Sketching. Searching. Sculpting. Also skulls. Today has been brought to you by the letter S.
Weekly Update
Back to School! We dropped Olivia off to school today (7th grade!) and later today I’ll start my semester teaching at PAFA. I teach Foundations Experience, a class for first year students where we dive in to the resources at PAFA in the first semester and resources in Philadelphia during the second semester. It’s a class I’ve been teaching since it started and I may have said this before, but I try to make it the class that covers everything I wish I learned in school about the Art world.
Current Exhibitions
As Above, So Below at Arch Enemy Arts is in its last week, so if you are able to see it, be sure to get there before the 18th!
Upcoming Exhibitions
Here’s the full sneak peek for Spectrum 3, also at Arch Enemy Arts, and this show opens this Friday, September 9th, with an opening reception on First Friday in October. To request the preview for the show email Lawren at INFO@ARCHENEMYARTS.COM
Paul and I are continuing to talk about thoughts and ideas for our solo show in 2023. Expect more on that as we head into the end of this year.
Upcoming Workshops
There are only a few spaces left in my upcoming Animal Sculpture Workshop at Union Hall Arts in Atlantic City, NJ! Tomorrow I’ll talk more about the specifics of what will be covered so stay tuned.
You can view more information below or sign up HERE
Work in Progress
Most of my in progress works have been packing related. I did finish up the last of my Tangle sculptures this week and am looking forward to starting new work. I suppose Eddie Bunson is still lurking around, so I’ll finish him too. (It’s silly how much that little sculpture makes me laugh.)
Upcoming Miscellany
I’ll be planning a sale of available work for late October or early November, in advance of the holiday season. I’ll be sure to share it here first.
That’s all for now!
Packing and Shipping
Packing and shipping is a funny thing. It is INTEGRAL to the piece surviving its journey between point A and point B, yet no one teaches it (well I do, a bit), until recently no one talked about it and lots of artists just throw their stuff in whatever box with whatever “packing materials” are lying around. I used to do this, before working for an art handling company, and still cringe at the thought of sending out sculptures wrapped in plaster splattered bubble wrap, packed in old clay boxes.
Now, depending on what the sculpture is, it’s either cavity packed in foam or wrapped in tissue, then bubble, then more bubble and then space in the box is taken up with paper. For very fragile pieces I will double box them if needed. All this to say that a lot goes into this process and it takes a fair amount of time if you do it right.
Below are the boxes of sculptures from my Seconds sale and they are ready to head out to their new homes. This was two days of packing and labeling, but again, that time is really important to make sure that the pieces get where they are supposed to, in the way that they are supposed to. I also feel like it should be really exciting to open these boxes and see what’s inside, so I really try to focus on that as I’m wrapping them. For anyone selling and shipping work, or showing and shipping work, I’d say to think about how the person on the other end will feel opening the box and that is a great place to start. I will do a more in depth tutorial soon.
Labor Day
Very rarely is there a day where work isn’t being done around here and today was no exception.
I finished up my sculpture for Spectrum III, an upcoming show at Arch Enemy Arts, and worked on fixing a broken fellow that came back to me for repairs.
It wasn’t just work though… I also dyed Olivia’s hair. Here’s the before and the not quite dry yet after:
We also fed cake to raccoons and watched the last episode of Locke & Key. Hope everyone had a fun day with a bit of rest!
Friday Thoughts
I guess as an artist and mom and partner and cat mom and outside foster cat mom and home owner and adjunct faculty member it can be tricky to find time to take care of oneself... I was thinking about this tonight because I’ve never been great at it. Any time there is something I love that makes me feel great, like stretching, workouts, yoga, martial arts, acupuncture, etc, it’s the first thing on the chopping block when I get busy again. My preference is to take care of others. But tonight I tried to focus on the small things I’m doing to take care of myself and realized while they each aren’t much, they all add up to something. Some of them are:
Stretching before I even get out of bed so my body doesn’t feel like an old broken chair when I stand up
Making myself a fancy coffee in the morning
Doing Duolingo every day (Italian!) to keep my brain in shape
Using Sunscreen so I don’t get skin cancer (again!)
Stretching out my hands and knees periodically to prevent stiffness
CBD oil for stress
Writing things in my calendar to stay organized
Taking baths to relax my brain and my knees
Skincare at night
Flossing (my teeth, not the dance…Olivia says the dance is over.)
Reading before bed.
I hope to add back in acupuncture, working out and some sort of meditation, even though I’m terrible at it. And doing martial arts again one day would be amazing. We’ll see…
Throwback Thursday
My day has been busy packing orders from today’s Seconds Sale so a big thank you to everyone for that! At this moment only 14 items of the original 50 remain so that was a great day. What it does mean, unfortunately, is that I have little left in me as far as brains are concerned to formulate an eloquent blog post, so instead I leave you of this image of me and a shark in party hats (around 2007 or 2008 - ish)
Weekly Update
Last week before school starts… both for Olivia and I. I’ll be at PAFA on Wednesdays this year teaching a class that readies first year students for the Art world, first by showing them the resources at PAFA (of which there are many) and then the resources in Philadelphia and beyond. I try to teach this class as the “everything I wish I learned during my first year of art school” class and therefore always look forward to teaching it. Anyway, because it is the last week before school starts, Olivia and I have been trying to squeeze in some last Summer bits while we can, including a trip to Member’s Night at the Philadelphia Zoo.
Seconds Sale
The rest of my week has been primarily devoted to getting my Seconds Sale ready for tomorrow, Sept 1. This required gathering everything, photographing it, and listing it in my online shop so that it will release on Thursday at 11am EST. Everything is ready to go and while I’m always nervous that nothing will show up when it turns 11, it always does (because I refresh obsessively until it does.)
Upcoming Workshops
There are only 2 spaces left in my upcoming Animal Sculpture workshop, which is taking place on October 1st and 2nd at Union Hall Arts!
Work in Progress
I finished the clay sculpture for Spectrum III and it is currently waiting to be fired. Fingers crossed.
Upcoming Miscellany
You can vote for my piece CHAMBER XXXVI Bring the motherfucking ruckus for the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize People’s Choice Award HERE until September 9th.
Also, Paul (my love, who has been hard at work on all the things) was just recently in an episode of The Mastodon Podcast HERE.
Throwback Tuesday
Ages ago, Olivia and I were featured in a mural in the Fishtown section of Philadelphia, a few blocks away from where I used to have the Philadelphia Sculpture Gym (rip). The mural was designed and painted by Jeffro Kilpatrick and Brad Carney through Mural Arts.
Today we were nearby and decided to visit.
SECONDS SALE // Sneak Peek
Here are some of the sculptures that will be included in my upcoming seconds sale, this Thursday September 1st at 11am EST:
Friday things
This week has me running here to there. Here are a few bits of my day:
Very delicious veggie hotdogs that I made for Paul and I today, titled “Japanese Egg Dog”
A sculpture that I started, but it dried out so I had to change gears…I lopped off its head and got in some texture. I’m excited to see what happens next. I have an idea, but we’ll see.
This one will not leave me alone today. I love her completely but she only wants me to pet her when I am at the computer… Sometimes! (her name…but also her nature.)
Frantically trying to fit in the last two episodes of Amaya Gurpide’s "The Narrative Language in Drawing” course before the 1st. It has been such a great course and I am excited to try out some of the things she has talked about.
In the bag
Or rather, in the tool roll. As an artist I love to see other artists’ studios, tools and materials. I think there is so much to be learned from what people use to make things.
So, here is a sneak peek at the tools I use to create my work.
This is The Sendak Artist Roll by Peg and Awl, which I’ve had for years and years. It is well loved, very used and stands up to all I put it through.
I used to use a plain canvas brush roll I got from Pearl but was always looking for something that felt more “me”, (and also would stand up to how rough I can be on things.) This continues to do the trick!
I have it organized into sections, the first being practical items: a pencil, a micron pen, a small ruler, a Sharpie (!), and tweezers.
This area contains the workhorses of my tools: a pointed wooden tool for when I need more precision, a smaller rounded wooden tool (which has touched nearly every piece I’ve ever made) and a larger wooden tool, and 3 takes of varying shapes and sizes. I love that the rakes are double sided with a different shape on each side, as the different shapes are better suited to different parts of sculptures.
These are the metal tools: 3 double sided metal tools with different tips for various textures, the wooden handle able is a fettling knife which is helpful for trimming things, a plaster tool (which is also helpful when working with wax), a smaller sort of spatula and a clay tool with a flat point. Each of these tools can but used in many ways but I always seem to use them when getting into creating textures.
This secret pocket has a cuticle trimmer in it and I use this to trim rubber mold edges.
Lastly the front pocket has a clay wire (used for cutting clay off the block) and a serrated rib (a thin piece of metal which rides over the surface of the clay.)
Weekly Update
As I try to squeeze the last bits out of this Summer by running around with Olivia, I am also looking forward to the Fall. The change of weather is of course most exciting but the change of pace is helpful too. I always do better when there is some structure to my days and the Fall schedule always seems to snap things back into place. (Mom guilt looms when it’s a perfectly nice Summer day that I had planned to spend working on the house or in the studio and Olivia asks “What are we doing today?”… so my days are more unpredictable right now because having fun is also important.)
As I mentioned, I’ll be teaching less this Fall, only having taken on one class at PAFA and workshops. I’m hoping to use this time to plan for the future and finish up some things around here.
Current Exhibitions
I’m happy to say that my sculpture, Am I flying? // Am I falling?, that is featured in As Above, So Below at Arch Enemy Arts sold! There is some really beautiful work in this exhibition, but my favorites are:
Upcoming Exhibitions
I’m working on a piece for Spectrum 3, also at Arch Enemy Arts, and this show opens in September with an opening reception on First Friday in October.
Paul and I are also both in the planning stages for our solo show in 2023, so there that has been discussions and the beginnings of ideas.
Upcoming Workshops
There are only 3 spaces left in my upcoming Animal Sculpture Workshop at Union Hall Arts in Atlantic City, NJ! I am so excited for this workshop. It’s going to be a really packed two days, full of information and sculpting (my favorite things.) I’ll also be making a sculpture tool for each participant and we’ll talk about things like moldmaking vs. firing clay work, composition and making narrative work using symbolism.
You can view more information below or sign up HERE
Work in Progress
I’ve started a sculpture but in the chaos of redoing the studio, it’s dried out! So it looks like I’ll be starting again.
I also have a much neglected Eddie Bunson left on my table that I should finish for miss Olivia.
Upcoming Miscellany
Back to School Seconds Sale is scheduled for September 1st! I’ll photograph the sculpture this week for a sneak peek so stay tuned!
In the studio (and library)
Just a few bits around the studio today…
A desk organized
A shelf in chaos
Selfie two ways
Library shelf
Sighting of a Ghost (the cat)
Studio Update
I loved my little desk corner of my home studio. It got me through teaching online during at 4 different schools during a pandemic and became a place to display all my favorite little things. However, it required putting on mental blinders, because if you stepped back….
…this is what you got. Exposed heating duct which dripped condensation in the summer…all over my desk. An uncovered, uninsulated wall, which leaked cold air in the winter. I am pretty good at managing to work amidst chaos but because all of my studio spaces at home have some desperate need of work that needed to be done, this is where I decided to start.
I took down the fabric “wall” and insulated a bit more. We were going to build this out into a cabinet or something but I decided I’d rather just have the blank wall space.
Once the wall was whole-ish again, I started to build out the soffit and then began the spackling process.
While working on that wall, I also decided to include the bay window where I sculpt. This has been various forms of casting and/or sculpting areas but recently I’ve been working at a table on the left side because the light is so beautiful. The right side is usually some weird pile of plaster or molds or random unidentifiable chaos.
I decided to paint this nook black and will eventually gold leaf the tiny fancy ceiling, but another day… I included this chair that I love but we had no great place for and perhaps my favorite thing of all, a tiny table for my coffee in the morning. (On a recent job site for a commission, I saw these tiny brass drink tables and became obsessed. Now I have my own tiny brass drink table…for fanciness.)
And while I’m still in the process of resetting my desk and all my favorite things, I am so happy to not have giant holes in the walls all around me. It so true that the space around you can greatly affect how you feel and this already feels so great. As I get older I am (slowly) learning the lessons of what to do first before settling into a space, rather than just working around things. Anyway, here’s to making new things in the studio!
DJ vs AI
As a self proclaimed Luddite I avoid most technology (and tease Paul about having worked for Skynet during his time as Creative Director for an Artificial Intelligence company). So imagine my surprise when a few weeks ago we started to play around with MidJourney, an AI used to create images through a series of prompts, and I LOVED it.
I am beginning to learn which words/ideas to use to get the stuff of my dreams. Right now it is a rapid fire inspiration machine…able to quickly produce worlds. I am looking forward to seeing how this fits in with the art world in the long run and hope that artists push beyond this initial image that comes of this collaboration. It feels almost like a trap…like when they put something very obvious in one of the Chopped mystery boxes. You still have to transform the ingredients and make it your own.
Throwback
As I’ve been experimenting in a new medium (more on that tomorrow), I am looking back at some themes that I love but find harder to successfully incorporate into my work on a regular basis. The theater stage is one of them. To me it speaks of drama, artifice, pretending to be someone you aren’t, trying something new, or acting out your dreams. I have a few sculptures in which I’ve used this as a tool but never quite in the way I’ve hoped for.
Every time you open your mouth…(Drama), 2020.
This sculpture was meant to speak to the idea of someone who, no matter what they said, every time they opened their mouth, you knew it was going to be some drama. I love that the simplicity of this piece allows the drama to be implied and therefore invented anew by each viewer. Someone wrote me that it made them think about the former president whereas others expressed knowing someone like this personally.
Another instance of using a small stage is in the sculpture below, To Sleep // To Dream, where in the double sided piece, the viewer is able to decide whether they’d like to be more practical (sleeping bird side) or more fantastical (dreaming bird side with a theater stage in his belly…an invitation to dream beyond what is possible in regular life.)
To Sleep // To Dream, 2021
I’m hoping to incorporate this as a symbol in some upcoming work, on one level or another. We’ll see how it goes… Stay Tuned!
Weekly Update
As we head full speed back into the upcoming school year, I am trying to get back online with consistency in my life and in my studio (as much as is possible.) I’ve shifted my schedule dramatically and will only be teaching minimally this semester in order to give myself a chance to sort out some things. Keep an eye here for upcoming shows, sales, bodies of work, etc.
Current Exhibitions
As Above, So Below 4 opens this Friday, August 19th at Arch Enemy Arts in Philadelphia, PA . Paul and I both have works in the show and each piece is meant to work both right side up and upside down. Here is a preview of my piece Am I flying? // Am I falling?
Upcoming Exhibitions
Next month will be Spectrum, also at Arch Enemy Arts in Philadelphia, PA. I’ve chosen the color blue this time so stay tuned.
Upcoming Classes
I’m very excited about the upcoming Animal Sculpture Workshop at Union Hall Arts in Atlantic City, NJ. The space is run by my friend Jim Dessicino and is really wonderful. Because I’ve dialed back my teaching so much, this is one of only two animal sculpture classes that I’ll be teaching in 2022 (and the only one on this coast!).
You can view more information below or sign up HERE
Work in Progress
Right now it’s really just my studio that is in progress, though I am finishing up the very last of my ‘Tangle’ casts and getting ready to start 2 new bodies of work for solos in 2023!
Upcoming Miscellany
Back to School Seconds Sale coming soon… September 1st, 2022
I’ll list the remainder of any “seconds” I have (sculptures that did not make the cut for one reason or another that are offered at a lower price than normal.)
Studio // Work in Progress... (Like drywall...not art)
Looking back through images of studios past (HERE and on my old blog) always has me a bit nostalgic… Spaces where we create can be magical, and I always wanted that for each space I’ve had as a studio.
My old studio on Amber Street 2008 - 2012 (ish?)
My current studio(s) have been utilitarian since we’ve moved in… I’ve made my spaces within them but am battling one leaky corner and another wall that never quite became a real wall. This month I’m trying my best to tie up all my loose ends in the space and make it feel like my studio…and not just the room in the house that I’m allowed to make messy.
Here’s some process so far:
Before: Fake fabric wall while I decided whether to build this out as cabinets or leave it a wall. Exposed duct work. Hot mess.
Getting closer… Walling in the walls. Building a soffit for the ductwork.
Drywall. We are already beyond this initial ugly phase but I don’t have any updated photos. I love spackling but hate sanding.
I think making a space your own is so important to the creative process. It sounds a little woo woo but if you feel happy and comfortable in a space, of course it will be easier to create there. I’m also looking forward to getting some online classes filmed in here once I’m done but more on that soon.
Finalist for Beautiful Bizarre Magazine's Yasha Young Projects Sculpture Award 2022
I’m very happy to announce that my piece CHAMBER XIX Bring the motherfucking ruckus was chosen as one of 25 finalists in Beautiful Bizarre Magazine’s Yasha Young Projects Sculpture Award 2022.
We have been BLOWN AWAY by the high standard of entries that we have received for the 2022 Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize! Thank you so much to everyone who has entered. As a small, independent publisher, it means a lot to us that the global artists community respects and values the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize.
DANIJELA KRHA PURSSEY, CO-FOUNDER & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, BEAUTIFUL BIZARRE MAGAZINE
This piece was created in 2021 for my solo show Enter the 36 Chambers as one of 36 “emotional reliquaries”.
Each of the 36 pieces in this show was meant to be a “level” to be conquered, emotionally, and being in the middle of the bunch there are a handful of hard feelings to beat. The specific thoughts for this piece related to the iron maiden (the object, not the band.) As a kid I was always obsessed with medieval torture devices...I couldn't wrap my head around how people could do something like that to one another. The same goes for how people treat one another to this day, verbally, emotionally.
To see the full list of 25 finalists, please visit Yasha Young Projects Sculpture Award 2022: Finalists Announced
Up from the 36 Chambers...!
For the last year I’ve worked on a series for my newest solo exhibition “Enter the 36 Chambers” and it his made of of 36 one of a kind pieces…each a training “Chamber” like in the Shaw Brother’s film “The 36th Chamber of Shaolin”, but if it were for your emotions.
Below is the artist statement I wrote for this work:
Part “The 36th Chamber of Shaolin” and part “Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)”, Enter the 36 Chambers is a series of sculptural emotional portraits that focus on the path to self discovery, and the heart and the battle that it takes to get there.
This series has roots in many things but discovery of self, challenging your thoughts, and emotional growth are at the core, with the story being told through dead birds, found objects and various references to Wu-tang lyrics and Shaw brothers movies, among other things.
Art is funny. You don’t have to like Wu-Tang Clan or Shaw Brothers Kung Fu movies or even dead birds to find something in this series that might resonate with you. Those things are just starting points, lenses through which a story is being told. When you look at them, you may see them in different ways entirely. For me they are emotional portraits, or a sculpture of a feeling, and I want that to be universal so that anyone can feel it and in their own way.
I use dead birds as a vehicle because they are vulnerable and beautiful. You want to protect them, despite the worst being over. I think looking back at emotions can be a bit like that. You’ve already felt them...it’s over, they’re gone. Yet we sit with them and obsess, relive, dissect or reimagine them. I think the best thing for me is to learn from them and move forward... but I also feel that is a struggle, a daily battle to not dissect what I felt and why.
Enter the 36 Chambersis about mastering emotions... the idea being that as you are working through these emotions, each represented as a Chamber, you eventually get to a place of peace, or at very least the ability to find calm and stillness even when there isn’t any.
You can see this exhibition online HERE at Antlerpdx.com
All 36 pieces before they were sent off to Antler Gallery in Portland, OR