another few feet...

I worked today at Governor French Academy drawing in seed during the school's open hours. I only completed about half of the form because Sarah, the gallery director, still needed the room to move a few lights. It was a well-spent afternoon, spent overhearing the ill kids who were waiting to be picked up, the bustle of school activity, and talking to a few students about what I was doing. I will return on Thursday to drop off goodies and finish up the drawing.


The Main Street of Belleville is adorable. One of the parents I chatted with said the big push to revitalize it came about 5 years ago. It is very pedestrian friendly. I want to return to browse when I have a good chunk of time. It was too gray today to take lots of photos, but here's an image of my dinner and the view out the Oregon Trail Roasting Co. window. The other is the promised image of the gentleman's WC wallpaper.

Wallpaper & Install Weekend

Last Friday, I installed a 16' segment of Re:place for the SCC Faculty Show 2010 in the Fine Arts Building on campus. Re:place is a rehanging of the wallpaper and valance I removed when I moved into my St. Louis home (here's shots from my McHenry County College install).
Today, after I ate half my weight in blueberry pancakes at Oregon Trail Roasting Co., I began a small birdseed drawing as part of Art after Ours, a group show of Pulitzer F of A employees at Governor French Academy Gallery. The Belleville, IL space has some gorgeous wallpaper (especially in the gentleman's restroom) and wooden paneling, tin ceiling tiles, ceiling medallions and chandeliers with large store-front windows. The floor is an odd plank formation which makes seed drawing more difficult that anything I've worked on before. I ended up leaving in early afternoon to digest the space a bit more before I head back to install on Tuesday and possibly Thursday to expand it out to nine feet. The opening for Art After Ours is this coming Friday evening, opening hours still TBA.

I'll have to post some images of the gentleman's restroom wallpaper pattern and more of the Main Street. I also plan to stop by Schmidt Art Center while in the area on Tuesday, Thursday, or Friday.

A productive Sunday- Part II Day 4

I spent this afternoon and evening hard at work, adding a scalloped edge to the stair doily and working clear into the left hand corner. My soundtrack consisted, in part, of Richard Buckner's "The Hill", Archers of Loaf, Nina Simone, Springsteen's "Nebraska", REO Speedwagon, and finally an Oldies radio station once I couldn't seem to find a disc that wasn't skipping on my favorite songs. 'Ye Olde Boom Box' has seen better days.

Installing like the wind...

The show is nearly ready for the public. Luckily, my part is complete. I've got a doily creeping under Erin Cork's couch and will have better documentation of the work under the influence of audience participation. After two days of sliding around seed on the beautiful floors- with special thanks to the meticulous hands of surprise volunteer assistant Christine on Tuesday evening- I had enough time to purchase a new dress for the occasion. I found my black lace dress (plan A- the one I purchased to wear for Barbara Cole Peter's "Little Black Dress" vintage clothing show when directing) is torn and bagging up on the top. Not a great look--- so I brought along my trusty shopping lucky charm Heidi and found shoes AND a dress (fitting the vague requirements I was sorta kinda hoping for) for a price of a "maybe" dress. I am looking forward to the opening 6-10.

Here's some install action shots from Tuesday... (Erin fluffing the couch, and the slow growth of the doily).

Looking forward to "Citizenship"

When I checked my Google analytics this morning, I found most visitors were looking at my cv--- and it needed some updating. A complete site overhaul may be in the near future. In the updating process- I found the image on the left, posted by the talented Ms. Annie Heckman from the "For A Limited Time Only" install this past March. Ahh, lots of good memories.

As the deadline approaches for the install of "Material Studies", the anticipation of seeing the work together with some other like-minded artists builds. This past year has been a great one for shows, and I am interested in seeing the conversation of my work with Erin K. Cork, Courtney Henson, Christine A. Holtz, Jessica May, and Alicia Pigg.

Christine is the curator and friend with a similar approach to material but much more humor inserted in to the works. My tongue in cheek approach can sometimes go over as well as my facetious comments that go unnoticed as humor. On our second meeting, we discovered both had created artwork from cigarettes; Her's a pacifier, mine a stole.

Being included as part of Innovations 8 has opened my eyes to the benefits of living in a larger city. The locals have cultivated a rich legacy and vibrant community of textiles and fiber art(ist)s in the region.

Good Citizen has put on several strong shows, including Deborah McClary (some of my favorite painting I have seen since no longer including it as part of my studio practice). The space is both immaculate and full of character with a friendly owner to boot, so you feel comfortable staying to enjoy.

I am looking forward to creeping under Erin Cork's couch... with a birdseed drawing.

Installation and Recovery

I spent the last five days in a marathon session of driving and installing artwork in three galleries at McHenry County College outside of Crystal Lake, IL. On top of 15 hour days and two hours of driving from my incredibly hospitable pals in DeKalb and the college- I am slowly gaining back sleep and comprehension. My eyes feel like the apparatus from Clockwork Orange is keeping them open.

I am often over-prepared with contingency plans and like to keep my options open- making installing after only visiting a site once- both a thrilling and exhausting experience. Several aspects of the installations were altered once I arrived and took a closer look at the gallery spaces. Luckily, the gallery director Sandra Lange was a pleasure to work alongside and rest of the the college staff friendly and accommodating. The restorative powers of food- especially eating some real fast food- crepes at Crystal Lake's Chez Pierre Creperie made the long dark drive "home" possible.














Gallery One-
A slide show of little drawings of idiosyncratic maps of my process of getting used to St. Louis as my new home. Set up like a war room briefing, with a confusing map that changes as your orientation changes.



Gallery Two: A reassembly of my new kitchen's wallpaper.











Galleryspace 144- Here's a few shots of "Natural Defenses" the combination of conduit, landscape fabric, and branches in phlanx formation. For economic reasons I had to fit my three installations into my 4-door sedan to make this trip manageable . If you get to visit this one- take a big whiff- the odor of earth is refreshing...

Projected Beuys

I met up with Barbara last night at White Flag Projects' "Drinks with Beuys." Listening to Beuys 1980 interview brought me back to the powerful personal discoveries in grad school with my short works in performance. Working on "new research" and the "unknown" was an incredible expansion of my field of experience when letting the performance dictate what happens--- but not being able to defend all that happens and practice due to the improvisational nature made me leave the performance as a studio practice that is only performed alone to get the head space to create spatial installations. I really had a strong pang of loneliness for Erin Burke and her undying belief in the power of emotionally derived works that don't require explanation. The form and meaning become apparent months after the work. When working on installations and sculptures in my pristine studio space- I would just engage with materials and let the play inform me as it seemed to have something to say. I couldn't accurately articulate it in words but it was speaking for me. I think I need a return to that aspect of play, as I otherwise (overwise-was the Freudian slip there) end up editing myself to silence.

The Right Management career counseling personality assessment highlighted the strong emotional element I bring to everything. At first I felt defeated by this notion of continuing an accounting by emotional state- but I think my ability to empathize is the strongest aspect of my ability to communicate. This aspect of communication is best suited to visual works, but the need for communication is why a try to conceptualize everything first and come up with a linear relationship to how I combine elements. I don't necessarily think this is where I find the power of the strongest artworks lies--- since it is the one "off" aspect that makes it a wonderment- and slows time because you can't understand it mentally while your body reacts first. It reveals itself before you can articulate why it affects you.