Updates and Promises

Lots of changes coming soon. Working on a lot of awesome stuff, finishing up some awesome stuff too!

Even updated my website, thanks to Christiane Moore who held my hand (pretty much did the work for me)

www.jenbrownart.com

Rolling Stone

(The Stone Baby)

I know I keep saying that I'm working on so many projects, but I really am! It's just that I have too many at once, and I don't make a ton of progress on any of them in particular. But, I've gotten the ball rolling, and once its rolling, I should be able to keep things from gathering moss.

I ordered my spinning wheel, and should be getting that in the mail tomorrow! I am going to use it for my root structure, and then of course for fun yarn spinning, and I'd like to start dying yarn with natural dyes (particularly beets!)

I am currently knitting a mobius strip scarf (yes, the right way!... ok, I had some help.)

And I finally scanned in my negatives, with the help of wonderful Eli. We don't really know what we're doing, and it turns out that I scanned them in much too small, but now at least I can see what I've got! Next Thursday I'll go back to the darkroom and scan 'em right!

And, I've even started taking a French class: one step closer to applying to Penn ...the GREs, on the other hand, are going to rip me a new one. One step at a time.

I'm not a high speed train, I'm just glad to be a rolling stone.

Sudit

Sorry for the horrible photo, I forgot to take a photo once it was dry! Britta and Sudit came to get it last Saturday and I think they were really happy with it! (Either that, or they're great actors, and I don't think that's a common occurence for Hopkins kids).

Also, I sold another hair painting last week at the Mutter! I've got to bring some more to the store. And I've got to get to the studio more often and crank some work out! Someone commission me something!

Anselm Kiefer

I was in NYC with Erin for a few days this week, and we saw some museums and we saw some art, and then we went to the Gogosian Gallery on West 24th St, with the Anselm Kiefer show "Next Year in Jerusalem". I had never seen Kiefer in person, and I don't think I've been moved that much by an artist's work in a very long time. It was amazing to see so much of his work in one place too. It really overwhelmed me with emotion(s) and inspiration. His work just doesn't photograph very well, but some stolen images of the show that attempt to represent:




(No art is better art than art that makes you feel less insane.)

A Burial Shroud for some Roots

So I've been working on a lot of things (as usual).

Hair art is going well, I even sold one on Halloween. They're going much more smoothly too, I've got a much better handle on how to make them.

I also am working on a commission for a lovely couple in Baltimore. They drove up a few weeks ago and I took the reference photos. Its going very well, and I hope to finish it up when I return from Thanksgiving in Columbus Ohio!

The studio is winterized and let's hope it's warm enough! Sheets from circle thrift, I will be buying you soon enough!

For some more serious talk, though. Last Tuesday I walked to the subway for work as I usually do. There is a block a few blocks from my house in which the side I walk along was a big overgrown field. But last Tuesday they broke ground for some new houses they're putting in (yay gentrification) and on Saturday they were already pretty far along putting in cinderblocks. I walked along the sidewalk as far as I could go, and then there in front of me, was the root structure of one of the trees I most enjoyed in that yard. There were kittens who lived there, and morning glory all over the yard and the tree and the fence. I saw the roots and I immediately saw it in my mind's eye wrapped ever so delicately in white yarn, somewhat like a burial shroud, somewhat like the crane wife spinning it.

But then I walked away thinking that I must have seen that image somewhere else. I emailed Erin to ask if I was crazy. She sent me a link to Nina Katchadourian as a response. My favorite is her Uninvited Collaborations with Nature section. And definitely the mended spider webs project the most.

But long story short, I got Eli and Celia to help me move the roots (which either had been hacked apart before or after I saw it initially) into my studio.

I am currently seeking white yarn. Any white yarn, but preferably natural and thin. Even student spun. Even...anything.

I usually don't do nature work, but this one sort of attacked me first.

Hair Art!

I have actually been working on a bunch of stuff (including, my halloween costume!)

But I did finally manage to finish and frame some of the hair art... but... then I remembered to photograph them. Sorry about the lack of professionalism in the photos.



The big ones were especially hard to photograph, but I was able to block some glare off the small one using the big ones!


I already started a new batch of them, and I have two more left to finish from the original group. Not bad for round one!

Run Around, Stop, Look at Art.

Well, I made it to Brooklyn this time. Saw some amazing people, museums, and I understand NYC/Brooklyn much more than I did. All in all, mission accomplished!

My AAM card lets me in to any AAM Museum (and others too!) for free, sometimes with a guest too! So I ended up going to 10 museums in 4 days, and my friend Dave got to go to some with me, including the Guggenheim!
The MET is always a good time, and I always end up seeing a new Alfred Emile Stevens painting! He's one of my favorites, and I can't find a book of his work anywhere. I can usually spot him a mile away too!
This lovely work is by Kees van Dongen. I am so in lust with these color choices! (Even more intense in person of course)

I had just enough time to run through the Natural History Museum before having to head back to the Gug, who were nice enough to hold my bag while I toured the city without it for a bit.

Wednesday Dave and I went to the MOMA.

How he loves his art!
I really loved this Matisse. I couldn't look away. I need to paint more nudes. (!!!!!!!) (And this particular painting wasn't even at the big Matisse show (on the 4th floor?), and that was really good. We were pretty tired, so I just ran through it while Dave rested outside. It was like a miniature depiction of my week, just running around looking at art smiling wildly and feeling a little bit insane and a lotta bit excited.)

Finally saw a Kara Walker in person! It was really amazing.

Dave left and I hit up the American Folk Museum, sort of just breezed through it, but it was interesting. Then I met him for his fringe show, In the Schoolyard. Not so much my cup of tea, but enjoyable nonetheless. And I got to see two fringe shows! Talk about an education!

Then I booked it to the New Museum, where I couldn't take any photos, but had a really good time there too. The space is amazing! Ran to the Whitney, and had an amazing time. I had only been there for the 60s show a few years ago, but was awesome (really, how many other words are as pure as "amazing" and "awesome"?) Then bolted (note use of increasingly hurried adjectives, as my time in NYC runs short!) to the Frick where I finally saw Ingres' Contesse d'Haussonville... and cried. Like a sap. I didn't expect to, but I love him.

And the Neue Museum. I remembered my love for Schiele and Klimt, as well as discovered George Minne, and educated myself in Otto Dix, of whom I had remained mostly ignorant through my art education.

One more museum: The Brooklyn Museum. It was so much bigger than I was expecting! And I had forgotten about their Warhol exhibit. I have also been rather ignorant of him, passing him off as "that pop artist" but now I know better!




Then some Kiki Smith, although perhaps I didn't spend enough time with her.



Larry Rivers

And even got to see Judy Chicago's The Dinner Table!!!!
It was really the icing on the cake!

Vadis Turner
And even some Louise Bourgeois.

I have a TON of new ideas for new paintings (especially inspired by Matisse- I am starting two large canvases, for painting from life Leslie's living room or kitchen area. Things like PAINT BIG, ITS IMPORTANT! kept coming into my head, and I listened.)

More to come!