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April 21, 2006
artist's way open studio review (april)
by gl. at 2:19 am
lots of travelers tonight from elsewheres this month: 3 from salem, one from beaverton! we had two dropouts at the last minute but i was able to fill one of the slots and it really was just enough people, anyway.
i tried a "theme" this month that was based on the first artist's way chapter (safety), but really it was more of an intent, a way to focus the piece while still applying intuitive collage techniques. i was pretty happy with the results; i felt like everyone got a chance to see the pieces and respond to each other, something that had been missing because everyone finished at different times and there was just enough time to take a picture before they went home. but this format makes it much more like an unpaid session of artist's way, and i had forgotten that was one of the reasons i chose the casual format, since i'd like to keep collage night free.
["it can't be denied i have quills inside": click the image for the other collages]
this piece actually uses sharp porcupine quills around the star & moon. certainly not my cuddliest piece ever, but i know i've got them and ocassionally still use them, though less than i used to. the background is a photocopy of one of the amazing moonprints. on the left side you can see a small dab of gold leaf. the title appeared fully formed from the 3-minute writing we did before we showed the pieces we had made, and i found that to be very helpful to grapple with the language of the piece before having to talk about it with others. by the way, the silver square is from an elephant's deli easter jellybean package. :)
one issue: i wish progressive women who are otherwise kind, generous and compassionate would forgo the unfortunate tendency to boy-bash. it's especially disheartening when there's an actual boy in the room (like, oh, say, sven). i know if i was the only girl in a room of boys who were talking disparagingly about the things that "women always...." do, i'd feel compelled to object (and then leave if they continued), but good pro-feminist boys just have to take it. the same thing happens at the job club for creatives and i don't know how to address it directly. i simply change the subject or scowl until someone else does. as a facilitator i want to do better.
posted by gl. | April 21, 2006 2:19 AM | categories: artist's way