Blog Hop!

I was invited by my NE Wax colleague Debra Claffey, to join in on this blog hop. The project consists of answering some questions regarding art and my art process as well as to highlight three artists/creatives that I admire.  First are my answers to the questions asked of me for the blog hop project:

1.) What am I working on/writing?

Having started a new job at Concord Art Association in late May, it's been challenging to create any artwork. However, the break  from the studio has enabled me to refine my concepts and explore new thoughts. One direction is the cross section of the science behind food culture and nature. Combining the themes of connection, society and the tricks of perception, similar to my earlier work, with of the politics of agribusiness and its effects on humanity.  How detached we become by outsourcing our every need, creating an obliviousness to the effects of our consumption, and an absolution of responsibility. I have two new and experimental installations (opening in September) that play with these perceptions and will be blogging about them soon.

2.) How does my work/writing differ from others of its genre?

It is difficult for me to define my work within any one genre. I am extremely process-oriented and materials-based with objects ranging from 6 foot charcoal drawings, to felted orbs, to wax interactive installations and lots more in between. Common themes are connection, tradition, science and design. 

3.) Why do I do what I do?

It is the best way for me to articulate for myself and others what I have to say and how I see the world.

4.) How does my writing/working process work?

Objects and materials spark my curiosity. It's usually a mystery why something catches my attention but I've learned to trust my instincts and follow the muse. Playing, watching and responding are the steps I go through with a methodical process that allows me to step outside myself and learn what it is I'm really thinking about.

And here are two artists that I admire (still working on a third... it's Labor Day Weekend and everyone is scarce!)

Martha Wakefield is a colleague of mine from an Artists' Coaching Group that we belong to. Martha's painting is gestural and vibrant like a breath of fresh air. 

Martha Wakefield is represented by Hope Gallery of Bristol, RI; Rocky Neck Gallery of Gloucester, MA; and Now Design Studios of Action, MA. She is the guest artist this month at the Barb Jackson Gallery in Rockport, ME. Her paintings have been featured in Wild Apples: A Journal of Nature, Art and Inquiry; on the book cover of Shadow and Light, A Litterary Anthology on Memory; and The Palette Magazine. She is a signature member of the International Society of Acrylic Painters, TheRhode Island Watercolor Society and is a juried member of the Cambridge Art Association of Massachusetts. A staff writer for The Palette Magazine she writes about technique and professional artists. She also teaches art workshops in the metro-Boston area. Wakefield's paintings have won many awards and are in private and corporate collections in United States and Canada.

Anne and I also met in the Artists' Coaching Group and she now resides and works in London, England. I've always admired Anne's aesthetic, craftsmanship  academic approach to her art making. I hope to keep this connection and maybe even visit her in London!

AnneKrinsky is a London-based painter and printmaker who also makes site-specific installations. She has received an Arts Council England Grant for the Arts for her project From Absorb to Zoom: An Alphabet of Actions in the Women’s Art Library, which will result in a site-specific print installation at Goldsmiths College in 2015. She previously has created installations about books and archived materials for library, museum and university settings in New England.  

Krinsky was funded by the Artist’s International Development Fund to research traditional textiles in India in 2014, traveling to Jaipur for block printing workshops and to Delhi for a residency at the Sanskriti Foundation. She also has been awarded residencies at Rocky Neck Artists Colony, Gloucester, Massachusetts; Fundacion Valparaiso, Mojacar, Spain; Brisons Veor, St. Just, England; Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Amherst, VA; Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, Vermont and Millay Colony for the Arts, Austerlitz, NY. Her solo shows include Anne Krinsky: Reconfigurations at The Art Complex Museum in Duxbury, Massachusetts (2013) and the ten-year retrospective,  Anne Krinsky: Time/Line, 2000-2010 at the Trustman Gallery at Simmons College in Boston (2010). The British Museum, the Boston Public Library, the American collector Graham Gund and the U.K. charity, Paintings in Hospitals have purchased her works, as have numerous corporate collections in Europe and the US.
India Project Blog
Women's art Library project blog