Exploring Borders

Pattern Play

When setting out on a new adventure, it's best to decide a mode of travel first. I suppose if you knew the destination, that would help. When I'm in the studio, I never know the destination....I just set out! I do find when setting out to explore some new ideas through the process of making art, choosing some of the formal qualities, helps me set sail, so to speak. I love the square format and as my readers know, I also love paper! I'm also intrigued by compositions that are split in half, with both sides having a kind of conversation with one another. And pattern....well, I could get lost in making tiny lines, layering drawing on drawing, delighting in the surprises that unfold.

So, I'm off on another exploration with these parameters: 11" square (suitable for a 12"x12" shadow box frame), B.F.K. Rives paper (sturdy enough to take a bit of paint, as well as ink), in compositions that are divided in half. I don't know the destination, but through these formal means, I can explore:

the way different patterns interact with one another

the way different materials play against each other

the notion of borders, as the content on one side comments on the other

the idea of juxtaposition

illuminating sameness and difference

relationship of micro and macro

an expression of an as-yet-unknown content

and more!

Because I work intuitively, I find the meaning of the work through the process of making itself. This means that I am often frustrated, as I can never seem to set out with the content of what I want to say in mind, and make anything worth sharing with the world. The flip side of this is that, through the process of observation and listening, both inside and out, as I draw....the work tells me what it is about. I never know....until I know....through the inner voice that speaks, in a language only I can hear. 

The piece above, is a kind of prototype, a maiden venture in the new 11 x 11" "vessel". I came across some of the paper my husband often uses for printing and found it suited my needs....good thing he has a nice stash of it! I'm not sure where I'm going with this, but I'll report in on the progress. 

Here are a couple more just started....I think this will be fun!

Today's daily drawing continues the exploration of the format!

Daily drawing, November 1, 2016

Amazingly warm here in South Dakota for November 1st...upper sixties and pushing 70. I keep hearing people say it's supposed to be a bad winter, which remains to be seen. At least we will have had the longest lasting autumn I can recall! Cheers!

Studio Update: Paper Quilt, Part 2

The paper quilt is still in progress....at this stage, it is loosely pieced together in sections with those little rectangle bits, which are cut pieces of paper from an old book.  I glued those tiny text bits onto the pieces and then dipped the 4 sections in beeswax, so now I will stitch the whole thing to another sheet of Japanese paper....we'll see where this goes!

I like the idea of quilts and want to see where I can go with the idea using paper instead of cloth. Time to head off into a new frontier, exploring some new territory.

Meanwhile, the temperatures are definitely becoming more summer-like.....a bit too warm at times. But, I'm excited that the fireflies are back! We so much enjoy sitting out on the porch as the darkness descends, when the last of the birds quiet their songs. The dance of the fireflies ends the day with just the right touch of magic. 

Cheers!

Recent Entries From The Commonplace Book

Hello.....welcome to a new week of spring! The focus of my Monday posts will be sharing some passages I've recorded in my commonplace book from recent reading. My post from April 4th was an introduction to the idea of the commonplace book and a bit about my rediscovery of the one I started decades ago, if you are not familiar with the commonplace book.

I've been doing a fair amount of reading lately and such wonderful books (non-fiction) that I have been filling the pages in my commonplace book at a pretty rapid clip. Today, I'd like to share some of the inspiration I got from reading and seeing the work of Edmund de Waal, a British artist and author that you may have heard of by now. Some years ago he wrote a memoir The Hare With Amber Eyes, which I cannot recommend highly enough.

photo courtesy of Hazlitt.net

I was anxious to read his new book, The White Road, which focuses on a search for the history of porcelain. De Waal is a beautiful writer and speaks of himself as a potter who writes, rather than a writer who makes pots, but I find both his writing and his work breathtaking. While I was glued to The White Road, I began reading the monograph on Edmund de Waal and his work, both of which kept me reaching for my commonplace book to make notes. Rather than making simple individual pots, the works are transformative installations of multiples, often by the hundreds. If I have a chance to see his work in this country, I will certainly make a concerted effort to do it.

De Waal's writing speaks to me, to my own artistic practice and his work, well...it fills me with longing, which I've come to realize is the highest complement I can give. I think the deepest reaches of our being are beyond language and when I see work or read language that strikes that chord of deep longing, I know I am in love.

Here are just a couple of passages I've noted in my commonplace book from the monograph, Edmund de Waal:

I make porcelain. I make objects out of porcelain. I sit at my wheel It is low and I am tall. I hunch. There is a ziggurat of balls of porcelain clay to my left, a waiting pile of ware boards to my right, a small bucket of water, a sponge, a knife, and a bamboo rib shaped like a hand axe in front of me. I have a cloth in my lap to wipe my hands. There is music. I pick up a ball and throw it into the centre of the wheel. Today, like yesterday and like tomorrow, I am making nothing grander than a cylinder. Barely a vessel, more a sketch of a pot, an inside and a straight profile, the merest impression of my hand and then my impressed seal. All those iterative movements of art, wrist and hand, time after time after time. I am making a series of volumes, contained spaces: each vessel is a breath, and I am counting time.

I turn, and there are my boards of porcelain vessels, still damp. They gleam softly. And then I ask myself, which story shall I tell? What is tellable and what is untellable. What do I pick up and where do I put it down?

....and a few pages later....

...Why not start with objects and make a room in which to hold them, a space where the light comes through porcelain, hold them in the air like thoughts or clouds? A shelf is an open line, just as a vitrine is a kind of page. A shelf can act as a pair of brackets, objects can sit like the 'five stanzas stalled in brackets', to borrow Anne Carson's phrase of a poem of Paul Celan's. 

Where shall I put this jar? Above you in the attic where your most treasured and problematic objects are consigned? Below you in a vitrine sunk into the ground, so that it is chanced upon? It matters, because where you find things in the world, how near you are to them, if you can touch them or not, is as much a part of the language of objects as their colour, their use.

If you've not seen the poetic ceramic installations of Edmund de Waal, nor read any of his writing, I urge you to seek him out. You will be lifted up...and out...and returned to yourself richer for the experience. 

Spring Meditation

Mid-March greetings! We had a nice getaway to the Twin Cities over the spring break, but as everyone knows, taking a break from the routine often creates more work once you try to get back to it. But things are unpacked, laundry is done and I got to spend enough time in the studio yesterday to make two new drawings!

I've always loved white-on-white, but I fell in love with it all over again when I started adding white ink to the daily drawings I had been making of late. So, to extend it, I've made these two new pieces that start with pencil and white ink on Japanese paper. These are two different types of Japanese paper, one of which is much warmer than the other. The finished drawings are backed with a warm toned drawing paper, so they don't appear actually as white paper anymore, actually.

Spring Meditation in White

Finding Home

The white ink actually looks fairly inconsequential when I'm making the drawing...in fact, on the top one, it is barely visible....until the finished drawing hits the beeswax and then the richness and the contrast comes out. A bit like magic!

Speaking of meditation....last week I had a brief conversation with the gentleman that was taking care of a few "handyman" tasks around the house. He actually has an engineering background and seemed genuinely interested in the work that my husband and I do in our studios, which comprise the entire downstairs of the house.  As most of my readers know by now, I am the opposite of an engineer in temperament and in the intuitive way I work, so I was momentarily speechless as to how to answer him when he asked, "So where do you get your ideas?" He was working on changing the ballasts on some of the lights in my studio (so I could actually see again!) and I was working on a drawing. I relayed my usual response about thinking through my hands and the intuitive nature of how I work and thought, even as the words escaped my lips, how very strange that must sound to someone who works in a left-brain precision based world. It's quite a leap and hard to describe what it actually means to me when I say I think through my hands. I don't have "ideas" when I start....the work flows through me. I sound like some sort of nut! This brief moment made me question my assumptions about how I communicate just what it is I do...the how and the why of it. So, I've been thinking...

But maybe it makes more sense if I make an analogy that more people can relate to. What if I say...it's like taking a walk. How do you get the idea of how you are going to take your walk? You just put one foot in front of the other and keep moving....if you don't have a destination in mind, you saunter along....or even walk at a brisk pace, but you really aren't thinking so distinctly about the activity. You just take a walk....it's hard to describe that too, but it's something most of us do. Does that even make sense as an analogy? When I make a drawing, it's kind of like taking a walk and I don't know where I'll end up....I just put one foot in front of the other, so to speak It's one thingto be talking to another artist and say, "I think through my hands" and quite another to speak to someone for whom that will sound like a foreign language. 

Communication is important and how we relate to one another is so embedded in the communication between people. One of the many things that has stuck with me from my recent class in Intercultural Communication is that we cannot not communicate. Everything we do....our gestures, facial expressions, the spaces we inhabit and the words we use.....everything is communication. One simple conversation with a near stranger asking some genuine questions about my work is an opportunity for creating new insights and clearing new pathways as a result of the communication that unfolds. A reminder to be mindful!

I do hope you have a fine week. Love hearing from you and welcome your comments and insights!

Cheers....Patti

Infinite Possibility

Greetings from Missouri Bend Studio! I'm seeing a lot of the studio these days, as I immerse myself in creating an entire new body of work for an exhibition in a few weeks at Briar Cliff University in Sioux City. What a perfect opportunity to allow the creative process to unfold, unleashing  unforeseen possibilities and any number of surprises. I spend my days working in the midst of mildly creative chaos as my desk becomes increasingly cluttered, things spilling over into any working space available.

 I give myself a few days of building toward complete chaos and then it all becomes too much and everything is put back in place....buttons and beads dumped back in bowls or containers, embroidery thread stuffed in the basket, all the bits of collage material piled together and pens and pencils shoved into their holders. Not 5 minutes goes by before the bits are all being pulled back out for use. It's quite a comical process, really....but along the way I am amazed with the amount of work I am finishing. That's one of the surprises.

For this series of 8 x 8" mixed media pieces, the plan is to hang them in a grid format--3 sets of 9 each. I am now finished with 22 of them, so 5 more to go. It seems kind of bad luck to show the pieces in their finished state, so for now, I'll just share a few snippets of some. Hope you will forgive the awful photography....taken with my cel phone on the fly!

 I've become ever more aware as I complete these pieces one by one, that the possibilities are truly endless. In other words, I have a sense of infinite possibility. While I have the pressure of the show coming up, I am still relaxed and always aware that I could explore other avenues, do this or that other thing for the next piece. In a way, the creative process actually can be described as a series of decisions.

This was articulated perfectly by Gerhard Richter in the film we watched last night Gerhard Richter Painting, which I highly recommend. I gained a great deal of insight into his process and a respect for his sensibilities as an artist. Artists are always queried about their process and how they know when a piece is finished. For me, it's a conversation with the work and it unfolds in an organic way, unscripted, like a true conversation. But as Gerhard Richter describes it, each piece almost begins with infinite possibilities and moves through a series of choices and the piece is finished when there are no choices left to make. That sounds almost mechanical, doesn't it? In fact, it was quite the opposite....magical, really. It was, for me, both to watch him in the process and to understand that the way he articulated the process of making a work made perfect sense to me. 

I'm still in the flow and feel a bit like I'm in wonderland. So very thankful for the amazingly wonderful and supportive husband I have! For now, being in the studio is where I belong...I'm in the moment....I'm happy to procrastinate about thinking of the future! 

The Touchstone Voice

The tug-of-war has gotten underway....well, maybe that's casting a rather negative gloom over the creative process. But, there are moments when it feels like a tug-of-war! Do you often feel there are countless voices at work inside you, each with their own take on giving you just the right advice?

You can't listen to everyone of course, and for me the secret is tuning out the others and just listening to the unnamed voice that I learned to trust probably 15 years ago. I'd been making art before that for decades, but somehow I began to trust myself and the work that is truly my own began to come forth. It was only then that I knew that I'd slipped into my own skin as an artist. Maybe I'll call it my touchstone voice.

It's a quiet voice, one that encourages letting go and trusting. And there's the big struggle....giving over control and allowing the process to unfold in its own time. Patience is required.

Of course, my ego wants to control the work, wants to bring to life the vision in my head. That's the first step in letting go and eventually it happens with me, because I'm forced to admit defeat by hitting the wall. When the work goes badly session after session, I know, if I'm listening to the touchstone voice, it's because I haven't let go. Here's how the touchstone would speak to me, if it happened in straightforward English, which it doesn't, because I think the touchstone speaks in a kind of pre-language.

"Forget that idea in your head, it's coming from the wrong place....you'll see the essence of that idea come to be, but it's not going to happen the way you are going about it. You are waiting and pacing by the front door for something to happen, but the work is going to come to you through the back door, wearing clothing you won't at first recognize. It will come like an apparition, in layers, building slowly. It may take some time to materialize, but you'll recognize it when it does."

And it's true. At least for me, the best work I've made happens that way. You've never seen the other stuff, because it never gets finished. Those pieces get tossed out or those first "cognitive thinking" attempts get painted over and I let the work emerge as it wants to. I quit watching the front door and sit quietly, waiting for the creaky sound of the back door opening.

So the photos here are a work in progress...the back door is unlatched and open. Lots of layers of gouache, lots of letting go, building I know not what exactly. I don't know where this is going....the "me" with the old worn out brush in my hand....I'm the last to know. Sometimes that conversation and the struggle happens in another room out of my hearing and I can actually enjoy the process. Like here....I'm enjoying watching this piece unfold. This is gouache on a luscious, sturdy handmade paper. Eventually, I'd like to have some sewing on it as well....and just whose voice is that?

I must leave this piece for a time as my husband and I travel to visit family for the holidays. Wishing you peace and joy this season. I'll keep in touch on my travels. Cheers!

Crossing the River

I've been thinking a lot about another book I recently read, one that I will cherish for a long time to come. Nine Ways To Cross A River by Akiko Busch is a beautifully written tale of swimming across rivers (nine of them to be exact) both literally and metaphorically. While her ventures in seeking out and navigating particular rivers to swim across is fascinating, what most resonates for me is the metaphor of the river, the notion of the crossing and negotiating the current. 

We are each engaged in navigating the river throughout our lives. Maybe because I live on the Missouri (seen below), the river is always present in my life and in my work as a metaphor for the journey we each undertake. Lately, I've come to think of the importance of any particular moment in our lives as an intersection of time and place. And, if we imagine that our life, from birth to death, is the crossing of the river from one side to the other, then our location in that journey is met with the waters that are flowing downstream, from the past to the future. This is where we find ourselves at any moment, navigating the current. Sometimes the current is so strong it threatens to take us under, in others we find ourselves swept downstream during our crossing. And yet, we long for those moments when we can cross without struggle, able to relax and enjoy the view, completely in the flow. Our crossing encompasses all these experiences and more, all of which are difficult to articulate.

I've begun what might become a series of drawings about this idea of the intersection, finding ourselves a particular point in time and in place. Below is a tiny snippet of one of the drawings....really just a layering of marks, lines that come to resemble flow...possibly the flow of a river, even without trying to draw the flow of a river...if that makes sense. This is just the beginning of this layered mark making....I will see where it takes me as lines build, one on top of the other.

I think the inspiration for this notion came to me from glancing over at one of the daily drawings I'd made the day before, as seen below. This reminds me of the importance of the daily drawings and the fact that they are made without thinking, without trying....the only effort is in keeping the hand moving until I feel the moment of making is over. Because it is completely internal and comes from a place without language, I sometimes see patterns and other things that trigger new thoughts and ways of seeing. We all operate from this place throughout our lives in ways we don't realize...but more on that another time!

Now, it is time for me to get back to work, juggling the school work with the studio work. I will say that the studio is definitely gaining the upper hand! I hope you are finding yourself in the flow of your particular river, not struggling against a strong current. 

I will leave you with this quote from W. H. Auden, referenced in Nine Ways to Cross a River. 

"Great art is clear thinking about mixed feelings." 

Thanks for reading...it gives me cheer to know you are out there!

The Muses....

The Muses have me on a need-to-know basis these days....which is actually just fine, as I now realize that it's the way I work best. It means the internal conversation is flowing and that I'm listening more than thinking, which in my case, is a very good thing. I'm working on a pretty large piece (24"x24" is quite large for me!) on a cradled clayboard, which is being created as part of fundraiser for the Design Center in Sioux Falls. I LOVE the coated surface of this panel and also that it doesn't need to be framed....anyway, I'm quite getting away from my original point. Between feeling my way on this project and my work on the continuing Notes From The Ancestors series, I "know" just enough to take the next step on each piece. There is some kind of magical "knowing" that emerges, just at the right time, as if I am being told exactly what step to take and why. Beyond that, I don't know where the piece is going and I certainly don't see it ahead of time in its final outcome....but at each new stage, when the time is right, I am given the next bit and so I move forward on the work, inch by inch. It is a slow way of working and if I don't sense the next step forward, I just step back and walk away from the piece, until the magic envelope is slipped under the door of my psyche by those dear invisible Muses. Where would I be without them?!

Notes From The Ancestors no.12

detail

detail

Lately, I've been starting to acknowledge some of the slow realizations that have been lurking beneath the surface for awhile. I know many of you (dear and faithful readers) are artists as well, working through your own creative process, struggling to find the time to make the work that you are called to make. The internet has obviously transformed our lives in so many magnificent ways....I am amazed by all the wonderful connections and friends I've made across the world....and yet, there are some aspects that I fear I'm going to have to let drop. This blog is not one of them....the exchange that happens here has meaning for me and I hope for you, as well. I'm talking about all the social media networking that we are told is a must in order to be successful, especially with an online shop (or 2). With the likes of Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, there are just way too many ways of following and being followed. Everything has to be some sort of tool for exposure. Huge amounts of time that can be spent on Etsy creating and making treasuries to get your work seen by those who might be interested in making a purchase. The image that comes to mind in trying to keep up with all of it is that poor, tired mouse on that endlessly spinning wheel in his cage.  

Not only is it all time consuming, taking me away from the studio, but there doesn't seem to be any payoff. Either I am mismanaging this social media thing, or it is just a bottomless pit. Being in the studio has meaning for me, as it allows me to explore an evolving understanding of humanity and my place in the larger cosmos. This blog has meaning for me, as it provides the possibility for meaningful dialogue (something more than sound bites) with people I will never have a chance to meet face to face. Spending time with books, engaged in reading means a great deal to me, as language and ideas are a major source of nourishment. Slowing down enough to enjoy the process of cooking and savoring the deliciousness of food....that too is important. And there must be time to enjoy the company of my husband, who is way over too committed himself....but I think we both seek a simpler life.

I'd love to hear your thoughts about how you navigate the world of social media....actually, the real question is whether anyone else is wondering if all these tantalizing ways to spend time on the computer are not just creating a smoky haze that threatens to stifle our ability to breathe. 

The dailies for the last few days are here....and listed in my shop (15% off with coupon code: AUTUMNSALE)

October 10, 2012

October 11 2012

October 12, 2012

Thanks for reading....always do love to hear from you, so feel free to drop a line. Once I get my own time realigned I'll get back to reading the blogs that I've followed....another part of life that seems to have dropped away! Hope you have a fine weekend!

Notes To The Ancestors

"Balance is not a fixed point, but rather an ongoing internal conversation." -- Jason Crandell
(Jason Crandell is our yoga "instructor" on our favorite yoga DVD....)

Hello! Hope this post finds you well and having a good start to your week. More developments and evolutions (revolutions!) here during this last week, as each day brought a new insight or confirmation. When I last wrote, I was creating my own "ledger" pages for the daily drawings, which was a vast improvement over the pre-printed ones and brought me closer to the "right"place, which you can only recognize when you are there...well, even then you can't describe it, it's just the "yes" place. I was still using the machine made drawing paper and though I was settling in a little more comfortably with the drawings, there remained a sense of unease and I began to understand that it was the paper itself. I had been trying to use water soluble crayons and some ink washes and was pretty limited because the paper wasn't made for wet media. So, I was anxious to get to the store to investigate paper. Well, living in a small town doesn't provide many opportunities for perusing art supplies, even when one ventures the hour away to the biggest city we've got in the state, Sioux Falls.

August 14, 2012

August 15, 2012

August 16, 2012

August 17, 2012

I settled on a pad of paper made for mixed media....one daily drawing later, I knew that it was a mistake, but it did lead me to knowing what I should have known all along....handmade paper. The commercial, machine made paper doesn't have the life force in it somehow....it's hard edged, stark white and doesn't have any softness or spirit. And naturally, the new mixed media paper was super stiff and thick. Turns out I'd gone in the opposite direction....I was worse off with the new paper, but at least it didn't take long to recognize what I did need.

August 18, 2012

 My supply of Japanese paper and the beautiful corn husk paper I bought last year are in short supply, as that's what I use for the Notes From the Ancestors. But, the next morning I used a sheet of Japanese paper and it felt just like coming home.....not only that, there was the slow dawning realization that if the other body of work I am making is collectively called Notes From The Ancestors then of course, these daily drawings are Notes TO the Ancestors. It's all a conversation with time, memory and our collective history. Home base. Sunday's drawing and today's (19th and 20th) are on the Japanese paper....it all feels just right.

August 19, 2012

August 20, 2012

I've ordered a good amount of delicious paper from Bhutan from Hiromi Paper and can't wait for it to arrive. Then I can focus on envelopes! I love that there is a circular notion to the work going on in the studio....each morning I ask questions and speak to the "ancestors" through the drawings and as time allows during the week or on my precious days off, I work on the Notes From The Ancestors where my thoughts and insights reveal themselves.

All the drawings shown here can be found at MissouriBendMusings. Oh....and I keep forgetting to mention that I'm having a big sale at MissouriBendStudio with 25% off everything through the end of August. It's time for the little dears to find new homes! The long table in my studio that holds the work from both shops is getting quite full! Take a peek....maybe you'll find the just the right thing. If so, enter the coupon code: ENDOFSUMMER when you check out.

Thanks so much for the conversation here....your thoughts and insights are so very helpful to me!!! See you in a few days, I hope! Have a great week....

Ledger Pages 2.0

Wow....hard to believe it's already been a week since I've been here to let you know what's going on in the studio and in life! I must have been pretty busy Friday, but now it feels so long ago, don't know what I was up to! Meanwhile I've been plugging away on the ledger pages and one of the comments by  Susan Bowers on last week's post provided a moment of revelation that changed the course of things. I had mentioned the idea of sending these pages to any buyers in an envelope, like a personal letter. The piece could still be framed or displayed, but the notion of the envelope echoed the idea of documentation. As I had talked about seeking the right envelope, Susan mentioned that she and Fiona Dempster are going to be collaborating on a project that will involve envelopes and they'll be making their own and I might think about doing the same. Of course!!! Why wouldn't I just make the envelopes? Not surprisingly, it was only a short time before it dawned on me that I needed to be making the ledger pages themselves!

It was the answer to the problem I didn't quite know I was having. I had been working on pages that I printed from an online source of various ledger pages in various formats and was planning to buy some, but couldn't quite bring myself to purchase any. The pages were unfolding each day, but I felt somewhat estranged from them, although I didn't actually know it at the time...I only see it in retrospect. But Susan's comment and the subsequent light bulb going on over my head, made me realize that there was a disconnect between the sterile, hard edge grid of the ledger pages and the kind of marks I make. It was working as a daily practice, but a shift was needed for me to feel good about them as visual statements in and of themselves. So I hauled the small tabletop lightbox from Johntimothy's studio into mine and made a bare bones template of my homemade ledger page....not a format that would in any way be useful for an accountant, that's for sure! Now, before I make each day's drawing, I trace the basic grid on the lightbox and then add more lines making the grid denser and incorporating it in various ways into the drawing. This gives me a chance to show you more of last week's drawings on the pre-printed ledger paper and then beginning with Saturday, August 11th on my hand-drawn pages. Hopefully you'll agree that it's an improvement. Susan, thanks so much for the comment and suggestion for the envelopes....you helped me make a huge leap! And now, to develop those envelopes...stay tuned!

August 7, 2012

August 8, 2012

August 9, 2012

August 10, 2012

August 11, 2012

August 12, 2012

August 13, 2012

My apologies for those fluorescent colored bars going across some of the pieces....they are NOT in the photographs, but seem to be making a guest appearance only here on Blogger, alas.

Before I sign off and head for bed to rest up for the work week ahead, wanted to show you the latest two additions to the Notes From the Ancestors series...no.5 and no. 6 are here and can be found (and purchased) through my website, robertspizzuto.com. I do love making this series....the format allows for so many possibilities to play together on the page.

Okay, it's late and I'm quite tired....hope your week has started off on the right foot and your week unfolds with delightful surprises and revelations!

Cheers!

The Space In Between

Hello everyone....it's the start of Memorial Day weekend here in the U.S.....any special plans you are excited about? I'm having a quiet time, as my husband is at a family reunion which I couldn't attend since I'm now a working gal with a new job! But, I'm going to enjoy the time in the studio, reading and musing about any number of things....in fact, I've already begun. When I was last here earlier in the week, I mentioned my revisitation with the humble dot as a repetitive mark. I will say that sitting quietly at the studio table, making unlimited points of ink on a page allows me to muse endlessly....about the dots as moments in time, individuals in a sea of humanity, grains of sand that was ashore with each new wave. And the proximity of those tiny marks....well, that's another whole catalog of thoughts. The pattern that emerges on the page relates to the proximity of the dots. As I played with varying their distance from one another I thought about the space between things and how one can always find an empty field between two "somethings" to insert something else....and isn't that a way to think about infinity? There is always space between, even when it doesn't seem so at all. When two things appear to have no space between them, it's really just an illusion, isn't it....a function of our limited perception? There are always moments between moments....when time opens up and out. There is always a space between.

And all that reminded me of my astonishment some time ago when I relearned a little something about the basics of the universe in the wonderful and quite aptly named book by Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything. I've just gotten my worn copy off the shelf. Not that I have any real understanding of quantum physics or physics of any kind....yet, these notions on page 141 give me pause....

"....if an atom were expanded to the size of a cathedral, the nucleus would be only about the size of a fly--but a fly many thousands of times heavier than the cathedral....." and a sentence or two later "It is still a fairly astounding notion to consider that atoms are mostly empty space, and that the solidity we experience all around us is an illusion. When two objects come together in the real world--billiard balls are most often used for illustration--they don't actually strike each other. 'Rather', as Timothy Ferris explains, 'the negatively charged fields of the two balls repel each other...were it not for their electrical charges they could, like galaxies, pass right through each other unscathed.' When you sit in a chair, you are not actually sitting there, but levitating above it at a height of one angstrom (a hundred millionth of a centimeter), your electrons and its electrons implacably opposed to any closer intimacy."


Many more dots to go, but I have to say that I really enjoy making these tiny marks....watching the spaces in between open up like a floating whisper. A small but infinite joy.

There are some fresh dailies for the week posted over at MissouriBendMusings if you'd like to check them out. Now, it's time to wind down the day and get some shut eye. I'm working tomorrow, but then Sunday and Monday are mine for the musing!  Hope you have a fine weekend....see you in a few days.

Inspirations: Karen Anne Glick

Welcome to another Inspirations post. For those of you who didn't see my post at the end of last week, just wanted to introduce you to the featured artist for the month, Karen Anne Glick. Karen Anne is also deeply engaged in an artwork-a-day process....with small quilts!

We discovered each other on Etsy nearly simultaneously and had a hilarious period of  conversation crossing the "wires" of cyber space. She is another kindred spirit and I hope you enjoy seeing her work and hearing the thoughtful responses to my questions!  The questions are interspersed with a selection of some of my favorites from her shop....but really, it was so hard to choose from among them...what gems!!

April 24, 2012

I find your quilts such beautiful gems of color and abstraction....just how did you come to the point of deciding to make one a day and post them in a new shop?

I think I just  finally reached a point of disgust and desperation. I wasn't feeling authentic with what I was doing. I was producing work, but sporadically. I had a plethora of ideas, but "the committee" - that group of critics that takes up residency in my brain all too frequently - had gotten the upper hand and was making me second guess everything I did. I felt bludgeoned by them. And by my ego, too. It persisted in claiming "artist" status which felt fraudulent. It was time for a change. So...I took down my professional website and charted a new path. I began listening to my heart more intently. I knew I needed to dedicate myself to climbing the stairs to my studio each and every day and just do something - anything - I just needed to DO IT. I looked at the stacks of fabric I've accumulated and the piles of books on quilting I've collected and I considered the fact that I've sewn for 50 + years and always loved it.  It slowly dawned on me that I could make a small quilt each day, especially if I threw out the rules about turned edges and precise piecing and clipped threads. I kept the tradition of three layers, but nothing else. I also decided that I would offer the quilts for sale. I've always had a hard time selling my original works and I wanted very much to get over that. I wanted to make the quilts, listen to what they had to tell me, and then set them free. Since I already had the Etsy shop set up - it sat empty for many years - it was easy to decide to post them there. No sales yet, but that isn't really important because when I post the quilts they are, in my mind, "sold". I'm happy to report that I've heard nary a word from "the committee" since the first quilt! It's really quite amazing to me that they are leaving me alone, but I guess listening to my heart just drove them away. The quilts have taught me so much in the short time I've been making them - about listening, allowing, accepting, honoring, and letting go - all good things to learn as I embrace the cronehood phase of my life. I've found a peace that's palpable and I'm finding that I'm content to stay and work in the studio now even after the day's quilt is finished and posted. I'm scheduled to have a show in August so it's encouraging to be excited about the work I'm doing for that.

March 21, 2012

Can you tell us a bit about your background and path(s) you've taken in life?

I was born into a Navy family, I was a naval officer, and I married a naval officer, so suffice it to say, I've moved around a lot and adapt well to change. I was always a creative kid with a HUGE imagination so I guess it was inevitable that I would be a studio major in college. Before college, though, I was lucky to be able to attend Punahou (where our president went!) for two years when my father was stationed in Hawaii. Their art program was separately endowed and incredible. It was there that I began to feel confident that I could express myself visually. I attended classes at the Corcoran for a year after high school (I graduated in VA) and then transferred to the George Washington University where I graduated in 1972. The late 60's/early 70's was when the Washington Colorists - Kenneth Noland, Anne Truitt, Gene Davis, etc. were actively making their mark in the art world. Even though I wasn't really aware of their importance at the time, I can see their influence in my quilts. (Robert Stackhouse, the sculptor, taught drawing at Corcoran then and I've always been more aware of his influence on my work.) After I graduated from college I couldn't find a job that didn't require typing and I didn't want to type. I applied for a commission in the Navy and went  through Officer Candidate School and before I knew it I had started a grand adventure! In my first assignment I had a division of 47 men, a male secretary, and equal pay! Not a bad deal in those days! I stayed on active duty for 9 years and then retired from the reserves as a CDR with 24 years of service. I was always able to work my art into my jobs somehow - designing command t-shirts for picnics, being Art Director for a publication, etc. - and I always managed to find time to do small drawings or watercolors along with designing and making things to wear. After I left active duty I did post grad work in Textiles at the University of San Diego and was accepted into the MFA program at CalState Long Beach. Life intervened, however, and I never completed the program. We had our first child, moved to Japan, then moved to RI where our second daughter was born...and moved frequently after that. I always persisted with my art, though, and have been fortunate to gain some recognition and awards for my work through the years. I taught 4k-8th grade Visual Art at a private school in Memphis TN and, after moving to PA I was Curator of Visual Resources at Dickinson College for 9 years. 

Now I am happily retired and can finally spend more time with my work.

How about any paths not taken....anything you wish you might have done differently?

You know, when you've taken as many paths as I have, there really aren't many you haven't taken - so, no, I'm really happy with all the twists and turns of my life. I've been so fortunate to experience so much and live in wonderful places all over the world. I fantasize every now and then about getting an MFA because I've always loved the idea of diving head first into my work for an extended period, but then I realize that's what I'm finally doing each and every day and I'm not having to pay tuition! 

March 20, 2012

Are you currently and/or have you been working in with other mediums in your artistic  practice?

Photography, collage, drawing, (these three in digital formats, too) painting, sculpture  - they all come into play in my work at one time or another. I'd get frustrated if I had to limit myself. My work is a response to questions I have - and I want to be able to answer in whatever medium works best for that particular query. I just started some sculptural work that I'm excited about - using rug canvas and window screening- and I've recently started some sewn collages using cut up images of my quilts. And then there's always jewelry to make when nothing else intrigues...:-) My firstborn was married last August and I designed and made the invitations, made her dress, did all the flowers - and really wanted to make the cake and do the photography, but my sister forbid me to do anything else. We had the reception at our home in the garden that was draped in it's entirety with white fairy lights! Magical! So, as you can see, there are no real divisions anywhere; my life ismy artistic practice. It can drive my family nuts, but, thankfully, they love me anyway.

Where do you find inspiration?

From being quiet and looking and listening. To everything; what is in front of me and what is inside of me. Most recently I've been inspired by simply doing. When I'm sewing the quilts in a silent studio, my mind is free to wander and all sorts of ideas pop up. I don't think I'll ever run out of inspiration. I'm a Reiki practitioner and I really feel that my practice has been key in 

allowing me to find and maintain the quiet that feeds my soul - and, as a result, my work.

April 22, 2012

How do balance your time and priorities?

An unanticipated benefit of my daily practice of making the quilts is having a more structured day now. Before I started them I would have aimless, unproductive days with my time just frittered away. Now I see how I feel in the morning after a cup of coffee and either go to the studio right after breakfast and then exercise and do things for the home in the afternoon, or reverse that and end up in the studio after lunch. Our girls are grown and have full lives of their own now, and my husband is wonderful with all he does around the house. He does the grocery shopping, laundry, changes the sheets, and cleans the bathroom - how lucky am I?!?!? Having tried to find time for my art when I was working and raising a family makes me grateful for all the time I have now.

March 11, 2012

Artists and/or writers you admire?

Oh - many! Agnes Martin, Alexander Calder, Lenore Tawney, Gerhardt Richter, Andy Goldsworthy, Henry Moore, Louise Nevelson to name just a few. And writers? Kathleen Norris who wrote Dakota: A Spiritual Geography (we went to Punahou together - her dad was in the Navy, too), Barbara Cawthorne Crafton (The Sewing Room), Caroline Myss (Anatomy of the Spirit) Sena Jeter Naslund (Ahab's Wife), Sandra Boynton (Moo, Baa, La-La-La) ...I've drawn a blank on others for the moment!

April 28, 2012

Plans for the future?

Happily continue what I'm doing now. Take time out to travel with my husband every now and then, and to always be available to my family (and puppy Jake!) when they need me.

April 8, 2012

If you could gather a few folks from any period in history for an evening of lively and fascinating conversation, who might be on your guest list?

What a fun question! I think I'd have a Ladies Night even though there are some great men I'd love to invite for another time. I'd have a small, but varied group: Madeline Albright, Mary Magdelene, Marilyn Monroe, and Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun - the 18th century French painter. All unique women who were influential in different but powerful ways. I'd love to hear how their paths were similar and/or different, whether they found being female to be a curse 

or a gift, and what words of wisdom they would offer today's young women.

April 1, 2012

Delighted to share these beautiful pieces with you!  Please visit Karen Anne at her Etsy shop, blog and on flickr!