Clippings

Things are moving along here in this New York adventure. Two months in, and it looks like I'll be joining the ranks of the employed day-jobbers. More details when they're set in stone.

Exhibition news should be coming soon, as well as a new print.

Until then, here are some of the lovely things that have been saturating my retinas lately...

Eliot Lee Hazel's work is astoundingly beautiful. Ethereal, ambiguous, but captivating. I especially like his Moby Ohno set, from which this first image comes.
See this image in motion in the Moby Ohno video teaser here.



Also on the radar are three artists from the Columbia University 2001 MFA Thesis Exhibition:

Chris Jehly comes from the world of or is at least strongly influenced by street art. Dude knows what he's doing with line. Of course, the pieces he had in the MFA show aren't online anywhere (that I can find) which is a shame.


Brie Ruais is a sculptor working primarily in ceramic and plaster. And, sometimes, sticks. I don't like all of her work, but what I like, I like a lot.

"Undoing Persephone", 2011 Plaster, fabric, steel, wood, found branch (included in MFA Thesis show)	"Weighted by the Sunset", 2010 Plaster, pigment, fabric

The third is Joseph Michael Lopez, a photographer working in a somewhat journalistic style, I suppose. I mean that in the sense that he shoots the world around him, people on the streets, etc., rather than setting up shoots or creating worlds. His shots still have that dreaminess to them, though. Apparently that's what does it for me in photography. His site is flash, which means I can't pull images. But go look at it anyway... The link above goes straight to my favorite shot of his.

And then, last but of course not least, is the Alexander McQueen show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art: "Savage Beauty."

Overwhelming in the best way. Past his mastery of the craft, of tailoring itself, McQueen was undeniably an artist. These things he created are sculpture as fashion, or fashion as sculpture... The pieces and other artifacts were supported by video of some of the runway shows. McQueen runway shows are not exactly your run-of-the-mill, walk-and-turn shows, and seeing the garments in his version of motion was very informative. (Runway shows can be viewed in the Runway Archive.) The presentation of his collections grouped more by theme than by seasonal collection, which made it more difficult to get a clean chronological grasp of his work, but was incredibly useful as a source of inspiration.

Monthly Goals: December

Made it through November -- though I certainly had some days that were incredibly trying on a personal level -- but I made it through. (If you're wondering what this is all about, it's called the Monthly Goal Meetup. It is spearheaded by the Modish Biz Tips blog as a way for small creative business owners to stay focused and offer each other moral support and encouragement.)

Here's how I did:

• Print winter holiday cards. Photograph them. Get them listed on Etsy. Send out email announcing their existence (by November 10th!). Done. I had to reprint one of my designs due to a design brainfart on my part, but I did get them done and announced/listed on the 12th.
  
  
• Finish up shipments to Bluebottle, Wholly Craft, etc. and get them out the door by the 15th. Also done. Out the door on the 18th, and one order already generated a re-order. Yay!
  
  
• Finish printing 2010 Valentines cards and photograph them. If they don't make it into my shipments, that's okay, although it would be awesome if they did. Still have to photograph them, but they did make it into my shipments, so that makes up for it.
  
  
• Blog at least once a week (not counting monthly goals post). Nope. Posted twice. Thought about posting a lot, but didn't. Story of my life.
  
  
• Spend more quality time, less time total, on the computer/internet. Somewhat successful. Focused on not ending up in front of the computer in the evenings unless I had a specific task, and that worked. Spent a little more quality time with A and the animals.
  
  
• Figure out what I'm doing with painting versus paper goods. Launching a separate wedding invitation shop/webpage/company? Integrating it more into my overall studio umbrella and focusing more on painting as my 'main' thing? Paper goods will be splitting off from Carly Bodnar Studio to become Phaedra Paperie. The webpage is partially built, and I've set up an Etsy and a Gmail account... but how serious I get about it is currently in limbo pending changes at my day job. Ah, the artist and the day job. The eternal struggle.
  
  
• Finish HSC commissioned painting. Eh... definitely did some work on it. But it's definitely not done. Damnit.
  
  
• List recent drawings and works on paper on Etsy. I still have more I could list, but I got all of the ones I've posted on Gloriously Awash in Sin listed on Etsy. That was the essence of that goal, so I'm calling it a win.

Now on to December's goals:

• Finish HSC painting!
  
  
• Continue not wasting my life away in front of the computer.
  
  
• There are a couple of local galleries whose submission period is during January, so I need to get my packet ready to go. I always 'mean' to submit, but let my procrastination/fear/anxiety get the best of me. Not this year. (Oh please, oh please.)
  
  
• I have a stack of artist registry forms. Once I've got packets together for galleries, it's not much more work to submit to some artist registries. My official goal will be getting 6 of the 8 I've printed out actually sent.
  
  
• I promised some people prints of my work forever ago and never followed through. Get those ordered/sent so they'll get them in time for Christmas.
  
  
• I'm going to be teaching a class (through Paper Zone) on screenprinting wedding invitations in January after the Portland Bridal Show, so I need to fully outline the class syllabus and handouts. I can finish them in early January, but the hard work will need to be done before the last minute.
  
  
• Photograph Valentine cards. Prepare publicity email(s).
  
  
• Create mural proposal or OSU Engineering department. (Not sure this is going to happen; it will definitely have to take a backseat to the HSC painting.)
  

Portland State Recent Grad Show

A painting of mine was chosen by guest curator James Yood for this upcoming show of alumni work in PSU's Autzen Gallery. The show opens this Thursday, with an opening reception on Saturday from 6 to 9 pm. Yood also is giving a lecture on Monday the 16th in Shattuck Hall (Rm 198) at 7:30 as part of the Monday Night Lecture Series.

Judging by his curator's statement, Yood seems pretty cool. Straightforward about art rather than pretentious and uber-conceptual (my perception of what many artists bound up in the academic world seem to be -- I likely just need to meet more people in that category). I'm going to try to make it to the lecture and see if that impression pans out.

Fall has... Fell. Felled? Fallen?

I recently printed up a small run of birthday invitations for a friend's daughter -- my first custom design for a child. Expectedly, it's quite different doing a youth design compared to doing a wedding, but what surprised me more was how different it was to do a design for a specific kid, rather than just for "kids." Normally I think of kid-oriented design to be too saccharine, too bright, or overly Swedish-inspired for my taste (I get my fill of swedishness working for the big blue-and-yellow box) but this design came out a little edgy, I think. Or maybe a little 80s. I couldn't help but fall back into memories of Paula Abdul songs and that unforgettable skate rink smell (ancient chewing gum ground into little black spots on the carpet + icee machines + preteen hormones) at the mention of a roller skating party.

Excisum Meus Fratres, Puer Sola Ego Sum,
currently in Family show at Launch Pad Gallery,
is also available on Etsy

In other news, I have a new silkscreen print in the Family show at Launch Pad. Like much of my work, it came about spontaneously and left me to figure out what it was about on my own. I'm still not sure I have a good answer for that, but in order to title it I interpreted it in relation to the Family show. In Latin. It's called Excisum Meus Fratres, Puer Sola Ego Sum, meaning (I think), "My Siblings Having Been Lost, I Am An Only Child," which makes reference to the fallopian pregnancies that preceded and followed my birth, rendering me, irreversibly, an only child.

And last but not least, I've had two pieces accepted into a recent graduate show at Portland State. More details to come...

Structure...

I'm feeling really good about where this is going...

And in other news, I'm (super-extra) happy to announce that Plan B is the first brick-and-mortar store in the Portland area! Go in and check out this gallery-slash-gift shop on 2415 N.E. Broadway, and say hi to Brad and his adorable itty bitty dog, Pearl.

Love Show article in the Tribune

Hey, so the Love show got an article in the Portland Tribune: read it!

You're going to be there, right? Remember to bring a can of food, to share the love with those less fortunate (which includes more and more of us these days).

February: short but busy

It amuses me that I've taken on so many shows in a month that is so short. At least I'm keeping busy! So here's the gauntlet of show cards and info (in chronological order, for your convenience):

First to open is the Robot Love show at the newest and itty-bittiest gallery in NoPo, Good. It's a group show in which I have a painting. Look for my standard fleshiness with a touch of disturbing technology, and, um, arachnid-ness. (That's just how it came out.) I'm excited to see the range of artists that the gallery and its owner, who's very cool and talented, btw, have attracted.

The gallery is located at 4325 N. Mississippi Ave. The show opens on the 6th -- that's this Friday -- with the reception running from about 7 to 10. (If you want to run into me, hang around till the end. I'll be swinging by after I get off work at 9.) If you miss the opening, normal gallery hours are Thursday 4-7 pm and Saturday noon-4pm.

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Next up is the 4th Annual Love Show. It's still put together by the Launch Pad, but this year it's in conjunction with Chris Haberman/Portland City Art, and it's gonna be huge. So huge, in fact, that it's not going to be held at the Olympic Mills Building, just a few blocks away. See if you can find my piece among the work of 200+ artists. I'll give you a hint, it's a screen print.

The Olympic Mills Building is located at 107 SE Washington. (Careful: Google maps seems confused about which street is Washington.) The opening is the 13th, that's next Friday, from 7pm to midnight. Plus, it's doubling as a charity event: bring some canned goods or buy a piece of art and help out the Food Bank and Buckman Elementary.
Normal hours for the show are tentatively Monday through Friday, 8am to 6pm, and "some" Saturday hours. See the show's website, www.launchpadgallery.org/loveshow4, for specifics.

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And last but not least, my very own solo show at Seven Virtues. I'm calling it "Wet Paint" because it's all new work. So new that it's not even done yet! (No, really...) Paintings small and large and a handful of limited edition screen prints guarantee a variety of price points.

Physical show cards are in the mail -- but only if I have your address! If you want one, email me your mailing address and I'll send one on its way.

Seven Virtues is located at 5936 NE Glisan, right on the corner. The show will be up by Monday the 16th, but the reception will be on the 19th (that's a Thursday) from 6-8ish in the evening. Come have some coffee and chat with me!

Good: A [new local] Gallery

I have to share this brand new (not even open yet) gallery for the simple fact of it's ingenuity of venue and general portlandiness. All over Portland are houses with these little 1-car garage structures out front. Some are kind of half-buried in lawn, sometimes. Most of them look very out-dated, often run-down, and useless. You would have a hard time fitting anything larger than a compact car in them, after all. Some have had the garage-style door -- on structures like this, the door is the single wood panel type that you have to heft up, with a spring to assist you if it's not totally rusted -- taken off entirely and a normal door put in. When we were looking at houses to buy, I had always categorized these little urban outbuildings as a possible studio space for myself. The people at Good, however, have made theirs into a gallery, with a cute little window box. i had never even thought of that idea, but it makes perfect sense. Assuming that it's the garage on your own house, overhead is super low, and the commute is nil. Most galleries go out of business because they can't make the sales pay up the rent/lease for their space, but this arrangement sidesteps that problem.

I'm looking forward to this space opening, and wish them the best of luck.