had done a lot of research about my work. I had to wonder if given the opportunity to communicate with an artist, at her age would I have been so astute? 

Finally I ask about her work.

I’m thinking of painting a figure surrounded by persimmons, pomegranates, roses, and grapes – but I will be using a vintage television as my canvas.

We move into a conversation about humanity and technology and the nature of relating in this way. Interestingly enough at this point she brought up a painting titled The World Stage, a play in finite acts – and the phrase Summum bonum. I explain summun bonum is Latin and translates to the highest good.

Here are parts of Neilly’s planning and completion of her artwork. I learn how I influence the final composition. She says it’s with the hands. Hands are powerful symbols.

Before we end the residency Nelly asks about my thoughts on religion and spirituality. She shared her thoughts with me too. The conversation included qualities about humanity as well as the animal world. She shares with me a Japanese symbol called the Red String of Fate and her personal take on it after our residency. It was wonderful insight into what she might have gathered from our interaction.

Neilly and I had the opportunity to discuss general and personal things – that’s what art allows us to do. I am impressed with her ability to communicate and with her curiosity about the ebb and flow of life.

As you may know I teach drawing at Phoenix College and I teach the occasional art workshop to art students throughout the valley. This experience was a very unique and rewarding one.

Neilly came to me very directed and well prepared. I thought we were going to be discussing materials and compositional elements and while we did do that, we covered so much more. It ended on my end as quickly as it began. I didn’t know what to think. I could not have imagined that a few months later I would receive these wonderful images and a video based on the outcome of the experience for her.

I am pleased to note Neilly has been accepted to the Brown University / Rhode Island School of Design dual degree program. Best to you Neilly. I trust you will do well. Bravo!

)

black bird exhibition and bazaar

2013 Black Bird Holiday Bazaar & Exhibition
Temp Center for the Arts Gallery
Dec. 7-Jan. 4

Gallery enthusiasts will enjoy this exhibition with a twist – a fine art exhibition and holiday shopping opportunity rolled into one. Patrons who visit the exhibition will have ample opportunity to purchase holiday gifts and original artworks made by some of their favorite Arizona artists. The exhibition will highlight some of the Arizona artists who have shown in Gallery at TCA exhibitions during the past six years. Holiday Bazaar items include small artworks, limited edition prints, home décor, jewelry, clothing and other holiday gifts.

Denise Yaghmourian
Red House
Fibers and mixed media

Dennis’s Tee’s

Julia Rosa Jones
Clothe Top, detail
turned wood and graphite

Mary Shindell
Satellite 6
Print

Mary’s florals

Monica Aissa Martinez
Raton 
Mixed media on prepared paper
12″ x 12″

– Monica’s art coasters

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And then there’s the manikin’s! Here are two of five.

Mannequin
Christine Sandifur

 Click on image below for process shot of my mannikin.

You Are Here
Monica Aissa Martinez

Dec. 7th – Free Public Opening Reception 6 – 9 p.m. in the Gallery
Gallery Hours:
10 a.m.- 6 p.m., Tues. & Thurs.
10 a.m.- 7 p.m., Wed. & Fri.
11 a.m.- 6 p.m., Sat

TCA closed on De. 25 & Jan 1.
*Purchases from the exhibition and bazaar are available at time of sale.

…lots more. See you in 2 weeks!

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Tempe Center for the Arts
700 West Rio Salado Parkway
Tempe, AZ 85283

View Map | Get Directions

raw @ the tempe library

Christy Brown organizes the Tempe Community Galleries exhibitions. She explains that in conjunction with the Tempe Center for the Arts Gallery’s Smithsonian “Green Revolution” exhibition (which opened last January), all the community gallery shows will have “going green” themes this year.

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Raw opens today. The exhibition focuses on the work of three artists  who are choosing to move away from the use of harsh chemicals and synthetic materials in their work, and are instead working with raw, recycled or organic materials. I am one of those artists, as are Joe Willie Smith and Aimee León.

Artists
Aimee León
An artist and certified sheep shearer, uses natural raw wool along with recycled industrial materials. The show includes a number of her small and soft – object forms . Most are beautiful tactile vessels. I want to touch them all.

Joe Willie Smith
A multi-media artist and musician includes works in metal.  He works with found objects and repurposed material. He talks in general about finding just the right piece and then in particular about the white form below – how he scratched/drew on it one early morning to catch both the light and shadow of the sunrise.

I have several posts about Joe Willie’s work and our collaborative effort at sound making – which I’ve used as background for all the Nothing In Stasis videos.

Raw includes a number of my paintings and one small drawing. I work with organic material, primarily egg tempera and casein.  I like to refer to my mediums as egg and milk. This work below uses casein as underpainting, and egg tempera as the surface color.

Vital Commotion #4

Delivery and Install
I plan to drop off work and head back to the studio to paint, but when I learn Joe Willie is in the exhibit and he’ll be dropping work off, I wait for him. And as it all plays out we spend the morning working with installer, James Sulac.  Before Christy leaves for the morning she mentions how the work might hang. She asks which side of the wall I want my work on and I tell her. But after Joe Willie arrives and we begin seeing how interestingly things connect, we suggest the work hang in the space mixing together. Below are a few install shots.

I understand we connect in terms of the raw materials theme, but as I look at everything I appreciate Christy’s eye more and more. The organic forms of León’s soft sculpture connects to the light forms and color in my paintings and to [the appearance] of softness in 2 of Willie’s larger pieces.

And you probably can’t tell from these photos (below) but the colors and lines in Joe’s work connect to my use of the same design elements. The acid green of his sculpture (below) runs right through the mid-section of my painting to the left, and is high-lighted by reddish pink points in both works. Joe Willie decides grouping his smaller pieces salon style will enhance the grouping of shapes in my compositions, and vice versa.

I regret not getting shots of another wall where León’s wall pieces hang along side Joe’s and my work, a similar soft glow of lavender and blue shows up. Somehow all the work organizes between fragility and strength.

It’s Raw and you’ll just have to go see for yourself.

WHAT: Raw
WHERE: Tempe Public Library
(Lower Level Youth Library)
WHEN: Now to Dec 4th

The Tempe Public Library is located at
3500 S Rural Rd
Tempe, AZ 85282.

As you arrive watch for the Museum marker below, on the corner of Southern and Rural.

For more info on show and for artists’ statements click on  → Raw

arizona landscapes @ tempe center for the arts

“I stand for what I stand on.”
― Edward Abbey

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What comes to mind when you think Arizona Landscape?  That’s right, this show is that, and then more.

Michelle Dock, Gallery Director of Tempe Center for the Arts, says of the exhibit:
It’s a diverse group of 13 Arizona based artists. Each of them have a different frame of mind, a different approach, different media that they use to make their artwork, but they’re all talking about  the Arizona landscape in one form or another.

Panorama from Point Sublime by Mark Klett

This is a long horizontal print by artist Mark Klett. I broken it into 3 parts to fit it into the post. Details are pretty wonderful.

Panorama from Point Sublime

Panorama from Point Sublime

Dock continues…
Some of the artist in the show have a very straight forward way of showing their landscape … we recognize the location. … they just present in a new way.

Business As USual by Craig Cheply

Homage to Ruscha by Craig Cheply

…Other artists are reinterpreting what the landscape  means, what the landscape can be… was…is going to be.

An Arizona Dinner Party by Roger Assay and Rebecca Davis

Little Colorado

Santa Maria River setting

The exhibit has something to offer for everybody.  Some of the artwork is really beautiful artwork that is calming, soothing. Some of the artwork makes you think and maybe have you change the way you’re doing things.  It’s a great way for families to come and enjoy some time, looking, at Arizona and learning about Arizona…the history and the society that  has developed here in such a short amount of time, which is only 100 years.

Heat, Dust, Vapor by Mary Shindell

Mary Shindell’s work includes grounded and abstracted, vertical cacti tubes. Hovering above eye level is a representation of a cloud of heat, dust, and vapor.  She incorporates sound into the installation.  Listen closely for a coyote or two.

Heat, Dust, Vapor by Mary Shindell

Arizona Landscapes opened on Feb. 11 and will run through June 9.
Gallery hours 
10 a.m. to 6 p.m.,
Tuesday through Friday
11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday
Admission is free

more at →Tempe Center For the Arts 

Below, videos of three of the artists in the exhibition. I planned to include only one, but each artist shares something unique to themselves.
Mary Shindell talks about living in AZ and her process, Mark Klett discusses important decisions that had to be made at one point-in-time, and Merrill Mahaffey shows you his bags (yes bags!) of pigment.

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A side note:

Mary Shindell's model for the cloud formation completed for Arizona Landscapes.

It seems a good time for a quick mention that Mary, Carolyn Lavender and me, will be working together again in Jan of 2013… art and process, process and art. We’re excited to  bring new ideas and new work to a new exhibit in a great space (MAC). More later.

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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