new works on plaster substrate...

I don't know if its all the home improvement projects (drywall?) or reading about the history of plaster in art (think: pyramids, frescoes, Rodin, Cynthia Plaster Caster, etc.) but I just couldn't get the thought of painting on a dry, rough plaster texture out of my mind. The process and the product have some similarities to the excavated screen prints I was working on last year at Kala, the repetition of additive and subtractive application of color.  And not only the hue (colors with a connection to body fluids) but also the subject matter relate to the marbled paper I was working on but never finished. These plaster pieces may or may not be complete either. I've been thinking of adding another layer that contains some sort of image transfer but I'm not sure if a photograph or print would add anything. Maybe all of these bits and pieces will pull together eventually. 

I am loving working with plaster, for me it communicates a sense of fragility and at the same time strength. It is heavy to lug around but can easily be chipped or broken by a fingernail. My undergraduate 3-D teacher (whose artwork I've always admired), Georgia Strange had us create several plaster sculptures from cast blocks that we chiseled away at. Boy, was that intense and difficult. After a few hours of sculpting with a hammer and chisel my hands would be dry & aching and my ears would be ringing. At that point, I learned to really appreciate physically demanding art making. I started to think about not only the object but the effort and strength needed to create it.  What I'm doing now with plaster is much more fluid and easier on my hands. I don't feel like I'm fighting the materials. I've applied a thin layer of plaster to the substrate that I carved into while it was still wet. Then I did several washes and glazes over the textures, filling crevices and wiping the paint away from the high areas.

In the last 4 or 5 years, all of my work has related to biological structures and human reproduction either conceptually or in form. I have always been attracted to the intersections and overlaps of art and science. Circular elements or cells have crept in as a powerful part of my visual language. infinity, cyclical, building blocks of life, unity, clusters, organization, growth...

Intimacy and Voyeurism: The Public/Private Divide in Photography

I will be part of the Society of Photographic Educators(SPE) Women’s Caucus show at the California Institute of Integral Studies on Mission Street in San Francisco. The show is organized in conjunction with the 2012 National Conference, Intimacy and Voyeurism:  The Public/Private Divide in Photography.  The exhibition will be on view March 18 - 31, 2012.  Deirdre Visser, Curator of the ARTS at CIIS, is facilitating the exhibition. The show may  travel to other galleries over the year. The exhibition is part of the SPE conference self guided gallery tour on Friday, March 23. 

Three of my pieces were selected by the jurors Joyce Neimanas and Patrick Nagatani, both SPE Honored Educators. Thirty-six artists were  selected for the exhibition and all selected images are being uploaded here: https://www.spenational.org/members/liz-allen

Joyce Neimanas currently teaches in the photography department at the University of New Mexico.  She taught at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago for 35 years and has received numerous grants and awards including 3 National Endowment for the Arts Awards.  You can view her work at http://joyceneimanasartist.com.

Patrick Nagatani was born in Chicago in 1945, just days after the Enola Gay bomber dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Born to Japanese-American parents that cataclysmic event has resonated throughout Nagatani's life and work, culminating in his series Nuclear Enchantment. Nagatani taught at the University of New Mexico retiring in 2007.  You can view his work athttp://umfa.utah.edu/PatrickNagatani.

Jellies

Went to Shedd Aquarium to see the jellies (with Wyatt, Jessie, Claire, Claire's friends, Nani and Jack). Not a big exhibit but I got some nice images. Might use them as sources pictures for some drawings. I love the lines. The constant movement created a nice exercise in composition. The exhibit was very dark and posed many low light challenges. I shot at a really high ISO. It it hard to tell if I have noise in the images or if it is just the floatie stuff in the water. These are straight from the camera, no manipulation of color. I love the colors they choose for the back of the tanks. It really made the jellies stand out. I tried to get a nice images of a sea horse but that was a total failure. They are really twitchy.

Inkteraction print exchange 100

Five confirmed shows for a print exchange I'm in... see images here...
http://inkteraction.ning.com/photo/albums/navigating-the-currents-100-inkteraction-reactions
100 prints in the show.

January 19 - February 21, 2012
Cedar Valley College, Lancaster, TX

January 17 - February 19, 2012
Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX

March 2 - April 30, 2012
Ned McWherter West TN Cultural Arts Center, Jackson, TN

October - November 2012
McNeese State University
Lake Charles, Louisiana

January 11 to March 17, 2013
Union College, Schenectady, NY

Donated Seeds

One of my robot prints was chosen to be included as part of the exhibition titled: Donated Seeds: Highlights from the Wheat Farm Press Archive. The show will take place at the University of New Hampshire School of Law from August 29-October 28, 2011. 

biggest screen

So I decided I needed to take advantage of the the few really big screens they have here at Kala.Wyatt thinks the best art is the biggest art. He is always encouraging me to make bigger stuff. So I went to blick and bought 3 sheets of the biggest printmaking paper they had in stock. Riding around on the bus at 5pm with this paper was not calculated into the plan.  It measures about 50 by 38 inches.

I then had to figure out what the largest image/screen combo really was possible.  The largest squeegee and scoop coater is 28 inches so that limits the image in one direction. I had to use the counter-weighted arm to print with this size of tool. I have never used an arm to print with so that was pretty cool. Then I had to find a screen and check for holes and see if it fit onto the washing booth. This one has a hole in one end and just barely fit into the booth. I also had to see if it fit into the exposure unit and and if there was plexi big enough to cover the image. So I am about 5 inches taller than this screen and my arms hurt today from all the lifting. An assistant would have been ideal for this print. It took about 4-5 hours to draw the stencil. The paper is twice a big as the image so I printed it from either end. I want to print several more layers as soon as my body recovers. I monoprinted the image painting the ink directly on the screen and then filling with another color. This was labor intensive but I like the results. Forgot to take a picture of the print.

screen in washout booth

the setup screen

excavated print

first a few layers of transparent base are screened over the paper. then details are printed and then blocks of color over that. I printed birds in a random pattern and them monotyped flat colors over that.

Then I screened a black over the entire image

then you "excavate" the print. I just used water and a rag. Trying to be nontoxic. It is still wet here so it was a little hard to photograph. I really like the worn look of it. I want to do more of these.