November already?
I honestly cannot believe it’s November already. I also cannot believe that I survived October. Two art openings in one month (for shows that I was in) is an exhausting experience. The first opening came with a lot of rather unexpected (and unwanted) drama for reasons I won’t go into. It had nothing to do with me, but they just sucked me right into it, which really is not cool. The second opening was super awesome. That show remains up until January 4, 2010 at Lancaster Museum and Art Gallery in Lancaster, CA. Please, if you’re in the neighborhood, check it out. Not only is LMAG a very cool space run by very cool people, this is a really good show (and i’m not just saying that because i’m in it!).
My immediate attention is focused on using skills I have developed for art to create objects that are more useful, or useable to people. I’ve focused, to this point, on purses. I’m still pushing myself and playing with new methods, but I’m trying to make something more practical and utilitarian than something than hangs on the wall. The difficult thing is not feeling like a sell out… but even artists have to eat. I could very easily say things like, “i really want to make art that people can have, that they can carry with them, rather than some austere thing that just hangs there,” and while that may be true to some extent, i can’t deny the motives for this are more mixed than that. I need money, purses are less expensive and more desirable to a wider commercial audience than fiber paintings at the moment. Hell, Mark Twain was once a journalist, right?
So, i make purses. I’ve been fusing plastic for these little zipper purses i make. I am making bags out of fabric too, but it’s very cool to be making them out of plastic. It’s not so much a ‘green’ thing. I really like being able to make something new and nifty from something used and mundane. These fused plastic bags are cool, and fun. And at somepoint, i may figure out a practical way to decorate them without destroying them.
I cannot embroider on a plastic purse without leading it it’s ultimate destruction. Because the fabric is not woven, i would be ripping teeny tiny holes in it, which would weaken it, and if any force is put on the fabric, it would probably rip through. Bummer, really. I’m thinking of ways to attempt to deal with this problem, but the fun is, i may be able to make sheets of plastic and embroider them for the less practical things i do (ehem, ART!!).
It’s not like i’m a total shill. I like purses. Infact, i collect purses and handbags of all kinds… of course i lean towards the novel: weird, interesting, or pretty is really what works for me. I’m not a huge ‘label’ buyer. There’s nothing wrong with it, they just tend to be expensive– and all to often, they all look the same. I want something INTERESTING. not the same old bag with a pretty designer label on it.
And the ‘interesting’ designer ones tend to be WAAAAY out of my price range (um, yeah, still a BROKE artist).
I will probably work my way up to creating larger bags, but for now i’m having a blast making little bags. 
Other things? I still find the ‘outside the box art’ to be attractive to my makers sensibilities. I love self portrait photography, especially when it involves narrative or character. Maybe I should have been an actor, i really enjoy playing dress up.
Someone once advised me to create works about what was obsessing me, what i was vexing over and turning over in my mind at the very moment. It’s hard to live like that, especially when one’s obsessions tread through very personal waters. (I am beginning to feel like the only single woman in the world, and it’s not fun…).
WELL world. I love ya. I will really try to post more often.
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