Gaining Momentum

Having just heard back from SAIC with an offer to enter their BFA program in the Fall, I find myself lifted with excitement and anticipation. It is also now my Spring break from CCSF and I am spending time away from work and away from school doing...well...more artistic work.

I have a few commissioned pieces to finish up plus a performance piece that will make it's debut in the coming weeks. I am also hard at work on a collaborative work to be featured in Berkeley as a performance work during a massive honors symposium.

In my daydreaming and searching sessions I have rediscovered the work of Marina Abramovic. I have been watching footage from her 2010 piece "The Artist is Present". What an interesting concept and what a powerful artistic force Abramovic is.

Garcia has also just introduced me to a new painter by the name of Guy Denning, whose paintings and drawings are some of the most expressive I have seen in a while. Denning is a self trained artist from the UK who brings a street edge to his work using stencils and different painting techniques. He is pretty incredible. I'm looking forward to more discoveries as my break from classes continues. You can view some of his work below and on his website http://www.guydenning.org

"Baghdad mourning"
conte and chalk on paper, 75 x 50 cm, 2007

"Surge successful, stop now, watch this"
oil on 2 canvas panels, 76 x 122 cm, 2009

Work Work Work

With my applications off to RISD (Rhode Island School of Design), and SAIC (The School of the Art Institute of Chicago), I am now able to shift gears again to the process of creation, emphasizing more time for play, imagination and development before transferring to the East Coast. I am feeling incredibly inspired and have been working really hard over the past few months to produce work that resonates and has a strong emotional quality. This body of work also speaks to my personal style and aesthetic. I am therefore leaving a few jewelry images for you to view so that you may chart my evolution. I will be able to take commissions soon (please contact me if interested) and I will unveil a few series works in the coming weeks. I hope you enjoy these images as much as I do.

Copper Hollow Form Ring - 3 inches x 1 inch - Drilled Detail

 Fine Silver Ring with Patina - 1 inch x 1 inch - Cast

Fine Silver Ring with Patina - 1 inch x 1 inch - Cast

Fine Silver Pendant - 4 inches x 2 inches - Cast

Ignition #2 Cai Guo-Qiang's Desire for Zero Gravity

This was Cai's second piece to be ignited during my week long stay in Los Angeles. The stencils for this piece took many, many hours to prepare and what a treat it was to watch him "paint" with gunpowder and then light it all up. He added children's firecrackers to the mix which added a fun and playful element. Cai mentioned to us that it is more important to know how to put out the fire than to create it. This came after his own childhood follies where he would often light fireworks and then struggle to put them out. His grandmother suggested it was time to figure out a way to exert control and caution with stamping out fire and not just put care and attention into the ignition. A balance he clearly understands after more than 30 years.

Chaos, Gravity and Fire

My week long adventure in Los Angeles with Cai Guo Qiang was momentous to say the least. We 100 or so volunteers helped create two different works by Cai for the MoCA. We started with Chaos in Nature and then Desire for Zero Gravity. It was one of those times in your life where you know it will profoundly influence all the work to come. I have been floating with inspiration, appreciation and a newfound love of art and process. Cai is an amazing teacher and a wondrous human being. I look forward to more lessons. More info can be found on the MoCA Blog.

http://www.moca.org/audio/blog/