Gleaming Lark

link love

Three amazing artists whose work I am currently panting over...

Alexis Mackenzie
Sarah Spitler  (my favorite)
Jennifer Sanchez

no matter how hard i try to decide what to do beforehand, i always just do whatever i want in the moment.

i've been saying for weeks 'i think i want to get back to those old abstracts.  i want to break out the oils and the canvas and start at square one.'  but when i finally sat down to make last night, those bright colors screamed my name again, and i was making a mess with splatter ink on paper.  this process in myself makes me feel two ways:

1. it's good that i always do whatever i want, all the time, no matter what.
2. there is no use ever thinking about anything because my intuition always wins and i'm not actually     driving.

(skip to last paragraph here if you're short on time...it took me awhile to get to the point...)

NOT ACTUALLY DRIVING.  which brings me to the whole faith/belief thing that i've been rolling about in my head lately, as to why we believe in things of which there are no proof, and how potential energy is actually that threshold where we don't know what will happen- and yet we step again and again into the threshold, the interstice, with a BELIEF that there is something on the other side.  we take risks again and again as we step into the void...and yet, the most exciting part is that holding place before the risk, the space before we act- when we believe in potential- when anything is possible.  it is the moment before conception, before movement, before speaking, marking, or making. it is a very quiet moment.   it is primordial.  it is religious. and for me it is the definition of freedom.

AND YET this moment does not exist without action.  the interstice does not exist without the boundaries.  there is no before unless there is an after.  rites of passage exist for a reason.

THERE IS SOMETHING HERE related to 'emergence'  done by radio lab. . .spontaneous order from chaos, though my focus seems to be more on the chaos before the order...but i think it's the NOT DRIVING part, and the illusion of leaders and safety in society, where at the root we are all bumbling about believing in things that don't totally exist (immortality, for example) because we need to believe in something, and at the same time, need to know that we can't control anything.

I AM NOT arguing for existentialism.  i believe we have a responsibility to act.  i just think it's interesting how people believe in the potential of things.  they romanticize what could be.  they live in the dreams and the possibilities.  and then life just happens to you, and you have to throw up your arms and understand that you're not really in control of everything that comes to you.  we constantly exist in this state of trying so hard to make things happen, and yet more deeply, what fuels us (or at least me) to keep going is this belief that tomorrow it might be different, that we will meet someone new on the train, that some shadow on some sidewalk inspires us to act.  it's a deep and rich place, living with the knowledge that in each moment you are actually just potential energy, you are actually in a rite of passage between one chapter and another, that there is a constant undulating mobility to our existence that is the difference between stopping and standing still.  in stillness there is the quiet hum of what will come next.

i love that quiet hum.  if i could make it, spoon it in bed, eat it whole without swallowing, i would. 

now how's THAT for an artist's statement.

more weeping.

and the works in progress.

weeping botany

some things i made at the gallery yesterday on some delicious paper i just bought.

more to come. promise.

some things i've been up to on the ship.

the ship.

summer postcard sweetness

i signed up for a postcard swap and loved every second of making these no-pressure summer loves.  .  .
when i've received all of other's post cards, i'll include some pictures of those.  in the meantime- thanks Andrea for organizing the swap and for fostering art and summer love!  Oh- and one more thing; on Friday, head on over to a.Muse Gallery to see my friend Mati and her future hubby's art. . .To see the pretty invite, click here .
now for the summer lovin':

my show

more of what's happening here in the studio...

this american life.
a renewed sense of purpose
this blog.
this blog too.
when my co-teacher said today "and now for our weekly friday radical politics lesson. . ."
and miles, our acrobatic student said to his neighbor "did she say it's our weekly rice cake lesson?"
and finally, the blessing of friends coming to visit me while i am holed up in my studio.  it feels downright communal.

what happened in my studio yesterday.

how long does oil paint need to dry, really??

it is the final countdown and there are a whopping 55 people coming to my opening on friday night.  this makes me simaltaneously sick to my stomach and ecstatic.  hopefully noone will notice if the paintings are still a bit wet- because it's looking like that's how it's going to be!! i wish i had time to write the list of why i feel so blessed right now- but ya'all will just have to read between the shapes in my paintings for now.  after friday, i promise. . .

on a really good day

come see these works at Austin Law on 21st and Castro on 4.27 @ 7pm.
come support the children i teach so they know they can grow up to be artists.
(this show is a benefit for the one and only CASA, the most sparkly and magical place ever)
if you come, they will love you, and so will i, for ever and ever.

grandma's jewels and the dirt under my feet

the process of unwinding, decay, and forming anew . . . we go round and round in this cycle.

my break from blogging is not an indication of my making stride lately.  after hanging my work at making spaces and finishing the forms of my ten birds (but how still, do i mount them??) i quickly guided myself into a less 2 dimensional project- with no hopes of gallery showing.  similar to when i spent 4 hours making the most splendid cupcakes, with victorian like detail out of frosting- i tend to not be able to cease making and yet, like everyone, need a break from the pressure of the outcome.  i find that new things give me this freedom to make with no expectation- and voraciously feed the more 'serious' (dare i judge?) projects when i go back to them. . .
mind you, the "interim" projects have not only included cupcakes, but also a tool belt for my brother, the entirety of gleaming lark's beginning, all dresses, adornements, and even any art not made on canvas.  so you see. ..the 'less serious' projects often turn into something quite worthwhile- but the trick of taking myself less seriously really does wonders with the whole afraid of making the first step thing.
here are some pics of i've been doing lately that has kept me from blogging regularly.
First, are these cuffs that i'm working on.  hopefully i'll get the store up the street to carry them, or at least sell them on etsy.

whadya'll think?
my plan is. . .yup, you guessed it, to make 10.
and as for the rest of my time, well. . . .

i've been poking around some more rural neighborhoods . . .

and all i can say is: thank GOD my car is fixed so i can remember what it's like to have something besides pavement under my feet.
that's all for now!
happy making!

forgiveness

today i did an installation at mbcc (otherwise known as the new church i've been attending- and don't get all freaked out about me exploring my spirituality in a more communal sense, please.) through my bleary fog of no sleep, too much visual work, and the end of a cold- a work on forgiveness somehow manifested and bruce , the amazing pastor, guided people to it ever so gracefully in the service he led.  what resonated with me most was his request that we re-define sin by recognizing (admitting) and caring (forgiving) for that which is broken in ourselves and our lives.  he asked that everyone write down a word or two on forgiveness (who we'd like to forgive, or perhaps be forgiven by) and drop it in the glasses in the installation.  now, i figured that i, tiffany , and bruce would be the only ones to actually partake in this 'new' ritual that i dreamed up.  alas, i sat watching as person after person approached the work until almost everyone had dropped a paper in the wine, even a child.  and how moving it was to see so many people easily participate in this thing i set up, and to collectively forgive, be forgiven, acknowledge the broken parts, and then let go. 
the main sentiment that came up for me, as i struggled with writing down my mother's name (queen of grudges) is how do we even begin to forgive, or be forgiven, when we have not forgiven ourselves? how can i learn to accept my broken parts so that when i return home for christmas and my mother comes down on me about living in california and being an artist i can forgive her and see how her broken parts are speaking, instead of falling into the same spiral of self-doubt and lack of forgiveness that she is speaking from? it begins with us.  it begins with self-forgiveness. so that we may be honest, let go, and move on and through.  so that we don't remain stuck in a grudge or a place of unacceptance. so that we can model it, and understand the power of being forgiven.  and only then, in the grace of forgiveness, can we 're-gift' it.

i leave you with that, and some more photos of the installation. 

rhinestones and drawing and sunlight.

see these works (and many more) live at my upcoming show: 'making spaces' along with three other magnificent artists. 

better yet, attend "The Odyssey" on March 10th (AND the opening on the 22nd) @ Cellspace and see the lovely Dori Midnight, Corinna Press, and Bernadine Millis, and many others re-work an ancient text on war's
aftermath, masculinity, fatherhood, loss, grief, and violence. ! Click here for more info!

goth birds

i didn't even know how dark i was feeling last night until i came out with these:

i guess you just never know. . . .

miniature.

today i taught the kiddies at my work the word miniature.  that's right.  i told them all about the colors in the circus and then made them make teeny tiny miniature books (on the circus theme) to go in their teeny tiny miniature matchboxes and let me tell you, little tiny people making little tiny art is just about enough cute to last me a year.  and it was all inspired by my friend dori, who brought in an embroidered matchbox last week (what an amazing artiste!!), and inspired me to make a matchbox gift for my mom, and then teach a class on matchbox art, and finally be fascinated with the whole miniature idea. . .
here is a picture of 2 i made last night.  detail photos are in the tiny treasures album.

Look @ my PAINTINGS!!!
Studio Art by Katherine Louise Mitchell