Meaty

Well, this is kind of silly... but, as I have stated before, I LOVE looking through vintage magazines! And I LOVE the advertisements, especially. I was looking through a Ladies Home Journal and came across advertisements for FOUR different processed canned meats. Together with meat and vegetable gelatin molds, what were these folks thinking about!? I mean, it's not like we're craving that "traditional" food ;-) ... but I'd try it!

found again

One of the many positive aspects of collage, is that the medium involves procurement and perusal of various sources of potential compositional elements. From vintage books and magazines, to calendars and contemporary science publications, the variety of materials seems almost endless. Oftentimes, when I might be feeling perhaps less "creative" in the evening, I will still head down to my studio and  go through old books or magazines and enjoy just looking at visual elements. I might page through a Life magazine from the 1950s and rip out pages that I might use in the future for my collages. Over the last 5-7 years, I have accrued quite a stack of hundreds of single ripped-out pages of what I consider interesting elements. Last night, as I was looking through that stack, I came across these gems. Although I remember most all of the pages I have rioted out, I didn't remember the temperance page. Quite interesting I think. And I certainly will NOT be signing that page any time soon (especially given what we are all going through these days!). I love the St. Stephen image too. How did he die? He was "stoned" to death (haha). Anyway, just thought I'd share these "re-found" images, in lieu of anything that I have created (that'll be the next post, perhaps).

Uniqueness

As an arts medium, collage has stimulated many great discussions about the nature of creativity and the definition of art. I really love that about collage; and I love discussions about art and creativity. Because it involves the use of original physical elements, analog collage, in particular I think, speaks to something important about art -- uniqueness. I think uniqueness (and it's reciprocal, replicability) is one of the central issues in any discussion of creativity. One of the reasons I switched to collage and assemblage, after being a watercolor painter, years ago; is because I felt that my painting was not especially "creative". I would often use a photograph as a model, and simply reproduce the image in my drawing and watercolor painting. These zebras are a good example. The photographic image on the left, was used as a model to create the painting on the right.

I am proud of this painted recreation of the zebras (it took MANY hours to complete this!), but I felt that paintings like this were not very creative. They weren't tapping into "the new", "the different", "the unique". Additionally, in many ways, this painting could have been replicated by others with the training/talent to do so... including me. And in fact, forgeries of famous paintings always pique people's interest (btw, the video "Art and Craft" is a GREAT documentary of famous forger Mark Landis), and are the bane of many a museum curator.

Uniqueness is one of the hallmarks of collage, -- especially of analog collage (and here I am referring to prohibition of any photocopying, as well). Replicating an analog collage would pose a particularly prickly problem, in that it would require procurement of another set of identical images. Although this is not impossible (especially with contemporary magazines), finding vintage or rare publications of books or magazines can be challenging. And when elements are extracted from their sources, it is sometimes difficult to identify, not to mention, locate those sources. And sometimes I come across, arguably, truly unique elements. 

Here's an example. This is a stock certificate for the Thompson Spring Corporation. Not only does it appear to be a somewhat unusual element (rare?), but it is signed in ink by the "powers-that-be". So even if someone else had a stock certificate like this one, it would likely have a signature that was slightly different (small, but significant detail, I think), and most likely not made-out to the same buyer. 

I was attracted to this element initially for the standard, intricate border design; but I started experimenting with placements of various other elements (as I typically do in my creative process). When I placed this wine-pouring jester over the certificate, I really liked the integration of the matching patina and the balance of the composition itself (a two-element collage ala British collagist John Stezaker?). And to be honest, I have no recollection of where I obtained the jester element.

I really don't know whether this is a finished piece (although I do like it!). But the point of this post is that I think analog collage is uniquely unique. Analog collages are not only, literally "one of a kind"; but it would often be very to truly replicate... nigh impossible.

"The Rise Above"

Well, 2020 has not gotten any better for me... and for MANY of us. I hope that everyone is practicing physical distancing during these trying times. I get angry at the folks who are not practicing safe/healthy behaviors, as they are putting many people at risk. Please, let's ALL help one another by being safe.
During my efforts at self-quarantine, I have gotten into a comfortable routine. I get up early and spend some time (too much time?) on social media including Facebook (and the Scrabble app), e-mail, and text messaging. Then I typically go for a long walk in the neighborhood, being careful to practice physical distancing. Then it's shower lunch and work, as I try to teach 5 college classes on-line. If you are interested in seeing some of my efforts, I have videos of my statistics class on YouTube (search under SPECHT PSY211). In the evening, I have a beer or two, and then head down to my "studio" (the creative cave in my basement). I was not going down too much earlier this year, because I was depressed and uninspired. Once I "forced" myself to do it, I realized how much of a sanctuary the space is for me (external space, as well as inner space). As most of you know, experiencing "flow" is very much a form of "escapism". It's comforting to be able to find that space.
So this past week, I worked on a piece that "came together" in a bit of an unexpected way... but at another level, this is how my creative process works.

I was intrigued by this element because of its symmetry and hint of Art Deco style. This became a, in a way, a potential "seed" for a new piece. I would spend some time placing this element with other elements to try to see what might "work". Here is another "seed" element that grabbed my attention...

It is a very colorful succulent-type plant photo that was part of a calendar. Once I placed the other piece on this succulent element, it struck me as something to pursue. With the addition of an element that I had had floating around my studio for months, things really started to "gel":

The element on the bottom right was from a book entitled "Steam" from 1891. Beautiful piece with which to create perspective! I knew that element was from this book... but I didn't know where the book was located in my crazy disorganized mess of a studio. I was curious about whether, in that same book, there would be an element that I could use for the bottom, left portion of the composition.

One evening this week, I "happened" across the book again, as soon as I started to look for it. I actually took that as a good "sign" that this composition was "meant to be". AND, as luck would have it, there was another etching in the book that featured a row of furnaced receding from left to right!

Now I was getting really excited. BTW, the chalice/vase in the center was taken from The Art Journal from the late 1870s. It needed lots of micro-cutting. And micro-cutting is something that I find nerve-wracking and soothing, at the same time... if that makes ANY sense.

Once my micro-cutting was done, I painted the edges of all the elements and worked on precise placements before I finalized the piece. What you should notice in. this finished piece is the reversal of the background succulent element. I think this element could have worked either way; but I decided to do it the way you see in the finished composition, partly because I made the succulent element work in a very integral way with the chalice. Notice that it looks like it is overflowing from the chalice. This effect required no cutting. Rather, it was accomplished by careful placement of the background element. So, here is the finished piece; entitled "The Rise Above".

Award-winner

Just had a glimmer of good news yesterday morning. The small format piece shown below, was selected as a cash award winner in the annual NCS Small Format Exhibition. I'm very excited about that! I had a "good feeling" about it; and am glad the juror for the show liked it too. There was a total of 98 entries; and 20 got awards. Feeling validated.

Small Works piece for NCS

This week, works are due for the Small Works Exhibit of the National Collage Society. I love the fact that NCS has both a competitive juried exhibit and a members exhibit (i.e., the Small Works Exhibit). I always look forward to producing something special for the show. And of course, I enjoy small format work in general. Here is my submission for this year's show. It's a piece I've entitled "It was never easy to manipulate my father". Below, you will also see some of the preliminary considerations I had for the background element. You can also see that I painted the edges of this piece. Since all of the works for this exhibit are shown without framing, I always paint the sides of the piece to integrate the edges into the overall composition. I think it looks more complete without cut, white edges.

Crazy stressful month

So, once again, I have been remiss in posting to this blog. I had a "soft" New Year's resolution that I would try to become more active again with my posts (a la, the last several weeks of 2019). But I was
really thrown off track with the events that I was faced with at the opening of 2020. My younger sister, Kathy (oldest of my there younger sisters), passed away unexpectedly on January 13th. She was 58 years old. We were very close when we were younger. In a way, we were kindred spirits. Both, always up for a good time. Both, hard workers and career-focused. Both, always quick with a smile. Here's a photo of us in our prime. I walked her up the aisle to "give her away" on her wedding day (this was back in 1993). She was an organ donor, and today there is someone walking around (I hope) with her heart, beating away. The grief I experienced and the effort I expended to make sure we "sent her off" honorably, took its toll on me. Immediately afterward, I started a new semester at school and travelled to Baton Rouge for a conference presentation. I had virtually no "fuel in my tank", physically and emotionally, when we found out that my dog Frida... my "baby girl"... had liver cancer. After 15 wonderful years of unconditional love, we had to "put her down". That was devastating as well. It has been a tough 2020 thus far... it's been traumatic. In fact, I just started taking blood pressure meds as a result.
BUT... last night, after almost 5 weeks away from any effort at making art, I went down to my studio and created this piece. It came together quite quickly (although I had already had the pieces coated in December). I'm hoping to "get back to Steve" soon; and I'm looking forward, once again, to creating new artwork. As I said in my eulogy to my sister Kathy, "She often reminded me that she 'didn't get' my art... but she made it to my openings whenever she could". She would want me to keep creating artwork... and I will.

Rest in peace Kathy...
Rest in peace Frida...
Create in peace, one and all...