Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Photoshoot!

Hey all,
been busy lately. Last Friday I participated in my friend's on-going photo project series. Helen Maurene Cooper is an awesome photographer who lives and works in Chicago (though she used to hail from Philly, which is how I was lucky enough to meet her and become her friend).
Her current work (which is not yet up on her website but other great stuff is) deals with issues of hip-hop culture and race relations, gender relations, and black American history. She recently won a fellowship to go to the Underground Railroad sites in Ohio and continue her project in those sites. She composes the figure(s) in front of a backdrop in typically mannerist poses. In a few weeks she'll have sifted through all the shots she took of Sarah Hunt and I and choose her favorites.
It was a real joy to work with Maurene on this project. We discussed having a show of her work in our space in the future and I am really looking forward to bringing this to fruition.


Maurene set up her backdrop in our gallery space.


Maurene and her many cameras. She shot with three different cameras for three different formats.


Sarah in costume.


The set up in our gallery space during our most recent show.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Last night's opening: MERGE:Recent Works

Hi all! Last night was the opening for our show MERGE:Recent Works. It was great! Lots of folks came out and I sold a piece! Hot dog!
Some pictures below of us in the curatorial stages and then on the wall:


















Detail of my piece "Cell Mates"

The completed piece (as well as the others I've been working on) are up at my co-op gallery space: The Midwives Collective & Gallery. Comes down June 27th so be sure to check it out! The gallery is open on Saturdays, noon to 5pm.


Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Flowers from Brendan

I'm lucky enough to have the best boyfriend. Brendan just came back from a walk with our dog Ruby and had these little blossoms for me:

















He said they reminded him of me. How thoughtful!

Recently Unemployed

Recently I was laid off, ergo, I thought starting a blog about my "funemployment" would be a good project. I'm hoping that it acts as an impetus for my art work as well as my larger life goals. We'll see. I'm pretty good at false starts.

However, since my unemployment began (it's been less than a week) my mind's been racing at the possibilities: WHAT TO DO WITH ALL THIS TIME? (aside of course, looking for a job). And while the job part is very important, I can't help but entertain other possible directions and uses for this "temporary retirement" that I've suddenly been granted.

1. artist residency?
2. internship?
3. volunteer?
4. concentrate harder on my artist collective?
5. knock out a few of those prerequisites for grad school?

Well, how's about them all? So, I did some research.
I researched artist residencies, and considering I'd have to pay my own way, that fell off the list. I also already have a studio and am now on a paid vacation so what's the point? I looked into internships at the Fabric Workshop and Museum but if I did the Fall internship, it'd go through December, and God willing I'll have a job well before December.
So, I'm going to concentrate on my collective and gear up for grad school, all the while job searching (helllllooooo Upenn and Drexel!) and getting my artworks up to par as well as SOLD.

So, below are pieces I'm working on for my upcoming group show, MERGE: Recent Works at my co-op gallery in South Philly. They're strewn across my dining table.
They're silk fabric pieces, hand-dyed and patterned, then stitched.










I'm a little amazed that I'm using neon green for any of this work, considering my fears of using any neon colors. But I've happily discovered that anything, in the right proportion, works wonders. Plus I'm getting out of my comfort zone with the colors.