Who does she think she is?

I watched a really good movie last night Who does she think she is? it follows five women artists whom are also mothers and the joys and struggles they go through. I had want to see this movie since it came out in 2008. One of my big memories from graduate school was being told regularly that I could not make it as an artist and a mother. I guess I don't know what making it really means.

But I am still playing....








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Playing

On our way back from Kentucky we stopped at The City museum in St. Louis, MO. It is the most Amazing museum I have ever seen- it is all about play, imagination, experience and creativity. My children were immediately thrilled and they were off exploring right away. I was taking pictures of the floor, the walls the ceiling and everything! There were mosaics everywhere but also carvings in the wall, caves, crazy crawl spaces like one through a whales butt and a giant slide that goes from the top of the building 10 stories all the way to the bottom!
























I need to play more in my life! Go Play!

Out of the fire

I am fairly pleased... It's different that what I was looking for but I am trying to learn from this process. So I will keep playing!

After 2nd firing



First firing


More went in the kiln this morning







In the mean time I will paint and glue and wait...

Glass painting/fusing

Oh I love being an artist! Wear my heart out on my sleeve...

This is the process...









Start with a depressing (or perhaps happy) picture of yourself, sketch from photo or mirror than redraw simplified in glass, I use glassline...


Start glueing bits of glass down



Into the kiln



Her skin color and shirt are covered in glass frit this is the reverse of ultimate piece....




And we have failure! Well maybe not completely I am thinking that the sides pushed in because there was not enough glass on top. I piled on more brown frit and put an off white piece of glass behind it and back into the kiln it went. It will deform even more- I have no idea what will happen and I won't be able to check on it for at least 12 hours. So I will wait ....

On the road to find out

My children and I are in Louisville Kentucky, we are here to learn more about 7q11.23 duplication syndrome it is a developmental disorder resulting from an extra copy of ~25 genes on the long arm of chromosome 7. Individuals who have 7q11.23 duplication syndrome have 3 copies of the genes in this region. We found out my oldest daughter has this duplication back in early January. We had spent the past two years in and out of doctors offices trying to understand what was going on with her and if she would ever be herself again.
We are here having an adventure, we arrived on the heals of a huge storm system that took down trees everywhere as well as the power through out the city. But there was a crazy beautiful rainbow just as drove into downtown, I think its a good omen.


Life is often tumultuous we never know what is ahead of us but we keep trying to learn and enjoy each other as much as we can..

Here is one of the only abstract pieces of art I ever made, it was a commission for a spiritual center in a local college. It is named sustainable peace.


Embrace sustainable peace as love begets love begets love begets love..
(In remembrance of a sweet poet and in gratitude for a dear friend)

Just sharing...

 I grouted the goddess of love... I don't know that I will keep that title(?) it's just what came out...

I am still working on the cutouts

still making prayers...


A nice blog post on my shop!




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cutouts

I have always loved cutouts starting with paper dolls when I was a kid. Right before I went to graduate school I did a series of 20 paintings on paper that I then cut out into life figures dancing. I realized
that the little milagros I was making maybe should be something more...


First inspiration. Elsa Mora



Matisse


Kara Walker

Mine are ceramic plates and tiles

Here's the first few













They still have a long ways to go, to be as powerful as my inspiration, but they were just plates a few hours ago...

Unpredictable magic

I started making these last fall when my oldest daughter was in the hospital, making these helped me get through it, though in the end I did not know what would happen with them. I have some other difficult things going on right now and I am back to making these, little prayers hoping for a milagro........











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I see

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Niki de Saint-Phalle

Going through paper work and other stuff so..... I thought I would look at yet another favorite artist!















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