When I first wrote about PSLF last November, some of my blog readers/friends/colleagues mentioned that the program had only just opened, that some of the rejections were intentional ones aimed at accessing a different Congressional fund for loan forgiveness, TEPSLF, and that given some time the overall statistics might improve.
Now that another year has passed, that’s not the case.
I’m participating in Art for the Animals, a national exhibition and benefit show for the Kansas City Zoo hosted at Jones Gallery that runs from Wednesday, October 2nd to Thursday, October 24th, 2019, with a First Friday public reception on October 4th from 5 to 9pm. Jones Gallery is in the Crossroads District at 1717 Walnut, Kansas City, MO 64108. I’ll be exhibiting Puffinry and Camelflage. If you go, take some photos for me!
I’m interested in starting a new body of work that involves growing aragonite and/or calcite crystals atop various substrates including sculptures, reliefs, and found objects. I am attracted to the conceptual and aesthetic power of nature overtaking manmade constructions. Additionally, aragonite and calcite are the crystallized form of calcium carbonate, a natural material that is the primary component in seashells and corals. Marine animals with calcium carbonate exoskeletons are particularly susceptible to ocean acidification; in order to grow these crystals, I am immersing limestone (which is a sedimentary rock composed of marine skeletal fragments) in acid, so in some ways the growth of these crystals is also a funerary rite for marine wildlife dying to climate change.
Here is the first completed work I’ve done using this medium. I’ve titled it Reclamation, and it is a mixed media relief including QuickCure Clay, QuickCure Glaze Coating, acrylic, aragonite crystals and salt on birch panel. It’s 12x9.25x2”.
I experimented with a number of different chromatography processes to learn which method would be conceptually and aesthetically strongest for my own practice. Two of the failed tests I did were interesting enough in their own right that I kept them, too, though as is evident they use a different technique that proved less effective at pigment differentiation than the process I used for the main Transmigration Landscapes.
These are, respectively, Failed Test 1 and Failed Test 3.
I had my chromatography series Transmigration Landscapes framed right before moving, and so I’ve taken the time to photograph the pieces in their final form! From this Buenos Aires Botanical Garden collection, there are seven framed pieces each containing five loosely grouped chromatography plant portraits. The framed dimensions are 8.875x30”.
These are, in order:
Transmigration Landscapes : Arc
Transmigration Landscapes: Atmosphere
Transmigration Landscapes: Cadence
Transmigration Landscapes: Flare
Transmigration Landscapes: Percussive
Transmigration Landscapes: Reflective
Transmigration Landscapes: Vibration
I had to have a short hiatus from exhibiting due to moving and the resultant lack of a valid return shipping address for a few months… but the hiatus is over, and breaking it is Artists Who Teach, a pair of national juried exhibitions linked to National Arts in Education Week that is hosted at the Ellington-White Contemporary Art Gallery as well as the Fayetteville State University Rosenthal Art Gallery over the course of eight weeks from September 14 – November 2, 2019. Both galleries are located in the city of Fayetteville, NC.
Two of my acrylic paintings were juried in by Shane Booth, Soni Martin and Dwight Smith: Volcanic and City Solstice. Awards will be selected by a separate juror, Willis Bing Davis, at the opening reception on September 14th. Let me know if you happen to be in the area and can check either (or both) of the exhibitions out!
This is one of my favorites (I have several!) of my new pieces from this residency - it’s perfect in its deceptive simplicity. I say deceptive because work went into obtaining the components of this piece, from learning how to make banana paper while on residency in Peru, to sifting through hundreds of fallen leaves in the Buenos Aires Botanical Garden before finding this perfect leaf skeleton specimen, to discovering that the two suited each other beautifully.
This artwork is mixed media including a Ficus religiosa skeleton leaf, matte medium, and handmade banana paper and is 17x11” (unframed dimensions).
There is an ongoing, mostly manmade tragedy unfolding right now in the Amazon rainforest in the form of an 85% increase in forest fires over last year. Many of the fires are intentionally being set to clear trees and jungle vegetation - as well as indigenous territories - for agricultural use.
I am reminded of this standalone comic strip, which in many ways seems quite optimistic to me.
Whew, so I still have quite a number of new pieces to show you from my BROTA residency, but I am interrupting the stream of new art piece posts to share that I have finished moving from Leavenworth, KS, to Sioux City, IA, and have officially started at Morningside College!
From the time when I arrived back to the US in mid-June until the end of July, I drove up to Sioux City a number of times - to scope out the rental market (it’s insanely competitive), to sign the lease on my new house, to accompany the movers, to escort my enormous plant collection, and finally, to move myself and Ashlar the gargoyle gecko. I’ve now been in Sioux City for a little over two weeks, and while there are still boxes everywhere I turn, I’m making progress at unpacking every day and have even started work (though classes don’t start until August 21st).
I’m excited to dive into the vibrant art community both at Morningside and in Sioux City! I also need to get back into my normal exhibition schedule, as I took a bit of a hiatus due to the move and the fact that the return shipping address for the artwork was a big unknown for a while…
And here is another mixed media leaf piece in the overall Gardens of Memory series. This one includes a London planetree leaf, methylcellulose, toner, and acrylic on artisanal handmade silk paper.
This is another mixed media leaf piece in the overall Gardens of Memory series. This one includes an oak leaf, methylcellulose, toner, and acrylic on artisanal handmade silk paper.
My new photographic transfer technique using methylcellulose and toner doesn’t require a flat surface for the substrate, so I also created this piece Gardens of Memory: Homes. Eventually displayed on a small marble pedestal, it is a mixed media sculpture including a found snail shell, bird’s nest, methylcellulose, and toner. The piece is probably a little larger than you might imagine - its core dimensions without the pedestal are 5.125 x 5.125 x 3.5”. The snail shell is that of an apple snail, so titled because they can grow to the size of an apple. I sold this piece while in Buenos Aires to another artist, the very talented Masako Kano.
Here is a new diptych, meaning partner pieces that will always be shown together. Diptychs can also be framed or otherwise physically linked together, too, but in this case I am framing them separately. These are mixed media pieces including sycamore leaves, methylcellulose, toner, and acrylic on artisanal handmade papers. The first paper is a very eco-friendly renewable dyed banana paper that I collaboratively made on a former residency in Peru, and the second is a handmade silk paper from Ato Menegazzo Papeles in Buenos Aires.
Here’s a well-written lament from The Atlantic about the ongoing extinctions of a huge number of native Hawaiian snail species.
Zooming out from just Hawaii, here’s a map of how many species are being pushed to the brink globally.
This is a sad photographic illustration of how littering - even when the litter is biodegradable - negatively impacts wildlife.
As you can see in this earlier post, I worked atop two very large trunk cross-sections for a permanent outdoor installation. I also worked atop smaller trunk and/or branch cross-sections as well. Here are four new pieces in my “Gardens of Memory” series. The series is so titled because the substrate is very directly a part of a once-living tree (paper is too, but in a more distanced form), and the images atop it are from various botanical gardens I’ve frequented.
I’m on Argentinian radio! I was invited, along with Patricia and the woman who agreed to cater our reception with her waffle company, to join Radio Conexión Abierta on their program La Vida Moderna de Analía. It was an hour-long show, and it was held entirely in Spanish. We talked about my upcoming exhibition reception, art, BROTA residency, Kansas, the Wizard of Oz, and waffles.
Above are a couple photos from the interview, and if you’d like to hear it in its entirety, you can below!
Here are two partner pieces I created to donate and install permanently in Buenos Aires after I leave with the help of BROTA! They are both mixed media pieces including acrylic, methylcellulose, toner, and marine varnish on a tree trunk cross-section, and will be diagonally mounted on wooden poles outdoors when installed. The institution that will host these works is yet to be determined. The two pieces are part of my Garden Memories series.
With permission from the Buenos Aires Botanical Garden, I have been taking plant samples and using chromatography to create a series of very literal plant self-portraits that also function as abstract landscapes. I am titling this series Transmigration Landscapes. There are 35 of these portraits, as well as 2 test designs that I liked enough to keep as well. Since I currently don’t have access to a scanner, processing photos of each to share clean images of the work requires a significant investment of time, so I figured I’d share a peek now with the promise of more to come!
Saturday I went out to see the ferias in Plaza Serrano and Plaza Armenia, and also just to walk around Palermo Soho, a neighborhood that is supposedly reminiscent of Soho in NYC. I ate at a vegan “fast food” restaurant which had Chinese-influenced vegan “hamburgers” of all sorts, but I didn’t think it was very tasty. Then Patricia and I made a night of it in the house, drinking champagne and eating pizza (which we burned a little by not understanding the oven since it was our first time using it). Everything in the house is gas, and the manual lighter that was built into the stove is broken so if you want to use it, you have to light a match, turn on the gas, and wait for it to catch alight in whatever you’ve turned on - even in the oven, which was a first for me! (I’m used to this system with ranges, but never before with ovens!)
Sunday Patricia took me to La Boca, a neighborhood which is famous for its painted houses which resulted from impoverished townspeople using random siding in various colors as their building material, which had the side effect of creating a very vibrant look. There are a few blocks that are extremely touristy in this neighborhood, but the rest of it is considered quite rough, so Patricia thought it best that she escort me. We wanted to have empanadas, but finding a restaurant that served several types of vegetarian ones took a lot of searching! Eventually we found a place that had corn and cheese, four cheese, and spinach and cheese ones, so I had one of each. The corn and cheese and four cheese versions were my favorite of the three. La Boca also is known for its football (soccer); there’s a stadium near the touristy area and this evening there was a game, so we left before fights and/or riots broke out on the street (apparently this is a thing that sometimes happens in Argentina).
Monday we were going to chill and I was going to work in the studio, but then we found out that there was a city-wide transportation strike of all modes on Wednesday and we were planning to have an excursion then, so instead we went to Puerto Madero, where there is a famous bridge called El Puente de la Mujer, which translates to “Bridge of the Woman” or “Woman’s Bridge.” It is meant to abstractly represent a couple dancing the tango. I don’t see it. I guess on the weekends this area is somewhat hopping, but Monday is a day when most stores are closed and Puerto Madero is mostly offices anyway, so though I appreciated getting to see it, I wasn’t super enthused with this neighborhood. We did stop for ice cream, though - I’ve been on a hunt this whole time for coffee ice cream, which no one has (this is the first time in all my travels that coffee hasn’t been a default flavor!), so Patricia recommended I try sambayón, which is a port flavored ice cream. I liked it!
Tuesday I went to the garden again. Patricia and I had been trying for over a week to get the garden to let us use two large tree trunk cross-sections that were just chilling in their space, but the garden had other plans for them. (My plan was to make mixed media installations with them to donate back to the garden in a permanent installation.) We then tried to see if they could make us some, but no luck. Then Patricia found similar cross-sections for sale on Mercado Libre, which is kind of an eBay/Facebook Marketplace for Argentina. Patricia didn’t have a profile so she figured I should set one up since I was going to be the buyer. This ended up engendering a cascade of issues, which I won’t bore you with, but several days later we managed to successfully purchase two. We also went to an opening reception for a former professor of Patricia’s, who was exhibiting mixed media paintings and some alcohol ink prints. I really liked the latter.
Wednesday was the strike day so I worked in the studio and on getting Mercado Libre to cooperate. The following day was also a studio day.
The next day I was feeling too cooped up, so I went to eat out in Recoleta and then walked a short distance to take in the famous Recoleta cemetery. The cemeteries in Argentina are all walled in, which is an interesting cultural difference. The interior is really surprisingly compelling, though - I’m not generally a big cemetery-tour person, but I really enjoyed strolling through this one.
Saturday I worked on art in the morning, and then met Patricia in Palermo Soho to see an art opening at a plant store in the early evening. The exhibition was cyanotype prints of plants, which was a good fit for the space! Then Patricia and I ate at a strange Middle Eastern vegetarian restaurant that had trippy videos of Jesus and Krishna playing. The food was okay but not stellar.
Sunday Patricia and I went out to the suburbs to see a more “countryside” area of Buenos Aires at the house of a friend of hers. We had lunch in an town called Ingeniero Maschwitz followed by ice cream - and this place had the closest to coffee ice cream I’ve seen here (it was called moka, but there was no apparent chocolate) and also had a fantastic flavor called rusa which was walnut custard.
Some general musings, in no particular order:
An Uber driver asked me if I was vegetarian out of nowhere and when I answered yes, he then said he could tell by my appearance. I asked what that meant, and he responded that I look healthy. Then he asked me how old I was and upon hearing my response he added that I look younger because I am vegetarian. I didn’t get the impression that he was vegetarian, but I should’ve asked. Two different drivers thought I was from Brazil, which is perplexing because I don’t know how my accent could read as Portuguese-influenced…
A handful of the words are different in Argentinian Spanish. Avocado is a weird one - I’ve never heard palta before. Many people here speak English pretty well - a much higher percentage than in Spain - though of course most of my conversations tend to be held in Spanish since we are in Argentina.
The house keys in Argentina are old school skeleton keys. Not just for my house, but others too.
I’ve read that Buenos Aires is the Paris of South America. I have to say that while I’m having a fantastic time on my residency here and love BROTA and the botanical garden, the city itself has suffered from the economic crisis in Argentina: it has edged out art and artisan products, independent restaurants, public transportation updates and improvements like e-signage, and so on. Petty crimes like pickpocketing are also more common. There is a lot to enjoy about the city nevertheless, but I’d like to see what it will become in a hopefully-soon-to-arrive more stable and prosperous period.
The traffic here is terrifying and parking is nonexistent. Natives often are scared to drive in Buenos Aires because there are no rules; I would never recommend a foreigner attempt to rent a car and drive here. I do wish the bus system was more understandable to me, though; I have no problems with using the bus system in Spain in various cities but Patricia was correct that this one, los colectivos, is not set up for easy outsider usage.
The house/mansion I am staying in is in a very ritzy area - apparently famous stars and politicians have houses here and a number of people have told me it’s a really good location. It is not near easily usable public transport like the metro (Subte) or trains.
There are tillandsia (air plants) EVERYWHERE and I want to adopt many of them. I don’t have a CITES certificate, though, so they’ll have to stay here.
I’ve been working on two different series of artwork from the start using the new-to-me methylcellulose and chromatography papers, but both are very experimental and I’m not sure exactly what the finished products should even look like at this point. That’s why I’ve yet to reveal much in terms of production other than a couple early test images from the chromatography papers.
However, I started feeling anxious about how experimental I’m being - of course it’s good to experiment, but I wanted the comfort of completing a more traditionally “me” type of piece with a clear end point. Plus, I bought those artisanal handmade papers from Ato Menegazzo Papeles, and it would be a shame not to even work on some while here!
This not-quite-finished painting is of a dwarf water hyacinth, Eichhornia crassipes. The common names in Spanish for this plant are (as per Wikipedia): jacinto de agua, flor de bora, camalote, aguapey, lechuguín, tarope, tarulla o reyna. I chose this plant in particular because I love how graphic and full of character it is, and the fact that it’s an aquatic plant means that the whole of the plant, including its root system, can be shown in a figure-ground relationship that also celebrates the handmade paper. Water hyacinth is an ornamental plant that is occasionally consumed and used medicinally, but is also highly invasive in warm climates and is often illegal to own or sell. An interesting dichotomy that inspired my current tentative title: Adrift.
