Quotes: Michael Kimmelman

"Contrary to the myth that artists are eccentrics, leaping from one peak of inspiration to another, [Philip] Pearlstein exemplifies the greater truth that most artists live as they work: incrementally, day by day, in the same way that they build up a canvas or chisel a sculpture. They are creatures of habit. The dancer Twyla Tharp wakes up every morning at five-thirty and takes a cab to the gym –– a trite ritual, but as she has written, "a lot of habitually creative people have preparation rituals linked to the setting in which they choose to start their day. By putting themselves into that environment, they begin their creative day." ... Novelty in creative endeavours usually arises from routine –– you have to be familiar with something before you know what is  novel." 

–– Michael Kimmelman (b. 1958), American critic and journalist 

Source: Michael Kimmelman. The Accidental Masterpiece: On the Art of Life and Vice Versa. New York: Penguin Press, 2005; p. 150-151.

via Commonplace Book 2006-2009, 2007, p. 116. 

Quotes: Nan Goldin

"My work changes as I change. I feel an artist's work has to change, otherwise you become a replication of yourself." 

–– Nan Goldin (b. 1953), American photographer and activist 

Source: Female Poets Society, Instagram, October 7, 2024. 

via: Sketchbook 0 15, 2024, p. 7. 

Quotes: Jerry Saltz

"Artists: It is only by working that your work can lead you to its own further shores." 

–– Jerry Saltz (b. 1951), American author, art critic, journalist  

Source: Jerry Saltz, Instagram, April 23, 2023 

via: Sketchbook 33, 2023, p. 24.

Quotes: James Baldwin

"Artists are here to disturb the peace." 

–– James Baldwin (1924-1987), American writer and activist 

via: Sketchbook 32, 2022, p. 128.

Quotes: Jerry Saltz

"Artists: Never let anything go to waste. If it isn't working out now, it may work out later or be refitted, appear in another form, turned around, pulled apart. There are no wasted days." 

–– Jerry Saltz (b. 1951), American author, art critic, journalist

Source: Jerry Saltz, Instagram, May 16, 2022. 

via: Sketchbook 32, 2022, p. 32.

Women's quotes: Teresita Fernández

"Our work as artists is courageous and scary. There is no brief that comes along with it, no problem solving that's given as a task ... An artist's work is almost entirely inquiry based and self-regulated. It is a fragile process of teaching oneself to work alone, and focusing on how to hone your quirky creative obsessions so that they eventually become so oddly specific that they can only be your own."

–– Teresita Fernández (b. 1968), American sculptor 

via: Sketchbook 29, 2016, p. 70.

Quotes: D.W. Winnicott

"Artists are people driven by the tension between the desire to communicate and the desire to hide." 

–– Donald Woods Winnicott (1896-1971) British paediatrician and psychoanalyst 

via Sketchbook 22, 2014, p. 93.

Quotes: Steve Jobs

"Real artists ship." 

–– Steve Jobs (1955-2011), American industrial designer and entrepreneur 

via: Sketchbook 19, 2012, p. 138

Quotes: Ellen Harvey

"... as an artist, what you do is fail all the time. ... I am always haunted by the ghost of the piece that might have been." 

–– Ellen Harvey (b. 1967), British-born, Brooklyn-based conceptual artist 

Source: Simon Houpt. Globe and Mail, Saturday March 15, 2008, p. R10.

via Sketchbook 18, 2012, p. 21

Quotes 319: Ezra Pound

"Artists are the antenna of the race." 

–– Ezra Pound (1885-1972), American poet and critic 

via Sketchbook 8, 2009, p. 39

Quotes 188: Corita Kent

"One purpose of art is to alert people to things they might have missed." 

–– Corita Kent (1918-1986), American artist, designer, educator & former Roman Catholic nun

via Commonplace Book 2006, p. 110  

Studio and office practices

Today, the day after Labour Day, is my equivalent to New Year's Day. It's a season of fresh starts, new opportunities, and recovery from holiday busyness. Earlier this year, Claudia at Proper Tension recommended Gretchen Rubin's book about habit formation Better Than Before. I've been reading it slowly over the past two months and the lessons are sinking in. The one habit that I'm flirting with this season is to establish better office practices. This includes filing, keeping my work surfaces clear of clutter and dust, and to schedule regular office hours. When I graduated from NSCAD, I dedicated three mornings a week to office tasks and the rest to the studio. Over the past few years, my office work has become more erratic and it's time to change this. The Tom Sachs video (via Austin Kleon) coupled with Better Than Before motivated me to overhaul my office and it's now a thing of beauty.

This week I realized that I function better in a neat and tidy office but require a bit of mess in the studio (as long as my tools are put away). Fellow creatives, what works best for you? Feel free to comment.

Keith Shearsby Useful Things @ YouMe Gallery 3

Keith Shearsby Useful Things; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2016

Three overall views of the gallery give you a sense of the number of objects, their scale, and how they relate to each other like one useless but photogenic family.

Keith Shearsby Useful Things; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2016

Each object begs to be used or attempted to be used.

Keith Shearsby Useful Things; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2016

Keith Shearsby Hatchet, 2015; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2016

What would happen first: would you break your wrist or slice open your thigh if you attempted to use Hatchet to cut some kindling for your campfire?

Keith Shearsby Chain Saw, 2015; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2016

It's clear that Keith Shearsby has been making this series with great care and humour over many years. I look forward to seeing what more he has up his sleeve.

Keith Shearsby Useful Things @ YouMe Gallery 2

Keith Shearsby Broom, 2014; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2016

Broom was another of my favourite pieces in the show. It's an object that I could spend a few years admiring. Sadly, none of the work in Keith Shearsby's March 2016 Useful Things exhibit was available for purchase. Sweeping a floor with Broom could be fun or frustrating, depending on your expectations.

Keith Shearsby Spring Hammer, 2015; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2016

Take a close look of the handle of Spring Hammer. Its grooves and patina indicates that it was used in its previous (useful) life.

Keith Shearsby Cane, 2009; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2016

Cane and Crutches are worthy of performance art. Cane's bell is a nice touch, as are Crutches' hand brakes.

Keith Shearsby Crutches, 2009; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2016

Keith Shearsby Steel Wool Gloves, 2008; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2016

Good luck using Steel Wool Gloves.

Keith Shearsby Useful Things @ YouMe Gallery 1

Keith Shearsby Light Spade, 2015; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2016

Drafts of this series of three posts about Keith Shearsby's March 2016 exhibit at YouMe Gallery have been waiting patiently for me to add words for several months. Whenever I encounter artworks that strike me as profound, words escape me. So, I take my time and eventually something emerges. 

Two things struck me upon entering Shearsby's Useful Things exhibit: the artwork was both humorous and beautifully crafted. The objects invited viewers to take a long time looking at and thinking about them. 

Shearsby explores the idea of usefulness through his art objects. To quote his artist statement, the objects "almost work or have been improved so much that they can't work at all."

Keith Shearsby Light Spade detail, 2015; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2016

Light Spade was one of my favourite pieces, with its beautiful cast shadows. Can you imagine shovelling sand or trying to dig heavy clay with Light Spade?

Keith Shearsby Paint Hammer, 2016; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2016

Many of the objects had a beautiful patina that only the passage of time and use could impart. At the end of the exhibit, Shearsby "painted" part of the gallery with Paint Hammer. I wasn't there to witness it, but I imagine that it would have been quite the spectacle.

Keith Shearsby Ball, 2008; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2016

Gallery owner Bryce Kanbara told me that whenever Shearsby exhibits Ball in juried exhibitions, it wins awards. Displayed in the front window, it drew in viewers in who wouldn't ordinarily enter.

Keith Shearsby Litter Ball, 2014; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2016

The imagination of the viewer completes each art object. Litter Ball rests loosely on a small cup-like structure set upon a plinth. The 'push' doors of litter bins are notoriously stiff. Try drying your hands with a paper towel and then stuffing the paper into this Litter Ball. Shearsby's exhibit has the potential of being comedic performance art with unwitting participants trying to use these Useful Things.

Of Note: Truitt, Manley, and Masko

Here's what tickles my fancy this week:

1. Anne Truitt, Working documentary by Jem Cohen. It was extra on the DVD for his film Museum Hours and it is only 13 minutes long, so I watched it twice. Truitt's descriptions of colour and her work are what make the documentary. The documentary was made in two parts: an interview in black-and-white film with Truitt at Yaddo on November 10, 1999 and a colour film of her Washington, D.C. studio in January 2005, just after her death in 2004. I found the filming to be very frustrating. In the Yaddo interview, Truitt is mixing colour and is describing various colours and their functions of either sick, dead, or lifting colours, BUT Cohen filmed this riveting interview in black-and-white. Also, I really wanted to see footage (in colour) of Truitt's sculptures in gallery and museum settings. The more I read her Daybook: The Journal of an Artist, the more of her work I want to see and learn about. 

2. A Little Sole-Searching? The Story of a Pair of Boots by Claudia Manley, of the blog Proper Tension. It's a well-crafted essay about boots and relationships and it has stayed with me the almost six weeks since I read it. I hope she writes more of these.

3. A Flowering Snowball class, taught by Johanna Masko. Masko is a friendly, patient teacher who explains each step clearly and has developed several hacks and techniques that make piecing curves and installing zippers easy. This week I  made my first stress-free zipper installation. I was apprehensive about the class because I had heard about her rigorous safety stance on rotary cutters. Once you get past that, she's really worth learning from.

Quotes: Peter James Field and Daniel Kluge

Quotes via Richard Brereton's Sketchbooks: The Hidden Art of Designers, Illustrators, and Creatives, 2009.

"I was using drawing to digest and give meaning to the outside world. ... Sometimes I feel that in keeping sketchbooks I'm documenting the world as I see it, like a kind of archivist, often using my sketches to search for connections in the small things that would otherwise be lost and forgotten." –– Peter James Field, U.K. artist and illustrator, p. 108

"A sketchbook is like a valve, a pressure release system. Instead of weighing things up in my head, I give them a place in my sketchbook. ... [My] sketchbook is a reflection of my inner world, without complaints, worries or private problems." –– Daniel Kluge, German graphic designer, p. 178.

Marla Panko @ Fibreworks 2014

Marla Panko WHITE FLAG BLACK FLAG 2013; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

Marla Panko is hot stuff these days. Her WHITE FLAG BLACK FLAG was accepted into the national textile exhibition Fibreworks 2014 and was acquired by the Cambridge Galleries for their textile collection. One of her collages graced the cover of Kolaj magazine, she had a solo show in the Dundas Valley School of Art gallery, her work was accepted into the Ontario craft exhibition Carnegie Craft 2015, and recently she had a two-person exhibition at You Me Gallery in Hamilton, Ontario. Whew! 

My photos are an injustice to the work, but you get the gist. Panko is known for her geometric paintings and her exquisite collages and now she has added stitched and pieced textiles to the mix. I wrote about her paintings and collages in 2011 and again in 2012. 

Marla Panko WHITE FLAG BLACK FLAG detail 2013; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

Marla Panko artist statement: "The work explores the nature of contrast and similarity–– the uniformity of white on white, juxtaposed with its homogeneous black opposite. The reference to cultural or ethnic groups is suggested through the iconography and format of flags. There are also allusions to surrender (white flag) and anarchy (black flag)."

WHITE FLAG BLACK FLAG, 2013: Wool, felt, linen, thread, acrylic

purchased by Cambridge Galleries (Idea Exchange) 2014

Sneak Peek: Judy Martin Mended World

Judy Martin Layers of Time detail; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2015

Here's a sneak peek of an upcoming blogpost about Judy Martin's Mended World: an exhibition of the Manitoulin Community Circle Project at Homer Watson House and Gallery that was from May 9 to June 14, 2015. She exhibited five large quilts, a textile installation, and an artist book. The above detail of a mass of stitched eyelets took my breath away (yes, it really did).

Books: Living and Sustaining a Creative Life

Living and Sustaining a Creative Life: Essays by 40 Working Artists, edited by Sharon Louden. 

I've been reading this book in slow sips over several months and I highly recommend it to anyone who is beginning a visual art practice and to all those who are already established. The gist of the book is that there is no one path. Some artists make their livings from day jobs outside of the art field, others teach or work in arts administration or as artist assistants. A handful make their entire living from art sales and of this handful a few do well and others live hand-to-mouth. In addition to the realities of money, the artists described their art practices. Some need to work every day, others work in waves. They also talk about balancing family and studio. In one hilarious essay, the artist shared how her young son told her that he thought that he needed to see a dentist. Balance isn't easy. The last chapter is an interview with two art dealers who give an overview of the art world. If you do buy or borrow this book, read it slowly as there is a lot to take in.