Hello and welcome back! Below are some of my mixed media studies from my self-made residency in Phoenix a few weeks ago.

(Above) A Plein Air painting, view from my room.

(Above) A mixed media sketch for a low relief, soft sculpture painting. Based on my hikes throughout Phoenix.

(Above) A mixed media sketch for a low relief, soft sculpture painting. Based on my hikes throughout Phoenix.

(Above) A mixed media sketch for a low relief, soft sculpture painting. Based on my hikes throughout Phoenix.

(Above) A mixed media sketch for a low relief, soft sculpture painting. Based on my hikes throughout Phoenix.

Welcome Back! I ended up creating another self made residency at Monte Sano State Park in Huntsville, Alabama. I stayed in this beautiful stone cabin built in the 1930’s

(Above) View from cabin

(Above) My simple set up to paint Plein Air

(Above) Another view from cabin

(Above) Beautiful stone wall on my hike

(Above) I was surrounded by three deer on my hike…did not capture the 3rd one.

This week I thought I would share some work in progress for the upcoming group show ‘American Wilderness’ at Art Lab Tokyo in Tokyo Japan late Nov 2019. I will be showing with a few of my fellow artists from Wayfarers in Brooklyn.

Above are two images of the work in progress ‘Limp Pricks and Plants Shelf I’

I usually start with sketches before creating my soft sculpture paintings. As you can see I plan to go much larger with this series.

Limp Prick Shelf (above)  is from the same series.

Limp Prick Shelf, 2018, ink sprayed canvas, thread, shredded document, 36x25x6 inches

I am really excited to be in Phoenix this week for a quick self made residency! Traveling and residencies are a huge part of my process. For me being dislodged from the familiar pushes me into new directions.

A quick studio set up

The view from my room

A hike at Piestewa Peak

A hike at Dreamy Draw

A hike at Dreamy Draw

A hike at Papago Park

Arizona State University Deer Valley Petroglyph Preserve


The Phoenix Art Museum, Agnes Pelton, Messengers, 1932

The Phoenix Art Museum, Agnes Pelton, Fires in Space, 1938

The Phoenix Art Museum, Agnes Pelton, Orbitz, 1934

The Phoenix Art Museum, Roger Brown, Giant Gray Stripe, 1983

The Phoenix Art Museum, Lee Bontecou, Untitled (Sin titulo), 1961

Hello and welcome!

I thought this week I would share images from ‘At Hand’ a 2018 show curated by Ry McCullough, Assistant Professor of Art and Design at University of Tampa’s Scarfone Gallery. It was a beautiful group show that I was honored to be a part of with Damien Hoar De Galvan and Ryan Sarah Murphy. Ry also made these beautiful handmade zines for the show catalog with hand made covers: AtHand Zine

Left: What Remains, 2018, canvas, dye, ink, acrylic, salt, shredded documents, thread, grommets, rice paper, staples, 10 x 26 x 4 feet

Small painted constructions made of porcelain, linen and oil.

Installation view.


Hairy Grid, 2016, junk mail advertisements, paint, wood, porcelain, wire, steel, 24k gold leaf, sewing pins, ink and paper, 37 x 35 x 12 inches

All photography by: Jaime Johnson

PRESS RELEASE:

On Sept. 21, The University of Tampa’s Scarfone/Hartley Gallery will open a new exhibition, At Hand, exploring the intersection of color, materiality and the blurred lines between image and object. The exhibition runs from Sept. 21–Oct. 19, with an opening reception on Friday, Sept. 21, from 7–9 p.m.

Curated by Ry McCullough, Assistant Professor of Art and Design, At Hand brings together works by three nationally recognized contemporary artists — Damien Hoar De Galvan, Cynthia Mason and Ryan Sarah Murphy — developing a conversation between artists to explore this nexus in contemporary art. Each artist brings a unique aesthetic vocabulary that elevates humble materials by celebrating the poetry of the hand-made through their exceptional sculptural works.

Hoar De Galvan, from Boston, recently showcased at the VOLTA NY 2018, a division of the Armory Arts Week in New York City. Mason, a local artist from St. Petersburg, FL, was recently seen in the renowned Skyway exhibition at area museums. Murphy, from Brooklyn, NY, participated in the Art on Paper Fair 2018, another part of the Armory Arts Week program.

The gallery is located on campus in the R.K. Bailey Art Studios at 310 North Blvd. Gallery hours are 10 a.m.–4 p.m., Tuesday–Friday, and 1–4 p.m. Saturday. There is no charge for admission.

(Left to right)
Limp Form IV, 2019, canvas, ink, acrylic, gesso, shredded documents, grommets, 11 x 9 x 3 inches
Little Soft Shelf, 2019, linen, thread, ink, paper clay, 24k gold, shredded documents, 6.5 x 10 x 3 inches
Hole (Reach Inside), 2019, linen, rubber, velvet, shredded documents, grommets thread, 5 x 5 x 8 inches

GREETINGS FROM MY STUDIO ~

Welcome! I have a few new smaller pieces finished earlier this year that I thought I would share. These three pieces show my love for materials, form and edge. I describe my work as painting and sculpture hybrids, soft sculpture/painting or painted constructions depending on the materials. My current statement is below and I think frames the work beautifully (written by Rose Lambert-Sluder).

We trust shelves and boxes. We trust, or want to trust, our bodies and organs. We want to trust the constructed systems we inhabit. These things fail us over time, but we have to depend on them well into their failure. 

My work deals with this failure. The soft sculptures recall solid objects (shelves, boxes), but seem like they might fall apart at any minute. Stitched from coarse fabrics and stuffed with shredded documents, they bloat and pudge. Dye and ink splotch their surfaces, making them look raw in places and managed in others. Both glitzy and drab. Polished and dull. In this way, the constructions at once repel us and draw us in: a black box is both sinister and seductive, inviting the viewer to reach into the glossy interior without knowing what lies inside. Paper clay—looking just like chewed gum found stuck to school desks—holds together the seams of one sculpture, while the gold hoops dangling from it flaunt their sex appeal. Meanwhile, one form comes undone at the edges, its color faded like whitewashed graffiti. These pieces ask, what is our relationship to instability? How do our desires—for cohesion, for met expectation—implicate us? Over time, the sculptures sag. They slouch. They turn impotent, challenging our trust in systems and our reactions when they fail.

A huge thank you to Creative Pinellas for this amazing grant! I look forward to sharing my process and studio notes with you all.

I will start my first blog post with an article published on Feb 7, 2019 with VoyageMia.com. I think it’s a nice intro to my process and work.