Caution: Spicy Hazard! Damn That's Hot....

First and foremost, thank the heavens this is my last week of finals! I have been busting my butt!  But more importantly, I am extremely excited about my Intro to Film class' film show at Artists' Television Access on Wednesday, Dec. 3rd at 7:30 pm (doors open at 7:00).  If you are reading this, and you happen to be in the Bay Area and have free time that evening, you should come through.  It is only $4 and there will be snacks!  There will be 15 films by 15 different artists shown that night, so it will be an interesting evening of film and frolicking (like the flyer posted below says).

   

I am so amped to show the film I have been working on the past month.  While I consider myself a photographer, my first semester at SFAI has really pushed me into new territory, including film, performance art and mixed-media collage.  I am looking forward to incorporating these other mediums into my practice.  Below is a clip of the intro to my film.  It is quite experimental (I think).  So please, if you are in the area, come through to the show!

Too Many Artists In the Building: SFAI Concentrate 2014!

Hi all!  Since my last post, I have started my first semester at SFAI as an MFA student in Photography.  My first semester has been a puzzle of trying to get on a routine with my art-making, classes and class readings, art events (openings and fairs, etc...), my diet (vegan- so I cook a lot at home) and working out (running and yoga).  I have been trying to organize all of this, all the while making time for my family and friends.  Needless to say, I am a busy woman.  

I plan to make more detailed posts about my experiences as a member of the SFAI community thus far, but for now, I wanted to kick start all that with this post on the SFAI Concentrate this past weekend.  It was actually a weekend (Saturday and Sunday) dedicated to alumni returning to the campus.  There was a show of old photos that alumni contributed in the Diego Rivera Gallery, as well as lectures, meet and greets and the student art sale.  

While I did not have a table at the art fair this year, I attended the event on Saturday and took photos of my friends and their awesome art.  One thing (out of many) that I am most grateful for at SFAI is the ability to be surrounded by so many great artists and thinkers.  I have never been in such an art-intensive atmosphere before and it is a shock and a blessing. I can already tell it will be difficult to part ways at the end of my program in three semesters.  Anyway, here are some photos of some of the artists I visited at the event and their email, website or blog links bellow their photos.  Be sure to check them out and enjoy!

Alumni Photo Show at the Diego Rivera Gallery at SFAI 

Yong Xiao

Sasinun Kladpetch
Instagram: sasicrafts

Christie Spillane
Website: http://christiespillane.com
Blog: http://thetendermouthful.com

Inger Sif Heeschen

Melanie Reese
Website: www.reeseart.weebly.com
Email: mreese_art@icloud.com

Sara Samano
Email: Samano_S13@outlook.com

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
Website: http://zaliartandphotography.com

There you have it!  Some amazing artists, in my opinion.  I highly recommend that you check them out.  I hope you enjoyed seeing all the work as much as I did!    

Is There Use for Success After All?

A very remarkable woman gave me this drawing and with it, she also gave me a story about a man who lived next door to her and her husband sometime ago in Berkeley.  This man was extremely private, but very friendly.  After a few run-ins with her neighbor, she learned that he was an artist.  Having been in his house only once, she recalled her amazement at the stacks and stacks of magazines and books that decorated his living space.  After he passed away, she and a few of her friends found a number of his drawings in the dumpster outside of his house.  She took the one posted here.

Becoming more and more well known, this Bay Area artist, Edward Hagedorn (1902-1982), is described by a colleague as “a walking question mark with no use for success.”  Early on in his career, he stopped exhibiting publicly due to shyness; however, he remained dedicated to making his work.  Though he is considered an Expressionist artist, his work crossed over a variety of visual languages.  You can read more about Hagedorn here: http://bampfa.berkeley.edu/exhibition/170

The lady who gave me this drawing saw it as a fitting present for me as I am about to start my first semester as a graduate student at the San Francisco Art Institute, which was named the California School of Fine Arts in 1923 when Hagedorn attended. 

I wanted to write this post because I find Hagedorn’s story very inspiring.  I have learned to let go of the idea of success in its most conventional sense and rediscover what it means to me.  I have had to push out other people’s opinions of where I should go to school, what I should take pictures of, what I should really be pursuing and where I should work, so that I am able to make the room to hear the beating of my own heart, the pace of my own breath and the voice of my own thoughts. 

Ultimately, I know what success is for me and I will, by any means, stick to my guns and go for it.  While this confidence may come natural to some, it took me a very long time to develop it.  Many times, I have tried to stray away from art in pursuit of a more “real” job and I always end up coming back home to the thing that makes my stomach turn with excitement and wonder.  So here I have a story of a man who turned his back on outside expectations in pursuit of his own.  I can’t spend time worrying so much about how I will make money, if my art is sellable, if it is any good, if it will change the world.  All I know is now, and at this time, I have the drive, the ideas, the passion, and the rest, it will all come later.  Right now I am working in my bedroom, with all my supplies laid out before me and I am free to create my life and say anything I want. 

I can tell you, success tastes wonderful…   

Green Grapes

Hi All! 

So lately I have been shooting more digital, which is new for me.  I recently undertook a new project of shooting rotten fruit.  This subject matter came about from inspiration from my mentor, Polly Steinmetz.   She shoots the remains of animals that have passed.  She has a way of drawing the viewer's eyes to the beauty in the detail of rotten flesh, matted fur, the shape of a claw, etc... Her work dances with the beauty of the grotesque.  Other artists that I love who are also in conversation with the same idea are Sally Mann and Joel Peter Witkin.  

I really wanted to challenge myself to look at something that both pushes me away and attracts me.  Oddly enough, I am extremely repulsed by rotten food items, so much so, that while my aunt believes in cutting off the rotten part to salvage the rest of the food, I am constantly throwing away anything if I even SUSPECT that it has been sitting too long.  Of course, shooting rotten fruit is not at all as grand as shooting a decaying body in a forensic garden or the severed head of a deer, but it is my way of pushing myself to confront something that is out of my comfort zone.  Regardless of how mundane, it is a big step for me and I am on quite a journey with it.

The above photo is not a finished piece, but rather an idea that I am still playing around with.  I am currently shooting this project in both digital and film, but I haven't decided which one I am going to buckle down with just yet.  Both mediums have really brought out the beauty in such a simple matter like mold.  Some of the photos look like aerial landscapes!

Once I really get going on this, I will post more pictures.  Please feel free to leave constructive critiques, comments, questions or other artists that are working with the same or similar ideas (I know there has to be quite a few, I just haven't found them yet)! 

Till next time!   

What I've Been Up To Lately!

Hi All!  

It's been a very very very long time since I last posted.  I plan to do more regular posts on a weekly basis about what I have been working on, reading, seeing, etc...

Now on to my latest work: Introducing my body cast!

Body Cast #1, Fiber Print, 2013

Body Cast #2, Fiber Print, 2013

I left off last year experimenting with this plastic body cast I made of myself out of packing tape.  I had to wrap layers and layers of it around my body, then cut myself out.  It was a bit painful and sweaty sitting in this thing, but it was worth it.  I first made a body cast like this in undergrad in my sculpture class; however, it was complete with arms (this one wasn't).

Experimentation was the name of the game, as I was also using my Rolleicord camera for the first time when I took these, so it was a fun process.  The camera takes beautiful pictures, so I am excited to use it some more! 

I have more pictures to come with this cast, so stay tuned...