poorworm

Check out the latest studio visit in the series on the CAB.

Saya in her studio

Check out the latest from the Studio Visits on the City Arts Blog.

The Door with Beautiful Shard

End of June I finished my MFA in Visual Art through the Art Institute of Boston @ Lesley University. This past residency I presented work, defended my thesis and gave a final talk/lecture/performance that included a sing along. There were many fine aspects on this final visit, one of the highlights was an elective seminar with Cesare Peitroiusti, a brilliant artist/thinker/person who challenged us to re-think the USE of items/ideas/encounters and as a class we discussed all sorts of notions in relation to art/life/everything. Other highlights included some wonderful objects created by my colleagues. See below for a few images from the residency. And check the gallery link to the side for more.

Janet Fagan

Rob Sullivan

Peter O. Zierlein

Susan Emmerson

Sally Knight

Check out the latest studio visit with artist extraordinaire – Robert Hardgrave – Click the picture to go to the CAB (City Arts Blog)

Painting by Robert Hardgrave (detail)

Check out the City Arts Blog for the latest Studio Visit with Flatchestedmama (aka Amy-Ellen Trefsger)

Amy-Ellen FCM Trefsger is married to her Creative Self

Such a treat to see Julie’s work space. Check out the visit here on the CAB.

The City Arts Blog will now be hosting my Studio Visits on it’s blog. I will still post a link here though. Read about Warren and see pictures of his space and process at the CAB.

Inside Warren Dykeman's Studio

I visited Whiting Tennis and his studio on Sat Nov 21^st, 2009. He has a wonderful home in the Ballard/Crown Hill area of Seattle. His decor is sparse and kitsch and the wood paneling suits it all. Just going through the foyer, the kitchen and then into the studio there seemed to be orbits of wonder circling Whiting Tennis’s space. While his home is active with wonderful items to look at, the studio is stunningly filled with drawings, objects, sculptures, old signs and crazed bits of wood. Whiting showed me several parts of projects and I became mesmerized at his focus and ability to translate his doodles into 3-dimensional visions. We talked about art making and art viewing and how sometimes when you see work that is really good, that touches you inside and sticks, you just have to go back to your studio and create. Seeing a Philip Guston exhibit in New York at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, he couldn’t make it through the entire show the first time because he was compelled to return to his studio and work. Eventually he did return to see the show in its entirety. In a way that’s how I feel about Whiting’s work. He reminds me of the wonders of using your hands in art, of actually making stuff and getting dirty. Being an on again off again musician too, I have to admit his music does something similar for me. I saw him play this past Thursday night at Vermillion, and was reminded of the same thing. Whether it’s his visual art or music, Whiting’s work inspires me to get in my studio or pick up my guitar and play. As I was leaving I noted the photo of Laura Palmer on the mantel; all the more revelatory upon the interesting planet of Whiting Tennis.

Whiting Tennis shows work with Greg Kucera Gallery in Seattle and Derek Eller in New York.

to see more studio images, check the side bar on the right.

It was a rather lonely Sunday on Nov. 15th, 2009 that I ended up walking over to the Hiawatha Artists Lofts to pay a visit to Claire Johnson. Her loft/studio is warm and cozy. We had tea and talked about donuts, portraits and landscapes. She uses a wonderfully rich color palette and her extreme highlight and shadow combinations translate well in all her work. Even in the donuts there appear to be mini landscapes. She also showed me her book collection that includes a few bibles. Claire is a member of SOIL and helps to organize the Erotic Arts Festival in Seattle. Thanks Claire for your time and generosity in sharing your space with me. More images on the side links.

On saturday in late October 2009, Halloween to be exact, a few friends and I made a studio visit to Joey Veltkamp‘s space at Seattle University. He’s the artist in residence and is doing amazing work along with organizing an Artist’s Salon series. We had some interesting talks about the “Pre-Why” and the “Post-Why” concerning why artists do what they do. Much of the time we are in the process, inspired, creating, and perhaps completely unaware about the “Why” we are doing what we are doing. Or the “Why” might be because we saw something or heard something, and then something else went “click.” Then later, when we have to add context to it, the “Pre-Why” might end up different when we add fancy language to what we do. Does that makes sense? I love the bunny…