Friday, November 21, 2008

Last Class

Yesterday was our last class for Found Object Art. We brought in all three of our finished projects, critiqued the last two projects, and Terry photographed everything for us. I’ll post the pictures as soon as I receive them.

In the meantime, I can say that I’m pretty impressed with what we created and with how different and individual all the projects turned out. It was amazing to see the final results and talk about how the projects evolved from our initial ideas. I had planned to use my large collection of keys in my Joseph Cornell project—and ended up not using a single one. I guess that’s part of the excitement and fun of creating art; you’re never really sure just where it’s going to take you.

For me, the structure of a class definitely keeps me more focused and productive than I am on my own. And Terry’s input was invaluable in helping me to think on a higher artistic level. I also have a brand new appreciation for Nevelson, Rauschenberg, Cornell and all artists who create with found objects. The class was well worth the investment of time, money, and effort and I hope to take more classes in the future.

I really wanted to share more of the class and the artistic process in this blog, but it was difficult balancing that with the rest of my life. Blogging hasn’t become an integral part of my life just yet. I’ll have to keep working at that.

Thanks Cathy for taking the class with me! Everything is more fun with a friend by your side.

Monday, November 3, 2008

I Love Rust

I don't know why rust fascinates me so much, but whenever I see something rusted and decrepit, my heart soars. Recently, I spent a weekend in Beckley, West Virginia with two of my dearest friends. West Virginia is beautiful in October--autumn leaves, waterfalls, scenic overlooks, rustic cabins, and countless wonders of nature. I wish I could have captured a little bit of the beauty on film, but the sad truth is that I'm a lousy photographer. (I need to work on that.) Of all the photos I attempted to take, here are a couple of my favorites.


Saturday, November 1, 2008

Time Flies When You're Having Too Much Fun

We're more than halfway into Found Object Art class and we're now working on our Rauschenberg "combine" project. Bob helped me mount a 20 x 24 canvas board onto strips of wood to give it more substance and depth. During class we worked on choosing text and objects for the piece and started painting. Today I added a few more layers of paint and I also painted the wood sides. I'm using a series of numbers and letters as text and a couple of small metal signs, a chunk of rust, and a round, red reflector as objects. At least, that's what I have planned. I've noticed that ideas and plans often change during class after getting Terry's input. He definitely gets us thinking beyond the ordinary.

Last week we displayed our finished Nevelson projects and they really turned out well. On the last day of class we're going to bring in all three projects and Terry is going to photograph them for us. Yay! I'm sure he'll do a much better job than I could, and hopefully I'll have some nice photos to post of the finished projects.

I finished everything on my list of things to do today, so now I can go into the studio and play! We turn the clocks back tonight for daylight savings time so that means I get an extra hour of studio time.