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The thesis is upon me
For those who can’t make it to the show, please rest assured that I will be posting installation photos. I will also inflict at least part of my thesis paper upon this blog. I am proud of it, and worked hard to make it engaging….but it is still a very long piece of writing for…
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Old stuff: more costumes
[Edit: I found this March 2014 post from about older work languishing in my drafts folder. I am no longer working with such crowded compositions, nor on 11 x 14″ papers. I only post this now in the interest of completion within this research blog. More carefully edited thoughts on the matter appear in this…
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Wiley’s “Economy of Grace”
There’s a fantastic video about Kehinde Wiley’s current series (An Economy of Grace). I’ve mentioned this painter several times before, but this mini documentary provides more process details than the books or websites I’ve seen. Incidentally, this summer I finally saw his work at the Brooklyn Museum. I was glad to finally see his…
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A bevy of artists’ sites
Peers: Beth Scher Jaclyn Seufert Todd Molinari Eric Leon Colleen Wampole David Butler Amy Brand and (her blog) Denise Philipbar Sarah Nguyen Nathan Goddard Joe Bliss and his plein air paintings Robin Brewer Monika Rosa Meg Brady Aaron Kather Moraiah Luna Zac Pritchard University of the Arts Faculty: Rebecca Saylor Sack Dan Reidy and Wendy…
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Doll collection: Princesses
The D*sney princess dolls spark some fascinating conversations. (It’s part of why I repainted them three times.) I keep second-guessing this set of costumes. I’m on my third draft, so I certainly hope it’s a worthwhile notion. The overall drift of the project was one of dressing up is reinforced by references to young girls…
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From the archives: an old storage attempt
My recent task has been to decide how to display these paper dolls. Months ago, I tried making an altered art history book into a popup display for paper dolls. I’m far from content with this prototype, but the link of paper dolls (derived from art history) and an altered art history book strikes…
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Incorporating criticism
I mentioned some of the feedback I received from the first critique of term in this post. The task during the week following was to use those suggestions and criticisms. I experimented with and modified work from the spring critique in five different ways. The more I thought about the spring crit, the more I…
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Spring critique 2014
This Saturday I presented this term’s artwork for review by my peers and professors. Here are a few photos of how it was arranged for critique. I’ve been asked to explore more display options. Cutting them out and presenting the dolls in site-specific installations was one suggestion. Removing the black mat boards was a…
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Mark Reads: “You are not prepared”
“I honestly want to give y’all a set of reviews that are devoid of the usual sort of expectant cynicism that comes with media criticism. Not that the world is ~bitter forever~, but I want to approach a new fictional world without preconceived notions of what it is. ” –Mark, review of Pushing Daisies (S1Ep1…
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Mission statements
My go-to newspaper just printed a brief editorial about their mission statement. As I read it, I noticed strong parallels between what the editor had to say about his paper and what I’ve been trying to do with my artistic practice. As Marshall Ingwerson says: “We have a bias, and we’re owning it. It’s…
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Expression in portraiture
Over last four months I painted an absurd number of self-portraits. Their number stemmed from my struggle with reducing an entire person to a single expression. It should be straightforward. We all know the formula for your standard snapshot: you look at the camera and paste on a cheesy smile (unless you grew up in…
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Play and fantasy
[ The first two parts of this essay can be found here and here. Some images and detailed description of this final section have been omitted pending permission from the individual to whom it refers. ] Collection #2 “To my way of thinking, knowing an object does not mean copying it–it means acting upon it.…
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Confronting and kowtowing to the canon
[ part 2 of the essay which began “To Thine Own Self Be True” ] Collection #1 ”Shades of Santayana! Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it; ergo, those who can remember the past may overcome it? What does it mean, in a society replete with simulations and reenactments, to overcome…
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To thine own self be true
[ Then again, consider the source. ] Selfies are easily dismissed as narcissistic or kitschy, but the urge to self-define is neither new nor unimportant. The convention of using physical likeness to express individuality applies along the continuum of portrait images in visual culture: it links lowbrow selfies to high art portraits of Rembrandt. By…
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Highlighting women as creators (via paper dolls)
My recent paintings experiment with and assess the personal impact of the artistic canon. In superimposing the art historical canon over my own paper doppelgänger, I engage in a form of portraiture similar to what Svetlana Alpers refers to in The Art of Describing as the “historiating portrait” (14). Such figures “are distinguished by looking…
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DIY digression: bookmaking
One of the purposes of this blog is to sort through and prioritize intriguing notions and sources. I have an ongoing fascination with investigating how things work. (Hint: that’s a useful lens through which to analyze my art. It tends to be more about figuring out than advocating.) This blog is one approach to that,…
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DIY digression: letterpress
The Firecracker Press sold me on the sheer excellence of letterpress art. If you’re ever in St. Louis, check them out for good design, poetry readings, edible printed tortillas, and people who know a lot about the history of typography. Most of us can’t afford to reinforce our floors to accommodate ridiculously heavy space hogs. …
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Perforation
Until today, I only knew one way to perforate paper (without some mysterious steampunk machine). Pounce wheel (Not everyone knows about these things, so I’ll describe them first. I doubt I’d have heard of them if we didn’t sell them at ye olde art supply store. It’s a mural thing.) Pounce pads and powder sound…
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Museum signs
The Crocker Art Museum signs got me thinking about how a museum’s signage reflects its values. Just to review, a typical sign will look like this one from the Metropolitan Museum of Art: The Met does good, clean signs. They prioritize the artworks themselves while providing substantial additional information. The background color of the sign…
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Colleen Wampole 