Spotlight on...Tracy Miller

Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, 2006-2010, Oil on Canvas

The first thing that hits me about your work is the color palette which includes a lot of candy colors. Are these your favorite colors? 
I'm attracted to colors that pop, and the brightest ones are the ones that continue to appear again and again.

What is your studio routine?  Do you have several paintings/projects going on at once? 

Usually, there are about a dozen paintings of various sizes in the studio. They get turned upside down and rotated over time until paint accumulates.

Pig, 2009, Oil on canvas

Do you work from still lives, images, collages? 
I do sometimes look at still lives--flowers, cookbooks, table cloths--but mostly paint without looking at anything.

Aside from the relevant subject matter, where do you find inspiration?
Visiting landscapes with real horizon lines, bakeries, riding in cabs, wandering through the Met, walking in NYC.

Did you always want to be an artist and how has your career developed?

When I was 5, I received two artist smocks for my birthday and knew I wanted to be an artist. When I was an undergraduate and thought it was too impractical to take a painting class, everything clicked while painting 5 yellow cars outside the window.

What is the most interesting, engaging part of making your work?
Being in the middle of the mess of paintings and seeing colors and textures pop with surprise is where it all makes sense.

Anything about your work that you don't enjoy doing but you have to do it to get to the good stuff?
If someone else could wash my brushes and stretch canvas, I'd be thrilled.

 Dolly Mountain, 2009, Oil on Canvas

 

What are you working on now?

More food paintings.

What philosophy or words do you live? 
I try not to worry too much about getting everything done everyday but know that over time it will all work out. It helps to keep the panic away.

Visit Tracy's website and her upcoming show at Feature Inc. in NYC from January 19 through February 13, 2011.

Thanks Tracy!

Process for the brain, eye, and hand: new collages and garden drawings

I am so excited about my work of late! I have been hard at work preparing for my show on November 21st at Imagebox.

My work is going in 2 different but related directions. I've been making brightly colored, abstract, linear collages that morph into organic shapes while also working on a set of colored pencil drawings of lush gardens that grow outside of a mysterious door or gate. These pieces are built up into 3-dimensional layers of paper separated by foam core.

I wonder, what's behind that door? Where is this lush, exotic place? It seems an extension of my interest in Utopian spaces but still relates to the abstract work in terms of color and pattern. It's all very exciting!

I love the multiple step process of creating the intricate drawings and then figuring out how to construct the pop-up parts by cutting into and propping up specific areas. I never know what the finished piece is going to look like; It's a very engaging process for the brain, the eye and the hand.

There is so much that goes into planning an art exhibit- from making the work (the most important part), to marketing it, to finding an exhibit space, to planning the opening celebration details and on and on. My head is spinning.

Spinning in a good way.

Spotlight on....Margaux Lange

A few weeks ago, I read an article in the NY Times Magazine called Deconstructing Barbie by Rob Walker, about an art jeweler named Margaux Lange who uses Barbie dolls to make jewelry. My interest was piqued so I looked at her website and blog- and was enamored with her work and inspired by the fact that she recently quit her day job to pursue her art full- time.

(Photo: Margaux amongst her muses.)

Can you talk about how your career is unfolding?

This is a tough one to sum up in a few paragraphs so I'll try to just hit the major biographical bullet points:

• worked at a production jewelry company after college - didn't love it, but it helped me to realize that working as a pair of hands for someone else was definitely NOT what I wanted to do with my career.

• approached two major art jewelry galleries with my "Plastic Body Series" and was immediately taken on: Julie Artisans' Gallery in NYC and Facéré Jewelry Art Gallery in Seattle.

• steadily applied to more juried shows and took on other gallery representation for my one-offs in various other galleries across the US.

• debated grad school but decided to move to NYC instead.

• decided I needed to diversify my price points, so I opened an etsy shop to sell my production pieces, which are more paired-down works in the series that I make in multiples at a lower price than my one-offs.

• worked temporarily for several jewelers in NYC doing contract labor before ending up working for a woman who had a wholesale jewelry business and ran a gift boutique in Brooklyn. Working in retail and learning about running a wholesale jewelry business taught me a lot!

• created a wholesale catalog for my work, and took on my first few wholesale accounts.

• found my dream studio 5 blocks away from my apartment.

• quit my part-time job to pursue my jewelry full time!

Do you have a ritual that gets you ready and rarin' to go to the studio?

I wake up, make myself some iced coffee (summer or winter - always iced) and sit down at my desk to deal with my computer related business tasks of the day: making lists, emails, blogging, bills, printing shipping labels, etc. After that, it's breakfast and a shower and I walk 5 blocks to my studio to start making work.

Can you describe your creative process, do you start with sketches? Do you play around with materials?

Most of my ideas will start with sketches, but other times I just begin arranging and playing with the Barbie doll parts or metal to see what interesting patterns/ shapes emerge.

What inspires you?

Humans-- human behavior and interactions, relationships, faces, expressions, bodies. Feminism, gender, pop culture. Patterns, colors, repetition, multiples, unusual or unexpected materials.

What is the most challenging part of your art or art making process?
Balancing the business side with the creative side and the time split between the two. And staying on top of my emails - a never ending battle for me!

What do you like to do when you're not making jewelry?
When I'm not making jewelry I really enjoy "nesting" ie: decorating and redecorating my apartment, looking at and buying other artist's work, etc. and spending time with my boyfriend and our crazy cats. When the weather's nice, outdoor activities also inspire me and keep my creativity on track. Exploring NYC and visiting my hometown of Lake George, NY are also at the top of my list.

I saw that you have a blog dedicated to some of the more notable reactions to your work, Creepy but Cool. Did you expect people to react to your work so strongly when you first started? How do you deal with this kind of feedback?
No, I didn't expect that people would react so strongly when I first started. Barbie is a loaded subject matter and that is an important aspect of my work. The range of responses I get to my work interests me. I love that everyone brings his or her own baggage. It is usually indicative of an individual's own relationship with, or feelings about the doll, as well as what may or may not define "wearable jewelry" to an individual. My goal has been to create art that a broad range of people can relate to and I feel I've been successful with this.

What is on your current reading list?
I read a lot about feminism as well as business related books. Currently on my nightstand:
Full Frontal Feminism by Jessica Valenti
The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron
The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf
Be Heard Now! by Lee Glickstein
The Artist-Gallery Partnership by Tad Crawford and Susan Mellon and the book that my boyfriend wants me to read because he insists I'll really like it: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman.

What does a typical week in your life look like?
There are no typical weeks. That's the thing about working for yourself, it's constantly fluctuating depending on what hat I have to wear that day, what deadlines are in front of me, or what needs to get done in my business and/or personal life. I love that my job also allows for a lot of flexibility in my schedule. Also, when you work for yourself your job doesn't really have set hours, so when I'm not in my studio making jewelry, I'm usually at home dealing with something
business related via the computer, etc. It's really more like a 24 hour job.

What projects are you currently working on?
I just completed a large collection of work for a designer boutique in Paris called Colette. The shop has been transformed for the month of March in celebration of Barbie's 50th birthday. Various designers were selected to honor the icon with limited edition exclusive works for this special month long presentation. I'm also in the early planning stages for a solo show happening in December 2009 at Luke and Elloy Gallery in Pittsburgh PA.

Do you have a dream project?
I'm not sure I have a dream "project" per se, but I can happily declare that I am living my dream! Since August I've been a full-time artist. Ever since I was a little girl I've said, "I want to be an artist when I grow up" and now I am. Making art has always been what I enjoy above all else, so it was just a matter of finding a way to earn my living from it. I have the best job ever and I remind myself of that often.

What artists, mentors, jewelers, books, friends etc. have had an impact on your development as an artist and creative person?
• Kate Cusack: fellow artist and best friend. She has been my number one influence and support system for my art career ever since college.
Other people who stand out as having impacted my career:
• Mrs. Wilson: my high school art teacher and first ever jewelry/metals instructor

• Kirsten Rook: my most inspiring college professor and jewelry instructor

• Todd Reed: art jeweler whom I admire. I met with him when I lived in CO and he reviewed my portfolio with great feedback (which at the time I presented to him in a shoe box, gasp!)

• Susan Kasson Sloan: took an epoxy resin workshop with her at Haystack in Maine, she's fantastic.

• My parents: who've always encouraged my creativity

• and of course my web & graphic designer (aka: my amazing, supportive boyfriend David Balogh)

As far as books: one of my all-time favorites is Art & Fear by David Bayles & Ted Orland.

What words do you live by?
"For a long time everybody refuses, and then almost without a pause, almost everyone accepts" - this is a quote that I cut out of a magazine when I was in high school and has been hung on the wall of every studio I've ever occupied. It has yellowed and is really beaten up now, but it still gives me comfort to see it there on my wall.

Also, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" (thanks Dad)

Margaux Lange lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. She re-Members Barbie™ fondly! Her Plastic Body Series Jewelry Collection is the result of her life-long fascination with the icon, and a desire to re-purpose mass produced materials into distinctly handmade, wearable artworks. Take a look at her website, her blog, and her etsy shop!!

Thanks Margaux!!

"tough times never last but tough people do"

Here are 3 of 8 brand new collages I am currently working on.

These are on the smaller side, approx. 8x11 inches. I have made a total mess- cutting up papers- and creating a huge pile of clippings and and scraps all over the futon and floor of my home studio.

I'm loving creating these because I don't think about it, I just do it. Tiny pieces emerge out of the mess and settle in to some kind of balance on the paper. It's a very meditative practice. These are going to go through a couple more stages of drawing and painting before being finished.

I watched 2 films this week that were polar opposites but equally inspiring:
How to Draw a Bunny, a documentary about the amazing collage artist who committed suicide in 1995, Ray Johnson, and Rivers and Tides, a documentary about artist/sculptor Andy Goldsworthy. Ray Johnson was very tuned in to pop culture- and created these really multi-layered, kooky collages, works on paper and correspondences, while Goldsworthy is all about the energy and flow of materials- he works with stones, ice, leaves, flowers to create site specific installations in nature. Part of their existence is the act of their destruction- the ice melts, the pile of stones caves in, the web of branches falls down. And he just gets up and starts all over again. He is a very mellow, solitary figure with his work.
I'm also nearing the end of season 2 of 6 feet under. I love seeing Claire trying out photography and her slow realization that it's something that fits her despite all the negativity coming from her teacher and brothers.

Here is a great story on NPR about Bob Raglan, a Denver artist who is recession proof and proud of it.

lastly:

(photo: collage with cutouts/ for sale on Friday)

I am getting excited for the girl's night out event at City Theatre on Friday night (1.30.09) where Laurie and I will have a table set up selling our wares. I have handmade scarves, art cards, and a couple of augmented books, and Laurie has handmade crocheted wire earrings and small drawings. If you are in the neighborhood- stop in and say hi, 7pm-8pm at:
City Theatre, 1300 Bingham St., Pittsburgh PA 15203.

Lately Looking At

Early paintings and drawings by Eva Hesse. I think that these are really cool. They are made up of box like shapes in ink, paint and collage. They seem spontaneous and energized with their little arrows pointing off the page and drips of paint running in different directions.
I am inspired by these and have been making some collages based on them. My work is becoming more abstract/map-like, interested in color and shape. I don't know where it's going or even what I am doing but it seems that I get into the process and I just go go go. It seems a necessary step even if it doesn't go anywhere.
Getting to the studio is sometimes agony. I make up all kinds of excuses to myself: I'm too tired, I have nothing to do, there's not enough time right now, blah blah blah. It's exhausting being inside my own brain.
And yet....somehow I get there....and sometimes (miraculously) I even get stuff done.