Although there is no ‘TI calendar requirement’ to update this month, as I have posted new writings, images in a new gallery, and the second round of the fall written critique group question/feedback/response it makes sense to post the links to the blog portion of my website for a matter of record.
And I am in the habit of posting.
It has by now become a part of who I am.
I began yet again to make some changes to the website.
These changes came in part out of feedback I received in the second round of written critique. In the group a number of us had been thinking about how our blogs and various websites worked together; fit into our practice and its presentation. Currently I have two websites, both of which are created and managed by myself using templates from the hosting companies. One website, which I consider my “professional” website I began in 2009. The other website, this one, I began in June 2014 as the website for my TI blog. I pay a yearly hosting fee for each website.
So now I have the expense of two websites; and when my TI projects come to an end I don’t want to abandon the site, despite the additional cost. What I like about this website compared to my other website is that it is a space where I can explore, experiment, document my process and generally ‘work’. The other website is more of a space where I can preserve, archive and show finished projects. I’ve decided that I will continue this website as a type of ‘virtual studio’, open to anyone interested in a studio visit, to learning more about the process. The other website will remain a ‘virtual exhibition’, for those only interested in the finished product. This website will remain a self portrait of the artist at the easel; the other website will be the paintings on the wall.
Once this was decided the next logical step for me is to begin the transformation process from the ‘student-project-process-website’ to the ‘project-process-website’. When I have completed my MFA thesis project in a few months the website’s transformation will be complete and the finished project, like the first year’s project, will be archived. The website will then have a new inter-’face’. The first step in the transformation occurred a few days ago with the elimination of the module designations from the TI program in the title texts. “Year Two”, once the first heading on the homepage has been replaced with “Self Portrayal”, the actual project/thesis title. Feel free to explore the website and see what other changes you might notice.
I did add a new gallery to the painting process studies galleries section. Gallery Three documents the development of the painting “Motherboard”, the first of the larger paintings I intend to do as part of my thesis project. Although I continued alongside the larger work this past month to produce and work on smaller studies in oil and acrylic, beginning to mix the two in technically acceptable and more renegade ways, I have not posted any new images. I have also begun mounting some of these studies on paper to wood panels as a way to skirt the framing issue and give them a greater physical presence. The larger painting, which is composed of four separate canvases and a number of the studies, both mounted and un-mounted, I intend to bring to Winter Residency in NYC and will incorporate in my presentation in place of projected images of the works in a developing or resolved state.
A brief note to my Winter Residency presentation. Like last year’s presentation, this year’s presentation will take the form of a performance-self portrait of the explorations I have been conducting in the studio since summer residency.
It will not be another Keynote-PowerPoint-Prezi extravaganza!
It might involve a hammer.
No iPads or other digital devices will be harmed in this presentation.
This will be an active, hands-on experience for everyone.
The final update I made to the website this past month is a new addition to the Essays section of Writings. This piece is a looser composition based on notes I made on December 4 and December 5 while visiting New York City to look at and think about art. Notes From Two Days in New York City is my attempt to not just sketch out my impressions of the experience but also to flex and tone my writing-muscles a bit in preparation for the thesis writing to begin next month.
It has been a very busy month as usual, with many things too numerous and complicated to mention pulling me in a multitude of directions, mentally, physically and emotionally. However I am glad to have gotten the first painting to the point it is at, happy I took the time to travel, look at art, think, talk with people whose conversation and thoughts I value, and write; and I am looking forward to my presentation at Winter Residency. The coming weeks will be focused on tying up loose ends in preparation for my next trip ‘down south’ as well as continuing developing the pathways leading me forward.
