Art & Words- a shotgun wedding.

Art & Words: Today I had to spend some time writing materials for the public relations person at HERE Arts to use to promote my upcoming solo exhibit, "Means of Attachment." I had to write about myself/my work. I would rather have been asked to write about the effect of Brexit on the economy of Lichtenstein- I know equally as much about these two subjects; and I have no personal stake in the latter. I have a difficult time thinking about my own work much less writing about it. In my view, writing about my work is dissecting it, and to dissect something you have to kill it first.

When I am working, I am not thinking beyond a few simple rules I learned in school about composition or color- and I usually break them anyway. Mostly I am trying to make the thread that thrums between my gut and my brain vibrate pleasantly. When a piece is working, I feel happy- and I am not thinking. When I have to solve a problem, I am looking for that thrum- and I am not thinking. My brain is abuzz with inchoate hums and fizzes, colors and textures- I am not thinking. Occasionally, my upper brain will chime in- "you could use the stencil with the branch texture, it's over there in the folder." "Mmmmm, ya, ya, ya," the thread vibrates back, "color, color, nice, nice, happy..." and so it goes until all the vibration is happy enough and the piece is done.

I have a dear artist friend, Christie Scheele, who writes extensively and speaks about her work- and the work of others- with great insight, grace, and thoughtfulness. Another friend, Clive Hicks-Jenkins, also writes deeply, poetically, about his art. Their art is very different one from the other but I read their lovely, erudite words with bafflement and a bit of envy. How can they write so well about their work and still do their work so prolifically and beautifully? Why do I feel so tongue-tied about one of the most important things in my life? Is my silence really necessary? Time for a brooding, non-verbal cup of Tea...

"Storm Tossed," MMXVI, ©PMLaw

Steps Forward in Several Directions

I worked all Labor Day Weekend at the nursery and the former tenants of my new home were moving out so I did little over the weekend to prepare for my own move. I also had to take some time to finish a piece for another show coming up (it was a bit chaotic as I had packed some of the tools I needed and had to dig through to find them, but I did finish the piece.) I had made arrangements for utilities for the new place in the past week, a task I was dreading that did mean several hours spent on hold on the phone, but that is done.

But the weekend is over and it's time to start moving. I will be seeing the new place empty for the first time this afternoon. I will bring paint chips to tape on the walls, a measuring tape and pad to make lists. I am talking with friends- friends with trucks- about moving and trying to figure out the best time to do all this. It seems rather daunting despite all the stuff that I have jetissonned but I just have to take one step after the other- not assume that I can or need to move it all at one time.

Also this afternoon, I will be submitting the altered book and the piece I finished over the weekend to their respective shows at the WAAM. The piece I just finished is for a Works-On-Paper show and depicts several themes I have been exploring over the past 2 years or so- Hiesenberg's Uncertainty Principle, my autobiographical bird-doll-girl, entropy, and recently, deracination. When you stop the wave-form bird-doll-girl and, by observing, force her to be a particle, what happens? Quite a burden for one small composition of paper, paint, glassine and a button.

How am I feeling? My feelings are currently wave-forms, I do not want them to be particles that will spill down my cheeks, so I am letting them pass through me, unremarked, for now.