February 26th, 2010
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I work in a law firm Monday through Thursday. Other than the 36 hours a week I call myself a Paralegal, I consider myself an artist. My friends are artists, my husband is an artist, there are artists, writers and creatives in my family. It’s no wonder they are genuinely surprised to learn that I’m also a paralegal. “Law is so left-brained,” one lady told me, “so . . . NOT you.”
I like my law-firm life, and lately, it’s been spilling over into my art life. A series of work is emerging from expired law books, and it reminds me why I was attracted to law in the first place.
Law is the summation of our society’s philosophy. It’s how we have defined right from wrong and the procedures for how things “ought” to be done. Law addresses our human rights . . . and responsibilities. Law is steady and sure where art is not.
This piece is called, “Water’s Law.” The face is my own, cast in glass with bits of dichroic that change in the light. The glass is mounted on stainless steel stand offs I drilled into a California Water Law book I bought at Urban Ore in Berkeley. Inside are handwritten quotes from friends, family and famous authors relating to water, our most precious resource. I’m not sure which is my favorite – the list of childhood water holes my mother recalled for me, the quote from A River Runs Through It, or Ben Franklin’s observation that we won’t truly know the value of water until the well runs dry.
It’s interesting to me to see my two separate lives merge into one. I used to keep them completely separate. My law firm friends have learned about my flaky artist side that continually seeks beauty. My artist friends have learned about my serious side that continually seeks perfection and organization. As for me, I realize I’m a lucky lady to have both of these aspects in my life.
February 20th, 2010
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Reproduction, 19 x 28"
This composition is one of my most evolved pieces I have worked on. In this piece I wanted to weave together an entire story. One story, is how Art is created. The other story is how Koi are created using a “reproduction” machine. I achieved this by using over 200 hundred reference photos and employing a stop action animation technique. Stop action was widely used in cartoons and then in old science fiction movies like Clash Of The Titans. You move an object just a little bit at a time from the exact same reference point using a very still camera. When you advance each picture quickly it looks as though the objects are moving.
I started to think of how to tell a story using my Koi fish. I did a rough sketch and then another and another. I came up with this composition. The very old mechanical copying machine is called a Mimeograph and was used to reproduce copies for office use. It has a counter on it so you would know how many copies you were making as you turned the handle.
I cleared out an entire room and used a blind in the window to control my lighting exactly the way I wanted it. I staged everything until I knew it was right. This was quite a long process.
I used a Koi to run the Mimeograph and another in the background to feed colored pencils into the back of it. This is how the Koi get their color. The Koi that is coming out at the bottom is coming off the paper from the Mimeograph and coming to life. Like a birth if you will. All the markings on the Koi are from former grand champions at the all Japan Show held every year in Japan. These are the best of the best as far as markings go. The markings on the Koi running the Mimeograph are from the very first American Koi that won the all Japan Show in 2009. This was the first time that a Koi from the States won that show. It was a huge win from the U.S..
The Koi that is sort of swimming down in front is more of a supervisory position to oversee what is going on. In the background you will see some pencils that are stacked on top of each other to form “WA” that stands for Woodworth Art. I used my Dark Blue for the background and shadows to give the illusion that the Koi are underwater. Are they under water? The lighting suggests otherwise….Would the pencils float away?
By the way, if you’ve read this far, you might be interested to know that this piece can be seen from now until May 5, 2010, at the Grand Theater Center for the Arts, at 715 Central Avenue, Tracy, California.
February 12th, 2010
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Colony Collapse Disorder, the mysterious disappearance of bees, has been widely reported. I have found many theories why this might be happening, but no concrete answers. I’m not sure anyone really knows for sure, but we can take some educated guesses. It’s possible that we have introduced various chemicals and toxins to the landscape are affecting these smallest of creatures. Remedying the situation is more complicated than it might seem. “Lost Colony” addresses this complication.
“Lost Colony” is a hive of bees. The bees were created with pages of the environmental laws that set forth the procedure for cleaning up our toxic waste sites. These laws are known as “RCRA” and “CERCLA.” They are so complicated that some attorneys spend their entire careers specializing in litigating and interpreting only small portions of these laws. The hive in “Lost Colony” is made with pages of Civil Procedure. These are the laws that govern the way lawsuits move through the court system.
Complicated laws moving through a complicated court system. Is it any wonder Superfund Cleanup lawsuits flounder in the Court system for decades? Hopefully, the Bees have that much time.
Process:
This piece is a variation of Verre églomisé, from the French term meaning glass gilded, is a process where the backside of the glass is gilded with gold or metal leaf. Once the glass has been gilded, designs are engraved and layers of color are added.
In “Lost Colony,” copper strips were applied first to the back of the glass to create the structure of the honeycomb. Next, variegated copper leaf was applied to represent honey. Some of the gilding was removed to create organic lines contrasting against the structure of the honeycomb. Next, the bees were applied to the reverse of the glass, each one looking at the next. Finally, the rest of the honeycomb was finished with pages of procedural law books.
The entire piece was created by combining leafing, collage and reverse painting on glass.
February 2nd, 2010
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A few fun things are stirring. One of my glass pieces was promoted to the front page of Etsy. Very fun! The pieces above show all the listing my “Blue Crush” was shown with. I love that Birch bracelet!
Also, I’ve been invited by the California Museum to show my glasswork on March 13th as part of their “California Imagination” day. The museum will be hosting several women artisans and will have free admission to the Museum. I’ll post more info soon!
