Meanwhile Back at the Farm Studio, I have been very busy.

• Archiving my work has taken much longer than I ever expected. The process of selecting and culling, the schlepping of work and supplies to and from storage, the wrapping and detailing of work, the database work, photographing and Photoshopping...has been a monumental task. That says nothing about the emotional roller-coaster that many of the works generated for me.
• I responded to an RFQ. That is really time-intensive!
• I was selected to participate in Creative Capital's Professional Development Program (a weekend immersion in career matters for working artists). Creative Capital was brought to Nashville by our Arts and Business Council. My experience at the Capital PDP workshop stimulated a rethinking of my art practice, and I'm working through various iterations of it.
• Life and death matters, family, and just plain living took time, too.
• And, I have continued to show up in the studio. These quick drawings are meant to tap into that ever present ticker tape of information running in my mind. They are meant to be Brain-Drain work, but there is little doubt that reviewing past artwork has reprised some shapes and forms from deep in my memory bank.

Here are three:

Study 4

© 2011 Kathryn Dettwiller

Charcoal,acrylic,conte on paper

26 X 20"

Study 14

© 2011 Kathryn Dettwiller

Charcoal,acrylic,on paper

26 X 20"

Octopi

© 2011 Kathryn Dettwiller

Charcoal,acrylic, on paper

20 X 20"

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Page

Richard Serra, September

Intellectually, I know that there's nothing new under the sun. But the scope of visual influences astonishes me. My last post image bears a too-canny resemblance to a photo in April's issue of  ARTnews, featuring Richard Serra's drawing retrospective exhibit at the Met in New York.


When I saw the magazine last month, I saved the article and put it aside. In it the writer detailed Serra's choice of media...ink, charcoal, paint stick...which are materials that I use quite often. Obviously, the visuals imprinted my brain.
Alas, Alack!!

Granted, I thought I was sourcing from my unconscious when I stepped up to my page. I guess in a way, I was. But today, when I sat down at my studio table, it was clear: Richard Serra's drawings spoke to me in a visceral and compelling way. He is quoted as saying that drawing is nothing "less than a language and a way of seeing and thinking." I understood his language.

Visual Clutter...Ugh

It seems that everywhere, visual clutter is overwhelming my eyes. From electrical lines to billboards to roving vehicles, my eyes have no place to rest. Even in my studio, piles of books, files, papers, compete with racks of supplies. I feel like I'm drowning in STUFF.

What to do? Clean up, straighten up, and throw out. I have begun to attack the weight of things, both done and undone. My desk area is straight, and I'm leaving it that way each day when I turn out the lights. That's a small step in the right direction to lighten my load.

I am having a closet built to hide all of my supplies. I have stripped the walls of those  myriad printouts of sayings, of cartoons that spoke to me, of photographs and assorted other visuals that make my eye dance. I like the empty white walls. It is peaceful and inviting. Soon, the whole room will be like that!