A Day at the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum
I was fortunate to have a bit of a break mid-week and I took my chance to go see the Transported Man exhibit at Michigan State’s Broad Museum. I’ve only been to the museum on one other occasion since it’s opening in 2012 (and that visit was just a quick stopover before attending a graduation) so I was looking forward to spending a bit more exploring the museum.
The building was designed by Zaha Hadid and it is a serious sight to behold. Part of me is glad I graduated before this was built - I would have spent far too much time taking pictures of the angles and just staring at it. Probably one of my favorite buildings in existence.
But I didn't go to ogle the building (this time!) so I headed inside. The Transported Man exhibit was just incredible. So much so, that I didn’t take nearly the amount of as many pictures as I usually do - I was just too busy exploring the facets of the show. If you are in the area, seriously, go see it. I'm not even going to post the majority of the photos I took - it's something to be experienced in person.
I had planned to spend a bit of time at the end of the afternoon working a new project there in the cafe, but ended up taking a bit too long exploring museum. I was only able to get a bit of brainstorming done before heading out to dinner with a few local friends, but it was really nice to be in there and decompress for a bit.
Sitting there with my coconut-milk latte, sketchbook open to the page where I began brainstorming for a really exciting opportunity (can't share the deets yet -- soon!!!!), I tried to put myself back in those scuffed pumas I wore religiously, nearly 10 years ago.
I remembered the long walks from my apartment to the art building, the late nights spent in the ceramics studio, the sliding bookshelves at the library and how many papers I wrote nestled away in the silence of the upper floors with that computer that by today's standards is ANCIENT. I recalled the faces of friends and faculty, and felt the years of wonderful memories slowly returning.
But I also remembered the crushing anxiety. The heart-stopping worry of graduating and not being able to find a job (this is was 2008), and that assuming I could find employment, hoping for something even remotely related to my degree might be too far-fetched. I considered staying in school, finding an MFA program right away - but ultimately decided after graduation that I was ready to not be a student for a bit. And Florida was calling my name.
I will always look back on my time at MSU with extreme fondness and a great sense of thankfulness for my professors and mentors. Working on the start of this project, in the sanctity of this building was a very soul-cleansing moment for me. Everything turned out ok, everything was worth the hard work.
Awash in gratitude, I was late for dinner :)
On Role Models, International Women’s Day and Georgia O’Keefe
I always knew I wanted to be an artist.
Sure, if you look back at my early college transcripts you’ll see my major listed as “biology”, then “journalism”, then “anthropology”, then “education” -- and it would be obvious I was floundering. I was looking for a place to land and exist, while attempting to find the art practice that would carry me to where I wanted to be.
I remember the first time it hit me as more than a knee-jerk reaction to that question all adults ask anyone elbow height. (No shame, I’ve started asking kids what they want to be when they grow up too...) I was in the Georgia O’Keefe museum in Santa Fe with my family, right after my freshmen year of college. I was standing in the main room, taking it all in when my dad suggested I purchase I sketchbook from the museum shop. I know it’s cliche, but that was a lightening bolt for me. I had always been accustomed to telling people I wanted to be an artist, and equally accustomed to their resulting chuckle because I was *always* drawing and painting -- but this was the first time I really, truthfully knew it for myself. I would purchase a sketchbook, because this meant something to me, something slid into place, a puzzle got the final piece.
I told my parents the next day expecting a kindly worded admonition; the “artists can’t support themselves” talk - but it went more along the lines of, “ Good. Finally. We knew it, now stop changing majors.”
And though there were a lot of other factors leading into that moment at the museum in Santa Fe, just being there in the presence of art from a woman was an absolute tipping point.
Growing up most of the art I was exposed to came from men. The major exhibits I saw, all from men. The books, papers, and studies I read were by and large from men and about men. And I had a really hard time inserting myself into that narrative; into how this could possibly play out for me. Granted that probably says a bit about the limitations of my imagination, but that is what was so supremely moving about my experience in the Georgia O’Keefe museum. It was all her. This whole building was hers. She wasn’t a traveling exhibit, she wasn’t sidenote in the alcove, or an afterthought in a paragraph. The sketchbook I purchased in the giftshop? Had her name embossed in the back. And right at that moment I knew I could try to make this work for me - provided I worked really hard at it.
And though this is just a snippet of an anecdotal moment, it does speak to a larger quandry found in not only the art world, but the world as a whole.
Role models are everything.
Having someone we can identify with, doing the thing we want to do is so incredibly powerful. Not to provide a template, or a way to reproduce their success, but as a subtle nod - that silent encouragement; “I did it, so can you.”
Today is International Women’s Day and I am grateful for all the strong, resilient women I’ve known and admired throughout my life. I’d encourage you to consider where you are in the world and who might look up to you; we all could use a little inspiration, a little nudge of hope and you just might be someone’s Georgia O’Keefe.
Process :: Wafian
'Wafian' has been in flux for a few days. (Which is where it gets it's name):
Wafian : From Proto-Germanic *wabōną, *wabjaną (“to wander, sway”), from Proto-Indo-European *webʰ- (“to move to and fro, wander”).
It began as most of pieces usually do; a meditation on the colors and rhythms of my surroundings. The frozen pond in the backyard, the layers of slush along the roadside, the ice on the tree branches. And as my work usually does, it dictated it's own way from there.
I am finding myself especially drawn to the patterns in the melting snow, the way it breaks over logs and disappears into puddles. These forms have began to sneak into my work.
I began to consider the white space, originally borne out of snowy inspiration. Most of my work utilizes the negative space in a balancing act with the paint, but it is usually white, or raw canvas. I've done one or two pieces in recent memory that fill the page, but in general I like to use the white space as a way to emphasize what is happening in the rest of the work.
And an old bottle of ink was calling to me, so I answered.
I'll add one more coat of the ink to the areas of the canvas where the strokes are visible, but I am intrigued by what has already happened to the balance of the piece.
Experimental painting days are the best.
Email List is up!
Almost a year in the making, the EH Sherman Insider List is finally here. If you haven't signed up, now is a great time --- I'll be hosting a giveaway next week for subscribers ONLY.
'Winter's Walk' is the first painting I completed upon our move from Miami to Michigan. It was inspired by muddy boots, iced over ponds and the silence of snowfalls.
To be eligible to receive the painting simply sign up for the Insider List (a friendly name I've given to my newsletter) and you're set - you'll be entered into the drawing.
The giveaway is scheduled for next Wednesday (Jan 25th) so make sure to subscribe before then. In addition to this particular event, those subscribed will be the first to hear about new pieces, shows and sales!
Subscribe below - and good luck! <3
A Warm (though rather chilly) Welcome to Michigan <3
For me, so much of living in Michigan is about the visuals.
The wide expanse of ochre farmland against a metal gray sky, the lace formed by iced-over branches, the deep emerald of frozen lakes. It may be really, really cold - but I am so glad that we moved to this state in the winter.
I feel like the cold encourages a different type of work from me; smaller, cozier images have started to emerge in my sketches. Moments of stillness. Perhaps that is the change of surroundings, the influence of the silence found in falling snow. Or perhaps my hands are just too cold to move any faster.
I did finally get a space heater, so the following weeks should be much more comfortable.
I’m just so grateful to be finally done with the whole “moving” thing. Living in such a transitory state while trying to get work done wasn’t easy, and I cannot overstate how thrilled I am to be back in my studio. In the coming weeks I’ll have more info on a little digital studio tour, I can’t wait to share my space with you all.
Hope the new year is off to great start for everyone.