Semester Summary Spring 2017
Mentor
Brett Colley acted as my mentor and we met monthly in his home studio in Grand Rapids, MI. I presented my most recent work. Our discussions were wide ranging covering the art world, my work, my philosophy and background. Our visits lasted about 2 hours, afterword we corresponded by email with summaries of our discussions. He was generous with his commentary and suggestions. I discovered through our discussions that my imagery of grids and nets, repeated forms, cellular structure, natural botanicals like ferns, and silhouetted human figure reflected back to my scientific background. I am interested in intersections of different factors that lead to an emergence of something new or unexpected. In Infectious Disease, a convergence model is used to understand and explain the appearance of emerging Infectious Disease. This convergence model conceptually and formally offers me an overall theme that connects my work.
Advisor
Monthly phone conferences with Deborah kept me on schedule and helped introduce me to new artists and concepts.
Exhibitions – The websites below are of exhibitions viewed during spring semester. This list represents the exhibitions I found most intriguing or those that were closely related to my own work. I did not include casual visits to museums and galleries.
May
Chromatic Scale, Prints by Polly Apfelbaum May 2017 https://nmwa.org/exhibitions/chromatic-scale
http://www.phillipscollection.org/events/2017-03-11-exhibition-george-condoo
https://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/exhibitions/2017/in-the-tower-theaster-gates.html
https://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/exhibitions/2017/frederic-bazille-and-the-birth-of-impressionism.html
http://www.artic.edu/exhibition/zhang-peili-record-repeat
http://www.artic.edu/exhibition/whistler-s-mother-american-icon-returns-chicago
http://www.artic.edu/exhibition/new-contemporary
http://www.artic.edu/exhibition/saints-and-heroes-art-medieval-and-renaissance-europe
April
https://www.nybg.org/event/chihuly/
http://whitney.org/Exhibitions/2017Biennial
http://jimkempnerfineart.com/exhibitions.php
http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2017/hercules-segers
http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2017/marsden-hartley
http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2017/lygia-pape
March
http://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/john-mclaughlin-paintings-total-abstraction
http://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/unexpected-light-works-young-il-ahn
http://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/la-exuberance-new-gifts-artists
http://www.kiarts.org/page.php?page_id=1363
February
https://mcachicago.org/Exhibitions/2016/Riot-Grrrls
https://mcachicago.org/Exhibitions/2017/Chris-Bradley
https://mcachicago.org/Exhibitions/2017/Merce-Cunningham-Common-Time
List of Artists that helped me understand my work
Mark Dion
Paul Laffoley
Alexis Rockman
Mark Lombardi
Michael Mazur
Robert Rauschenberg
Barry McGee
Terry Winters
Hercules Seghers
Kiki Smith
Marlene Dumas
David Shapiro
Antony Gormley
Juan Munoz
Katharina Fritsch
Wangechi Mutu
Kehinde Wiley
Mary Kelly
Monica Dumas
Edward Burtynsky
Janet Echelman
Studio work
Over the semester I created at least thirty new pieces. I created works of larger scale this semester. My color palette became more sophisticated. The imagery was more focused. My medium this semester was in monotype but also included collagraph and drypoint. I continued to work intuitively by layering and spontaneously changing my image on the press bed. I began creating small three-dimensional prints. In addition to my own studio practice I taught a class in printmaking at Indiana University Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW).
Plans –Over the summer I will attend two weeklong workshops that will be like mini residencies. I plan to develop a larger overall project that will include various images prints, collages, objects that will relate to the convergence model. I am currently collecting source material relating to my thesis and basing imagery on these resources.
