Creations by Carmen: It's New York City Baby!

Went to NYC with some marvelous ladies last weekend. We visited some amazing artist studios! We visited Tom Burckhardt and Kathy Butterly first. They had a very beautiful studio/living combination. I was really drawn to Kathy's work. She spoke very eloquently (as did Tom), and I connected with her statements about working in a small scale. She explained that as she works on a particular detail, she gets lost in it and it becomes the whole universe. I really understand that impulse and losing oneself in the particular details of the work. Tom's work was very layered and I enjoyed the transparent quality of the painting. The fact that he casts each base for every painting is really involved.

The second studio we visited was Simon Evans and his wife. They were both very interesting and inviting people. The work we saw there was evolving and becoming a coherent body of work. I enjoyed the suggestion that the paper they left on the floor of their studio becomes patinaed in a way by walking on it and living around it.

The second day I was unfortunately ill. I missed seeing Jan Huling's work, which I have posted on my blog before. I was very excited about this, and sad I missed it.

Since being home i've been trying to get back into my work. Meeting today with Trenton Doyle Hancock really enabled me to do that. We spoke about the concept of having each piece be a character, and of enacting them. I am becoming more used to the idea of performance. Also more open to the fact that much of my work may be about gender. These are topics and ways of working I have not been comfortable with. They put me in a place where I am excited and a little bit nervous at the same time, which I think is where I know it is a good place to go.

In Teaching methods we dissected syllabi and spoke about our rubrics. It was interesting to see what everyone would change in their class, and the different teaching styles that everyone's instructor has. The rubrics were difficult to make but in the end are very useful.

Here are some artists and things I have been looking at:

Kaminer Design

Jewelry

Beth Cavener Stichter

Ceramic sculpture

Fashion

Fashion photography

Skeletons