Alison Saar

Another of my favorite artists! No words tonight just images


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Great goddess of love

Back to the portrait she change a LOT from what I thought she was going to be....still in progress

Gratitude

Today was a day of community 18 people came in to mosaic on a stick to work on 2 different community projects one was





project for pride in living and other for Maxfield elementary school.























Thanks to everyone who volunteered their time. This is my first time publishing from my iPad, I hope it works!

the first step

Cut the plates and dishes up

begin....

thinking about portraits

Its been a busy week, and HOT! we finally had some cooler air move in last night so I slept well sort of.. I woke up at three am not because of my skin sticking to it self but because its time to do a portrait again. it won't be a portrait of a real person but a combination of people. I love the way Alice Neel does portraits, love her color use and the way you can really feel their characters. So while my portrait will be made out of glass, tile and found objects I will hopefully learn something from looking at Alice Neel's work.

processing

Yesterday was a challenging day I had residency with 45 students in my studio/ shop, these kids come from very difficult life circumstances. Each one deserved to have my full attention and time but instead were rushed through a process that they did not fully understand nor want to. I wish very much it could have happened differently, but this for the moment was the way it had to be done. I was called by a non-profit with virtually no budget but a program I believed in, so I planned a community project. It was pretty simple they would pay for materials and I would volunteer my time, space and services. I knew it would be a challenge and that I would learn from it. We did not finish the project of course too short of time (4 hours) too short of attention span, too complex the issues. This does not mean the project was a failure, it just means there is so much work to be done! I am in the process of turning my business into a non-profit arts org. which I hope will be able to address some of the issues in a much deeper way. More student contact where trust and relationship can be developed where we can create murals that deal with issues of poverty, race, hunger, homelessness etc... I could go on and on but for right now I will ruminate....

I will be thinking about this day for a long time

I am posting a photo of woman I do not know, I know nothing about her but I have made up many special stories about her for myself, I think she is powerful, magical and all knowing. I hope I can be something like her one day!

Residency

Today I worked at a children's hospital they made some creatures for a project I am working on...

In the thick of it

Each one is a little prayer, a little thank you, a little blessing...

I am prepping for some residencies this week and a new project...
hopefully I will get some time to work on the bird man ( a little mosaic guy I started)
and post interesting pictures....

Its all in the details..

the food

the studio

the art

new girl

the influence of the future

I made a series of pieces when I was pregnant with each of my three children here is one I made while pregnant with my son

Joyce Scott!

One of my favorite artists!

Her pieces serve as a commentary for issues regarding race, politics, sexism, and stereotypes. Of her own work, Scott has said, "I believe in messing with stereotypes...It's important for me to use art in a manner that incites people to look and then carry something home - even if it's subliminal..." She received her B.F.A. from the Maryland Institute College of Art and M.F.A. from the Instituto Allende. Her work is in the collection of the Baltimore Museum of Art, Mint Museum, Spencer Museum of Art, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum

You can see more about Joyce Scott here on the Craft in America web site

work in progress

after finishing the last character in just one day, another old ugly called to me... some progress was made, she is not as easy as the other

my head has been full of thoughts of her since I left her last night....we will see how long it takes me to go get her

where it began

I had been in art school for three years, weaving, paper making, sculpture in clay, metal and fibers and loving it all but not really know where I was heading  or what I was trying to say. Then I took African art history and it all began to make sense. I was seeing work that had the same aesthetics as me, that used color, texture and pattern. It spoke to the gods, to the earth to the basic wonderment of life. 

this leads to this