Hamlett Dobbins

I really enjoyed the talk Hamlett Dobbins gave us in class. I feel like I hear his name mentioned quite often, but was never sure what he did, besides run the Clough Hanson Gallery at Rhodes. I am definitely impressed by all the many things he is involved in- Marshall Arts, Material, his own studio practice, Rhodes, and personal collaborations. I appreciate how much he divulged, starting with undergrad and how Dobbins worked then and what he went through after graduating, to Grad school, to the decisions he made after Grad school. He was thorough, but not in a bland way, he was candid and shared things that you don’t usually hear about, like crappy jobs and relationships. I especially appreciated him sharing why he went to the University of Iowa, what that did for him, and why he chose to return to Memphis. I think he might have lucked out career-wise, it seems as though his job at Marshall Arts kind of fell into his lap. I don’t think everything was by chance, though, it definitely seems as though he works hard and has continued to work hard in his studio while trying to make the art scene in Memphis better, and maintaining a family life.

Dobbins definitely stressed how making connections is important; people are more receptive when they actually know you. Also, how it can be challenging balancing home life with studio practice and a career, and how he separates them to keep his sanity. In general, he was just really helpful on all fronts, and I liked the way he set up his presentation and his way of speaking. I didn’t really have any questions because he covered everything so well.

some more

Here are some more new pieces. Look at all that pink, I just can't resist it. Anyways, the bottom one is the only large one (3x3') and it has embroidery, not that you can really tell in this picture.

Newness

I'm in Abstract Painting this semester and we are supposed to do a painting every class period, meaning 2 whole paintings a week, oh my! Lucky I'm a pretty fast painter so I haven't struggled (until I just started adding embroidery.) And they can pretty much be whatever size you want, here are the first of them.

Before and After

Evan though I do have nice photos of my work right now, this was good practice. Though it still seems kind of like lying even though it is my work and I'm just trying to make it look more accurate, because apparently my camera harbors a hatred of my art.

exhibitions

I'm having trouble finding exhibits that I would actually be interested in, or that sound at least semi-legit. A lot of the online galleries seem really cheesy. I printed out the information, but here is where I found most of them.

videos

I don't usually search out artist films but these two are great! And completely different.

Scintillation

Olive and Mocha: Fast Times at Sugar High

Greely Myatt

I had seen Greely Myatt’s work before we went to David Lusk Gallery this week. It was when there were multiple shows all around Memphis, including the Brooks, featuring Myatt. At the time I enjoyed the work I saw, but I wasn’t sure of the conceptual background. I felt kind of the same way at the gallery, I enjoy the speech bubble pieces, and I can guess at concept, but I meant to ask him so I could really find out. I do think he doesn’t even know what some of his works are about because he is enjoying experimenting with the materials, which I think is fine. Especially since he knows it. I definitely feel like we talked more about formal construction versus concept, I guess I should have asked a better question or something. Though he did have a habit of starting off trying to answer the question but moving into a different, only semi-related subject. Sometimes I just wanted a straightforward answer, especially to the “business of art” related questions, because he was a bit vague where I wanted specifics.

Myatt was very easy going, not intimidating to ask questions, which was good practice for our first visit outside of the classroom. I definitely think we all need to work on better questions, though. He was very open and his work is very fun to look at, but maybe we need more controversy to bring out better questions or something. It was definitely a good experience, and I’m glad to have finally gone in the David Lusk Gallery because, I’m ashamed to admit, I hadn’t before.

floral

I can't resist anything involving cute flowers. Especially when it involves pink. I'm not really sure when I became so girly, but it's okay with me. The first Image is from Rifle Paper Co., one of those businesses I really admire and wish I was a part of. The other image is from here, I'm not really sure what's going on in it, but I sure do like it.

Statement of Intent

So I think I might have taken this home and not actually turned it in. But here it is, I used part of my draft artist statement so just bear with me if you are reading it.

I make art about the nostalgia I feel towards my home region of Florida and my relationships by using imagery of nature, and my friends interacting within nature. When I moved to Memphis I immediately found a new appreciation for my home. I began to romanticize my memories and so I began making art focusing on my skewed recollections. By using personal photos I have a tangible reference to start from, and by abstracting the imagery I make the pieces less specific, and therefore more relatable to others beside myself. I do however leave clues of the original occasion so that they are not only recognizable to me, but the friends involved. I simplify the color palette to help exaggerate elements of the composition and to reflect how some details are lost in memory.

I would like to transform Rust Hall into a scrapbook of sorts. My works will line the walls; they will range from 18×24” to 5×7”. The arrangement will alternate form groupings of paintings, to rows two paintings deep and to single pieces. This will give variation and emphasize a kind of timeline. While the subject matter will be similar, certain events will be depicted multiple times, and certain figures will become recognizable throughout the works. I will utilize oil painting, embroidery and watercolor. Some pieces will include only one of these mediums, while some will combine them. This will break up any possible monotony while adding emphasis to certain images through the technique and the level of abstraction. I will decide how much to abstract each image based on the importance of the event, place and/or people depicted to give certain pieces significance.

In viewing the gallery space the viewer will recognize a progression of how I view my experiences through my memory. Certain elements are repeated not only to show their importance, but also to show how these relationships and events I find comforting are rather unchanging because of my separation from home, while in Memphis I don’t have the same kinds of experiences, so I am left to reminisce over old ones.

My Artist Statement

I forgot to post this before class-

I make paintings about the nostalgia I feel towards my home region of Florida and my relationships by using imagery of nature, and my friends interacting within nature. When I moved to Memphis I immediately found a new appreciation for my home. I began to romanticize my memories and so I began making art focusing on my skewed recollections. By using personal photos I have a tangible reference to start from, and by abstracting the imagery I make the pieces less specific, and therefore more relatable to others beside myself. I do however leave clues of the original occasion so that they are not only recognizable to me, but the friends involved. I simplify the color palette to help exaggerate elements of the composition and to reflect how some detail are lost in memory.

I use many different techniques as each one allows me to emphasize different aspects of my work. Oil painting permits editing, texture and immediacy, while the edition of embroidery makes the work more precious and personal. Watercolor represents memory well in the way the colors can bleed together, altering the image. Printmaking and papermaking are methodical, I feel as though I create a believable falsity based off reality because of how authentic these works appear.

I work with very personal subject matter but I strive to represent it in a way that can appeal to many viewers who can find something in the works that cause them to reminisce on their own experiences. I do this through differing amounts of abstraction, an appealing color palette and by making the works an accessible size so as to not overwhelm. My location dictates my comfort, and so I represent that which I find the most reassurance in.

Happy Go Lovely

Isn't that the cutest name? Your general run of the mill 1950's comedy involving mistaken identities and dancing and cute clothes. But goodness some of the sets and outfits are phenomenal. Scientists need to hurry up and make a time machine, I think I was meant to be in that dance number.

Jiha Moon

I attended Jiha Moon’s Lecture and show this weekend. She has been living in America for over 10 years and is From South Korea, it seems as though Moon struggles with her ethnic identity because she is obviously not American, and now when she returns to Korea she is considered Americanized and feels like a tourist. I think Moon uses this to her advantage as her paintings are smashed full of cultural references from both countries. She likes the idea that nothing is pure; Moon has no problem admitting that her references are borrowed, though they are chosen for humor or significance. Apparently Moon started as a figurative painter, which I find hard to imagine because her work is quite abstract, thought there are a lot of very tightly rendered areas. I don’t like all of her works, some of them just have too many super bright colors for my liking, but she does some really nice work, and I especially like the pieces that play of different interpretations of language. Often times the titles are kind of snarky, and Moon was quite amusing and clever when speaking. She was also just really great at talking about the work without making it boring or too detailed by mixing in little stories. Pretty much she was adorable and had some really great nuggets of wisdom like “when you trust yourself too much then the paintings get boring.” I think everyone at our school needs to think about that. Moon also thinks that utopia would be boring. At first I was unsure about that statement and then I realized how right she is. What a clever lady.

Artist Statements

Well I'm just gonna put the links up, hopefully that's okay. I have found that a lot of artist statements use a lot of words to say very little. Some of these aren't that great, but I don't think any of them are horrible. I guess because I was only looking at websites of artists I like. Not that having me as a fan necessarily makes them smart, but I might have to disown them if they can't write a semi-credible artist statement. Or at least delete my bookmark.

Kate McCarthy

Jason Mitcham

Sarah Bedford

Jen Garrido

Deborah Zlotsky

Takashi Iwasaki

Presentations

Our first assignment and real interaction with each other was this past week. Maybe it wasn’t so much interaction as a chance to learn about each other, which was great. I thought everyone did well, though I must say it was hard for me to stay quiet sometimes, I really wanted to talk and critique the artwork more than the presentations themselves. Good old MCA has me all trained up in that regard. Though sometimes I feel that I’m the only one who wants to share my opinions. I know I wasn’t the only one to talk, but hopefully we will get comfortable quick because discussion is important. Especially because we are learning how to present ourselves professionally and making good first impressions is key to success. Strangers are going to be more judgmental out of convenience so I’m happy to get the chance in this class to attempt to become comfortable with the business end of life.

The presentations held my interest, though there was definitely variation in the ease with which some people spoke, and of course in the kind of work shown. I’ve had multiple classes with some of my classmates and so I’m very familiar with their work, but mostly I was excited to get a chance to see the full depth of everyone’s work. Generally I think this was a valuable assignment to help us in the future when critiquing each other’s assignments since we now know where everyone is coming from. Hopefully next time we will all be a bit more forthcoming in not only taking about our own work, but about our classmates’ as well.

fun fun

So I want to make this blog more interesting, so I'm gonna start posting inspiration pictures, and whatever else tickles my fancy. This is Riikka Sormunen, and oh how I love her work. Seriously, go to her website and fawn over the amazingness.

Looky!

I finally got professional quality photos taken of my most recent work. Thank goodness.