Tag: artwork

March 29, 2015

The Gallery U: Weeks 1-9

Every week I will share links to my posts on The Gallery U website. If you don’t already know, The Gallery U is a recently launched website featuring the artwork of college students across the US. I am one of 18 interns who will be posting new work every week along with a brief description. If you visit the site, you will notice a small heart icon on each post. The intern with the most clicks at the end of 15 weeks will be featured in V23, a New York-based blog which showcases the music, creative writing, photography, and art of young adults. If you like what you see, please help me increase my chances of winning by clicking that heart! xoxo

Week 1: Self Portrait

Week 2: Untitled (Madame Insulin in Red)

Week 3: Insulin is Not a Cure

Week 4: Ebb and Flow

Week 5: MI Framed

Week 6: Yes.

Week 7: Too Sweet

Week 8: Untitled (Pig Composition)

Week 9: Breathe

March 3, 2015

February Inspiration

1. Poetry by Sandra Stone (Cocktails with Brueghel at the Museum Cafe)

February 28, 2015

21 Years

During my 20th year as a type 1 diabetic I…

…tackled an intense summer in Chicago and made lots of new work…

February 16, 2015

Exploring Pattern

I’ve been making work about diabetes for a few years now and I’ve explored several different materials and approaches along the way. During this time, I’ve encountered several challenges. Aside from dealing with the occasional emotional obstacles, I’ve struggled to guide this body of work in one direction and instead have branched off what feels like endlessly. It’s a complicated feeling because I do want to explore this subject as thoroughly as I can, but doing so also leads me to feel like I’m starting lots of different things and not spending enough time on any of them because I keep moving on to something else. I don’t know. It’s hard to explain.

January 24, 2015

Artwork for Charity

Thank You
22″ x 28″
Oil on canvas
April 2012

I’ve been attached to this piece ever since I made it almost 3 years ago. It’s not my best painting, but it’s special to me for many reasons. I was asked several months ago to donate a piece of art to a JDRF Gala that will take place here in Roanoke this March, and it was difficult for me to choose one. I thought this painting, Thank You, was the most fitting because I am simply expressing my gratitude for my loved ones who have supported me and continue to do so as I live my life with a chronic illness.

The 2015 Denim and Diamonds Gala will take place on Saturday, March 21st at The Shenandoah Club in Downtown Roanoke. You can find more info and purchase tickets here. My brother is also making a donation in the form of a musical performance at the event :]

January 2, 2015

November + December Inspiration

1. John Baldessari’s work and especially his philosophy on art: “I get really attracted to details and parts of things. I used to tell people I would feel happy if there was just one square inch of a painting I liked. I wouldn’t even have to like the whole painting.”

2. Anatomy of Digestion cup and saucer from Street Anatomy

3. Alexa Minc | Jewelry inspired by the human body

4. Rafael Lozano-Hemmer | The Pulse Room

5. Mayan Art

6. Boo and Boo Factory | Handmade Leather Jewelry

“You are about to enter the much more difficult phase of unlearning everything you have learned in college, of questioning it, redefining it, challenging it, and reinventing it to call it your own. More than in any other vocation, being an artist means always starting from nothing. Our work as artists is courageous and scary. There is no brief that comes along with it, no problem solving that’s given as a task… An artist’s work is almost entirely inquiry based and self-regulated. It is a fragile process of teaching oneself to work alone, and focusing on how to hone your quirky creative obsessions so that they eventually become so oddly specific that they can only be your own.”

7. Teresita Fernández’s 2013 commencement address at VCU

Links: 1/2/3/4/5/6/7

December 30, 2014

New Work: Hendrix

A commissioned painting for a long-time friend, a portrait of her first child :]

Hendrix
20″ x 24″
Acrylic
December 2014

December 8, 2014

Still Here

I’ve been absent for a couple weeks now and my excuse is just that I’ve been busy (this is a valid excuse, I promise). Anyway, things are wrapping up (no pun intended) as the holiday season quickly approaches, so I am finally finding time to return to the things I’ve had to place on the back burner recently.

Today I am finishing the first paper of my graduate school career (it has been no easy task, but it’s almost done!) Maybe I will post the finished paper in its entirety on the site later, or at least a link to it…but here is a peek:

In the next two weeks I will teach my last museum classes and gifted art classes of the year. Here are some of the projects we have been or will be working on:

Literal art gouache paintings

Monochromatic paintings

Abstract sculptures inspired by Chihuly’s glass pieces

My goals for this month are to finish a commissioned painting, start a new personal project (which I’m really excited and will share details about soon), and relax! I have a lot more to do, but I’ll spare you the list. Hopefully I will be able to post on here more frequently again, but for now, here is some more evidence that I have been alive and well:

November 3, 2014

October Inspiration

1. Piet Mondrian’s grid-like paintings

“Illness is the night-side of life, a more onerous citizenship. Everyone who is born holds dual citizenship, in the kingdom of the well and in the kingdom of the sick. Although we prefer to use only the good passport, sooner or later each of us is obliged, at least for a spell, to identify ourselves as citizens of that other place.”

2. Illness as Metaphor by Susan Sontag

3. Jean-Michel Basquiat’s bright colors and stylized figures

4. Meredith Woolnough’s embroideries

5. Sean Scully’s block paintings

6. Science Festival activities (The museum I work at participated in a science festival and one of the activities we did with the visitors was painting with watercolors and cooking oil. I loved the results so much that I bought the materials and used them in my own work!)

Links: 1/2/3/4/5

October 13, 2014

Sneak Peek: Fall Projects

“The Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine is seeking art for its upcoming exhibition, Medical Avatar: The Health Time Machine. Entries should include three self-portraits: you as you are today; you as you will be in 5 years if you continue with an unhealthy habit you have today; and you as you will be in 5 years if you continue with a healthy habit you have today.”