image courtesy of http://www.mocfa.org/ (Favianna Rodriquez, artist)

Being at the museum today did exactly what I hoped it would do. It made me feel like I was actively involved in the art world. The art world does a great deal of stuff that I don’t understand, but I don’t want to shy away from it just because we have different ideas about where to take art in the future. I will just nudge myself inside and get my voice heard…somehow.

Image from Tri-City Voice Archives (My work is the second image on the left hand side)  Read the full article HERE.

Leah wrote me a nice email about a week or so ago.  It was so great to get a random note from someone telling me they are thinking about my art.  An artist’s dream!  Ask any artist what they want to do with their work and generally speaking the answers are usually, inspire others to create, provide beauty to the world, or show that beauty exists in unlikely spaces, or send a very specific message to a viewer.  There are other reasons to create art and they are all valid.

I became an artist because of the feeling I got when I walked into a museum for the first time.  I thought to myself, if I could make just one person feel the way I feel right now with the work I make I will consider myself a successful artist.

It feels good when your work is well received.

Looking back it is kind of funny because I also received the worst comment to date at that very same show.  Someone told me that my prices were too high and that it diluted the message I was trying to send with my work.

As you can see all responses to an artists work are kept somewhere in their mind forever.

So, comment away folks.  Artists are bred for critiques.  We have to accept them.  The good ones feel so good and the “bad” ones feel really crappy for a while, but we always learn something from them.

Thanks Leah.

Check out what Leah’s currently working on by visiting her blog.

http://leahvirsik.com/

Well, yesterday my very supportive husband and I made the trek out to Point Reyes Station to see my work along with all of it’s new artwork friends at Gallery Route One.

Here’s my artwork!

Portrait of a Mother and a Father

Linocut print on a Mirror

I was happy to see that my work was among some of the best artwork I have seen in a group show in quite some time.  The show was extremely crowded, but I worked up the courage and elbowed my way through the sea of artists and found myself in a short conversation with Kenneth Baker.  He was cordial and cracked a few jokes to lighten the nerves I’m sure both he and I felt.  I have stepped up one more step on my ladder to being comfortable in my role as an artist.

Sunday was a great day.

On another note:

In celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. I would like to share one of my favorite photographs of him.

Photographer Paul Schutzer took this photograph in 1961.

photo courtesy of time.com

Wow!  I just got images back from my most recent solo exhibition at the Wiseman Gallery in Grants Pass, Oregon.  It is truly amazing what space can do for an artwork and concept.  The installation was done so well, I’m glad there was great care taken in producing a lovely “mini” exhibiton of my “I’m a Terrible Morning Person” Project.

I wish I could have made it to the actual space to see the exhibition.  I think the huge amounts of space left between the works and the fact that walls separated some of them really changed the vibe of the whole show.  I would have liked to see first hand what the work was saying to the viewer.  This is why I love showing my work in as many places as possible; it keeps morphing into something entirely new.

Check out the images and tell me what they say to you.

So, I have a solo show entitled, “Did you wake up this morning?” coming up in July.  It will be held at the Rogue Community College in Grants Pass, Oregon from July 3- August 27th.  For the last couple of days I have been preparing to ship my work out to the gallery for them to install.  This gives me sort of a silly feeling in my stomach.  One because I’m struggling with a control addiction.  I’ve come a long way in the past couple of years trying to “just let go” (that’s the mantra I use when I am being too much of a control freak).  And two, I have a love/hate relationship with the install aspect of my work.  It’s a huge part of the process, project and concept, so I feel strange handing it over to someone else to do.

On the other hand, I am so pumped to see what the curators and installers come up with.  The reason I always have one step in my work process that is sort of out of my hands is because it adds a sense of surprise for me and my audience.  It also forces me to let go of some control.

I will be showing 8 works from my Morning Picture Project, also known as I am a Terrible Morning Person.

Another aspect to the show is that instead of having all 21 pieces from the original project it will only have 7.  I am curious how this will affect the viewer’s reaction to the work.

This photo provided by chueynickels.