Setting up pre-college 7/28-8/1

When first arriving to Hamilton Hall with Michele on Tuesday, we first needed to map out the spaces. We started by measuring each room, and making sure each student was given 55 inches (across) for their pieces. After we finished taping the foyer of Hamilton, Michele had to go teach, so while she was gone I finished marking the spaces in the rest of Hamilton. 

By the time Michele returned, she started putting up the artist statements while I started taping up the wall, as level as I possibly could, this was a tedious job to say the least. 

(Making sure each piece of tape was level.)

I hadn't even gotten through half of the taping I needed to, and realized that I had to leave for my summer class, but lucky enough one of Michele's students Nigel, had walked by and said he wouldn't mind finishing up with Michele. 

(Nigel did both catwalks)

(After I finished taping up the foyer of Hamilton.)

END OF DAY 1. 

On to day 2....

After Nigel and I finished up taping, the students were able to come and start hanging their work on day 2. Michele had asked Philip and I to stand watch and make sure that they were putting their work up in a level and professional fashion. Their pre-college professors were already there, so we moved on to spackle and paint all the walls of the catwalks (which were in TERRIBLE shape.)

So Philip and I began spackling the walls, when on the other side of the catwalks the graphic design students began putting up their work, which was no problem we would just spackle and paint around them. 

During this time of spackling and painting we were also asked to find 5 more pedestals for the ceramics the pre-college students were going to show. This was a serious process, I never realized how precious pedestals were to all students and faculty at UArts, so Philip and I were running around, asking different people for keys to different storage rooms and offices, after searching for a while we were lucky enough to have sculpture let us borrow 5 pedestals.

After spending the rest of day 2 painting, it was once again time for me to go to my summer class. 

On to day 3...

The reoccurring task for day 3 was to make sure all of the student's art work was level. Unfortunately most of their pieces were cut un-evenly, which made this task much harder. 

A painting student's finished set up. (Note the un-even paper.)

More of the painting student's work. I was very impressed by the talent all of these students had!

Obviously not level....

The piece above was one of my favorites out of the entire show. These young students really got to explore in a bunch of different mediums. Both Michele and I were very impressed by these finished experimental photo pieces. I asked one of the students about this process and how it was done, I think I'm going to give it a try. 

Last Day at Germantown Nursing Home...

Yesterday was our last day helping seniors out at Germantown Nursing Home. It's hard to believe, but this last month has certainly gone by quick!

We got a chance to print tomatoes, pigs, and turkeys! All of these were different salt and pepper shakers that Effie had. At one point in her life she had a cupboard in her kitchen filled with hundreds of salt and pepper shakers, and she would use them for all different occasions. Turkey shakers whenever she made turkey, chicken shakers for whenever she made chicken, celery shakers for whenever celery was out on the table... Essentially what it came down to was the fact that she had hundreds of these salt and pepper shakers at one point, and now they are nowhere to be found. Lost when she moved, an accumulated collection that is no longer in her possession.

I'm starting to think and understand why she was so apathetic and uninterested at times when she was telling me about this collection. I wanted to know every little physical detail and image in order to understand how we could successfully screen print a version of it. She however, knew what it had been, knew it was gone, and wanted to know what she could get out of new experiences!

I talked to the program manager and she said that what's important is that we always keep learning, because as soon as we stop, we start dying.

Effie can be pretty stubborn, but I really enjoy the time we did get to spend together, and I know that she has her own way of going about and understanding things, but at the same time she can respect what's going on with the world around her. She has taught me to approach the world in a way that I can submit my own self, but at the same time make it a part of what's going on around me. Check out some pictures!!

Effie's favorite task was stuffing. It's not too hard on the fingers, plus it's an easy thing to do!

She didn't need any help screen printing!

I stayed for their Luau one week, the seniors got a chance to watch a hula dancer and eat water ice out in the courtyard! I honestly thought it was going to be a more interactive experience for them all, but they seemed to enjoy it regardless.

Studio Day 7/29/13

Last week was probably the most hectic week of the summer, it started out on Monday in Michele's studio. There was a list of things that we had to finish in the studio before setting up the pre-college show for the rest of the week. Although it seemed nearly impossible, everything was finished in just the amount of time we had. The first thing we had to do was deliver Michele's painting to the Crane Arts building for the inLiquid members show, but before we delivered it we had to wrap it up in tracing paper, then in cardboard.

After dropping off her painting, we came back to the studio. Michele was finishing up her new pieces (as seen below) that we were going to be taking to Connecticut on Saturday. 

While Michele was working on her pieces, I was flattening down the nails Michele had hammered into her smaller pieces, so these pieces would look just as professional on the back as they do on the front. 

(It was pretty impossible not to stab yourself with these little nails while trying to figure out a pattern in which you wouldn't get stabbed.)

(Closer shot at the flattened nails)

(Even closer!)

After I flattened the nails on the 8 smaller pieces, it was time to cut foam core and make sure it fits nice and snug in the back of the panels. This way the piece shows no sign of those pointy little nails, and also makes the piece look much cleaner as a whole. 

The process of cutting this foam core was interesting, you could not just cut one and have the other seven be the same exact size, because not all of these panels are the same size. So every time I would have to put the panel face up onto the foam core, trace the entire piece, and then measure in the size of the border on the very back. After one (or two) mess ups, I got the hang of it and was able to successfully "foam core" each small piece. (As seen below) 

Once I was finished with the foam core, it was time to wire each piece. It is embarrassing to say but these were actually the first pieces I have ever wired before... I was happy that they were smaller (lighter) so it would have been hard to mess up the wiring process. 

Organizing Michele's Studio, Days 7 and 8:

Today was a day in the studio and our job was to organize it.

First I was to organize the acrylic paints, determining which cans were still useful and which ones were to be washed out. After laboriously washing out the useless paints I then organized the supply cart. It's this sort of organizing that my brain has fun with. Then Allie and I sorted through bags of junk that were in the loft of the studio.

It was essentially a fun scavenger hunt finding all sorts of useful things that would ensure Michele would not have to go art supplies shopping for a while. While Allie sorted out the desk area, my next task was to sort out the colored paper that Michele uses for collage in her artwork.

Even the the tiniest of pieces were saved for collage purposes, and placed in a designated area in Michele's newly organized workspace.

Hopefully it stays that way.

The following week I was to help Michele with tax deductions by putting amounts of money spent into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. Piece of cake. She recommended that I'd keep a blank version of this spreadsheet for my own use, and given how it organizes expenses, I'm keeping it.

Fighting the evils of taxes. One Excel cell at a time.

Michele then gave Allie and I a whole list of links to artist opportunities (mainly in New York), examples of artist statements and bios, and a guide to writing an artist statement and resume. I finished adding Michele's expenses early, so I spent the rest of the day working on my artist statement, which I've had in the making since March. This days is filled with valuable resources.

A seminar for alumni on writing artist statements and resumes, as well as a tutorial in photographing work, was held a few days later. I had the opportunity to attend this. The most helpful tip I got was finding a gallery that would hold my sort of work, and submitting work that would go together as a series. Photographer Ken Yanoviak gave a useful tutorial on photographing paintings (it's all about the LIGHTING), and got three of my most recent paintings photographed in the best of quality. 

UArts Workshop 7/26/13

Last friday, I attended a UArts workshop that was originally for grad students but Michele 

invited Philip and I to attend. During the first half of the workshop Shelley Spector explained 

to all that attended how to strive as an artist. She began by talking about the different types 

of ways to get your name out there and also make some money while you're doing it. These 

examples included:

-Grants

-Prizes

-Fellowships

-Residencies

-Apprenticeships

Shelley also spoke in detail about the differences between cover letters, resumes and cv's. She said

how in a cv the artist should keep EVERYTHING they have ever done, like an artist's index.

Then an artist's resume should be more personal, depending on what kind of job/opportunity the artist 

may be applying for. Shelley also stressed the importance of writing multiple cover letters, it is not

recommended that an artist send out only one cover letter to a ton of opportunities, but however 

make them personalized as well as the resume. We are to pick and choose from our cv what should

and shouldn't be included into our resume. 

We also spoke of the different styles of artist statements, where Shelley gave us a list of words that would help us with the main point behind our statements.

-Process

-Inspiration/ influences

-Concept

-Backstory 

-Relationship to

-Intent

-Meaning

-Specifics- size, materials, history 

After the workshop, Ken Yanoviak (who photographed Michele's pieces for her show that was at the Painted Bride in April) gave us the opportunity to have our work professionally photographed which I found particularly exciting. Its not often that an artist can have their work photographed for free! Ken showed us different scenarios and how to photograph different kinds of work, then after informing us of the basics, he photographed all of our work. 

Below are the pieces that Ken photographed for me (I was so very happy with the way they all came out! It was definitely a great opportunity to attend this workshop.)

 (Ken said the contrast in the photo above was too extreme, so he retook the shot, but I think I like both shots equally!)

Setting Up At Blick's, Day 6:

The CHER Pop-Up Group was in need of assistance that would count as Summer Fellows hours for help putting up artwork at Blick's. Having set up a show before this didn't sound too hard until I saw where we were going to be hanging up the work. We were to hang the work by wires about fifteen feet above the floor with racks of paper distancing us from the wall. This was not going to be easy.

My job mostly was to measure each artwork and determine how long each length of hanging wire should be in order for all of the pieces to hang at the same height. This involved a very complicated formula involving how the height of the hanging space, the the height of the work, and lots of adding and dividing to make your head spin.

This required a calculator to get a result. Once I did get an approximate length I then had cut the hanging wire at a specific length, including the hook.

There were times though when I miscalculated and sometimes the artworks didn't hang right (thankfully no accidents!). It was exhausting, but eventually we got all twelve(ish) artworks up on display for all of Blick's to see.

I'd hate to be the one who has to take these down!