Images from Eyeporium Gallery

"About Face" exhibition

I know this is short notice, but this Friday is the opening reception of a two-person exhibition I will be in. Alan Brunettin (another portrait artist) and I will have our work displayed at Eyeporium Gallery from Ocotber 1st through November 3rd. The opening reception is this Friday, October 1st, from 6-9pm.

Eyeporium Gallery is located at:
1543 N. Milwaukee Ave, Chicago, IL 60622
One block from the “Damen” Blue Line El stop in the heart of Wicker Park.

Here is the gallery website, although it presently isn't up to date. And here is the press release:

Eyeporium Gallery presents “About Face”
portraits by Virginia Broersma and Alan Brunettin
Opening Night is Friday, October 1st from 6pm to 9pm

Eyeporium Gallery presents a group show of eerily engaging as well as amusing portraits by Virginia Broersma and Alan Brunettin. Virginia works in acrylic paints and has been using portraiture as her primary subject matter for the past few years. The lush application of paint and larger-than-life scale of her work draw you into the almost palpable conversations of her double portraits. Alan shows us how the world is made up of fragments that come together only when processed through the filter of personal perspective. Brunettin seeks to construct portraits that, when viewed from afar, bear keen resemblance to the subject — while a closer examination reveals the faceted planes of the image, forged by brushstrokes that are intentionally sculptural.

WHEN:
Opening Reception (public invited): Friday, October 1, 2010 from 6pm to 9pm
Exhibition Viewing: Through Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Regular Hours: Monday to Friday 12pm to 7pm; Saturday 12pm to 5pm

WHERE:
Eyeporium Gallery
1431 N Milwaukee Ave., Chicago, IL 60622
Phone: 773-782-1744
Two blocks from the “Damen” Blue Line El stop in the heart of Wicker Park.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
Virginia Broersma received her BFA in painting from the Savannah College of Art and Design. In 2010 she had a solo show at Fermilab Gallery in Batavia, IL and received grants from the Puffin Foundation and the City of Chicago. She has also exhibited in the ArtSeen Auction for AIDS research in Los Angeles and participated in group and two-person exhibitions throughout the US. Virginia currently lives and works in Chicago, IL.

A native of Chicago and a graduate of the American Academy of Art and Northern Illinois University, Alan Brunettin's work took shape out of the surrealist and expressionist movements, as well as the influence of his father, a classically trained sculptor. He has exhibited extensively, particularly in the past ten years following a career in commercial illustration. Concentrating on portraiture and urban landscapes, Brunettin's signature is his geometric division of the work space and his use of an extremely limited palette on each painting.

ABOUT EYEPORIUM GALLERY:
Annette Sollars, creator of Chicago's fine eyewear icon, Eye Want, also launched Eyeporium, a fine art gallery in Wicker Park. Representing exceptional artists of regional and national prominence, Eyeporium Gallery features contemporary creators of paint, print, photographic and sculptural works from the realistic to the surreal to the abstract. With the location of Eyeporium inside Eye Want, Annette has created a single destination for you to procure fine eyewear and fine art “for your face and your space”.

Stretching Canvas

Time in: 9:30 am

Today I need to stretch canvas on some new frames that I just built. I finally have enough space in my studio- I've had less room in here because they were painting my back porch, which meant that all the furniture I had out there had to moved into my studio space for almost 6 weeks. It's nice to have the room again...

To Do:
Stretch canvas on new stretchers
Photograph at the lake
Print new references
Go to library
Get paint at Blick

Playlist:
Beethoven's Piano Concertos
Janis Joplin
Joan Armatrading
The Clientele

Plant Studies

About a month ago, I found these beautiful pieces of wood in the dumpster behind my apartment building. I think someone had broken down an old cabinet or something. They were so nice that I took a few pieces and painted on them. I've been doing a variety of things to get back into oil painting, and this was one of them- just having fun painting some luscious leaves on these beautiful panels.

Post Studio Visit

Time in: 10:00 am

This week I had a studio visit with Linda Warren of Linda Warren Gallery. Wesley Kimler had connected me with her for her to come and take a look at my work. As you can see in the picture, I devised a hanging system to get some of my drying paper studies up off the floor- they're clipped to a string that runs along the top of the wall.

Linda came over and looked at pieces from all my series and was very positive about my work. We talked about my work, her gallery and a bit about the Chicago art scene. I know she has an enormous list if gallery artists so my intention in having her over wasn't really to become one of her artists. She may have people in mind that might be interested in some of my work though. She was generous enough to suggest a collector I should contact who is really interested in portraits/figurative work, primarily of women.

It was really great to get someone in the studio who is a professional in the field. It makes me feel like being an artist is more of a reality, in a way. I've been wanting to be around other art professionals for so long, it can feel like you're so isolated and like you're working towards something so vague when you're all alone in your studio, producing and producing.

This week I also finished my application for a grant from the Chenven Foundation. I'm still waiting to hear about the CAAP Grant from Chicago- I emailed them to see what was going on (they said notifications would be sent in May) and they said that they are waiting to see if they're going to get money from the State or City to award grants, so it could take a while yet.

To Do:
Email women about photo shoot
Put away Duplex paintings
Email HT
disc of images/materials for Linda
Email artists for WPG shows
Photograph plant pieces

Playlist:
Barbara Kingsolver on Speaking of Faith
Tom Waits
Joan Armatrading
The Private Patient by PD James

Missing space

I think I'm pretty good at adapting to space restrictions when it comes to my studio. I've had to adapt to a variety of spaces, all with benefits and disadvantages. Right now, my studio bleeds over into the dining room (it's the same room, sort of divided in half, really the dining room table becomes my desk, so I guess the dining room is my studio). It's enough room to work in, it's just not quite big enough to spread out all the pieces I'm working on at once without feeling like I am constantly shuffling things around.

I need to come up with a system for hanging my studies on paper while they're drying, rather than laying them all across the floor. I think with some clever organizing I can make the most of the space I have, I just have to figure out how to do that. I'm planning on hanging some wire/string across the ceiling to clip the papers to. That will at least get them off the floor.

I also need to find a way to easily present my work for viewing. I have a studio visit this week with a gallery owner and wish I had a better way to display my paintings. This will also take some clever organizing of space.

To Do:
Hang paintings to dry
Unwrap paintings and hang what I can
Gesso paper
Hands on head portrait- fix ear
clean brushes

Perceptions, plus

I mentioned in my last post that I had some work included in the latest issue of Perceptions, which is a magazine for the arts put out by Mt. Hood Community College. If you'd like to purchase a copy, you can send either a check or money order to the following address:

Mt. Hood Community College

Humanities Division c/o Megan Jones

26000 SE Stark Street

Gresham, OR 97080

Copies are $15 apiece and you can make checks payable to "Perceptions".

I'm continuing to work on quick studies on paper of facial expressions of women exercising. I'm thinking of them almost like gesture drawings, trying to quickly capture the expression. I'm playing around with both realistic and gestural/expressive portrayals and trying to vary my color palette. I'm thinking of this as a chance to just try out a lot of things without a preconceived idea what I'm trying to achieve as far as a "look".

I'm taking some time to see what happens with regularly working on these. I'm working on cheap paper that I gesso which allows me to make a lot of these. I usually do a few a day- some I work on for just one session, and some I am going back into to work on for multiple sessions.

Sometimes I like what I make, sometimes it changes- I'll like it at first and then not like it and want to paint over it. I need to get some women together to photograph- I am really looking forward to have some new references to work from and new faces to paint.

To Do:
Work on Chenven Foundation grant application
Gesso more paper
3 Sketches
Re-work previous studies
Organize women for exercise photo session

Playlist:
This American Life and Re:Sound
Joan Armatrading
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals
Eddi Reader- Simple Soul
Van Morrison

Sketches on Paper

I want to be able to be doing many quick studies while I'm getting into my new subject matter, so I've been gessoing sheets of brown paper- the type you wrap packages with, which is an incredibly cheap way to have lots of paper to work on. Of course it's not very sturdy stuff, but it works great for studies.

So far, I've photographed just myself so I can get started and start seeing where I want to go with this idea that I'm working with. I went out on a nice hot day and ran a couple miles and then had someone photograph me once I was good and tired. It takes a little getting used to to be photographed honestly when not necessarily at your best.


Anyway, some of the expressions I think are really interesting and I can't wait to get some more women's faces to work with which is my next step- having some photo shoots with women.

Puffin Foundation and Perceptions

Some exciting news since my last post: I received a grant from the Puffin Foundation!

This is the first grant I've received and it is so wonderful to have my work funded and to be able to go and buy materials. This is especially needed since I'm getting back into oil paint. I'm taking some time to familiarize myself with it once again since it's been a while since I've really painted with it.

I've been doing a lot of quick studies, also portraits, to get used to the paint and to start to play around with the subject matter. My next series which I received the grant for includes three specific portrait groupings. The first that I am starting to play around with involves women's faces after exercising. Women working hard, straining, sweaty, flushed faces and running make-up- I'm thinking about how this reflects how women push themselves for their physical appearance and/or health. It's a view of women not typically represented (think of the pictures you've seen of women working out, usually in advertisements or magazines- they are smiling and fully made up, usually looking beautiful and at ease). I've been interested in seeing what it would look like to portray women how they really look while working out- I think the expressions could be really interesting to work with.

I also just received my contributor copy of Perceptions- a Journal for the Arts from Mt. Hood Community College. I was not expecting such a high quality publication. It's a beautiful publication including fiction, poetry, visual art and a DVD of film and additional images and a CD of music. My piece "You think I'm Joking?" was included in the printed journal and "Swipe" was included on one of the discs including the film pieces and a slideshow of additional images.

Ed Winkleman - Apprenticeships

I also forgot to mention that Ed Winkleman recently posted about apprenticeships here and started an interesting conversation on his blog. This was of course really interesting to me since a lot of what he and others started talking about, about the needs of artists early in their careers, were things I am hoping to address by being a studio assistant, and in a way, sort of an apprentice.

Studio work

This month has been busy, with little time in my studio. I have been working in a studio, though, just not my own. About a month ago I emailed Paul Klein, who I had met at an event at the Hyde Park Art Center, to ask for some assistance. He had generously let me know back when I met him that if I ever had any questions or needed help, I could ask him. So I did. The idea had recently sprung into my head, or maybe rather just came finally came together in an articulate thought, that I could gain a lot from being a studio assistant to a successful artist. I don't really know any successful artists, so that's always been the problem.

I emailed Paul and told him what I was interested in. Specifically I told him that I was looking for a successful painter that I could assist. In exchange for my assistance, I would like to learn from someone who has survived as a painter and had a successful career that I could learn from. He connected me with Wesley Kimler, a painter here in Chicago that has been a significant part of the Chicago art scene as well as having a successful career in painting for many years. Wesley and I talked on the phone and arranged for me to start the following week.

So now, twice a week, I help Wesley out in his studio- cleaning, straightening, preparing canvases and we also talk quite a bit about art, painting, and stories about the Chicago art scene.

So far I think we've been able to help each other out- me helping keep his studio in order and he providing insights that he's learned over years of experience as an artist. I'm hoping also to meet people in the art community here as well. It's been difficult or me to find a place that I "fit in" so far with the various cliques that I've been introduced here in the art scene. I haven't found terribly many people interested in developing more of an artistic network and community. I'm hoping that through Wesley, who is known for not accepting any BS and making it a priority to be in the presence of people with integrity, I can meet some artists and creative people that are perhaps can become part of a community for me.

So, from my show to becoming a studio assistant, my time has been getting used up pretty quickly and I'm making more of a point to get some focused time to work.

TO DO:
Finalize images for Will and Matt commission
Study on paper- oil
Work on Scott piece
Check deadlines for submissions
Update website

PLAYLIST:
Sheryl Crow
Tom Waits
Tom Yorke
My Morning Jacket
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Stan Getz

Pictures from Fermilab

My solo exhibition "I live in a duplex." opened on March 10, 2010 at the Fermilab Art Gallery in Batavia. Here are some pictures from Fermilab before and during the reception. It was a great opening- thank you to everyone who came and saw the show! It will be up through May 4, 2010 so there are many opportunities to check it out.

Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the big day: the opening of my show at Fermilab Art Gallery. My parents are flying in to Chicago today from San Diego to enjoy some of the cooler weather and attend my talk and opening. I am really excited about my talk as I always love the opportunity to talk with people about my work. It's a great opportunity for me to hear how people are responding to the work and what it makes them think about. It's interesting and also helps me to understand how people look at what I'm doing. I think it will be mostly scientists from Fermilab that will be there so I'm sure they will have their own unique perspective that may be different from an artist's.

The details once again:

Wednesday March 10, 2010
Artist Talk: 11:30-12:30pm in the gallery
Reception: 5-7pm in the gallery,

Show runs March 10 - May 4, 2010.

Fermilab Art Gallery website here.

Hauling Art

Early Monday morning, I picked up my U-haul rental to load up my paintings and bring the to Fermilab. I had them all wrapped in plastic and blankets and ready to go out the door...and down the stairs....and around the turn in the stairs...down more stairs and then out to the truck. It's that middle part about the stairs that I always forget how difficult it is to maneuver eight foot paintings around.

Here's a shot of my work getting safely strapped down in the back of the truck. I know it doesn't look like a lot, but there were 21 paintings in the truck. Yes- it was cold.

Trib Article on Open Crit Program

A few months back I participated in the Hyde Park Art Center's Open Crit program (read about my experience here) and last Sunday an article came out in the Chicago Tribune written by Chicago art critic Lori Waxman about the program. I get mentioned in a couple of places and had a "movie moment" on Monday.

You know what I'm talking about- when you have an experience just like in a movie? I recently saw "Julie and Julia" and there's a scene where Julie, the young woman blogging her way through Julia Child's cookbook, gets an article written about her project. The day it comes out she's on the train and sees people reading the article about her on the train. Anyway, I was on the train heading to work on Monday and glanced up from my book at one point to see the man in front of me reading the article- with my name in it! I'm practically famous!

Tonight there is another Open Crit which I will be attending, but this time as part of the public critiquing the artists. I really enjoy the opportunity to critically discuss artwork, meet artists and to disagree with people. (The program is from 6-8pm at the Hyde Park Art Center and details can be found on their website)

I am continuing to prepare for my show at Fermilab. I bring the work out on Monday- I have to rent a U-haul to transport my large pieces. Orginally I thought I would only show portraits but at the time I had no idea how large the space is. Apparently it's huge so to fill it I'm bringing a lot of work. It will be really great to see so much of it up in one space.

TO DO:
Get email blast to forward
Mount "Can't Believe It"
business cards
mail out submission for Visual Narrative and gallery submission

PLAYLIST:
Massive Attack
The Kennedy's
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Nick Drake

Joanne Mattera Art Blog + Success

Since I've been focusing on the business side of things lately, I've been really appreciating Joanne Mattera's blog in which she dedicates her Monday posts to marketing (Marketing Mondays). Her latest post on this Monday morning lays out some hopes and realities for success for artists. What does it look like? What can we hope it to look like and what is the reality for most of us? While it can be discouraging to recognize that I could work a lifetime and not receive the the success or recognition that I dream of, it's nice to know that most artists are in the same boat. We won't know if/when success will come and what it will look like, so you have to just keep creating for your own pleasure or out of blind faith.

The College Art Association Conference happened here in Chicago this last weekend and my Alma Mater, the Savannah College of Art and Design, had an alumni reception. I thought it might be fun to check out- to see if I knew any of the professors there and maybe meet other SCAD graduates in Chicago. Unfortunately word got out about the open bar and I didn't really meet anyone that actually went to SCAD. I did have a conversation with one person who had been a dean (I think at SCAD, although I'm not sure) in which the conversation felt like he was trying to maintain his superior status by whatever means possible. He would ask me about my work and only to make sure I wasn't making any major mistakes. Do I get model release forms? What type of lighting do I use on my models? Am I using acrylic or oil?

After describing that I work two part time jobs in addition to working as an artist and that most of the shows I've been in I have fallen into by being contacted or invited to, he took it to mean that I'm not really focusing on being an artist. He then decided to to enlighten me as to what it would be like to be an artist "once I got serious". This coming from someone who at 60 (?) is just being published (and when I say published, I mean he's printing out a book he put together with a friend at Kinko's). I took this as my cue to go replenish my drink at the bar.

Getting stuck in an awkward conversation where I was being treated like a child and looked at as a hobby artist was frustrating until I remembered that immediately after this reception I was going to a show opening in which I have work included, and that in less than a month, my solo show will be opening as well.

It's not exactly major success (yet), but that night I felt pretty good about where I'm at right now, knowing that I've really only just begun.

Cultural Excavation at CAD

(Images from the opening of "Cultural Excavation" at the Chicago Art Department", February 12 2010.)

Time in: 2:00pm

(Working away at my desk which is actually the dining room table. I guess that's what happens when your studio is one third of the dining room.)

I'm sending off two submissions to galleries today and sent a couple by email yesterday. I'm not sure which is the better method- it seems there are a million ways to get in touch with galleries, but you never know how they want you to.

Don't forget: tomorrow night is the opening reception for "Cultural Excavation" at the Chicago Art Department. Friday February 12, 6-10pm at 1837 S. Halsted in Pilsen here in Chicago.

TO DO:
make business cards
ArtSlant profile
paragraph on lecture for Fermilab flyers
Update website with availability details
Pick Matt and Will pics
Research postcards
Drop of submissions at post office

PLAYLIST:
Tom Waits
Beth Orton
Thee Shallows
Mix CD

Desk Time

Time in 2:30 pm

I'm continuing to work on submitting to galleries, curators and exhibition spaces. It's amazing how much time it takes to get a few email submissions sent and a packet ready to print. I've already been doing what seems like hundreds of hours of research over the past several months looking for places that my work might be of interest and would be worthwhile so you'd think that would have cut down on some of the time, but it certainly doesn't feel like it.

It probably also doesn't help that I keep thinking of books to add to my Visual Bookshelf on Facebook- why is it so hard to pull away?!

TO DO:
Pick M&W shots
get canvas
submissions: Send out at least one
Get cover letter ready to print
SASE sent to Sugarman Foundation

PLAYLIST:
Jeff Buckley
The Raconteurs
Joe Henry- Tiny Voices

Time in 9:30am

Last Wednesday I photographed my friends Will and Matt who I will be painting a double portrait of. I've got their project to begin working on and I need to spend some time on more submissions and finishing up getting my materials together for my show at Fermilab.

TO DO:
Get postcard image
email mailing list and postcard image to Fermilab and update image list
Art Forum email
Select images for W&M portrait
Get canvas
send SASE to George Sugarman Foundation
Review submissions list and begin preparing gallery submission

PLAYLIST:
Ella Fitzgerald compilation
Air- Talkie Walkie
Madeline Peyroux

Wednesday 3 February 2010

To do:
Send high res image and bio to Perceptions Journal
Send high res image and mailing list to Fermilab (call Georgia)
Photo Shoot with Will and Matt
Look at calendar for next submissions
make business cards
research postcards

Get to work on M&W's piece and Scott's
contact people to begin shooting for next series

Playlist:
The Books- Lemon of Pink
Shivaree
Velvet Underground

Slow going

It's winter, it's cold, it's dark all the time and living in a place like Chicago makes it feel like winter is just a wasted season. My energy is low, motivation is gone, and it takes so long to bundle up to go anywhere only so I can sweat in my jacket and piles of clothes I'm wearing because it's too much work to take them off and hold them.

It feels like nothing is happening although I try to remind myself that things ARE moving forward. I am continuing to submit to opportunities as I find them, although I decided not to complete my application for the Illinois Art Council grant. I was a little wary of the cash match portion which is required if you apply and with my unsteady finances I thought maybe I better not commit to it.

I submitted some of my large pieces from my past series to an art consulting group. I am hoping to move some of these giant pieces before I move again, but don't know quite where to start. I thought this might be an avenue but this was the response I received:

Hello Virginia,

I presented your work today. Although everyone liked it, everyone was in agreement that it would not work in our industry. I am sure you do quite well in the retail market.

Good luck in your career...

On a positive note, I will have 2 pieces included in the May issue of Perceptions literary magazine which is produced by students of Mt. Hood Community College.

CAAP: Submitted and Cultural Excavation

I dropped off my CAAP Grant application yesterday down at the Chicago Cultural Center. The deadline is on Monday and they won't announce the recipients until May so I've got some time to wait before I know anything. I've been saving this excellent orange bubble mailer for years so I'm glad to finally be using it.

A few years ago I was starting to make packages for submissions and stocked up on nice paper, folders, disc stickers and cool mailing envelopes. Then I stopped submitting and have been carrying around these bright blue and orange bubble mailers. I'm glad to finally put them to use.


I just received notice that a piece from my "Ornament and Silence" series was accepted into an upcoming show at the Chicago Art Department in Pilsen. The show is titled "Cultural Excavation" and is focused around the idea of using things from the past to inform your work.

I thought this series was perfect as the source materials come from various time periods, cultures and styles and come together to make something new yet evokes a sense of nostalgia.

The opening is Friday February 12, 6-9pm.

Business as usual.

This morning I've been perusing my pages and scraps of paper of lists and jots of research I've been doing of places that take submissions, competitions, curators and juried shows. I sent off a couple of email submissions, one to A Public Space magazine and one to the Not Just Another Pretty Face event at the Hyde Park Art Center.

I've also been submitting to a few registries and was just admitted into the Ohio Online Visual Artist Registry. I'm also included in the Irving Sandler Artist File. Then there are all the non-juried websites that I've been posting my work on which who knows how worthwhile they are. I have had a few hits to my website from them, so I guess it can't hurt. Some of these include:

Hydraulik Art
ArtReview
ARTslant

I have to sit in the dining room section of the dining room (the other half is my studio) to work on the computer (our wireless internet only works in this room and I haven't taken the time to fix it. One complicated moving set-up thing at a time). So I sit here and look at my studio space waiting to be worked in and feeling a little guilty that I'm not doing just that. I think focusing on sending out submissions and doing research, while not nearly as fun, is still what I should be focusing on now.

I may have mentioned, but moving really makes you think about making things, and then finding a place for them. I want to keep producing massive amounts of paintings, but then where do I store them? There are only so many walls in my apartment. So I really feel the need to push to get the work out into exhibitions and then off my hands into the homes of people that would like to look at them.

Panorama

Here is a picture of my new studio....sort of. Look at all that natural light!

Yesterday I dropped two submissions off in the mail. One submission to a gallery to be considered for exhibitions, and one to New American Paintings, Midwest Competition. Today on my to do list is to continue with my application grants.


I think I have the CAAP application very nearly complete and need to spend some more time on the IAC application. This morning I had someone reviewing what I have so far, but we were interrupted by the Chicago Revenue people putting a boot on their car...

Time in 3:00 + Artist Statement

Here it is...my final (I'm basically almost 99% for sure done) draft of my Artist Statement.

There’s something instinctually compelling about looking at other people. I think it has to do with the anonymity- it tricks us into feeling like we know something about them as we imagine who they are, why they dress the way they do and what they had for lunch that day.

It has been this notion that drew me to working with the human face through portraiture: the idea that just by looking at a face your imagination can be activated in a way that makes you feel connected to the subject.

With my most recent series, I posited the idea that a double portrait could provide viewers with a source for imagining their own narrative through the assumed interaction or relationship between the two people. In the paintings, the faces erupt from their stark white backgrounds to confront the viewer. Subtleties in moods, characters, and psychological states- a tilt of the head and a jut of the chin- all tell part of the story.

My goal was to encourage presumptions and subjective feelings, to promote personal interpretation and to avoid definitive statements. This openness for personal relation is a hope for a real engagement between people and the paintings, for each person to be able to tell a part of the story.

(In case you're thinking it, I have looked up the word "instinctually" but have not found it to be a real word. Is there a better word? Or is it creative and artistic to make up my own words when I can't think of another?)

I am still working on getting a Driver's license- I have to wait for my birth certificate to arrive in the mail so I can take another trip down to the DMV to be rejected.

To Do:
Mail Northeastern submission and New American Paintings submission
Finalize CAAP application
Work on IAC application

Playlist:
The Velvet Underground
Beth Orton
Madeleine Peyroux
Aimee Mann- Lost in Space
Lizzie West- Holy Road

I (do not!) heart DMV

Perhaps the second most challenging piece of my grant applications (the Artist Statement part being the most challenging) is getting an Illinois Driver's license. Since I'm applying for two grants that are for Chicago residents only, I have to prove that I live in the city by showing an ID with my current address.

I still have a New Mexico driver's license even though it's been 3 years since I lived there. I hate going to the DMV and resist it for as long as I can get away with. I know technically you are supposed to get a new license as soon as you move to a new state, but then they shouldn't make it so hard to get one.

Yesterday I went down the DMV to get my new license. I expected difficulty so I made sure to have everything I could possibly need in the correct format and just as they asked for. I even printed the list of acceptable documents to prove your identity off the Illinois DMV website and brought it with me. I had my four documents from the four categories but to no great suprise, they said they were unacceptable. Even though the website asked for an"Official High School Transcripts" as a proof of your date of birth, when I got there one person decided they wouldn't accept out of state transcripts. They wanted me to have gone to Chicago Public School.

What was frustrating about this is that two people said they thought it was fine, but when the guy helping me went to talk to his supervisor to check if he could use my transcript which had the name "Ginny" on it (he didn't believe me when I told him Ginny was short for Virginia- he thought I was trying to pull a fast one) he found out that "Ginny" wasn't a problem, but California transcripts are.

I expect to go back to the DMV once I receive a birth certificate and run into another problem and I expect this will happen at least 4 times. I expect this because this happens EVERY TIME I try to get a new license. That's why I avoid it all costs.

You'd think they'd want to just take my $30 and give me the license.

(photo from here)

Help from Kokoshka and Freud

In continuing my battle with the artist statement, I decided to grab one of my books and see how some other artists have written about portraiture. In The Grove Book of Art Writing’s section called “ The Human Clay: Humanity in Art”, there is a text written by Oskar Kokoshka- an artist whose name I recognize but I haven't really studied at all. Here are a few of his thoughts:



“What used to shock people in my portraits was that I tried to intuit from the face, from its play of expressions, and from gestures, the truth about a particular person, and to recreate in my own pictorial language the distillation of a living being that would survive in memory….In a face I look for the flash of the eye, the tiny shift of expression which betrays an inner movement...

I see creative art as a source, a spring, like Nature itself. I defend it as the constantly active, living material of thought.”






And from one of my favorite painters, Lucien Freud:

“A painter must think of everything he sees as being there entirely for his own use and pleasure…the aura given out by a person or object is as much a part of them as their flesh. The effect that they make in space is as bound up with them as might be their color or smell. The effect in space of two different individuals can be as different as the effect of a candle and an electric lightbulb…


A moment of complete happiness never occurs in the creation of a work of art. The promise of it is felt in the act of creation but disappears towards the completion of the work. For it is then that the painter realizes that it is only a picture he is painting. Until then he had almost dared to hope that the picture might spring to life. Were it not for this, the perfect painting might be painted, on the completion of which the painter could retire. It is this great insufficiency that drives him on. Thus the process of creation becomes necessary to the painter perhaps more than is the picture."

Artist Statement. Blegh.

I know a lot of artists dread writing their statement. I unfortunately have not been blessed with the ability to write a captivating Artist Statement. Having to write a statement about my work, artistic process, and concepts and to make it sound intelligent while being concise and intriguing (and maybe even a little witty) seems like an impossible task. Especially after 904 drafts. I feel like Grady Tripp in Wonder Boys: I just keep writing more and more and don't ever get closer to the end. (I even have an equally dirty, shaggy old lady sweater that I wear when I'm working!)

While other artists might dismiss the artist statement as irrelevant to their work and abilities, I do see the value in having a well written one. If written well, they can include viewers in some of the behind the scenes information and give a more comprehensive experience of the work. It could also make some foundation somewhere want to give me money.

So I'm continuing to work on my statement for various submissions to exhibitions and grant applications and am wishing I had some skill with the written word. And to think, I used to want to be a writer!

New Studio

My new studio space is almost all put together. It's one of the corners of the dining room and the opposite wall is almost completely windows. I am thrilled to actually have natural light! 

To Do:

collect Fermilab materials

CAAP grant application

Northeastern submission description

Submit to "Perceptions"

Tim Vermeulen at Packer Schopf

This Friday there will be a reception for the opening of my friend Tim Vermeulen's show at Packer Schopf Gallery. He will be showing his latest series of paintings which uses Moby Dick as a starting point for exploring personal narratives through his paintings.

From the PS Gallery website:

"Moby Dick, considered by many the "great American novel," is one of the strangest productions in the history of all the arts. This sprawling novel encompasses all of the contrasts of human experience: life/death, salvation/damnation, good/evil, man/nature, etc. From this tome, Vermeulen has selected a few iconic passages that carry a personal resonance. The images based on these passages are small, figurative, autobiographical narratives. The artist places himself within this narrative and sets the story in a contemporary context. The images refer to issues that may be personal, social, political, and/or religious, and the dramas may symbolize internal states, social conflicts, and past traumas. While the settings are often familiar, there are unsettling, disquieting circumstances that speak to the mysterious and contradictory nature of existence. Objects, settings, and human interactions carry symbols of the subconscious and collective memory."

I have been priveleged to see some of the work in progress and am thrilled to see the complete series this weekend. If you are in Chicago you should check it out. The show runs January 8 - February 13.

Already done:

Submitted images to "Perceptions" magazine

Submitted images for "Nostalgia" show at Chicago Art Department

Worked on IAC grant application

To do:

Fermilab materials

print out materials for Northeastern submission and burn CD 

CAAP grant

Last night I went to a workshop for the Community Arts Assistant Program grant that the city of Chicago awards. The deadline is January 25 so I should probably get to work on my application which seems somewhat lengthy. Probably most importantly I need to decide what I would use the money for- what's my project? For the Puffin Foundation grant I just apllied for, I outlined my next series of work and applied for the grant for my material costs.

For the CAAP grant, I could use it to pay for a consultant to help with marketing, or to pay to work with a "master artist" which I think would be great, if I knew any.

"I want to write because I have the urge to excell in one medium of translation and expression of life." - Sylvia Plath

Organizing

Every time I move, I am reminded of what a pain it is to move giant paintings and delicate art objects. This really makes me consider carefully what is worth making and how small I can make it, which may be responsible or may be limiting, I'm not sure. I can see that I need to keep making art but moving and storing becomes more and more challenging. I think the idea here is to start selling it.

Everything has been transfered from my old studio to the new studio but I have lots of organizing to do and I am continuing to get submissions together.

To do:

• Set up studio space - sort materials, set up lighting
• photograph phase one of new piece (Scott)
• Submission for New American Paintings
• Submission to Northeastern
• Gather materials for Fermilab exhibition
• get wood to frame final piece

Playlist:

NPR. My CD player is broken!