Current artists statement & a few thoughts from others

My work looks at the patterns of social and behavioral expectation in relationship to individuality, particularly as it exists within the home. I am exploring stereotypes, and social expectations and how individuals negotiate a way through them in such a way as to develop personal identity. I appropriate visual patterns from traditionally domestic decorative elements, such as fabric; wallpaper, plate ware, and furniture in order to draw attention back to the home in order to reconfigure notions of what “home” is. I replicate these patterns at times with deviations from them, be it slight of extreme. The pattern is the layered more patterns with varied levels of deviation and expressive marks to illustrate the building up of experiences with expectations and norms. I am interested in representing the way individuals either adapts themselves to expected, or adapt the expectations to themselves, expressing individuality and reconciling with social norms.

A now for little taste of some of my research...

“The force of habit may be said to spring from the sense of order. It results from our resistance to change and out search for continuity. Where everything is in flux and nothing could ever be predicted, habit establishes a frame of reference against which we can plot the variety of experience.” E.H. Gombrich, The Sense of Order: A study in the psychology of decorative art

“painters love paint itself, so much so that they spend years trying to get paint to behave they way they want it to… It is the paint that is so absorbing, so deeply attractive, that a life spend in the studio can be a bearable life.” James Elkins, What Painting Is

“ Beauty is pleasure regarded as the quality of a thing…Beauty is a value, that is, it is not a perception of a matter of fact or of a relation: it is an emotion, an affection” George Santayna, The Sense of Beauty

More of the same and slight variations

(detail)



(detail)

Work In Progress

There are two different ideas that have been brewing in my mind and I finally started working them out. The first is painting on plexi glass and displaying it with backlighting.


All of these panels are 12"x12". I have some larger plexi in different colors and clear to work with next. Then there is figuring out how to best install/display them.

The second idea is finding objects that have a pre prescribed pattern, or set of guidelines, to be followed and subtly finding ways to change the finished product by breaking the rules or not adhering to the pattern.





I'm also in the midst of doing the same process with a dollhouse. Of course Thursday-Sunday are still to come.

Hopefully I will find a way to integrate these two ideas together... can you stitch on plexi?

Just a thought

"Art is the imposing of a pattern on experience, and our aesthetic enjoyment is recognition of the pattern." - Alfred North Whitehead

Midterm... Dun, dun, dun...

I am capitalizing on the repetition, predictability and systematic nature of pattern. I use high intensity chromas to trace the pattern, shift away from it, create a new entity, and merge back into the pattern. Through this process I am looking at the experience of individuals attempting to reconcile their own identities in relationship to both personal, historical, and cultural traditions.







These two are a little different, they look more at integrating the change (being the individual) as part of the visual pattern rather than existing separately.

A little of what I've been up to...

Just a sketch


Still in process... it will get some "puffy-paint"


Nearly finished


detail. Can you tell the paint is still wet?


It is hard to tell if I'm making art or cake these days, that's part of the point I think.

Paintings of the Mundane

At Blank Page Gallery
(installation shots)






A big thanks to Mike, Zadi, Delilah, Cody, and everyone else at Blank Page. Great show guys, I couldn't have done it without you!

Paintings of the Mundane

Observations from Inside the Life of Another
(images of the work, in addition to the ones in the previous post)

Take twice daily with food


Everything in its place


Morning medication on vanity


Coffee ready by 8:30 a.m.


1 scoop duck feed in the morning




Toast and Tea

Show Flier

For those who can't make it to the show

(aka, Matt & Megan, and Matt & Erin)



(Check Traps, 30" x 38", Acrylic, india ink, and charcoal on canvas)


(Set out lunch, 34" x 28", Acrylic, india ink, and charcoal on canvas)


(Wednesday Wash-day, 36" x 28", Acrylic, india ink, and charcoal on canvas)

Mark your calendars

Paintings of the Mundane: Observations from inside the life of another at Blank Page Gallery, 917 W Douglas Wichita, KS. Using images taken while working temporarily as a part-time caregiver to a 100-year-old woman I give a glimpse into her life. I highlight the pedestrian moments that define her everyday activity and encapsulate my responsibilities to her.




Opening reception will be held Final Friday, June 27, 2008 7-10pm with live local music (musician TBA). Paintings of the Mundane will be on display June 27- July 10.

(all images from source photography)

Check back for more info.

Thesis Proposal...

Artist Statement:
The pressure to meet expectations in relationship to individuality is an experience that we all encounter in differing ways. There is a continual negotiation and renegotiation between what is expected and the actuality of the acting out of that expectation. It is the search for reconciliation of self within the framework of society, and it is common to all people. Within that search it is often the tangents away from the patterns that become the most authentic expressions of the individual.

My work explores patterns of social and behavioral expectation in relationship to individuality, particularly as it exists within the home. Through my work I am observing how individuals confront and express these expectations differently. I use visual patterns that have a more formal undertone (Damask and Paisley) to reference more formal or proper behaviors. I appropriate patterns from traditionally domestic decorative elements, such as fabric, wallpaper, plate ware, and furniture in order to draw attention back to the home in order to reconfigure notions of what “home” is. The work explores social “norms” and considers deviations from them as a means of tracking individual experience.

Through my work I prompt viewers to examine behavioral and social patterns of their own - inherited or self-constructed. Examination of perceived social expectations will in turn lead to an exploration of personal deviance from or adherence to these patterns, ultimately leaving the viewers to ask themselves if they are adapting to perceived “norms” or adapting the “norm” to better fit their circumstance.
(Sorry the pics are kind of crapy...)







PS- my proposal was accepted...I'm officially in thesis!

Artist Talk

Minor technical difficulties caused us to miss a chunk of the talk. But, here's what we got...



(I know I say "um" a lot. I'm working on it.)

Patterned & Embellished