Still hooking!

Long time no write!  This latch hooking business has really taken me over!  I was going to stop with one I produced way back in November (see my last post).  Well, either I really love the process or I'm just letting what OCD-ness I possess run wild because now I am producing more so that I can pitch this work as an exhibition - somewhere.  Popeye has nothing on my forearms and with the muscle memory in them and my temporarily gnarled finger joints - I could probably latch hook a rug in my sleep.  Here's a link to the page on my site so you can see my progress thus far:

Hookin' Is Hard Work
http://www.wandaewing.com/site/988102/page/4424476

Latch Hook Alone Time

Where has the time gone? It's been a very busy few months and yet, I feel like I haven't been doing a whole lot. I have to say, the best thing about living by oneself is that you can throw your clothes everywhere, let the sink pile up with dishes and clean - when you get to it. The downside is that your clothes are everywhere, the dishes need to be done and you SOOOOOO need to clean. And you're the only one around to do it. What have I been doing since my last post months ago?

It's been a really great Fall. I received my first major award for the artwork I've been producing - a Pollock-Krasner grant!! Whereas the award itself is not a great sum of money (trust it, I am very happy with their generosity!), it's really more about the prestige. I am also very proud of the fact that I received this honor while in the little ol' town of Omaha. It also came at a really great time for me. I would still be striving and pushing my work out into the big, bad art world regardless, but receive something like this really makes me feel that all my efforts for the past 8 years have been validated - the cookie-ing off the interstate into a ditch during the winter after doing a lecture in Minnesota, hauling my work from venue to venue because I couldn't afford to ship it, the miles accumulated on my poor little blue car, the luke-warm reviews, being ignored by gallerists or curators, having to hang my own work in a "professional" space.....you get the idea. This makes me want to go after other awards and well, just keep going.

I don't have any solo exhibitions lined up. It's getting time that I get back on that horse and start the hunt. I need to make some new work, though. I have, but it's been a bit all over the place in regards to my materials. I'm still using the female form as my vehicle of expression. I don't see that changing any time soon. I made a few half doll figurines out of oven bake clay. They came out a bit awkward, but they were a lot of fun to make. I brought them to be critiqued by a small group of people at Arthaus 11 - a fantastic venue created by my friend Stuart Chittenden. The premise was to have a time for intimate discourse led by an artist. The group size is 11 individuals and it's a fist RSVP served situation. So, I had some people who didn't know me giving me feedback on my dolls. It was great! Anyway, I put the dolls aside for a spell. I'm now working on a latch hook rug.

There are artists out there that have pushed this craftsy hobby and used it to make some very cool and interesting contemporary art. I bought a kit from artist Whitney Lee. We had work in a show together years ago in Kansas City. Her Soft Porn series (latch hooked images of porn stars) is dynamite! Not to be naive, I did a little hunting around to see what other artists were latch hooking it up. I found the work of artist Rob Conger and this naughty website dirtypillowz.com (A latch hook pillow depicting a leather 3-way anyone?). It's very important to see what other people are making and my work is definitely in line with the discourse of sexy, naughty, kitsch. My rug is depicting three hip hop hotties. I found the image on line a while ago when I was looking for images to use as a source for some large scale paintings. I love the image which is a color photograph of three oiled up, smoking hot video vixens. The one in the center has the most RIDICULOUS stomach! There is something about the pose that makes me see them more like goddesses then vixens. I looked to see who shot the photo, but alas haven't had luck. I tried to paint the image, but it just wasn't working out. Who knew that latch hooking the image would be the perfect solution? I grey-scaled the image and then pixilated the image via Photobucket. I then uploaded the file on Blockposter.com and printed it out to the size of 50" x 50". From there, it was off to the fabric mart to pick out my yarn and away we go! Yeah - I forgot just how long it takes to latchhook a rug. I've been working on it for over a month! The end is in sight, though, and I am really excited. Some distortions occurred because I couldn't find yarn for all the values and some weird elongation happned, but for an experiment in seeing if I could make it and it look good - I'm quite pleased! I"m going to have it in a group show being organized by Birdhouse Interiors. The exhibition is called Home and looks like quite the to do. Here's a link explaining the what it's all about:

http://home.birdhouseinteriors.com/

I'm looking forward to it. This project has required a lot of alone time. A LOT of alone time. I haven't spent time like this with one project in a while. It's nice and it's isolating. I like how I have been obsessed with getting it finished, but when it's done, I'll be taking a nice break from that kind of activity. Or will I.....?

Back To School

It's that time. The Fall session starts next week. I don't feel like I have to do a whole lot to get in the mindset seeing that I've been teaching a six-week summer session that just ended last Friday. I have no classes this week, but have meetings. As I am writing this, I see the grade school children being walked or driven to school. I can't help to think that no matter my grade school experience or school experience in general, I've always loved the first day of school. I would lay my new clothes out on my be the night before in anticipation of putting them on the next morning. I wasn't a pretty child, but I tried really hard to look my best for the first day. What is it exactly about the first day of class? Maybe it's the promise of exciting things to learn, experience and fun. Like most kids, I had my challenges in grade school. Some that took a few decades to get over. However, when I look back, I find myself somewhat nostalgic. You don't realize that all the things that happened to you then, shaped the person you are now for better or worse. Everything you need to know about living, you really do learn in grade school. You keep encountering the same personalities over and over throughout your life:

The friend for life
The bully
The popular one
The asshole
The comedian
The whiner
The talker
The intelligent
The beautiful
The ugly
The good
The leader
The follower
The fighter
The coward
The cry baby
The defender
The teacher
The innovator
The boring
The adventurer
The creative
The energetic
The shy one
The dominant
The loud
The quiet

These people never go away. It's life.

I took a break from making my work. I had a studio visit that went well. The gallerist took three pieces. I finished reading the book 'Art and Fear'. I enjoyed it very much and will be referring to it in upcoming posts very soon.

Floral In Your Face

Whoa - it's been a bit of time since I wrote. I must admit that when I get focused on one thing, I tend to become a little lax with others. Since my last entry, I've fallen back in love with going to the gym. Okay, it's more like 'like' than 'love'. In any case, it's been good. I've been also trying to be more active with my very small yoga practice at home. Since my trip to South America, I feel motivated to get in better shape and shed a few pounds. It's not that I'm hoping to pull off a miracle and loose a ton so I can be skinny. I've NEVER been skinny and never will. This new found motivation is born out of being exhausted. I am so tired of being the largest person where ever I go. It just seems that way to me. I'm tall, so that is always going to make me stand out. I've traveled enough in my life that it seems every city or country I visit, I am huge! Where are all the tall people?! Maybe it's just me. In any case, being tall and heavy does more of a disservice to me than being a asset. So, I am back on the work out wagon.

Enough of that, let's talk art. I usually like to write in response to something I've read or have seen. There really hasn't been a lot going on that I've found interesting to write about. In my immediate world, I am working on a piece for a group show at Peerless Gallery here in Omaha. The group show is called Les Femmes Folles Presents. It's a pop up show organized by Sally Deskins. It's going to be pretty cool because of the participants. Some really awesome ladies doing interesting work as well as some musical acts. My friend Renee's band Blue Rosa is performing and I am very excited for that! The gallery is located in the newly renovated section of Omaha called Midtown Crossing. I am a featured artist, so my work will be placed in the window of the gallery.

I've befriended the two owners, Daphne and Caleb. They invited me to come into their space and make my piece there on site. I happily accepted and immediately fucked up their wall with my painting! Because I am one of the featured artist (Kim Reid Kuhn is the other), my work will be placed in the window of the gallery. My original idea was to do a large version of an image like my Black Catalogue series. However, it just wasn't clicking. I felt more compelled to paint a large lady to add to my series "The Great Garden". Because the work is more suggestive, I asked Caleb and Daphne how they felt about it. They were like, go for it. Going for it I am. The imagery comes directly from porn sites, specifically a category called POV (point of view). I love the extreme camera angle and the distortion of the figure. I worked on the painting yesterday. It is a lovely, round, green-skinned woman from the view point of looking up at her backside. It's so fun painting an ass that is bigger than mine! Today, I'm going to start decorating her with bright flowers. We'll see what the good people of Midtown Crossings think.

I've Found My Twin

As much as I'd like to think that I'm a true original, I believe this morning I have found my doppelganger. I watched a video spot featuring Micklene Thomas via the website Life and Times Soul Kitchen. I was once told that my work was very similar to hers. Subject-wise, nothing could be truer. As her rep from Lehman Maupin Gallery talked about Thomas' work, I really felt you could just insert my name and still be describing the work. It's interesting for me because she's dealing with the same type of subject - but what struck me more was how she even looks a lot like me - tall, short hair, big....crazy! I remember seeing her work for the first time in a display window of the MOMA. Her blinged-out canvases are pretty awesome and it gives off a feeling that she really enjoys constructing them. It would be great to meet her, but I'm afraid that if we were to be in the same room at the same time, we'll cancel each other out and explode.

Mickalene Thomas
http://lifeandtimes.com/soul-kitchen

Don't Print Yourself Into A Corner

When I decided that I wanted to focus on printmaking for my art degree, I received the same comment from several of my professors - "You better start painting, because you can't make it as a printmaker". Really?

Some still see prints as being low on the artistic totem poll due to its main function of being a cost effective way to bring multiple copies to the masses who are largely too broke to buy a painting. Today, prints have been elevated to a status that can monetarily rival paintings. Yes, it is challenging to have an artistic career that is supported solely by production of prints. And yes, it is hard to command thousands of dollars for a single print, but there are some ways around that problem:

1. Make Epic Prints.
Make them huge and fill a space installation style. Start out small, like your bedroom wall, then gradually work your way up to a football field.

2. Make Only One.
Make monoprints or make only editions of 1. That alone will make it more valuable.

3. Expensive, Long and Laborious.
Take a REALLY long time to make one print and while you're at it make it as formally complicated as you can and use REALLY expensive materials whether the image warrants it or not. Do that and someone might be having this conversation in the future:
Margaret: "Wow, Dean! That is a fantastic print!"
Dean: "I know! It took the artist 47 years to make it. He used laser-cut, diamond-treated plates, flew in chemical specialists from Germany to assist with one run, buried it in the remote grounds of the Tristan de Cunha islands in order to utilize it's specific oxides for 5 years, gave it to Tom Friedman who stared at it for 1,237 hours, burned it and then used the remaining ashes for flocking."
Margaret: Amazing! (She says this as she ponders the piece in front of her - a 22" x 30" sheet of stained Rives BFK paper containing a 12" square next to a circle with an 8" diameter. Both flocked with ashes.)

I personally will always use some sort of print technique in my art practice. Whether I am painting, sculpting, molding, drawing...I think in terms of multiples and repetition and approach my projects with a printer's sensibility. It's a great time to be a printmaker. There is more artistic discourse surrounding printmaking, more artists who are known for working in other medias are making prints. There are numerous sites for printmakers and those who love prints ranging from blue-chip auction houses to DIY spots.

I do greatly appreciate all the advice given to me from past instructors warning me not to print myself into a corner. However, I'm doing more than that. I'm printing the corner, the walls, the floor and the ceiling.

Possible Contemporary Art Message T-Shirts

You've Been Saatchied
I've Been Saatchied
Koonsing
Hirst So Good
Emin-ent Drama
Yo, Bad Ass!
I'm John Currin (and you're not!)
Murakami Mama
Fair, Fi, Fo, Fum!
Who's Andy?
Smells Like Gagosian
Art Star
Doing the Ruscha Shuffle
Who arted?

I'm always open for suggestions.