As part of my ongoing relationship with the Museum of Motherhood (MoM) in Saint Pete, I was contacted by MoM curator, Liliana Beltran, to solicit some of my work for inclusion in their inaugural exhibit “M/Other In Motion” at their new location, The Factory St. Pete, opening September 9th at Second Saturday Artwalk (soft opening August 28th). I was excited when I realized she wanted some of my 2D work.
I never really think of myself as a 2D artist, even though drawing, sketching, and mixed media painting have always been a consistent part of my practice and creative process. Only in the past few years have I started liberating drawings from journals and sketchbooks; works which previously sat secluded and underappreciated within the pages of those books for years. Same goes for “picture taking”, which is another regular practice of mine that I have always undervalued as part of my body of work. I’m trying to change how I relate to and incorporate both these forms.
I tend to undervalue things that I do and/or I am good at, which feel effortless, or easy. I could expound on the psychological reasoning for that based on childhood messaging and contemporary hustle-culture mentality, but I digress! My 2D work always feels “easy” compared to the physicality and labor I engage in with ceramics or sculpture, so I end up never giving it as much weight. It’s spontaneous and uses relatively minimal materials and space. There is also an instant gratification aspect that I don’t often get working in other mediums or on pieces that take a long time to make.
And, although I never do formal preparatory drawings for 3D work, my improvisational sketches, doodles, and paintings inform my other work and help me capture an emotional and textural language that ends up in my ceramics, sculpture, and installations.
Because of the nature and limitations of the Creative Pinellas Emerging Artist Exhibit, and because I make a lot of different work, I had to crystalize what I wanted (and was able) to focus on for that show, which was my larger-scale and installation sculpture. Since I don’t have any 2D work in that exhibit (except on the takeaway postcard which is how I slipped a drawing in!), I thought I’d dedicate this blog to a few drawings, doodles, and paintings.
