Moving!

No the studio is still not finished and yes, I'm frustrated as all get-out. I'm announcing that the remainder of this blog will migrate to a new address : http://cynthiacusick.blogspot.com. The title will be my name, the sub-title/theme/narrative will still be The Glass is Half Full but I've made the decision to switch all my professional stuff to a more name-recognizable address. Well, one day I hope my name becomes recognizable for my art.

There's plenty to do that will utilize my old graphic design skills, rusty as they are. When I launch everything, it will be like a coming-out party for me! If all goes well, I'll have a Facebook presence that will tie into my blog and Etsy site which will also be reflected on the new blog. Frankly, I feel like I'm running in circles...

I hate computers

I have this love hate thing with computers. I'm a former part-time geek, a geek on the wagon, whatever. I have played with Mac computers for a long time and ended up making a career with them in graphic design in the 80's and 90s. My first husband is a consultant so I have a pretty good working knowledge of them and still think new things are cool. And I appreciate all that technology and computers do to add to my life experience, as I do cars, getting me from place to place with relative ease. But like cars, when things fuck up, I despise them, abhor then and wish I'd never known about them.

My iPhoto program is fucking up and had recently started hanging. The problem is it contains my entire art image database and my Adaptation book template. It also organizes all of my home photos. So when it fucks up, I get pissy and it puts the brakes on everything, including updates on this blog. However, I have managed a small fix, I think. So far. So we'll try not to stare at it too long , lest it decide to fuck up again. Reminds me, I need to back up.

Above is the new studio space complete with ceiling, wall, door, window, upgraded electric and new coat of paint. The enclosed space will allow me to regulate the inside temp thus allowing me to work year round. So time to finish up the details, move all my shit back in and get to work.

Work, work, work

Drinking Cup $18.00
Some goings on...
Finishing up the details of the studio, lighting, inside wiring, shelves, figuring out where to put everything..
Getting ready for a show at the end of the month, entering a few other shows and getting some proposals together with my fellow artist, Crimson Duvall.
And in the mean time, in this hot sweltering weather, I am making some more drinking cups that will be up on Etsy within a few weeks like the ones in my shop at the moment.

In other news...

The electric is getting upgraded today. This makes me excited. While I have been in major transition, I have been sketching and planning and making some decisions. I will be upgrading and organizing my Etsy site in the next few months. I will also be in Chattanooga in the next few weeks for my first, post BFA, non-Kentucky opening at a venue called The Association for Visual Arts! Woo! And I will be making some changes to my website to add the Adaptation show and showcase that. I beat myself up too much. I do make progress but it's hard to see until you stop and look back at where you've been.

Block

Grounded Flight
Stoneware, cone 6 oxidation, glazes, slips, osage orange thorns, cedar branches, barn board
Each piece approx.: 9"w x 5"h x 6"d, Approx. 20" across both pieces

I have this weird psychological issue. Well, maybe it isn't that weird but it certainly bugs the shit out of me on a regular basis. It is this: I am uncomfortable exercising my artistic abilities. In other words, even if I have some ideas I wish to execute, I routinely feel that actually making art is somehow "goofing off" and being irresponsible. I will go out of my way to procrastinate until some other "obligation" comes up to prevent me from simply making work. It's like I don't feel I have any value or worth unless I'm doing something for someone else. I enjoy making shit and stepping back and seeing how it all turned out, but I view that as a selfish act not to be indulged. What the fuck is wrong with me?

Grounded Flight is a metaphor for the desire to fly and be free of this and the prickly, clumsy, wooden things that keep me from cutting myself loose. It's not that I have a hate relationship with home and family, but I do not have a smooth, guilt-free relationship with them either.

Some beliefs about oneself have been taught and ingrained from such a young age, it is gruesome and exhausting to undo the effects. It always reminds me of Dali's Andalusian Dog film. I feel like the fellow dragging the donkey, piano, furniture and all the other items behind me. I am on my path and, truth is, have always been, but I still feel like I am dragging so much baggage. It's just a mental hangover. I need to let it go.

Electricity

Here is some more art for today. Officially titled Study 4, I like to call it Vagina Boat. Stoneware, cone 6 oxidation. That is all for today.

We're closing in on the last big things in the studio renovation. I finished painting inside through the hot, soupy weather. Seriously. I changed clothing at least twice each day since the beginning of this week. Horribly tropical here in SE Kentucky at the moment. Part of nearby Berea got hit with a flash flood yesterday; 6 inches of rain in less than an hour. Amazing.

Anyway, we picked up the heavy-duty electrical supplies which will used to upgrade the electric currently in the garage. How inadequate and dangerous is the electric now? Well, while damp-wiping a drill press that was plugged in but not turned on, I leaned my bare leg against a metal filing cabinet next to the press and got zapped. Not good. After we upgrade, I'll be able to run a kiln. Woo!

Last note for today, I saved a big, hairy spider from certain death this morning, inside the house.

Religion and responsibility

I have a gripe. It's about a certain kind of attitude that seems to inhabit quite a few religious people I run into, usually in a non-direct way. My experience is with a certain "brand" or "flavor" of Christians here in Kentucky but this type of smug, self-righteous attitude occurs in any religious group all over the world. My story is here, Kentucky, with some - not all- local Christians.

Anyway, it has to do, specifically, with using one's religion to justify bad behavior or absolve oneself from any responsibility to practice good behavior. Example: a friend posts a "status update' on a popular social networking site that says in effect, "I wish the world was in perfect harmony! Or even semi-harmony!." I had to agree. I often feel like current public discourse (TV, politics, movies) centers around conflict, fear and aggression. It saddens me and I wish we could even take a small break and simply agree to disagree and enjoy a little of life on this planet instead of throwing more gasoline on the fire, perpetuating the contest of the extremes. So I added that I, too, could go for some semi-harmony. Then some of her Christian friends chimed in with what I felt were excuses for not being kind to your fellow human being. Things like, "Keep wishing!' and "We'll have harmony when we're all dead and some of us are in heaven." [emphasis mine] More Christian friends continued the "when we're in heaven we'll have harmony" theme with, "one day the lord will call his people home" and "we will have it one day in heaven!!"

And I thought, why wait until then to practice some harmony? How shortsighted to use religion to absolve yourself from doing better towards your fellow human being? What kind of childish, selfish justification do you need to keep being a prick to people you're threatened by, people who aren't like you? Rather than sit back and say, "Oh well! When I die, I'll get some harmony. I'll be kind to others – others like me – but not others I don't associate with," why not spread a little good will, patience and tolerance today? Right now. Right here. In your own community. It's so easy to pick apart the littlest thing and criticize and judge. And it's so easy to be kind to people "just like you." But, to reference the religion Christians profess to practice, how about being kind to those you don't like so much, ya know, loving thy enemy? How about showing some love and kindness to them? Not self-righteous, patronizing pity but a real smile, a "thank you" and "Have a good day." And mean it. It won't kill you.

Slogging through...

Incidental Observer
Oak burl, Stoneware, cone 6 oxidation, glaze, slip
12"w x 8"h x 6"d

Still working on getting the studio space ready. Right now I'm all about the priming and painting of the walls until the electrical supplies come in this week and we get a sub-panel hooked to the side of the building so I can run a kiln and an air conditioner. The work is twice as hard as it needs to be since its been so hot but mostly, it's been so fucking humid. I've changed out clothes several time in a day for the last three days. My shirts and shorts as stiff with salt when they dry. I've sweated in places I didn't know I could. Eyelids??

Everything is white. I have other colors but if I can get a base coat in white for now, I'll be happy. I'm leaving the floors raw concrete. No point getting too fancy since I'm working in dirt, primarily. I think I'd have to spray the floor down and clean it a little bit first before I could reasonably put down a coat of paint.

I'm getting anxious to get working and this is putting me so behind in producing things but it has to be done or I'll never have a working space at home. I could spend a lifetime using other spaces and never accomplishing my own goals so I might as well sacrifice a little now.

And Now... Art.

Items in an upcoming show...

Window

Knocked out the back wall and finally installed a new window. Not only will I be able to cool the space in the summer, I'll have a view of the bunnies that live just outside! I still have to prime and paint the walls and ceiling and move everything back into the space. Plus, there's the electric upgrade. I lament about the process and worry about how long it will take but I'm looking forward to some growth and stability in a workspace. The trench digging for the new electric and to help with the drainage behind the building went well but we had a little glitch as the Ditch Witch got stuck in the trench that was just dug and we bent the tine that held the auger in place. The gear still works but the metal is bent and the auger is out of alignment so that means money out the door for a repair. Boo-hiss.

Prep Work and Progress

Took about two days to clear the area. Did I mention how hot it was? For all my 3D work, you would think I would have a better sense of the layout when it's finished but I don't. Time will tell.




They guys doing the work are almost done. We still have some electric work to be done but I'll have basic electric until then. In the mean time, I'll be priming and painting and sorting out all my shit. Oy vey!

Getting my shit together

Sometimes I feel my moves to a successful career are glacially slow, but when I look back, even only recently, say, in the past six months, I realize I'm making real progress in moving towards the career and life I'm envisioning. The trick, so far, has been accepting that it doesn't happen overnight. To someone who is already handling a successful career, particularly in the arts, that may seem obvious, but when I think of the hundreds if not thousands of artists who wish for success but get discouraged and give up, it's not so obvious. For whatever reason, and I have to give my husband a great deal of the credit here, I have changed fundamentally from who I was 12 years ago. I have learned to plug away, stay focused (even if it doesn't feel like it), come back to a problem, organize (as much as possible) and trust my intuition. Am I making oodles of money? Hell, no. I'm still in the red but I'm making smarter investments.
This week we've begun renovations on our garage so I can work in a dedicated, functional, four-season studio as opposed to the ad hoc accommodations I've been dealing with for the past 5 years. It's not the final incarnation; we plan on a total garage/studio remodel in the future, but this will keep me from having to schlep materials, tools, greenware and finished pieces all over hell and creation and on a university schedule. It will also allow me to store and catalog my work. And, finally, it will prevent me from using the old stand-by excuse that I can't do [_____] because my stuff is not in one location. So we'll see how the work progresses. In the mean time, since I really don't have a space to work in , I am sketching and researching and planning my workload. Cross my fingers!

Wanna-be's

Just a gripe for a moment. There is a dichotomy between the stark reality of nature and the mimicry that inhabits the natural world. There is what is true and then what is put on for appearance's sake. We have insects that pretend to be other animals to keep from being eaten. We have birds and animals that put on a show to catch a mate. In the human world, we have dress-up and gender bending and costuming for all sorts of reasons. But what do you do when, in the human world, you run into a person who displays a certain creepy, wanna-be-ness? They don't just costume and put on a generic show to be flamboyant. Instead, they seem to mimic other, real people in their lifestyle, their possessions, their likes, dislikes, personality, interests, environment, occupation and so on. Why? Because they lack their own identity. They wish so hard to create a reality that doesn't exist that they pretend to be other people that they envy. It's weird. It's creepy. It's sociopathic. No, literally, as in a Cluster B, Axis II personality disorder like Histrionic Disorder. Awesome.

Update for June 2010

Been a long time since I posted something. The Adaptation show went off really well, I thought. We got a lot of positive feedback -- to the pieces in the show, individually, and to the concept and execution of the show, in general. My thanks and gratitude go out to my fellow artists and the wonderful people at the local tourism office who let us use the space. We followed the fine art exhibit with a functional ware sale over the Mother's Day Weekend. Same location but this was a try-out of a weekend sale. The weather was crappy but for what it was and the pitiful advertising that happened, everyone was pleased. I'm sure we can do better next time.

In the mean time, I have a few more pieces in exhibitions, locally. All group things. I am currently working on getting together some exhibition plans with another artist friend to coincide with the upcoming World Equestrian Games in Lexington and also for a greenhouse idea next year. In addition, there are plans in the works to do some functional sales, particularly at Christmas. But getting back to the Adaptation show, I think we'll be putting together a vanity book as a portfolio piece.

This summer includes revamping the garage space to make a more functional four-season space for me to work. I hope to accommodate the clay and some room for some metal work. I really miss metal work. So its work, work, work and keep looking forward, building on the last success. Adaptation pix will be posted in the near future.

Work, work, work

New show coming up in an old house with some good artist friends. We'll be interpreting the meaning of "adaptation." Some pieces will be stand alone. Some collaborative. The setting will be in an old, historical museum house. We're all working like busy beavers. I'm sure there will be a panic of firing and glazing and construction when we get to the end. But I'm curious to see how we pull of a show on short notice. Talk about adaptation!

Adaptation

It's cold. I've been taking some time to work indoors in my kitchen. Right now, I don't have a 4-season studio so I have to compromise and bring some work indoors during the cold season of winter. Not my favorite thing but I have managed to gerry-rig a set up in the kitchen table that allows me to do some hand-building. The project at the moment is seed shapes and forms that incorporate and highlight the sexual nature of seeds. I'm experimenting with some different colored clays at Cone 6. I'll try and get some images up when the pieces are done, done.