A Delicate Balance

Despite the drop in the temperature (80 degrees just the other day) and the drizzling rain now turned to wet snow flurries, I was delighted to see the daffodils enjoying the spring weather! How can you not be cheered by these bright yellow flowers?

Spending my days in the studio lately, interspersed with computer time, as I navigate the best ways to promote Missouri Bend Studio and our new venture, The Art Filled Home. I am making works for both shops, and observing how the ways in which I approach the pieces overlap and inform one another.  Those of you who are familiar with my work know that I love the repetitive mark, dots and lines over and over to create rhythm and pattern....a way to give voice to the passage of time and being in the moment.

Today, Tomorrow and the Next Day

I am drawn to the richness of pattern, but also the quiet elegance of an unadorned cup alone on a shelf....one handmade object imbued with the story of its own creation, the hand of its maker and the unfolding of days.  The piece above and the one below are part of the ongoing series of what I think of as diary drawings....small 8" x 6" pieces that seek to highlight the people who have lived out their lives in quiet anonymity.

One Cup, Two Tiny Stones

While Missouri Bend Studio and The Art Filled Home are separate ventures, at their core, they spring from the same source...and yet, I sometimes struggle with figuring out how to hold the creative process for each in balance. It feels something like trying to get your eyes to bring one thing into focus when you are suffering from a sudden onset of double vision. 

Since The Art Filled Home is based on a collaborative premise, in those works I am responding to the layers of silkscreen printed pattern laid down by Johntimothy. But as I start from a place outside myself, which is the color and pattern in front of me, I've sensed myself being a bit too reserved with those, slightly too careful and restrained. The creative process for work that is strictly my own, at least until this point, has been completely intuitive, bring the drawing out into the world from nothing but the mark of my own hand. It's just a bit different with the collaborative process and I'm finding it interesting to see how I respond. 

The piece for The Art Filled Home, below, is still in process, but I broke through my restraint and took the chance on responding to the work through the repetitive mark that is more familiar and somehow it felt more right. 

It's a delicate balance to endeavor to stretch yourself and grow, while remaining true to your own vision and aesthetic. And because I work back and forth on multiple pieces at a time....things are still a bit blurred. But....it is, after all, a continuing process of discovery. Feel free to head on over to the Etsy shop, The Art Filled Home, and be sure to keep up with the blog at TheArtFilledHome.com. 

The daily drawings are ongoing, so I'll share a few of my favorites in the next couple of days. In the meantime, hope you are having a good start to your week!

The Unfolding Story

Please forgive the long absence....I've been immersed in the studio most days working on finishing the pieces for Anonymous: The Diary Drawings. All 36 are now finished, mounted on foam core and, as of yesterday, in the hands of the fine folks at the South Dakota Art Museum in Brookings.

In my last posts, I shared with you the most recent pieces along with my musings about the ideas behind the series. I just checked back on my last post and realize that I left off with number 15...wow, that was less than halfway through the series. Well, I won't post the next 21 from the series, but will give you a view of a selection of some of my favorites. Eventually this work will make its way to my website.

Anonymous: The Diary Drawings no. 18

Anonymous: The Diary Drawings no.19

Anonymous: The Diary Drawings no.20

Anonymous: The Diary Drawings no.21

One of the things I realized during the course of this work was that while I had these ideas about the content of the series....history and the anonymity that inevitably happens over time, these diary drawings were ultimately my diary drawings unfolding over the course of my recent days. I can see the references and symbols that speak to the events unfolding in my world, both the outer and inner worlds that ground me in time and place. 

And so, these drawings are really, in a sense, the "everyman" diary drawings....that is, the "every person", whether man or woman....we all experience events through the lens of our culture as well as our place in the flow of time. Each of us experiences hope and sorrow, the rush of experience and the press of our own immortality. Each one of us has our own story to tell. And so, these diary drawings are fragments of my story.

Anonymous: The Diary Drawings no.36

As I neared the completion of the series at no.36, I could feel the anxiety creeping up...the sense of loss and the let down that often looms after an intense period of work. I experience this even with approaching end of a book in which I am immersed. I pause more during the reading....I savor and try to forestall the inevitable. But there it is...no.36. The end. 

And yet....there is always more to the story. Perhaps another such series will soon be underway.

I'm so pleased to have been invited to be part of this upcoming exhibition of 18 women artists in South Dakota, Women At Work: South Dakota Artists. The show will open in the next couple of weeks, so if you are within a reasonable proximity of Brookings, South Dakota in the next couple of months, hope you will have a chance to see it. I'm honored to part of such esteemed company! 

Enjoy your weekend and thanks for your support and encouragement....and for checking in here on this blog. 

The Diary Drawings: Insights and Musings

Anonymous: The Diary Drawings no. 4

Mid-January greetings! I'm reporting in on progress with the the diary drawing series I have begun for an exhibition next month. In my last post, I talked about the idea for the series and the fact that history is built upon what comes before us....the lives of ordinary folks, living out their days in many of the same ways that we do. Over time, we all become anonymous. That may sound like a rather melancholy thought, but I find it compelling, nonetheless. Our lives count for something, our actions and our days are important links in the ongoing chain of human civilization. Our lives have meaning, even if they seem to disappear into history.

Anonymous: The Diary Drawings no. 5

So, these individual drawings, based on "anonymous diary pages", are not about any particular diary page from any particular individual, but are instead a way to talk about the universality of human experience....perhaps. Not what was specific to this or that person on this or that day, but the arc of it all...the way we seek love and security, the way each of us must deal with our basic needs in vastly differing circumstances, the way we struggle with our trials, our mistakes both large and small, and the many ways we find to communicate with those different from us. All of it. 

Anonymous: The Diary Drawings no.6

And so, while I had this large arc of human experience in mind, I still thought it might be helpful to look at the content of some actual published diaries from ordinary folks from throughout history. While fascinating, this was not a good idea for me. My best work comes from the inside out, intuitively, and this effort took me to a place of making work from the outside in. I was quite aware that the drawings attempted after having read a few diary entries in one of the books I checked out from the library were more stilted and I knew that I had moved into the realm of illustration. Now, illustration if a wonderful thing, but I saw the life sapping out of the work as the drawing I was working on became more strained and predictable.

Anonymous: The Diary Drawings no.7

It happened with no. 5 above....I don't know if you can see it or not, but there is the loss of carefree abandon and randomness. I want to suggest connections, but not be descriptive, if that makes sense. I also like things to feel odd, unpredictable...and kind of strange. When no.6 was started down the path of predictability, I tore out the corner and inserted that sewn patch. I am happier when the work is a bit rough, as if perhaps you have to look twice to make sure what you are seeing. Often times, when we see what we expect to see, that is, when everything is predictable and each thing is where you expect it....well, there's nothing interesting to see. We lose the hunger for nuance. 

Anonymous: The Diary Drawings no.8

And so, the stitches are a bit clumsy, things are attached in odd ways and compositions are a bit quirky. I am a maker and these drawings bear the trace of the hand, my hand and in a sense, are the pages of my own diary. Maybe they are your diary pages as well. The drawings are filled with symbols and untold stories....I invite you to create your own.

Anonymous: The Diary Drawings no.9

 I've completed ten pieces at this point and I think my goal is to finish 36. They'll hang together in a grid....at 8" x 6" apiece, it will take a lot of them to have the kind of presence I want. But, I love making them....watching them emerge, listening to the echoes of unknown voices lost to history.

Anonymous: The Diary Drawings no.10

As my time has been spent solely on these drawings, I feel as though I am neglecting my Etsy shop, but there is plenty of work there awaiting a good home. Hope you take some time to see what's there that speaks to you! Until next time....enjoy the rest of your week.