Taking it to the next level- The 2nd Floor Challenge

I've been going through a mini creative crisis this year.
It is an increasing challenge to stop all the internal chatter and just create.
There is always the question-who am I making this for?
Usually I'm making something just so it can go up here.
Perhaps that is why my work has so little influence.
It has no unique voice yet.
I made a promise to myself many years ago that when I got older I would write. I would create.
I would take many MANY pictures.
But I got lost along the way.
I decided chasing a corporate career and making money was important.
And I failed.
Spectacularly.

So now I am going back to that original promise and taking my talent seriously.
I am working on developing both my writing and my creative "voice".
I am an artist. Not just a hobbyist.
So when I read Julie Fei Fan Balzer's intro post on the Second Floor challenge.
I felt she was talking to me personally.

I've heard:
- Artists do not take photos of babies and family.
- People who call themselves "artists" are pretentious.
- Artists are too busy creating to run around calling themselves artists.

I let those statements quiet me for a while.
I've been called pretentious so many times I've internalized it and added it to the long list of labels for describing me.
Why is it ok to apply that negative label but not the more open and neutral label of artist?

The first step to any serious endeavor is deciding where you are headed.
You may detour many times along the way (it's fun) but you should have a clear vision of where you are going.
The final destination may change many times but to keep yourself motivated and focused those first few years you have to choose a path and GET TO WORK.

I choose the tools before me- a camera, some paper and some glue.
And I focus on WHAT I KNOW TO BE TRUE- my daughter, myself and my family.

So when I say I'm an artist, I'm thumbing my nose at convention AND taking what I do seriously.
Because I'm done pretending I'm "just a Mom".
I'm done calling what I do a "hobby" because I am so passionate about doing it I want to make it my career.

And so the need for the Second Floor Challenge.
I loved Nathalie Kalbach's Gold Paint post .
Using gold paint is the first challenge and its supposed to make you pause, freak out and think.
I love gold paint, gold glitter, gold thread but I have very little knowledge on how to use them effectively so this was a good chance to flex my creative muscle.

Here is what I came up with:

Toddler scribbles on water color paper painted over with gold paint. I sat on this for a
week. I tried a second page with Crafter's Workshop cloud stencils. I hated both.
So I combined the projects by cutting the clouds out and adding a sewn black border.
This could be more meaningful but for my first try at making something more abstract
 I can live with this. 

The Gauche alchemy punchinella is embedded in some Modge Podge.
The swallow chipboard is from Scrap FX.
I kinda wish I had added more of that black thread trailing from the clouds. 

A step in a long series of steps where the work isn't everything and the process also matters.
But I've never been very good at staying serious for long.

MuChOs SmOoChEs!
Michelle

Blast from the past! The Educational Video Center in NYC

Last week I had a fine old time with some old friends and I am finally getting around to talking about it here. 


When I was 17 I joined the Educational Video Center and spent half my day working and learning away from my tiny and confining high school in the Bronx. 
I earned high school credits for doing what I do best- arguing with people, writing and asking annoying questions (a process documentary professionals call an "interview").
And it's all captured on tape for future humiliation, I mean, enjoyment.

I helped make three videos but only one was being shown at Lincoln Center last week.
This one. Made in 1993 while a member of YO-TV (Youth Organized Television) the graduate division of EVC and a great platform for a college freshman looking for a meaningful job.

Lower left- That was me back when I was cool.

I remember our group's teacher, David Murdock, walking up to us as we sat around a table trying to figure out the topic we would cover and saying "HEY we have a grant to work for the Whitney Museum. We're gonna shoot the Biennial!!!"

Our collective reaction was: HUH? Whitney Museum??? Biennial?

My specific addition was:
What the heck is a Biennial? Art? I hate art! 
It's SOOO pretentious!

I was 18 and a complete dumb ass.

No, a BIGGER one than now.

Sorry for the AWFUL photo- the lighting was lowered
and I'm using my crappy low rez  iTouch lens.

So last week I got to share that moment with a large group of high school age documentarians from all over the city and it was WONDERFUL.
I wasn't prepared to stand up in front of a filled auditorium but I surprised myself with how much I remembered about the process.
I really missed talking to young people. 
I can't believe I'm using that expression! 
But let's be real- it's been 20 YEARS. 
I ain't no spring chicken.

Some of our team: wish I had brought a tripod- this photo stinks!

Anyway here's a link to the video- warning- art form the 1990's- may not be "work" safe! 
Ah go ahead- it's totally PG!

Educational Video Center- That's What They Call Art!

I remember that one of my biggest arguments centered on the exclamation point on the title. 

I wanted it to end with a question mark. 

It would have read like this:

THAT'S what they call ART?

With all the sarcasm and distaste an 18 year old kid can muster.

Because that's what I thought about 95% of what was hanging in the museum at the time. 

Public speaking-
some people are more eloquent than others

I helped research, interview and edit the actual video (we were a collective of 7 producers with equal decision making powers and work loads). 
I saw 9 artists explain and go through their individual creative processes.
It slowly dawned on me how important their work was (and still is). 
How important it is to paint a stick and hang it on a wall.
Or chew a giant cube of chocolate and make small candy hearts with the "bites".
Or shoot pictures and pin them to a blank wall- unframed, edges curling.


Art is about creating a market place of ideas and challenging the norm.
It doesn't have to be figurative, beautiful or "important".
It isn't inherently bad or pretentious.
It just has to have meaning.
As a creator or a viewer- YOU have equal say in what that meaning is.
I think that's pretty awesome.
That was my primary lesson from my years at EVC and one I and apply to everything I do to this day.
So yes, it was a very well spent night.


If you know of a high school age kid looking for a great internship/educational experience in the NYC area- have them look into EVC- it's a great way to make connections with other thoughtful kids, round out a college application and learn marketable skills. 

TOTALLY UNRELATED PROJECT!

This is a series I'm working on just for FUN. I'm having the BEST freaking time!

MuChoS SmOoChEs!

Michelle

On the concept Beauty

Conversation and Reaction
Materials: Pink Paislee Hometown Summer borders,  Studio Calico Design/Create stamps, Maya Road Lightbulb stamps, American Crafts Zing in black, Prima chicken wire background stamp, Bazzill paper- white. Studio Calico crickets card that came in the kit (LOVE that print!)

Last night I had a great conversation with my Aunt Cuca. She's recently discovered scrapbooking. (YAY! New partner in crime!)  To encourage a raging habit I sent her a box of "things I love but will not use"- i.e- pretty paper. She was so happy! One thing I did not send was most of my flower and butterfly stash. I'm hoarding those even though I’ve changed my style.

I've actually started scrapping differently to use them up. Here's a sneaky sneak of a page I made for ARTastic Challenges. I was honored to be their July 2011 guest designer and let me tell you I agonized over this page:

ARTastic Challenge Blog July Guest Designer sneak.
ARTastic uses paintings as inspiration for scrapbook pages- you can be literal and lift the whole design or concentrate on specific elements such as the color palette. There are lots of RAK opportunities- swing by and check them out.

My Aunt went bananas over the flowers and ribbon I sent. We got into a convo about what we like and I swear I felt like I was talking another language. I told her I like grids and fonts and woodgrain- she was like- well everyone's light shines different. Amen to THAT sister!

But WHY give away my flower stash? Am I CRAZY??? I don't use the large 3D flowers anymore because they are too precious, too widely used, too... MUCH! (And on a practical note, 3D pages take up crazy amounts of storage space.) My idea of "beauty" has shifted. 

The Child's Bath (The Bath) by Mary Cassatt, 1893, oil on canvas, Art Institute of Chicago 

It's like this painting. Beautiful and something I would have aspired to a year ago. Lately I have tended to admire work that makes me think and see the world differently.  Cassatt was a ground breaker. She made the personal public by focusing on intimate family moments before it was considered ok for women to do that. She was a female painter in an era where only men were considered artists- women were mere hobbyists. Hmm... that's still the case! The  “high art” versus “hobby/craft” value system is especially apparent in the scrapbooking community. Say “I am a Scrapbooker” here in Brooklyn (ironic Hipster central) and watch the smirks. “Oh NO girl! You sit for hours playing with PAPER?  For fun? There are babies in your "art"????”

And so begins the struggle for someone like me. I love complicated, brainy or modern art. But I also love beauty for beauty's sake and traditional ideas of representation. So how do I be "me" in a field where traditional is the ideal? Where, if it isn't a baby or a cute pet or a positive feeling, it's a hard to grab attention? 

Well get ready for the uphill battle. 

Hey- I'm loosing you- here's a CUTE DOG to get you to read some more :)

 The scrapbook community is one that values the positive because the focus is on preserving memories- who wants to preserve the memory of their commuting to work frustrations? Who wants to spend hours trying to figure out what a page “means”?

The balance needs to be struck between the beautiful and the real.  Between the traditional and the cutting edge. After all- adding a bunch of beautiful Prima flowers to a page will not make an unfocused design suddenly come to life.  The opposite is also true- if the subject matter is not cute or beautiful then you have to spruce up those design skills because the work will depend on the eye loving what the heart rejects.   

One of my all time favorite shots of Miss Thang.
You can't see her face and  she's slightly off center-
a photo who's meaning can change according to mood.

I had an experience recently where someone lifted one of my Xoxo Girl designs and posted on their blog that my page "was not her style- let's leave it at that". I was so conflicted! I was flattered because the effort showed that there was something worth exploring in my page but what did "let's leave it at that" mean? I'd like to know!  

True Xoxo Girls April Challenge page

One of the biggest blocks I'm facing right now is lack of critical feedback. I know most of it is the "if you can't say anything nice don't say anything at all" ethic. Plus everyone is updating their blogs or their galleries and making and photographing their work- these are BUSY people! So the page needs to speak and speak LOUDLY in seconds. But without going to art school or having graphic designer friends it's very hard to learn about design. Everyone can teach you a new technique but that DOESN'T mean it will be used effectively.

You can see the lifted page here: http://truexoxogirls.blogspot.com/2011/04/challenge-18-sponsored-by-candy-shoppe.html

I see some major improvements. Her design has focal points and symmetry- the color palette is more cohesive. I have photos on my page but they are tiny and get lost in the over all mess- hers are easier to see. Considering this is a scrapbook project- her page did it’s job- mine was an experiment. So my "take away" (that's corporate lingo for what I learned) is this: Keep looking. Take notes. Notice- what do those pages or projects or paintings have in common that you like? And most of all- DO NOT look for outside approval. Happiness needs to come from within and if it's flowers and butterflies or graffiti and grid lines that does it for you- it's up to YOU to develop your eye and your artistic voice.

Love this photo too.  It's in a page for my July True Xoxo Girls challenge page.
Have you uploaded your scraplifted creation yet? You have plenty of time so swing on by!

MuChoS SmOoChEs!
Michelle

Love ATC MADNESS!

A reader might wonder why half my headlines have the word MADNESS in them. It's just fun to hear the headline in my head. Remember Crazy Eddy? "Prices so low... IT'S INSAAAAAAAANE!" well I'd hire him to yell out my blog headlines- too bad he's in jail for fraud & money laundering.
Here are my Valentine's Day ATCs. YAYYY!  You can also check them out on the next PAPER ISSUES CHALLENGE. This is the first time I tackle ATC format AND a Valentine's Day project- it was FUN!

And ATC
MATERIALS: Love Art-C Artist Trading Card Kit, EK Success Abstract Flower Edge Punch, Smooch Pearlized Accent Ink- Gold Lame, EK Success 2" scallop heart punch, American Crafts Thickers- pink, Crafter's Workshop 12x12 heart template, AC glitter paper- red, Smooch spritz- red,  Tattered Angels mist- Suede
PHOTO CREDIT: DANIEL LAM

The photo is from Gia's amazing engagement photo album shot by her extremely talented brother Daniel. Gia's wedding theme was AND- as in 2 different families coming together or Gia & Tom or We are getting married & you better be there!!!! I LOVED IT! She's so awesome.... (read my blog read my blog read my blog)
That is the home run card.
THIS is the bleh one:

Love ATC
MATERIALS:  Love Art-C Artist Trading Card Kit,  Tattered Angels glimmer glam- Pink Lipstick, Adirondack Acrylic paint dabber- gold, Smooch Pearlized Accent Ink- Gold Lame, EK Success 2" scallop heart punch, Crafter's Workshop 12x12 heart template, V alpha bead from Red Lead.com,  Jolee's woodgrain alpha stickers

What do you think? BE HONEST.
I'm ok with it only because I found out I could use an acrylic paint dabber on a transparency and have it stick.  But really these are all about how much I love shopping. Two Peas in a bucket (Remember the order the US Mail kidnapped? Well it finally appeared FOUR days late in the building lobby where THANKFULLY David's Uncle found it. TOLD YOU I had CRETINS as mailmen!!! Plus the PUSTULOUS GHOUL marked it as delivered!! I was home- he never rang the buzzer! EEEEVIL! )

Sorry- Two Peas in a Bucket has Art-C ATC kits on sale for 7.49 so I thought-might as well try it... I really like these kits. The paper elements could be higher in quality but they get so abused in the misting and gluing process they come out looking fine. The Tattered Angeles Glimmer Glam is not something I would normally buy but OOOPS! Joann's included one on my last order- FOR FREE! Not sure why... maybe to apologize for terrible customer service, an incredibly time consuming & creaky website that freezes with Safari and turn around time so slow Snails regularly pull up next to it and laugh.
Breathe, B.R.E.A.T.H.E- cute photo break...

Nephew Ty. Next project subject.
Photo by my cousin Viviana Vazquez
another hugely talented young photographer

Not sure where the energy is coming from for all this ranting- maybe I need to take up yoga... But Glimmer Glam is AWESOME and I now will buy as many different colors as my grubby lil wallet can afford.
MuChOs SmOoChEs!
M.