Happy Accident

'Victory' - in progress

It turns out that a broken teacup is a symbol of a 'compromised' woman. Althought 'Victory' isn't really about compromised women, it IS about women being left to pick up the pieces (so to speak!) on the homefront during WW2. And besides, forced compromise seems to be one of the predominant themes in my shadowboxes so I'm using the broken teacup anyway. I'm sure it will all make sense in the final analysis.

Now that the pressure is off to create new work for my exhibition at the WKP Kennedy Gallery & Thames Art Gallery, my creative juices are flowing. Plus I had a really good chat with art critic/writer/professor/Dr. Lorenzo Buj, who is writing the piece about my work for the exhibition publication, and I got all enthusiastic again about what I do and why I do it. He saw so many symbols and metaphors in my work. He even got the 'Judith and Holofernes' reference in my shadowbox 'St. Successa' and I got chills! I am the sum of my experiences and, as a result, so many sub-currents seep into my work, including my Art History background.

The above image is the torch that will be the focal point of my new shadowbox called 'Victory', and a white mannequin hand will be holding this torch against a black shadowy background. I've used Barbie legs for the flames. The green stuff is painter's tape, temporarily holding the torch upright while the glue is drying. Look closely and you will see that what looks like black ironwork under the teacup is actually black lace.

Oh, the fun I have with symbols and metaphors! And I'm not mad at you anymore, Angus. Your curiosity as a cat created a happy accident. I think the broken teacup is perfect.

Help in the Art Lair

It IS true- good help is hard to find.

I entered the Art Lair this afternoon, all ready to start making a new shadowbox.

The above photo shows you what- who- I found on my desk.

And not far away, laying on the carpet, I found the shattered remains of the teacup that I had planned to use in a new piece entitled "Victory".

As an artist, I spend a lot of time 'percolating'. I assemble cool found object bits (like cool black teacups with swirls on the front), go away for awhile (sometimes weeks) and then come back with a plan.

Thanks to my furry assistant, Angus, I am now moving on to Plan B.

Which may take a few more weeks because I wasn't expecting "help".

Happy New Year from the Art Lair!

My Art Lair desk.

The Art Lair Magic Cupboard.

Christmas has come and gone, allowing Betty Sager and I to find the time to chat with each other about our upcoming show at the WKP Kennedy Gallery and Thames Art Gallery. We decided that we liked the theme 'Life and Death'. We haven't decided on a title just yet, but I'm thinking "A Matter of Life and Death" might be a good choice.

Both Betty and I create found object art shadowboxes which I am gradually learning is a somewhat unique niche in art. I am quite excited about working with her, as I have never met another shadowbox artist. I'm sure we will have a lot to talk about.

In September, when the afterburners cooled off and The Exhibitchin' at ARTspace was behind me, I have to admit that I was ready to quit shadowboxing and work in found object sculpture.

I wanted to work outside the box.

Unfortunately, my frustration with trying to figure out how to attach larger items together overwhelmed me. In a shadowbox, I can take a bit of glue and make just about anything stick to anything. Minimal physical effort. But attaching a vanity table leg to a drawer to suggest a Furniture Woman, as I was planning, had me confused. I just don't work with items that big and stability is a huge factor. I had nightmares of my fabulous Furniture Women collapsing on unsuspecting art patrons in North Bay. I came to the conclusion that working with unfamiliar ingredients and preparing new (and probably precarious) sculpture pieces for an exhibition is NOT the time to experiment with drills, carpenter's glue, and sweating. Plus I would need a willing assistant, as I can't hold a drill.

So, my motto for 2012 is "Go with what you know". My artwork this year will be the same media (shadowboxes, photos, printmaking) but I am going to try and do it all a little differently.

In terms of the upcoming exhibition, Betty is choosing life. I am choosing death- as a theme, that is. I am going to create pieces that push the macabre theme I've been subtly sliding into for a few years now (an example is the photo "The Nightmare of Suzie-Q"). I'm gonna let it fly, and not care if people start avoiding me in public places. For 2012, I am going to let loose my inner Goth Warrior Queen.

Happy New Year to all my friends and Lone Wolves out there. We are all connected and are merely channelling some larger creative force.

Let's open our minds and let it fly.

In the Crosshairs at the Juried Show 2011

And here I am, posing with my piece "In the Crosshairs"

at the Thames Art Gallery Juried Show 2011.

I think many people found my tryptic disturbing. I just want to explain that I have been featuring a doll named Muffy in my artwork for a few years now, and about three months ago, I decided I didn't want to utilize her image for awhile. Maybe never again.

"In the Crosshairs" is my way of 'killing her off', so to speak.

I am now embarking on my quest to create work for a show at the WKP Kennedy Gallery in North Bay and the Mezzanine Gallery in the Thames Art Gallery here in Chatham. And I do not want to use Muffy in any of my work. I think I have evolved somewhat. This is not to say that I will discard all doll images completely (they're always good for a laugh!) but I think I've reached a point where I can say what I need to say without using doll parts.

I think. Besides, I think I was getting type-cast.

Regardless, I was pleased to be selected for the Juried Show. It is my first 'paid' show as an artist, and being chosen gave me a real boost. It is especially interesting that I was selected, as I wasn't even going to enter. I ended up being one of only two artists selected from Chatham!

So there's today's lesson- you can't win if you don't participate. And apparently you can do just about anything you want if you present it right.

RIP Muffy. For now.

I Filmed My Drive to Work for the upcoming Community Arts Initiative

The Mothership, just out of the driveway and on the road to work,
at 8:15am on any given weekday.

It's Thanksgiving Monday. After lunch. I'm still in my jammies. What bliss!

I have been working all morning on my entry for the lastest Community Arts Initiative, which is a film-based project that will be shown in the Mezzanine of the Thames Art Gallery. The opening is October 21st at 7pm.

Our group, about 12 of us, chose the topic of 'fear'. After much deliberation, I decided to film my drive to work. At first, I taped my camera to the dashboard of the Mothership and filmed my drive to work. Not only did the film capture me constantly changing radio stations, it also managed to record the sound of the tape on the camera unsticking and resticking to the dash as I drove over bumps in the road. While Boston is harmoniously wailing "don't look back", you can also hear "shtick, shtickity, tick, tickkk, shtick" as an irritating backbeat. It wasn't the effect I was initially planning, but I decided that it mimicked the general sound assault that my ears undergo on my ride to work during a time when I am still, really, waking up.

The next day, I wedged the camera between the top of the passenger seat and the headrest. No "shtick, tick, tickity'. Instead, because I couldn't see exactly what I was filming because the display screen was facing the back seat, I managed to film most of the Mothership dashboard and only a sliver of my drive to work.

The next day, I got it just about right. But then I forgot that my memory card only holds 1MB and my camera stopped filming about 2 minutes from my destination.

I filmed my drive to work a total of 5 times, and none of the clips were smooth, or complete, from start to finish.

I was not amused. I felt challenged but way out of my element. I thought about the project for a few more days. I haven't done any film-based work before. And my son, who was also in the group, was able to 'throw' his film together in about a day and it was really good. Clearly, my idea sucked.

Things in life aren't ever as complicated as you think they are. I decided that I refused to be intimidated by my less-than-perfect foray into film-making. I knew one thing- I didn't want to film anymore. So what exactly did I have to work with? A collection of film bits that needed to be 'glued' together! Suddenly, it all made sense. I am a found object and collage artist. If there's one thing I know, it's how to glue things together! Thanks to the wizardry of film editing software (and some pointers from my son), I was able to splice, dice, 'glue', and layer all the films together into an interesting 3-minute short.

I ended up with a very raw visual and auditory record of my drive to work, along the same route, at roughly the same time of day, in the same vehicle. I worked the footage from 5 days into one (somewhat) continuous stream, representing one morning drive to work. The drive to Tim Hortons, for example, is composed of the clips from Day 1 and Day 4. The turn into the drive-thru is from Day 3. The stretch down St. Clair is from Day 2, when it rained and I was playing the Ramones tune, "I Wanna Be Sedated". The film shows that the sounds are different every day. The cars ahead of me are different every day. The light is different every day. But I end up at the same place every day. Each minute of the drive, every day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, is stored in my memory, but I do not remember it. Sometimes I seem to drive on auto-pilot.

This was an interesting exercise for me on so many levels. I noticed the little things that I overlook on my drive to work. There is lots of trash in the alley. The line-up at Tim Horton's is never more than 5 minutes. I like accelerating down St. Clair Street. I always get stopped at the light at St. Clair and Grand Avenue. There's no graffiti on the Third Street Bridge. The mall blocks the morning sun, making King & Third look dreary at 8:25am. I have a short drive to work and yet I drive. I'm relaxed when I'm driving. A lot of people in Chatham wear sweatpants out in public.

Most importantly, I also learned that my approach to art can be translated to any medium. I know it sounds simple, but I never would have thought this before. If, as an artist, you think in 'pieces', then film/paint/(insert medium here) in 'pieces'.

I have reached acceptance. My name is Laurie, and I am a Deconstructionist. You can take the girl out of 'strange', but you cannot take the 'strange' out of the girl.

What does a 3-minute film about a drive to work have to do with fear?

Well, it illustrates one of my biggest fears. I have a lot, but this is a fear that I DO remember on my drive to work. From time to time.

I am afraid that, someday, I will just keep on driving.

Off to North Bay

this is not North Bay, but a photo of THE cool intersection in Grand Rapids, Michigan

(that's a statue of Rosa Parks on the left)

I have been offered a joint show (with fellow shadowbox artist Betty Sager) at the Thames Art Gallery in the Mezzanine Gallery in 2012. Then it's off to the Kennedy Gallery in North Bay.

This exhibition requires an entirely new body of work. And it would seem that Betty and I have to produce this thought-provoking show before the end of March. The glue on my shadowboxes, The Saints Series, is barely dry and those boxes were just hung for The Exhibitchin' at ARTspace a few weeks ago. Now I need to bust out my A Game!

Although I was originally a little freaked out (as this is my first show outside of Chatham!), I know this opportunity is the next step in my art practice. A show of this magnitude gives me the impetus to take a step backward and figure out what I really want to say with my art. I need to start thinking about a simple, solid concept. One of my biggest downfalls, I think, is that I tend to overthink my projects. (And eat too many gummy bears in the process.)

I recently took a weekend video workshop taught by Toronto artist Grahame Lynch (who is exhibiting at the Thames Art Gallery later this month, with his show The Logic of Subduction) and it got me thinking in an entirely different way. I am a found object artist who is suddenly interested in movement and sound and memory. Whether this ends up becoming the basis for my upcoming show, I do not know.

But this is all exciting! Movement, sound, memory, found objects, shadowboxes..... stay tuned. I am going to search the dark recesses of my brain and create something very interesting.

The Exhibitchin' Opening is a Big Success!

Here's me on The Exhibitchin' opening night, posing in front of two of my five "Saints Series" shadowboxes.