The Bay and Vancouver

After a recent sculpture presentation I put together for my students, one asked me - do you take all your little cousins to museums to visit art? And I had to think about it for a second, but I realized how true it has actually been. 

Gotta start ‘em young, right?

After what seemed like forever, I was finally able to visit the SF MOMA when it reopened. It completely blew me away! 

The second half of the trip was to visit Vancouver. 

I had a couple art agendas as well. There was a silkscreen duo KTandPaul whose work I wanted to see and also support. Luckily that weekend they had a booth set up at the Granville Island Market and I got to meet the lovely KT in person. That area is also home to Malaspina Printmakers which has a residency program with studio workspace. I had been following along for a little while and loved getting to visit. Maybe my future will hold a residency there! 

To use very few words, Vancouver is very picturesque. Just about everywhere you turn some hidden light is peaking through or you see snow capped mountains or there is some water. We lucked out with good weather which just heighten our experience. The sea to sky highway was absolutely breathtaking. Good eats non stop with the best company and we can’t wait to return during summer months!

My take away and inspiration from this trip included new horizons to depict, some art world networking, and this particular painting with ribbons from the SFMOMA that much later made its way into some greeting cards with my own work. 

Living wall at SF MOMA

Calder exhibit

Textile Museum

Google Campus

Android Sculpture Garden

English Bay Beach in Vancouver

Stanley Park

Sea to Sky Highway

Romantic Street

It has definetly been a minute since my last blog post, but here I am back with lot of old content to cover! We will start with catching up on trips...

It feels so distant from now that I ended my time at Chhaap, came back to America for a wedding, and was off to galavant through Europe. At the same time, I can still taste sugarcane juice and remember how disappointed I was to be leaving mango season. I can still taste those pretzels from Germany, espresso from Italy, and falafel from Paris. I guess it seems like my memories come from food!

Instead of going through the trip through words and I am going to take you to a photo documentation of it instead.

The route was: Backnag - Munich - Bergamo - Milan - Parma - Rome - Minori - Remini - Venice - Paris

My take away from this trip lies in Paris. How can so much amazing art have its home in one city!? There was this walk in Giverny from Monet’s garden back to the bus that just left me in awe. That field of yellow flowers has made its abstract way into my work and was the first real time I started using yellow. Now two years later, there is a little series of textiles that have some of that yellow in it and I am absolutely loving the direction.

I'll leave you with recommendations for vegetarian friendly restaurants in Paris:

Hanks for veggie burgers in Marais

Luz Verde for great tacos

Les Barav for wine/cheese bar

Las Deux Falafel for the best falafel I have ever had

Ginger Cafe for vegan food

Venice

Colosseum at Sunset in Rome

Amalfi Coast

Glass Studio in Murano

Getting a custom necklace made

El Timon in the original Jewish Ghetto of Venice

Burano

Remini

Venice

Burano

Rome

Duomo of Milan

Munich

Castle in Germany

Eating the best falafel in Paris at Les Deux Falafel

Monet's Garden in Giverney

Giverny

Indigo Thumbprint

Last October, I met with a professor at University of Wisconsin in Madison. We discussed my work and what he said changed my entire artistic practice. He said my work was substantial, but I needed to dig deeper to find more meaning. He mentioned I was so close to being there and that would take my work to the next level.

I tried to do just that from there on out. I created the series Mishap of Collision and was thinking about the meaning throughout making each monotype. This in return changed how the layers of ink interacted with each other on the paper. I was teaching pre school at the time and had a really tough Friday afternoon one day. Remembering that feeling and sentiment, one of my prints the next day had a deep dark black layer on top. Before the fall I might have just said that was chance and not planning out my work. During that series, my process changed and that black layer was intentional. One could see (and I think feel) what my Friday afternoon was like with those three year olds. I continued to remember those fleeting moments from that job and poured them into those prints (instead of my students).

After that series, I was given the chance to completely slow down my entire process because I had unlimited time in India to create. I adopted a practice of starting some prints with thumbnails in mind, but also staying true to my spontaneous methods. After a few were underway, I took a step back and really thought about the direction they were going in. The way Inside the Road came together is how I want to continue my practice. I found a theme that emerged which was the road and then really thought about what that could mean and how I was going to interpret it. I think it helped my audience in India understand the abstract work a little bit better and also took the prints/paintings to a new level.

Now back in America creating a new body of paintings has come underway for a show at Christopher Martins. I kept my same process of using a brayer with Golden High Flow Acrylics on primed canvas, which will then be stretched. I knew I liked the indigo accent I was using from my series in India, but I hadn’t bought a new bottle of paint yet. So, instead of pouring a heavy line in motion and letting it drip, I brought back the oval shapes that are so prominent in my monotypes. I carried this through in each of the paintings and Indigo Thumbprint was unveiled.  Finding a theme this way has been exciting, but also challenging in some ways and has improved my practice.

Indigo Thumbprint is being installed on June 26th at Christopher Martins with a public reception on August 6th. The show will be up through September so plenty of time to see it!

The Two Ends of Audubon St

It seems as though I am all over Audubon St, and I assure you it is not on purpose! I got in touch with Taylor at Koffee sometime last year when I saw an ad online that they were looking artists to show. Mono is Many came together recently and its such a funny coincidence that they are over lapping.

The opening for Mono Is Many took place last Thursday, and I am proud to say it was a pretty good turn out! I felt like I was being pulled from person to person but isn’t that what usually happens at openings? That was the first time I actually got to see the show and it came together really beautifully. Debbie and Jennifer really did an amazing job curating. I especially enjoyed the placement of my little installation with the textiles. Another exciting moment was when Allen from the New Haven Independent interviewed me. He spent quite some time speaking with me. He asked me many thoughtful and fun questions and I didn’t know who he was until way after were done speaking. A few days later, an article came out in the New Haven Independent featuring our show.

Here is a link to read the article: http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/mono_is_many/

Following the opening, some folks headed over to Koffee to check out my show there. I wasn’t sure what to expect with comments on the paintings because it was my first time showing them around here. Luckily, I got a lot positive feedback and it has been good encouragement to continue painting. The space was well suited for my work and I think “In Thirds” came together pretty well.  

If you missed the opening for Mono is Many, the show will be up through June 17th. As for the show at Koffee, the closing reception will be June 25th at 5pm. There is still time to see both shows!

Mono is Many

Before India, I wanted to expand where I was showing my work. I didn’t want to be one of those people who was stuck showing where they live (and grew up). So I met with Debbie Hesse from the New Haven Arts council. That meeting led way to many opportunities and ideas for me. Over the span of one month, I went from never showing outside of CT to showing in three countries at once. Debbie asked me if I would like to curate a printmaking show for the gallery inside of New Haven Arts Council. I went for a second meeting with a friend of mine Jennifer. Before this meeting, I was already set to go to India and Europe. We decided Jennifer would curate and I would show while helping anyway I could remotely. Jennifer and Debbie curated a monotype show and I can’t wait to see how it all comes together after I get back from vacation. Mono is Many will be up May 5th- June 17th, 2016. The opening reception is June 2nd from 5pm- 7pm. I have posted the announcement below and hope to see you there!!!