get out the scissors

Card orders will be shipped out Monday!
The latest woodcuts have been in this silhouette style, just one color. I was looking at a bunch of Hans Christian Andersen cut-outs that went with his famous fairy tales. For example,


(thanks to Airform Archives blog)
Clearly, my woodcuts look terrible and childish in relation to the intricate patterns of Andersen's. (I am aiming for a more simplified translation of the paper-cut-out process to wood-carving, but still trying to retain a bit of the whimsical nature of the narrative imagery.)

Oh, and then I came across an exhibition that took place last spring in Dublin at the Museum of Contemporary Art Museum. It is a comparison of the cut-ups and cut-outs of Hans Christian Andersen and William S. Burroughs. Read more about it here: exhibit!

gray days

It won't stop raining here...which equals far too much time spent staring out the window at the last few leaves left on the trees and various bird activities.
Here is the resulting woodcut print and some other related snapshots. (it will be available in the online shop soon.)

makings

My little intaglio studio is finally up and running! Prints are in the making. Happy weekend.

Everything in the space was originally concealed in boxes.
I want to put everything into one box labeled: collection.
From all of this I have learned that I have a minimalist streak.

I have been interested in the way that repetition works within this experience-the image loop, the loop of the space, the loop of the day, and how quickly patterns arise within an experience that is still so new.
I thought that maybe I would be drawn in to specific areas or details of elsewhere, but rather have discovered a continuous rhythm, found repetition in the whole.
Repetition in color palette and patterns, even within such an array of materials, repetition in the walking paths within the space, daily schedules and the relation to time in this sort of environment.

I have also discovered comfort in working more ephemerally. A desire never arose in me to think about working something permanently into the space, building, or altering anything significantly.
I imagine this stems from what I understand led to the foundation of this space as it exists now. (the exploration that was involved in order to end at the idea of creating a layered art space. The process of digging through piles.) In a sense I wanted to have that level of exploration myself...thus the interest in exploring and reformatting my surroundings in a way that I can understand and step toward something else.
The other influence of the impermanence in what I have focused on here must have to do with the social environment, and the restraints and tensions that I guess inevitably go along with communal activities. I often need to seek privacy in this sort of space, and I feel that I spend a lot more mental energy on thoughts about getting out of someone's way, or seeking ways in which I can be more helpful. So, when the time comes to focus individually on my experience and work within the space, I don't want to be noticed, or watched, or require assistance. At some level I want my physical self to disappear, but the documentation, the evidence to remain.
To go back to later?
To show someone as proof of some sort?

(FYI: posts lately have mostly been about my current experience as a production assistant at Elsewhere Artist Collaborative)

splitting at the seams

I have begun work in secret. I guess it's not a secret anymore since you know. I had to tell someone.
protection
control
boundaries
documentation
comfort
seclusion

let's make a quija board

exercise in gaining control pt. 2

really difficult to photograph.
Process: cover shit continent with black clothing to obtain some degree of calm.

I am uncomfortable with the common practice of waste disposal... The overwhelming growth of landfills and our disregard.
However, I believe that some items do actually need to be disposed of, removed if they cannot be recycled.
I am working on the third floor, a place called "shit continent".
A few artists are coming in that work with old clothes to create amazing installations. We are sorting the clothes from the continent...so that they can get right to work when they arrive.
There is a lot more shit than anything else. I cough up black dust.
The constant references to "the collection".
This is not how a collection should be handled. Everything is coated with years of dust and mold.
It is kept hidden. Kept in these conditions much of the continent is literally becoming unusable, unhealthy. I am losing sight of any purpose.

an attempt to gain control

sunday. all to myself.

interior dialogue

I need a focus for my energy.
It was brought to my attention that a space to consider conservation/preservation/protection of the objects here at Elsewhere should transpire.

As I am adjusting to my current surroundings, a focus on creating this space seems necessary and relevant. (both to past experience with UM library conservation and with current work)

primary goals:
•minimal intervention, restrict further deterioration of objects
•documentation of all aspects of collection, treatment, analysis
•organization categorization of damaged specimens

Images of the space(above)

elsewhere

I have arrived elsewhere.

Beginning to adjust to the mountains of things to sort and ponder.
Beginning to adjust to communal living/working environs.

wake up, wander downstairs and around Elm street before it gets too hot,
then sort through the wardrobe....A current artist in residence has taken on the overwhelming task of re-organizing and sorting by color a room that contains the most significant portion of Elsewhere's clothing collection.

More images of this to come.

motion

the daily collages have been paused. currently in transit and will be until late August.
Within the next few weeks I will be starting a daily drawing series...a daily endeavor that travels well.
more on this soon!

daily collage 10

The drawn boxes here are based primarily on the boxes that I see all around Idaho and Eastern Washington farms...clearly a minimalist representation though.
Huge repeated stacks. I need to do some more research about what could be stored in these boxes for so long. I like how the drawn boxes look like they might topple over soon...they have the leaning, tired feeling.
Finding the edge.

daily collage 9

If approached too closely
it was a day for playing with words. The larger text comes from a copy of How Much is a Million? that I found in the garbage. Most definitely on my favorite list for kids books.

daily collages: 7 & 8

back to it...
here are some various images of the two latest collages.
slug pendant (#7) & personal histories (#8)

daily collage 6

beans and rice and rain

I just finished my collage for the day. It is currently drying (and being pressed flat under a pile of books). The tangible studio is currently located somewhere between the desk in the bedroom by the window and the kitchen table. create, cut, paste, arrange in the evening---photograph in the am.

process ->
I really have no idea or plan when I sit down with my pile of scrap paper, yet somehow each collage reflects some element/essence/mood/color/weight of the day. I am growing more and more interested in the accumulation of the collages. They are sketches, but even faster and much more to the point than sketching (for me lately).

The rule: create a collage a day.
The "a day" part is so crucial. Sometimes when I sit down and start debating which papers to play with, the psycho speed-racer-get-her-done voice comes through my head with the idea that I should make a bunch of collages to last for a few days...but no. bad idea. What is actually working with this whole one-a-day thing is the variation and development of reflecting through torn pages and old prints.
This being said, I will probably seem a bit lazy in the collage making this weekend..out of town...but back mid-next week. In the meantime, some photos of lovely Idaho from last weekend.

daily collage 4&5

Daily Collage: 3

Here's number three! Titled: In the key of E!

daily collage: 2

here is number 2 ...a quiet collage.

I based this one on the Wordsworth poem: Strange Fits of Passion Have I known

Collage-A-Day (DAY 1)

...to be willing to find a way.

I will be creating a little collage each new day beginning NOW and continuing for a month or so. Perhaps longer?

Collage everyday to add color, play with lines, rejuvenate the lonely print fragments that I have stacks and stacks of.

If you grow to admire any collage in particular, I would be happy to send it your way. Each comes signed and numbered. Check out the the tangible press shop for the daily collage updates. happy spring!

recent makings

all that I really feel like making lately are little collage books from print scraps...
the sort of notebook that you throw into your bag and take everywhere...perhaps not everyone is addicted to lists, but I always need a little notebook with me to write to-do lists, or wish-lists, or grocery lists. Oooh the joy of crossing something off.

I used to do this to my cat.

(see more animal love @http://www.sarahhigdon.com/paintings/album/index.html)