these are the colors for my next installation. i had to pick a title for my show today. nothing like pressure to force you make up your mind. "over the river and through the woods" had been rolling around for a couple of weeks and nothing better had whisked it away... and so there you have it.
i have been procrastinating coming up with my professional practices syllabus for weeks now. i am running out of time on that too. outline done. most readings chosen.... but now it's time to nuance. faculty meeting is next friday. classes start the week after that ! summer over already? wow.
CALLING ALL SINGLE MITTENS [AND GLOVES]. my dear friend wendy announced this plea [one of her current grad students] ::
Please mail your single mittens (lost their mate) to: Jean Pitman, 1541 B Palolo Avenue, Honolulu, HI 96816.
They can be in any condition, any size and they can be gloves if that is all you have although I definitely prefer mittens. Include inside the lone mitten this information or a scrap of paper (if you do not do this, I will fabricate this information as part of the piece): 1.) the first name of the person who wore it. 2.) the town/city and country it is being mailed from and 3.) any brief story behind or date of loss (if you can remember). This information will be incorporated into the piece so please remain as anonymous as possible (I will not be using any last names).
If you want to see an image of the final piece/project/sculpture, please include your email address or mailing address, if you want a hard copy of the image.
Please forward this information to as many people as possible. Thank you for your participation. Jean Pitman in Honolulu, HI USA: queemj@hotmail.com and/or jpitman@hawaii.edu
now... since it doesn't get that cold here i'm afraid i can't help jean - but maybe some of you can? i hope so! it sounds like a cool project.
don't forget it's our last post on "magical thinking" by shari today on ship
OK - i'm on break. back to work for me..... i'm hoping to start posting some of the goodies i got in japan... and other inspiration. i'm looking for it right now. anywhere i can find it.
have a great weekend.
Labels: good cause, studio
i'm in that cross off 2 add 4 things to the list stage. it might be partially because we are leaving to attend the closing of my show at the richard levy gallery .... [happens on saturday evening - if anyone can/wants to come]. any time a trip is on the agenda things get a little wacky... it might also be because i started teaching a brand new to me class today - professional practices. it's funny because i've now taught long enough at one place to have repeat students. i have a feeling a few of them in the class are none to happy to have me again [i am hard on them and demanding]. oh well. i feel as though 10 sessions in 10 weeks is not enough time to really cover what needs to happen in the class. but again. oh well.
above is one project i almost get to cross off the list [must order pins]. the next tank installation is ready to go! woo. tomorrow i pick up some very weird glue that i hope will adhere 1/16" acrylic dowels to glass. i've tried 4 other glues so far and none have worked. sigh. according to this to that loctite should work [fingers crossed]. this is what is both fun and excruciating about making art. finding the tools/supplies that will work and implementing them in ways that don't compromise your original vision.
OH! please go visit an online exhibition i curated for my very talented friend timothy buckwatler . we showed his work at a gallery i used to work at - and i think he's really a funny, smart, talented guy. [and he's selling his drawings for really reasonable prices!] the show i curated is called delusions of grandeur.
and... elsewhere in blogland.... the documentary project was on shari's blog yesterday, ash posted on ship last friday, and we introduced 3 new contributors to sew green yesterday.
i've gotta motor as i'm giving a lecture on web design to a friend's class tonight and i have to prep some material... i'm not sure what my internet access will be like over the next few days - so if i don't post - that's what's up!
here's a polaroid for the road:
{cough}{cough}. you'll have to excuse my voice. my foot has been rammed so far down my throat that i think i've forgotten how to speak a bit. it seemed to have gotten really lodged when i looked to my right and said hello to mr. rock... and looked to my left and said hello to mr. hard place. or more precisely mumbled hello as they proceeded to help me contort my foot even deeper down my esophagus. in a damned if you do and damned if you don't situation why the hell not DO. i mean in the most simplistic terms.... you are either living or dying and since i'm not dead....
this morning i awoke before the sun was even up. the above image is from the inside of my foggy covered car window. i guess there is some beauty to be had at some ungodly hour. the pink light as the sun rose was pretty nice too.
today was the first day of drawing one. i had 24 on my roster and over 50 in the class. yes. 50+! i am trying to make it hard for them to get me to add them. they must email me, show up on monday and basically plead their case. holy cow. i couldn't even talk to all of them once if that was the class. there was a really loud fan going too - so i was standing there yelling at the top of my lungs "this is not an easy art class! i'd rather have you try something and fail than not try! why are we drawing upside down?!"
i came home and spent the whole afternoon framing. framing and more framing. thankfully i cut the mounting papers the other night. i could hear a voice in my head going - oh this is so tedious. and then the teacher voice in my head saying - would you like me to play the tiny violin for you? yes please! a very lilty mozart song would be nice. thank you. i'd like to feel sorry for myself for 10 more minutes. all the inedible cupcakes are being framed! tara and i start installing monday [well she's doing phase I of the floor painting on sunday]. show opens next friday at mama buzz . i hope we can pull this off - we have grand ideas w/ lots of paint involved....
matilda would like some sympathy. she got spayed on monday. she's not too keen on the elizabethan look, but has no choice in the matter. she no longer looks like a kitten, huh? but she's still little. maybe she'll stay little. she was trying to help me frame. maybe i can do a whole series of pieces that incorporate kitty paw prints.
this polaroid reminds me of anne . i think she's really busy and probably won't even see this, but....
so since i'm just all over the place might as well tell you that if you are in LA and want to see some art this weekend you should to go the los angeles art show . if you poke around there just might be some work of mine there.
{cough}{cough}
reading mav's post today really struck a chord with me. i commented to her that i felt as though i was precariously perched. as i typed it, i knew the phrase was going to lodge itself in my brain.... and demand attention.
besides illustrating my love for alliteration [part of why i am loving a taxonomy of barnacles so much] the phrase just fits in my vernacular. i am notoriously drawn to things that hover between good and bad, easy and hard, dangerous and lovely or enticing - the purgaorty - the hybrid - the double entendre.
so i sit and think about how the new year sort of presents all these possibilities. and i am so grateful for how full my plate is. but i'm also very scared. i just said yes to a 2 person show that opens at the end of February {more on this as it approaches}. this is a fantastic opportunity, but immediately i worry about if i will blow it. i have a few pieces that i can "re-use", but i want it to be a cohesive show and so i need to make new work. on top of the work for the cupcake show. on top of teaching a new class. on top of LIFE. i want to show a small version of the RAC doily installation, but i can't possibly go to install it - so i'm frantically trying to figure out how i can make an installtion that can be put up by another's hands [hands i trust completely, but nonetheless they aren't mine - and i couldn't possibly ask someone else to paint on the wall for me.... it not only wouldn't be fair, it would ruin the integrity of the piece]
and so i feel like i am perched - almost like on a tight rope wire. balanced. excited. heart beating. there could be a pile of down pillows for me to land on if i fall. there could be a pile of treats if i balance and make it across. or there could be broken limbs and the rope could go on forever and ever.... precariously perched
above is a sketch from my sketchbook. since i don't have the drawing a day anymore i treated myself to a new moleskin..... and have been having fun doing quick, simple studies of things that surround me.... here's another sketch:
our holiday wreath and tonka and chini sleeping together [not so secret anymore they are!]
but i do have a new project about documentation with my favorite documenter that starts next week. you didn't think i could live w/out a project did you?
i am actually sitting in the studio waiting for paint to dry. i am cleaning up - new white walls are needed if i am going to be frantically working in here. bye-bye wall work 1 mock up.... hello ????
i also want to share what the hubby found for me on ebay for christmas. it makes me SO happy!!
and inside:
sigh.....
and oh! in case you haven't already heard... the kim family auction hit a few bumps in the road and had to be removed from ebay. but it will be back... and soon.... so continue to check that site for updates.... and by golly did people bid. i was outpriced out of everything with-in 3 hours. i really hope people bid like that again. it was nothing short of amazing! i can't wait to send the little rhino off to a new home.....
how was yours? i hope full of everything you hoped for [and maybe a little extra of something you didn't know was coming!] above is my spectra re-cap of the holidays at my house.
i have been very very in my head this week - which has been actually a real treat. i am listening to ticks and tocks that i shoved aside weeks ago in an end of semester/ holiday daze/craze. i have been ruminating on where i am - from big to small - in my life, in the studio, in my house, in my relationships, on the street [looking lost]. it may be because it's the end of the year and there's this tug to wrap things up [literally ~ with big shiney bows - and figuratively ~ the new year brings new styles, new hopes, new dreams - and financially ~ the big tax envelopes begin to arrive]
i have been putting off the responsibilites of my syllabus [which is starting to switch gears from a gentle coo to an off-pitch whine. attend to me.... school starts on the 9th... you have only an outline for me..... hey hEy hEY HEY!!!] and instead am dilligently working in the studio. and thinking about the studio. and art. and as i do this i REALLY wish that my studio {besides my family} could be the number 1 focus in my life. i could paint something, tack it up, take it down, change a color, stare at something, turn it upsidedown and stare some more, cut something out, try a new paper, research wallpaper patterns and pictures of cupcakes.... for longer than i care to admit. [although here i am admitting it]
i am also on MY schedule... staying up late.... waking up 8:30-9am.... feels luxurious and wonderful. ENJOYING my coffee in the morning.... enjoying catching part of charlie rose..... speaking of which.... cate blanchet was on the other night.... and she's whip smart - uses the word astonishing as an adjective with flair - and totally captivated me. she spoke about film and stage with that twinkle in her eye.... and i love when someone is passionate and SERIOUS about their endeavors. at one point mr. rose said to her - something along the lines of - and how do you manage it all - you do so much. and i perked up - lifting my head from garbo's back and staring intently when she answered "i don'k know anyone who has managed it all.... something always atrophies".
atrophy :: a wasting away, a diminution in the size of a cell, tissue, organ or part. that word, that thought, has been the thing rolling around in my brain the last few days.... i feel many parts of my brain have atrophied.... but then again can that process also strengthen the opposite or other? meaning as i cease to care about what 8 times 6 equals does the part of my brain that jitters over color gain strength? sort of like the idea that there is only so much matter in the world and we just keep repositioning it.... and doesn't atrophy just sound smarter and more interesting than "dropping the ball", "being forgetful" - plus i like the idea that it's not atually totally lost.... just dimished in size....
so there you have it.... this is what i do when left to my own devices.... i think it's time to eat one more ginger cookie... the one sweet thing i made for the season... and there are a few left.... crunchy - until you dunk them in milk.... and then... they smush ever so gently..... and if i don't make it back before then.... HAPPY NEW YEAR! 07? 07? 07?? wow.
