Maude Kerns Art Center show

Well hurray! The new show at Maude Kerns looks great. I have four oil paintings in the show. This recent work integrates my philosophical interests and personal symbolism into my love of abstraction.

At the opening I had the opportunity to meet some interesting people, including local artist Stephen White and his partner Anne, who were a pleasure to talk to. Stephen is my favorite artist in the show; his handcrafted light sculptures make me think of angels meditating in the forms of abstract organic objects. See for yourself at:

http://corriecroft.com/luminessence/index.htm
and
http://culturesource.net/stephenwhite/aboutstephenwhite

The show runs through June 26, 2009.

Getting ready for a new show

I was invited to participate in a show at Maude Kerns Art Center for "Oregon Made For Interiors–the biennial exhibit of hand-made furniture and decorative furnishings." May 29-June 26, 2009. My work is obviously not furniture, I will be one of two 2D artists in the show.

So, I have been working up to a new series of work, which I'm thinking will be more traditional oil on canvas. I have been doing some watercolor and gouache studies to get warmed up. I will probably be focused on this until it is complete, so the business development stuff will be on the back burner for a couple months. I'll post some pictures as the work develops.

My Art Talk at DIVA

Well, I have not written for a while because I have been very busy establishing a design & illustration business. It is called Lightside Creative Studios, and my partner and I are the co-owners/designers.


Anyway, tomorrow at noon, come to the DIVA to see my art talk! I will be discussing my current exhibit and hopefully sounding smart and non-pretentious!

DIVA show is up!

This show consists of two installations.

Check out my homepage to see a slide-show of the eight hour setup. My sweetie, artist Doug Nickell, helped me hang the color piece.

Working on the DIVA show

Well, I have been super busy getting ready for my show at DIVA. Here are a few pictures of the complicated process of making the first of two large installation pieces.

These are the "scales" with their underdrawings. I laid them out to see how much surface area they had and they pretty much covered my living room/studio. The underdrawing is gesso painted on the back sides of the scales to add subtle texture and shape to the vellum.




This picture shows the back side of some of the scales after being painted. I'm including it because I like the way the backs look, but they won't be visible on the finished installation.













Here are some scales after part of the oil painting has been done to them. In the closeup picture you can see some texture from the underdrawing.


There are 42 of these scales which will be built into a 3d structure in the corner of the room. They range from blue to red. Vellum is translucent and I used all transparent colors on them. So when held up to light they have a beautiful glow like a stained glass window. They have an interesting skin-like non-papery quality. I am not sure how archival oil on vellum is (not very I would guess), but I don't care because I really like the effect.

People have asked me what vellum is made of. Traditionally it was animal skin made into a writing surface. I have read several variations, but essentially modern vellum seems to be made from embossed or plasticized wood or cotton fibers.

Finding space to work, and a star is born!

Well, I must say that I am getting pretty good at finding ways to turn very little working space into a functional studio. I am currently working on my show for the DIVA for which I am building two large installation pieces. The first consists of many "scales" as I like to think of them of vellum paper which will be painted and then built into a 3d construction. The problem with oil painting 50 some pieces of paper in a one bedroom apartment is that there is nowhere to put them while they dry.


So! I set my brain to problem solving yet again and invented this drying rack made from dental floss, screws, paperclips, and tape. I must say it works pretty well too. It's not much to look at but it will help a lot! I'm going to have to write a book on making a studio out of a ten square foot space. (edit: The floss was slipping so I replaced it with floral-arrangement wire which is much stronger. It works great.)



Anyway, I have a ton of work to do for this show, but I still had time to star in some movies! My partner had to make some movies for a class and being the only free and available human nearby I am now a movie star. Here is a link to his movie of me working on a piece of art that is currently hanging at the WOW Hall.

And the winner is...!!!

Well, I wanted to take a picture of the voting office, but it was pouring rain. So, I quickly ducked into the office where there were many excited people bustling about and marched right up to the "vote here" slot to submit my ballot. Then I went to work and waited for tidbits of information from my co-workers who occasionally received text message updates on the election count. Once I got to sneak a peek of an election map from a library computer. On my way home from work there were people outside yelling in celebration, people setting off fireworks and literally playing trumpets and bullhorns in the streets. Oh, how I love Eugene.

I know, this is an ART blog. So here's the art: BARACK OBAMA AND JOE BIDEN: CHAMPIONS FOR ARTS AND CULTURE !!! Don't you just love the sound of an Artist Corps? It just brings a warm fuzzy feeling to all the art in my brain. It's so nice when politics makes you cry with joy rather than horror.

The art is hung, don't forget to vote!

Ok, there are two things I want to talk about. The first, very briefly, is that the art is now up at the WOW Hall. I have to make a few minor adjustments, but it is up. The reception is First Friday, November 7th from 5-7pm.




The second thing on my mind is: VOTING DAY!!!
Check out this photo article on Presidential Politics & the Street Art of New York.

I am really excited about this election. But I am amazed that in this "great land of democracy" our national voting methods are so haphazard and inefficient. I happen to have spent most of my voting years in Oregon, which I just heard is the only state with mail-in paper ballots. I've been watching the news showing early voters standing in lines for five or more hours just to vote. And there are these cities with only a few dysfunctional voting machines, electronic voting machines which can be so easily hacked, every kind of maddening voter suppression tactic, including the fact that working people, old people, sick people, parents with little kids, etc. etc. can not just spend an entire weekday fighting to get to rock their vote. What the hell? It's the 21st century! This is America!

Where I live in Eugene, Oregon, we got our paper ballots in the mail a week or two before voting day. Along with that we get "Voter's Pamphlets" which describe each candidate (they write up their own sales pitch for themselves) and each measure, along with editorials purchased by groups and individuals arguing their case for or against each measure. So from the comfort of your own home, you can go through your ballot reading abundant literature, looking up more information online, and discussing each vote with friends and family if you wish. Then you put the ballot in the mail or take it to the voting office. No lines, no stress, no taking time off from work. This leads to far more educated votes and happier healthier voters.

So, I seriously believe that we need to fix this voting system. I'm thinking mail-in paper ballots for everyone and VOTING DAY SHOULD BE A NATIONAL HOLIDAY!

I think I will take a picture of our city voting office today to illustrate the complete lack of people standing in line. I suspect everyone will be smiling as well.