Newest Project: Engagement photos!

COMBO a collaborative animation by Blu and David Ellis (2 times loop) from blu on Vimeo.

Weekend update...

This weekend I had the fabulous opportunity of taking off of work Friday-Sunday! It was the perfect time to get out and take advantage of free events and enjoy the changing colors. Here are a few photos from the weekend.

The first was a community theatre and music group, drums as well as dance.

The second image is what remains of the Minihaha Falls! It was completely dried up. I tried to capture the slowly falling specks of leaves.

Lastly this is an image of Martin Dosh. He was playing a free show on Lake Harriet at the band shell. Amazing!!!

I had a wee bit of trouble this weekend working on my drawings for class. My intentions were to use images printed and transfered onto paper, BUT I had been completely out of the photo transparency sheets for quite a while and Penco decided to get rid of them:( So for now my drawing is a representation of what's to come I guess.....but in the mean time I was looking for alternative ways to do similar techniques without the expensive transparency photo paper. I think I am on to something...

http://craftchi.com/blog/?p=729

Elena Kalis; underwater images

Her combination of the figure and the weightless quality of being in water is so beautiful to me. I have never shot underwater and these images are really sparking some inspiration. Elena Kalis was born in Russia and is currently living in the Bahamas with her husband and children, who she uses quite often as her subject. My favorite image is the girl holding up the insides of a turtle, the similarities of the skeletal structure to the scale of our own is really intriguing to me. check her out: http://elenakalisphoto.com/?goto=portfolio

Summer Update!!

Since summer for me is usually made up of work, sun, class, and above all fun, this will be my first update in quite some time!! yikes! As far as summer goes a good chunk of my time was devoted to creative things! First and foremost I took a ceramics class.

Majority of my education and focus has been drawing and photography, I was convinced ceramics was a class I simply had to take and was not going to be enjoyable. I soon found out that ceramics is and incredible stress reliever and more then that something I thoroughly enjoyed!! It was a completely different creative experienced then I have

had before. So here are two of the many pieces I took away from the class. Along with a new appreciation.

Other then actual class I also had a few other outside inspiring and artistic events. One of which was Rock the Garden at the Walker Art center in Minneapolis. Four great bands, food, beer, great people, great weather there was nothing more I could have asked for! I of course brought my camera and captured MANY shots of fellow listeners. The inspiration for me was not just the music, but the crowds of people, the fashion and the conversation.

On a completely different path, also staying within the creative realm, I met a lady this summer who was willing to give me (completely no charge) not one, but TWO of her vintage Singer sewing machines! I had been looking into purchasing a used machine for quite some time and oddly enough conversation led to her sewing machine collection and our common love for fabric and crafts. Within the next week I had an amazing machine in my hands and found myself in a fabric warehouse digging through millions, literally millions of patterns, colors and textures. It was lovely. To say the least the summer was a success, but I feel it is time to get my motivation back for what exactly I am here for, which I am perpetually figuring out. Let the semester begin!!!!

Ornamentation: Marco Cibola

Marco Cibola

Ornamentation: Emily Barletta

Emily Barletta 

Ornamentation: Lisa Congdon

Lisa Congdon  is an artist out of San Francisco. She is mostly a self taught artist using this quality to her advantage. Since Lisa has had no formal training she uses her own sense of color and composition. Her work has been shown all over the nation and featured in numerous magazines. I discovered her work on a design blog and I thought that fit it under the category of ornamentation. Because of her use of pattern and the way she decorated her illustrations I feel that she could be considered an ornamentation artist. Her neon shapes enhance portraits and form patterns within themselves. She also uses elements of knit fabrics and doily like shapes. I feel that her use of ornamentation in her work speaks about contemporary art and the possibilities of line, color, shape and collaboration. 

Art and Science

My intentions for this project took a bit of a turn when I started researching and thinking about Biomimicry. Biomimicry is innovation inspired by nature. By investigating natures best ideas to solve our own problems, we can become a cleaner and more sustainable world. 

For example; the silk that a spider produces is stronger than steel, it's capabilities are incredible. So by looking at the chemical make up of the silk and how exactly a spider can produce such a strong material, we can use these similar properties for own own innovations. Biomimicry shows that we are constantly surrounded by answers within nature.

For my final drawing I wanted to portray this spider in a more abstract way, in this case it was an extreme close up of its spinnerets producing this silk. The silk comes shooting from the spider and into a tangled mess. This tangled mess of red string represents the ideas and innovations we as humans are after.It is the potential of the knowledge we have gained from the spider. The red string then captures a crouched down figure. This figure is ultimately surrendering to the spider. Basically surrendering to nature in general. My statement is that in a world were humans have just destroyed and taken over, we still need the natural, and we need those answers from nature to continue living and in the end, nature will always win. 

Noticing from Foster Gallery

The first piece selected was Amanda Hughen's "Sepidemic"

I noticed....honey comb shapes, repetition, over- lapping and layering, the use of paint, color, ink and graphite, the biology/science like forms, use of a stencil, depth, crystal like forms, thick layering of lines creating a larger mass, cells, geometric shapes, sharp angles and soft curves, bright orange, dots of paint, circular forms, texture and pattern, bottom and top layers, movement, variety in line weight, technicality, raised texture of paint.

Next was Cal Lane's "Untitled #2"

I noticed....the use of the color red, an older map-like style, the decorative and ornate quality, weight and heaviness of the metal, three different pieces that once were a barrel, lightness created by negative space, the world, pattern and repetition, the top and bottom pieces are not red, shadow shows clearing behind the piece and melts within it becoming how it is viewed as a whole, figures, movement and flexibility, geometry, space between the wall and the metal, creases in the metal. 

Lastly I selected Taylor Fraiser's "Densities and Reflections"

I noticed...the large strokes of a brush, clearing and adding of paint, two layers, rounded and circular forms, glass and wood, painting in front and behind, my reflection, texture and movement, spatters of paint moving around, scale, shadow from the front piece on to the back wood, two pieces unsure if they are to be viewed together, one seems to be much more additive, placed on the floor, large gestures, black and white. 

Project 1, Science related.

For our first drawing III project we are to select a topic within science and ask a question. Through research and dialogue we will than create work from this and hopefully gain a better understanding of the topic.

This past semester in advanced life drawing I had chosen to research the topic of cloning, which in this case is very closely related to science. My research led me to new discoveries and through my work I was led in different directions. I felt near the end of the semester my work was leaning more towards the connection, possibilities and fictional creations of both human and animal. 

This is where my ideation for drawing III came in. Staying in the realms of science I wish to explore the relations of human and animal. I am interested in what makes us so very different, and what makes us very alike. How do we place ourselves above something just as alive as we are? I wish to explore this topic in a more humorous and illustrative way, juxtaposing our daily routines with the routines of an animal. Maybe even creating my own creatures in the process. I found a few artists who have stayed within these similar areas of the junction of nature, animal and culture. 

• Nicolas Primat: sculpure, video, and drawings
• Kira O'Reilly: performance
• Jill Greenberg: photographer
• Russ Mills: illustrator
• Delaney Jane Larson: drawings, paintings, print and sculpture
• Jenny Kendler: drawings, paintings, photography

Our definition of drawing

Drawing is: a visual way of communicating and idea. A way to express, show understanding and reflect. The means of drawing are broad, by using various mediums and techniques. 

Page from the book, "100 Words to Make you Sound Smart"

I would like to think that I use a good portion of these words. hmmm...well at least now I will!

my moleskin, that's not a moleskin.

This is just a quick look at the sketching that took place on my trip to Mexico, Dec 25 - Jan 03, 2009.

My sister and I make such an incredible team; we would take turns writing descriptions in each others notebooks and draw what we thought was being described. What a fabulous airplane game.