Assemblage

Assemblage is an artistic process. In the visual arts, it consists of making three-dimensional or two-dimensional artistic compositions by putting together found objects.

Exhibit A:
Let's go one step further and add some text. Two Hearts is the combination of a wood block printed heart from the Cheap Art Bus at Bread and Puppet in Glover, Vermont, and a three-dimensional heart made of expandable foam and covered in paint, by an unknown maker. It had a bite chewed out of it, a chunk spit at the audience, and then the remaining heart thrown out into the crowd at last year's STRUT fashion show at the Art Hop. Lastly, is a passage that I came across recently by Aimee Bender from On a Saturday Afternoon.

..."even though I am making steady proclamations about who I will go for next, and why, and how it will all be different, it is brutal to imagine the idea of meeting a new person. Going through the same routine. Saying the same phrases I have now said many times: the big statements, the grand revelations about my childhood and character. The cautious revealing of insecurities. I have said them already, and they sit now in the minds of those people who are out living lives I have no access to anymore. A while ago, this sharing was tremendous; now, the idea of facing a new person and speaking the same core sentences seems like a mistake, an error of integrity."

Exhibit B:
If I had stylists, hair and makeup people from Vogue, a professional photographer to snap photos of me, a gorgeous Valentino dress that probably has chicken poop on it now, and oh by the way Katie Perry's rockin body, you'd get this. Photoshopped not very professionally by me.

Still Life with Pears

I always said that I was not a painter, and couldn't really draw all that well either. My drawing is still just passable after a 12-week course at CVU, but apparently my painting is not so bad. I've been taking an Intro to Studio Art course at CCV with Stephanie Bush whose natural material nests I am in love with, and she makes these terrifically enormous paintings as well. Her husband has a shared studio space and has really dark and creepy paintings. Creepy in a way that I love, that make you feel just a little uncomfortable while looking at them. It's right up my alley... my creepy, creepy alley.

Here's the still life I did in class the other day:

And my homework assignment:

As you may have noticed, all still life paintings MUST involve pears. It's not an option, but a requirement. I'm not sure if you were already aware of this, but now you know.

I've also been working on some jewelry. License plate bracelets which have obviously been done before, but a friend wanted one. And I've also been making sterling silver hammered earrings. I don't have photos of these yet, but will soon.

Splattered with Bee Guts

I had an interview in Woodstock this morning for a position at an art school/gallery/music and yoga space. It seems like it would be a good fit, so fingers crossed that I am called back for a second interview. At any rate, I was driving back and going down I-89 when I was suddenly splattered across the face with the guts of a bee who had just bounced off my side view mirror, through the partially open window, off my face, and then landed on my passenger seat. Besides being a bit horrified, is it weird that my next thought was that I should keep the bee to use in a project? It was natural causes after all, I'm not out murdering bees.

I also stopped by the little bookstore in town this afternoon, which is conveniently located next to the scarily radical church in the shopping plaza. I picked up some terrific little pamphlets explaining that people who drink, are Muslim or Catholic, who are bisexual or homosexual, or who are just a wee bit too sinful in one way or another definitely need to accept jeesus as their savior or they'll be off to burn in hell for eternity. Some of them have wonderful illustrations, and even dialogue in Spanish. Some of the best panels may be combined with a deceased bee into some sort of project soon.

That's just as soon as I finish my color wheel project for school. I really want to stick a googly eye in the center of my color wheel, just because. But then, I see a bee related project coming soon.

My Artist's Block

Since being at the studio center, I've created almost nothing. Well, I'm taking a class at CCV so I've had to do some drawing and painting, but besides that and one crafty project with a five-year-old that involved stringing some photographic light gels together with ribbon to make a bunting sort of thing, I've created nearly nothing. I'm taking a look at a studio on Thursday. It's only $100 a month, so that's not bad at all, but considering that I have no clue about the course of my life, I'm not sure that I can commit to even a one month lease. Today I've been severely in the dumps and I'm having beer and self-pity for dinner between my bouts of crying. I just don't know what I'm doing. I'm 37, almost 38, and looking at all of these other people who have good careers and families and seem so happy and successful, and here I am doing the same thing I was doing at 21. Apparently I'll "never be a good mother" to said five-year-old, and so that is over. I've got no job, although an interview tomorrow, fingers crossed that I don't eff it up. I've got some depression issues and no path or plan or much hope for either. I have "an artist's temperament" as I like to call it, meaning that I'm emotional. Probably shouldn't go into a whole lot more of that detail, since who knows who is reading. Sigh. Probably no one.

Here's some art or something:

Both of these will be at the SPACE Gallery from June through September. I've also lined up a home for Forbidden Planets at the Warren Library starting in September when they have a Vermont fiber show.