The (Not) So Secret Life of Plants

Upcoming Exhibiton

Paul Robeson Galleries, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ
Main Gallery

Sep 01 2015 - Dec 17 2015

The (Not So) Secret

 Life of Plants

Opening reception Thursday, September 10, 5-7pm

Curated by Anonda Bell

Plants are the foundation on which most visible life on the planet exists.  They are under stress, with diminishing natural environments and the very real possibility that many plants may become extinct even before humans are aware of their existence.  This exhibition will explore the nature of plants and how humans interact with them, from the forest to the home.

Artists in this exhibition: Thea Clark, John Edmark, Dana Fritz, Jim Jacobs, Ming-Jer Kuo, Jessica Lagunas, Sam Metcalf, Lina Puerta, Lindsay M. Robbins, Martina Shenal, Linda Stillman, Adam Swart, Yeon Ji Yoo, Rachel Yurkovich.

Jim Jacobs, “Splice”, from the series “Graft,” 2013, mulberry and maple, 30″x44″, courtesy of the artist

Martina Shenal, “Suizenji Garden (jima), Kumamoto Prefecture,” 2012, archival pigment print, 24”x30”, courtesy of the artist

Yeon Ji Yoo, “Exodus 1,” 2011, paper mache, wood, bottles, thread, plastic fauna, garbage bags, ink, glue, 52”x15”x38”, courtesy of the artist

For the Love of Fiber

As my work shifts between small scale and large, I find the fascination for fiber as a medium with its resonance of all things female, continues to be relevant. I first started exploring fiber through felting back in 2006, combining it with metal in jewelry work.

I am excited to have the chance to introduce this rich combination of materials and processes in  September at the Touchstone School of Craft.

September 25–28

Metal and Felt Jewelry: Two- and Three-Dimensional Approaches

Thea Clark

Beginner–Intermediate* | $345

Class Time: Friday–Monday

Harness the dynamic beauty of opposites when you combine metal and felt into jewelry pieces. You will learn two-dimensional wet felting and three-dimensional needle felting techniques, making colorful and expressive designs and forms. You will incorporate these with fabricated metal by using tabs, rivets, armatures, and soldered wire forms. Many technical and creative tips will be shared. Participants will leave with a variety of completed pendants and earrings. 

*Some soldering experience is helpful. 

Thea Clark is a jeweler and artist who lives in New Jersey. She is a recipient of an Individual Artist fellowship, granted by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts in 2012. Her work has appeared in numerous group shows nationally and internationally, including Multiple Exposures: Jewelry and Photography at the Museum of Arts and Design, New York City and La Frontera at the Museo Franz Mayer, Mexico City. In 2014, Thea was featured in a two-person show at the Houston Center for Contemporary Crafts and a solo exhibition of sculpture and installation at the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey. Her work can be seen in seven publications, including 500 Felted Objects, Showcase 500 Necklaces, and Push Jewelry. Thea held a 2013 artist residency at the Vermont Studio Center and spoke at Glassell School of Art (Texas) in 2014. Her work is in private collections in the United States and Japan.

For Registration information and to learn more about this uniques artist retreat for workshops follow the link

http://www.touchstonecrafts.org/Metals-&-Jewelry

 

Summer Offers...

You begin with the possibilities of the material. (Robert Rauschenberg)

Summer offers a first time teaching experience at the Society of Contemporary Crafts in Pittsburgh, PA. This upcoming July 11 & 12, weekend workshop will be full of hands on mixed media material explorations. That's the "dia" of mixed media.

Check out the online catalog here   http://www.contemporarycraft.org/SCC/Workshops.html

Upcoming Exhibition

This September I am pleased to be included in an upcoming group exhibition at the Pierro Gallery of South Orange, NJ, titled , "Thou Art Mom". The show also includes an online interview component, curated by photographer Susan Evans Grove.

First This Way Then That

Some ideas percolate, others come unannounced. Churning over new terrains and materials, pumped to "move on", it seems the ones I have most recently been handling aren't ready to be retired.

Here in time to be part of an upcoming group show is"Somehow Connected"

Also  "thinking of Meret or vessel for  the new disasters"

Others not necessarily slated for the show, one almost complete is a "weapon", while in the studio a larger piece waits for me to get back to finish is an "instrument",  both part of this group, "For the New Disasters".

Meanwhile I read a short story that took me right back to my youth in San Francisco during the early uncertain and paranoid years of the AIDS crisis. This of course leads to memories of the AIDS quilt a powerful fusion of mourning, art, and activism.

Online Ink and then some

Information about the current trio of shows at the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey. They offer very creative family activities with every season of shows, so look for the next one in the Fall.

Also a nice one page article in the Sunday Star Ledger (6/8/14) , by Dan Bischoff, haven't seen an online link though.

La Frontera in Houston

See La Frontera at the Houston Center of Contemporary Craft until September 7th. You can see a photo of my piece Entangled in cozy company with other interesting works here.

Local Coverage of upcoming Spring Exhibition

Local coverage of upcoming openings, including mine at the Visual Arts Center of NewJersey. Starting to feel real, getting excited to share with people.

Show opening around the corner

Definitely feeling the excitement and creative frenzy of my fast approaching show.

Headed to Houston

Well all the work is off, including display elements some made with special sewing help from my local friend, fiber artist Susan Brauner. Someday the most recent pieces will have their pictures taken by a better photographer than I am, but in the mean time

Cyan Breast Plate, 2014 wood, silver, cyanotyoe on silk, tinted plastic.

This piece shifted as it came, I am happier with it finished than I was with the sketch. The breast plate connection became apparent as it progressed and wasn't a starting point, the subconscious to the rescue. Of course I have seen many images of Native American protective breast plates, but not recently. How to explore associations with maleness  in the cyanotype imagery and the overall forms of these last two additions, followed an intuitive process after much consideration. After enough thought it becomes time to trust the hands.

I am extremely excited to follow the work to Houston to attend the opening on 1/31. While I am there I will speak at Glassell School of Art on 1/30 to Sandra Zilker's advanced jewelry students. First time in Texas and I can't wait.

Elemental feel

Cyan Structure, 2014

New brooch for upcoming show "Cyan Silhouettes" at Houston Center of Contemporary Craft.
Silk, wood, silver, tinted plastic

The images on the silk were made from wood and wood shavings .

Come in Houston

Just around the corner is Cyan Silhouettes at the Houston Center of Contemporaary Craft

Two artists with work that utilize the early photographic process of Cyanotype. I am finishing up two new pieces for this show and working on the display details in preparation.

The works of mine are from my Fluidity and Form Series. The new works have been a very interesting process, because I have had to dig around to uncover a new approach to the cyanotype imagery. It has been important to me that I am not repeating what I have done before which would be simply a decorative variation of the previous work. The imagery had to move the ideas of the series forward. It took me longer than I thought to get that eureka moment that felt like a genuine advancement. Even within the modest production of two new works there has been stumbling, until an unfruitful direction lead to the right path. I have found this before, that it is just after these creative dead ends that lead to a breakthrough that the breakthrough is often a bigger source of inspiration and inquiry. It is a good refreshed feeling.

I have been researching more artists using cyanotype  in their works and will post some images soon. Meanwhile, wood shop inspiration photos are what started my thought process that lead to the new imagery.

I spent time in the wood shop during my residency at the Vermont Studio Center in June, and continued on with work I started there in the shop in the visual arts department of the camp I taught at later in the summer.

"La Frontera" travels to the Midwest

"La Frontera", the traveling exhibit continues on to Indiana University, Kokomo, IN next year. I will have a new piece joining the show since my first piece crossed several borders and time zones with a collector from Japan.

"Entangled", 2013 brooch

Sterling silver, cotton bandannas, plastic water bottle caps, steel wire, acrylic paint, copper, brass, nickel

9.5"h x8"w x 2"d

The show got amazing press and TV coverage in Mexico, really touching a collective nerve. Happy it has legs to continue its journey

Opening of "REpresented", New Jersey Metal Arts Guild

Come out and join the reception this Friday 6-9 PM, of the New Jersey Metal Arts Guild juried member show "REpresented", at the Firehouse Gallery in the cool Valley Arts district of Orange, NJ.

I have two pieces in the show. I am excited to see the growth of NJMAG, with two new co-presidents the upcoming year will be exciting.

La Frontera -Online

Can't make it to Velvet DaVinci to see the second installment of La Frontera? Then go to their website to see the works online, a feature I have always appreciated.

Not following the Plan

The thing about a 2 week residency is at first is seems like a huge amount of time until you start. Day by day awareness of the "Plan" creeps in, a sense of urgency replacing the romantic ideal of uninterrupted time. The "plan" to execute, complete, to have something to show for the effort and sacrifice.

I have added the additional task of working in unfamiliar scale, and materials.
There has been a lot of reconsidering, pushing back against the "plan". So here is some cyanotype on the wall . Why not ?

The right piece is on cotton. It was overexposed. I haven't done this so far north before and I overcompensated. I still like the quality of suggestion . The left side is on silk which technically. I could have left in the sun s little longer, but i
am happy about the contrast between them. Pins and thread have been added and a bit of newspaper text.

I love my studio

I have started my residency at the Vermont Studio Center. I am so in love with my second floor corner, spacious studio. My home studio is in the basement and now I know what I have been missing, light, a view for a sense of connectedness, wall and floor space to make larger work which also means the luxury of standing back for perspective.

Residency Road Trip

 Planning and packing for my upcoming artist residency at the Vermont Studio Center. First the long, solo car drive I am equal parts road warrior and nervous Nelly, sans GPS. Once I get to Johnson Vermont I will have two weeks to devote to being in my studio. It has been sixteen years since I have enjoyed what I used to take for granted before children (BC), uninterrupted time.

I am planning to work on elements for my solo show next Spring, "The Quick and the Deep, at New Jersey Center of Visual Arts, so I have gathered acoustic tiles, asphalt shingles, cyanotype treated fabric, wood, and an assortment of paints, glues, miscellaneous studio droppings, tools and so forth to load into the van before the crack of dawn in three days.

Studio Tour Crasher

The South Orange Maplewood Studio Tour is coming up and while you won't find me officially taking part on the website I am crashing the studio of sculpture and painter,Sybil Archibald with my mixed media and jewelry work,  Sunday, June 1, 11-5pm.  Look for such work as:

Post Panic or Lost and Found

How do you create? Do you stand in your creating space, finding bits and pieces that seem to want be part of a whole?

I do that.

Do you sketch ideas then shape your materials into a version of your initial vision?

I do that too.

If you sketch then you may understand the horrible feeling of losing your sketchbook. Part of the sadness comes from thinking how could I have forgotten something so important to me, almost like leaving the baby on the bus! This is exactly how I felt last week when I realized I had "lost" several sketchbooks.

Many of the ideas I sketch are just that, they may or may not lead to the making of an object. Plus I remember almost everything in these books. The ideas are still in their original brain file as it were. So lost is relative,  but still I don't like it.

Days felt like weeks as I turned my home inside out searching. Did I do the unthinkable and accidently throw them out? Sadness crept it, a sad acceptance, " I may never see them again". More days, more looking, then true acceptance, " Okay I'll just re-draw the ideas that are really important to me. I can live without the others". A few more days after the panic is gone when I am comfortable that my ideas and creations are always with me, a single image is unlocked from its file, the last unchecked place after full certainty that all places were checked...and there they are nestled in a backpack.

Not a life and death issue, but I did reconfirm that panic renders me useless while moving forward is its own reward.


Here is a sketch of a work in progress. The part on the left is made using wood, epoxy resin, acrylic paint, steel ball chain, & silk thread. The part on the left is wood, found plastic, acrylic paint, nickel silver & auto paint. The top is a cut section of cotton karate belt. I am not sure yet if the length will stay long enough to avoid a clasp.  Jewelry is when art meets the mechanics of wearability.