A wonderful letter

I am SO happy that Sue Aygarn-Kowalski, the artist whom I last profiled in my monthly newspaper series on artists who work in the New Bedford, Massachusetts, area, wrote an appreciative letter on my article to the editor, and that the paper printed it in today's Opinion section.

Sue was recommended to me by another artist, so I didn't know her before I arrived at her studio for our interview. But as soon as I met her, I recognized her as someone with a deep sense of personal integrity and artistic honesty. In other words, it really means something to her that her art is a sincere reflection of HER AS A PERSON, and what she believes in.

Then I saw her work, metal sculpture and jewelry, and had the opportunity to watch her create it, and I was greatly impressed by her skill, knowledge and craftsmanship.

So I hoped, when I was writing the story about her, that I would do her and her work justice. Judging from her letter, I succeeded. Yay!

Here is Sue's letter to Robert Unger, the editor-in-chief of the New Bedford Standard-Times.

Two new additions

In between teaching week-long summer workshops and writing the latest artist profile for my newspaper series, I have been collaging some more of these 10-inch-square fabric and paper combinations. They are SO fun to make!

Birthday flowers

Yesterday was my Mom's birthday, which we celebrated with a party at my house. Early in the morning, I headed over to the field next door and cut a fat handful of black-eyed Susans growing in the wild. I thought this "arrangement" was far more natural and attractive than anything I could have bought at a florist.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Profile of Sue Aygarn-Kowalski

My profile of metalsmith Sue Aygarn-Kowalski appears in today's edition of the New Bedford Standard-Times. Click here to read.

Sue's amazing sculpture and jewelry can be seen on her website here.

Consulting the cat

Need reliable, free legal or career advice? Your best resource is your cat.

I have found that my cat, Petey, will "voice" his opinion by his reaction to printed documents that I put on my bed, his favorite place to sleep.

Once time, I had printed out information on a job I was considering applying for. I brought the paper up to bed along with a book and a magazine, planning to look through them and reread the job description before I fell asleep. Petey immediately spied the job page lying beside me on the bedspread, and he sat down beside it and began chewing at the edges. He eventually shredded the whole document.

What more of a sign do I need, I thought. I never applied for that job, and later was very glad I didn't. As it turned out, Petey was right; it wouldn't have been a good career move for me.

Last night I printed out a contract I was considering signing, and brought it upstairs to bed with me, along with some other reading matter, figuring I'd reread it one more time before I fell asleep. Petey took one look at the contract pages sitting on the bed, and curled up contentedly in a ball on top of them. Needless to say, I plan to sign and send in the contract immediately.

The above photo is one of many Petey pics taken by my husband, Kevin Seward.

New blue

Here is a new painting I just finished. The actual size is 40 inches square, with each section (acrylic on torn paper) about 2 inches high and 1 inch wide. I just felt like playing with phthalo blue!

Why I do what I do

I received an awesome letter from textile artist Marjorie Puryear, thanking me for the review I wrote for the New Bedford Standard-Times of her current solo show at the Fuller Craft Museum.

Among the wonderful things she said were: "I was extremely excited by your insight into my work and the subtleties of my concept that you considered. Reviewers of textile work, no matter what the subject, rarely spend so much time on content, usually focusing on the materials and technical qualities, which isn't really as interesting or satisfying to the artist. ... I am delightfully overwhelmed by your positive understanding of my formal aesthetic, and also the way you perceived my intentions."

Marge's kind words made my day. This is exactly why I write these art reviews for the newspaper: Artists work SO HARD to express and share subjects which are near and dear to their hearts, and often their efforts are met with frustrating comments such as, "How long did it take you to make that?" Published reviews are rare, and when they do come, they can be vague at best and rude at worst.

As a reviewer, I feel that my job is to be, as my husband calls it, a "booster." Fortunately I am in a position not to have to review shows that I don't care about. When I write about a show, it's because I picked it, and because I want to encourage readers to go and see work that I believe is of value and distinction.

Here is the link to my review of Marge's show.

New Age technique revisited

I was an enthusiastic “New Ager” in the late ‘80s/early ’90s when it was trendy, and the “make your dreams come true” techniques recommended by Louise Hay, Shakti Gawain, Doreen Virtue and Catherine Ponder worked wonders for me. I went from employment for bleak wages in a retail store with only a high school diploma, to becoming a full-time fine artist and teaching at the college level (and no debt!).

One of my favorite “wish fulfillment” techniques was the “treasure map,” most clearly described by Shakti Gawain in “Creative Visualization.” The idea is to create a collage for yourself made up of pictures of exactly what you want in your life. It’s important to include photos of yourself in the environment you want, doing what you want. If you post this treasure map where you will see it regularly (over your desk, for example), and reflect on it periodically throughout the day, you will invite this exact scenario into your life, and it will eventually become your reality.

For example, in about 1993, I decided I wanted to be a teacher. I made a collage of images cut from college catalogs, showing teachers working with art students at their easels, and I pasted photos of my head on the teachers’ bodies. It didn’t happen overnight, but darn if I’m not doing EXACTLY that today!

My latest wish is to sell my paintings to various corporate settings, and I’ve made myself a treasure map to assist me as I pursue that goal. I printed out and collaged a number of pictures of board rooms and reception areas, and I pasted printouts of my paintings on the walls of these interior views. I also printed out copies of the various checks I’ve recently been paid for selling paintings and pasted them around the edges of the collage, as if to invite more of the same. (Those who are Photoshop-savvy could cut and paste on the screen; I am still a scissors-and-glue-stick person.)

Obviously there are a lot of action steps that need to be taken besides just making the treasure map, in order to bring these goals into reality. But I believe that the treasure map helps in a big way. I’ll let you know how my “corporate sales” treasure map works for me!

Back to reality

As of today, my "home residency" is over! I've had the last 7 weeks with minimal disturbance – only one class a week, just a few scattered writing assignments -- to work peacefully in my studio, stocked with enough art supplies so that I can work in any desired size, color or media.

But today it's back to reality. This week, at the Danforth Museum School, I'm teaching a five-day drawing class, and next week a five-day fashion illustration course, both for teens. Fun assignments, granted, but not the "do whatever you like" schedule of painting in seclusion that I've enjoyed since mid-May. It'll be a change of pace, for sure!

I also have a week each of teaching watercolor, advanced drawing and self-portraits over the summer, before the fall semester begins on September 4 (colleges don't wait for Labor Day!).

Above is an example I made to show my students of the project we're going to do today. We're going to make pencil drawings of complex natural objects, and then outline them in black marker. This will teach the students the importance of careful observation and the approach of working from simplest to most complex. It will also give them practice in hand-eye coordination and the use of various dry media, and hopefully bring a sense of accomplishment when they’re done, because it’s a lot harder than it looks!

Latest works

Here are a number of new pieces. These first two are a continuation of a small (10 inch square) series I've been working on since spring, made of painted fabric collage on cradled boards:





This is one of a group of three acrylic-and-paper collages on stretched canvas, 50 inches high by 30 inches wide, that I made last week. I now have five in this series:



And this is one I finished yesterday, 40 inches square, made up of acrylic and paper torn squares collaged onto stretched canvas: