Last time, on the trials and trevals of squids,

I think I mentioned (once, twice, a million times) that me, the kitties, and the Husband were moving.  We are safely tucked into our new house, but we are still totally in the unpacking stage; therefore, there’s not going to be a whole lotta art talk today.  However, there will be pictures of the house and the beautiful, beautiful studio.

Also, if y’all are in the Green Bay area on Saturday, come by the The Art Garage and see my art in person!  I have two pieces in the show.  You might even get to see me win some money.

So, without further ado!  Our new house!

     This is our gianormous cloakroom.  There will never be a need for coats or shoes to be misplaced again.

     The front room.  There’s one of my sculptures hanging out in the back.  It’s guarding the back hall (below).

     The bedroom replete with a sleepy kitty (above), and the library/music room/office replete with confused identity (below).

     And, the pièce de résistance, my amazing studio–still a wreck! /o\–but still completely awesome.

     So, that’s the new house.  Of course, there are rooms I didn’t show–because I didn’t want too!  *cackles maniacally and runs about sill-li-ly*  Really, I thought the complete wreckage was just too much to share.  When it’s less wreck-ish, there will be better pictures.

     Ciao, my doves.

*languishes*/ETA *squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee*

***Wordpress is still not spacing correctly.  *FLAILS*  Mad squid is mad.***

     I’m waiting to hear about The Art Garage competition I entered.  I haven’t heard anything yet.

     *is jittery and crazy to know*

ETA:  I just got the call that my both of my pieces were accepted! *EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE*

     Totally compounded by the fact that I now volunteer there.  Talk about a conflict of interests.  <–I was told it wasn’t, but y’all know me, I can’t help but be a worry-wart.

     So, I had promised that I was going to post pictures of the sculptures that I entered.  I was waiting until today because–I don’t know–it seemed appropriate to wait until the competition is over?  Does that even make sense?

     So, my (not-so) little friends.

     The prompt for the show was–

Seeking works of art in all media that focus on personal memories and the essence of our past. Artwork will need to be created with some recycled materials in order to promote the importance of being environmentally responsible.

     And the application asked for–

A brief artist statement must be submitted with the images explaining what inspired this piece of artwork and what recycled materials were used.

     So, my first piece is unnamed friends:  from the 100 acre wood, and it is, basically, a tree stump (yes, there is a joke in here about my nickname being ‘Trie [tree]).

     This thing was crazy to make and is freaking huge.  It’s about 4 feet tall, hand built (and sewn) from brown paper grocery bags (building a tree from dead trees makes sense to me), has a felt face with buttons, and has crocheted accents and a cardboard interior frame.

     It took a really long time to build.

     The other piece is also quite large.

     Okay, it’s huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge too.  Nearly 4 feet again.

     I keep making things that are nearly the size of me. o.O

     The second piece is unnamed friends:  narwhal, and it is built from old coats that were purchased from the local Goodwill.

     Again with the “it took forever to build.”  Considering I hand-sew everything, that makes sense, but then again, I wouldn’t get the same fluidity and–yes, I’ll admit it–awkwardness if I didn’t hand-sew.

     The artist statement for these pieces was–

The inspiration for unnamed friends:  from the 100 acre wood and unnamed friends:  narwhal comes from a combination of kawaii culture, children’s storybook narratives like Winnie the Pooh, and memories of my own most beloved toys.  The scale of the sculptures, in relationship to an adult, evokes the feeling of childhood where everything feels large and strange—even one’s toys.  The materials, even though they are primarily recycled, gesture to those parts of childhood that are recycled from others:  clothes that have been handed down, toys that have been inherited or made from old clothes, and books that belonged to older siblings.

The recycled materials in unnamed friends:  from the 100 acre wood include brown paper grocery bags, cardboard from a shipping container (ironically from Dick Blick), and felt inherited from another artist.  The recycled materials in unnamed friends:  narwhal include a leather coat and a suede-and-faux-fur coat from Goodwill.

     So, those are my friends.  They took weeks and are taking up huge amounts of real estate in my current studio, but they are so freaking cool.

     I shall sleep the sleep of the accomplished tonight. \o/

An ode to the perfect studio–

It’s bigger than a bread box–wait, that’s most things.

It can jump over tall buildings in a single bound.  <–That’s Superman.  *voice over* No copyright infringement is intended.  Al rights remain with the creators of Superman.

It stays minty fresh all day long.  Or was that gum?  Or toothpaste?

Oh, as they say, well.  It’s the perfect studio.

The Husband and I have been searching for a more permanent place to take up residence in the wilds of Wisconsin, and we are all lease sign-y and move in on May 1st.

*dancing blue elephants and confetti and cabbages*

The best part is not the new place to live, but what the new place has that I have never had before:  a garage.  “What’s so great about a garage, squid?”  I hear you asking yourselves.

*points*  Yeah, you in the back;  I heard you.

What’s so great about this garage is  that it is heated, finished, huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge, and *pause for dramatic effect* it has a drain.  In the floor.  That means that I can make paper all.  Year.  Long!

Did I mention it was huge?

Now, let me tell y’all.  I have never had a studio that wasn’t tiny and/or unheated.  Which sucks.  Out loud.

Let me show you pictures of my previous (and current) studios.

To the right, there, is the studio I had in DeKalb.  It was an enclosed front porch.  Had no heat.  No air.  No storage.  No space to change my tiny squid mind.

And cluttered.  Very cluttered.

So not a good thing.

It did have really good light though.

Now, my current studio is in one of the extra bedrooms.  It is tiny, tiny, tiny–like a sneeze tiny.  It has magically craptastic light.  Even less storage, if that’s possible.  (The low drawers behind my stool are holding, mostly, clothes.)

It’s saving grace?  There is heat in it.  I am never a cold squid–sometimes, I’m a bit too warm because I get over-zealous with the space heater, but that’s not the room’s fault.

But, y’all can see how small it is.  This picture was taken from the door to the studio.  It is also where my Mac laptop is housed and my printer because it was really the only place that would work.

There’s also a big old chunk of the room I can’t use because it’s being used as storage for stuff that the Husband moved in when he first moved up here.

Other pictures of the studio–

All of the boat stuff is so not my idea of a good time, but it’s a furnished/decorated place by a lake.  What can I really expect?

So, yeah, that’s what my current studio looks like.  Soon–oh so soon!–there will be my magnificent, beautiful studio!

*looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooongs for it*

Also, WordPress is stupid and not spacing this post remotely in the way that it has been told to.  *is really mad*

Birthday Update.

So, sad squid is sad.  I wasn’t able to go to The Art Garage‘s Gallery Night due to Winter Storm Francesca and the 19+ inches of snow she dumped on our heads.

 

As y’all can see.  Snow.  Lots.  Of.  SNOW!  /o\

 

It’s mostly gone now.  o.O

 

I also didn’t get to retrieve my prizes for placing in the College of Menominee Nation‘s World Water Day art competition sponsored by the Sustainability Institute.

 

*this is me annoyed*

 

But!  I did get to go to The Art Garage yesterday with the lovely Sara and Spawn #2.  It looks like I may be doing some volunteering for the nice peoples.  I encourage everyone else in the Green Bay area to volunteer also.  They are completely dependent upon volunteer help, and they are a totally worthy institution to volunteer for–bring art to the community!

 

Also, if anyone is a local Green Bay artist and would like to be shown at The Art Garage, they have space for rent that’s really reasonable.

 

And The Husband got me the best teacup for my birthday.  If y’all hadn’t guessed, I like all things tentacled, and Anthropologie has the perfect teacup for those who are cephalopod obsessed.

 

It’s really fantastic.  The handle is textured like a tentacle, and there’s a picture of a little sailing vessel on the inside so that the implication is the tentacle is coming to drag the ship down into the briny depths.

 

*happy sighs*

 

Definitely a present that some who knows you really well would get you.

 

I’m also doing some revamping to the artwork section of the blog.  It’s going kinda slowly.  As always, the “instant gratification” part of viewing my art is to go check it out on my Flickr.  One day, everything will be consolidated!  (raise you hand if you think this is a complete and utter lie *raises hand*)

 

So, just ’cause I can and because it’s fun to watch Mr. Morph be all flumexed and silly, a video.  Morpheus the Kitty-Dog trying to make friends with The Little Black Cat and failing miserably.

 

I shouldn’t think it’s funny, but it really is.

 

 

Poor Morph!  It’s just lucky he’s pretty.

World Water Day=snowpacalypse

It’s kinda ironic, if you think about it.  Not that the now isn’t beautiful (and I have totally been taking night photos of the snow storm–they are forth-coming).

 

So, last week, I told y’all about the two pieces that I submitted for “The Voice of Water” competition at College of Menominee Nation‘s Sustainability Institute.

 

Both of my pieces placed!  The photograph placed third, and the painting placed second.  Honestly, the third place means more to me because there was more competition for it, but both of the pieces placing is very exciting since neither medium is my preferred medium.  <–Although, the painting is kinda sculptural due to the use of modeling paste medium.

 

What I didn’t remember to tell y’all is that “The Voice of Water” prompt was for World Water Day (I’m not sure I actually knew it at the time I entered).  I went to the little showing at CMN because I totally wanted to see the Best of Show (it was an art quilt; it was awesome).  I also wanted to see the little kids interpretations of water.  They were looking really good.  Loads of potential.

 

Also, today–because World Water Day and a snow storm just wasn’t enough–I did my guest lecture thing for the Husband’s Humanities class.  There were a whole four people, but it seemed to go well.  Since an hour-and-ten-minutes really isn’t enough time to do more than a cursory drive by of the 20th (and 21st) century, I did a more “let’s talk about how we perceive and define art and how that has changed through the 20th century” thing.  The kiddos talked (*shock* *awe*), and there was even a bit of contention between students about what constituted art.  I did a drive-by of ontology and a reminder of semiotics, and I got the chance to show them some of my favorite artists.

 

It was shiny.  Probably in my top ten teaching experiences.  And!  There wasn’t all the normal pressure of teaching since I was just a guest!

 

Later this week, there will likely be another blog.  I wanna show y’all the night photography I’ve been doing (got a new tripod, thanks to the Husband), I can tell y’all about the fabulous coffee and cheese prizes I got for my art placing, and I can tell y’all about Gallery Night at The Art Garage.

 

*points*  If you’re going to be in Green Bay Thursday night, come to the Gallery Night!

Making up for the spamming…

It seems like everything I’ve been posting of last has been promotional spam.

I apologize.  That isn’t fair to y’all who wander through here looking for weird squid-made art to look at.  ’Cause, really, why would y’all want to read the stuff I write for Handmade News; it’s more than a little dull, I think.

*POINTS*  See!  See what I did there?  It’s insidious and nefarious.  That promotion–stuff–is infiltrating every aspect of my life, and it has got to stop.

The real point of this post, aside from profuse apologies, was to show y’all what deconstructing pierott looked like in action.  It was accepted to an online magazine, which I’ll pass along when it’s going to be published!, and they wanted a short video for it! \o/  So, here it is–

This work is licensed under a

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.

The piece itself if over in my wearable art section along with several of my other pieces, but in case y’all don’t remember what it looks like in its non-worn form, here are the images.

My lovely model in the video is my friend Genna.  The model in the photographs is my lovely model and flatmate Ian.

This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.

deconstructing pierott

2008
3’6”x1’6”, dimensions vary
chicken wire, feather trim, tulle, ribbon, paper, jingle bells

deconstructing pierott is a wearable art piece that deconstructs the idea of the pierrot from commedia dell’arte while simultaneously referencing late 19th and early 20th century women acrobats and gesturing at the movie Prophecy. In its deconstruction, this piece also addresses the issue of being female, its restrictions, and the way in which women, even today, are displayed. The piece also jingles when it is worn to replicate the sound of the zany and the capering of the pierott.

Tulle: The Bane of My Existence

In other words, Opal and Vanya’s tutus are finished and shipped! *Kermit-flail of GLEE*

 

For those of you playing the home game, these are tutus that are being word as Opal is married and Vanya is her bridesmaid. <——–This is quite possible too cute for my to adequately express, so let’s leave it at AWWWWWWWWWWW!

 

PICTURES!

 

Opal’s (The Bride without the Kill Bill Vol. 1 conotations) tutu:

 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

 

 

Vanya’s (OMG!  Is this the cooliest name ever?  Y/Y?) tutu:

 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

 

The concept for the tutus were a peacock and her child with a (very) little bit of steampunk, lolita, and Victorian circus to it.  Whether they succeed in this is another matter, but these were the places I was taking inspiration from.

 

So, in addition to work and Script Frenzy, these are what have consumed the last month of my life.  Isn’t it grand?

…vindication at last

Yesterday, I went to the bi-monthly meeting of A Ream of Writers, which is basically the NaNoWriMo kids on the off-season, and came away feeling like a vindicated artist.

 

Which is shiny.

 

I took one of my scrump with me to use as a writing prompt for the group, and it went so well.

 

I don’t know how many times I’ve explained to people that the scrump series, for me, is about body horror and the grotesque and how children are more accepting of those sorts of aesthetics than adults.

 

The name of the series comes from Lilo and Stitch:  How can it not be about children and the grotesque?

 

But!  When the vinnettes were finished, ever single one of them was in some way related to the grotesque whether it was an abominative creature that purred while it burned you alive, a queen’s mishappen daughter, a murderous granny with a propensity towards satin ballet slippers, tribble-like creatures trying to take over a ship, aliens who harvested minds, or a conjoined twin.

 

Ever.  Single.  ONE! \o/

 

I feel vindicated as an artist by my audiences reception.  They wrote these vinnettes before they knew anything about the piece other than how it looked and got it so, so, so right!

 

*SQUEE*

 

And so y’all, lovely readers, can have a point of reference, here’s the piece I took to Crit Group.

 

…kinda shiny

A long overdue post.

 

‘Cause I suck with keeping up with anything lately.

 

Anyway, today I received these emails from MyArtSpace.

 

We have added an image from your recent work to our daily image feed. Applications, such as our facebook widget, allow other social networks to view highly selective art from our members on a daily basis. Congratulations!

 

Regards,

Catherine McCormack-Skiba

Founder and Chief Creative Officer

CatMacArt Corporation

 

We feature our favorite artists for one month. You have been selected as a featured artist! We look forward to see more of your work online.

 

Catherine Skiba

catherine@catmacart.com

 

and

 

We have added an image from your recent work to our front page media window which shows interest work from selective artists. We want to highlight excellent work such as yours on the site and the media window is a great vehicle for that. Congratulations!

 

Regards,

Catherine McCormack-Skiba

Founder and Chief Creative Officer

CatMacArt Corporation

 

So there is a lot of \o/ and o.O in my life right now.

 

I also learned to make glass art beads today.

…more letters in the mail

Well, really, one.

I recieved a letter for the ArtWear show I applied to a couple months back.

I was accepted.

…this is where I should Arms of Yay, right?

\o/

Okay, so it’s not as enthusiastic as it should be (please note that they are orange Arms of Yay ’cause orange is my favorite color), but I’m feeling a little stressed by it. Not ’cause I got in, but because I really didn’t expect to get in and hadn’t really though that much about having to ship the pieces to Colorado (really, Colorado? *shakes head*).

I am excited, somewhere, I’m just to wigged about other things. Once everything’s been shipped, then I’ll be cartwheely and enthusiastic Arms of Yay.

Promise.

Really.

Stop looking at me like that. I said I’d be excited and I will. *looks resolved*

In case y’all aren’t glued to my crazy art shennanigans, these are the pieces that I submitted and are being sent to the show for certain. Now, I just need to make a few more.

Oh, and in case I haven’t ever mentioned it, the lovely model is my housemate.