bleached tree on a cliff in Newfoundland

I am reconfiguring the way that I think about this blog in relation to my website.  This seems like a great forum for all of the stuff I had on (and would be updating to)  the pictures page on my site.  There is no longer a link to that page, though you can still access it here.  Now there’s a link to the blog instead!  So, I thought I would go through the images on that page and re-post them here from time to time so everything is in the same place.  I am starting with some images from a residency I attended though the Pouch Cove Foundation (sadly no longer open) in Newfoundland in 2005.  It was a breathtaking experience!    Here goes:

the dock in Pouch Cove

the dock at Pouch Cove

The residency was in an old school building and my studio was a former classroom. There was a view of the sea from my windows.

I was working on the series Isolation at the time and used the shelf from my refrigerator as a palette.

work installed in studio

moose country

clothesline against the Atlantic

sunset in a lobster net

cliffs on the island of St. John's

photo credit: Susan Tusa, Detroit Free Press

I am waiting for plaster to dry on some islands, so it’s as good a time to blog as any.  Lauren of Dear Golden tagged me with a “ten things” request.  Now my job is to post ten things about myself you don’t already know.  I think I will try to keep these art-related as that’s the nature of the blog.

1. I have attended four artists residencies: in Illinois, Newfoundland, Southern France and Budapest, Hungary

2. It must say something about me that I have twice been offered dead birds and have twice accepted.  In my freezer are a dead hummingbird and a dead cardinal.  They were that way when my friends found them, I assure you.  What will I do with them?  I’ll let you know when I find out.

3. I have been in academia since kindergarten with only summers off.  I went straight from high school to college, from college to grad school, from grad school to teaching adjunct and from teaching adjunct to assistant professor.  (Does kindergarten count as “academia”?)

4. I have taught three summers at Interlochen Arts Camp in northern Michigan near Traverse City (03-05)–painting and life drawing.

5. I have taught three classes that I never actually took when I was in school.  What are they?  Hmm… it’s a mystery.

6. My top three four favorite art shows I have ever seen are (in no particular order): William Kentridge retrospective at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago (2004), Mapping the Studio: Artists from the François Pinault Collection in Venice (2009), Drawing Now: Eight Propositions at Museum of Modern Art (Queens) in New York (2002), damn, I remembered another one (thus the strikethrough): Peter Doig at the Tate Britain (2008).

7. I am working on a video, and a sculpture (of sorts) right now and am pretty inexperienced in the particular media I am using.  I am googling a lot and relying on my friends for help.  Thanks guys and gals!

8. Despite the above statement, I generally don’t work collaboratively.  I tend to prefer working alone in the studio, usually listening to audio books, NPR or music.  I am currently listening to The Plot Against America by Philip Roth and The Terror by Dan Simmons.

9. I am starting four large scale paintings, and am a bit scared of them at this early point.

10. I have a REALLY hard time balancing  a regular work-out routine and an art practice.  I tend to be sporadic with both and can rarely sustain the two simultaneously, though they’re both so important to me.

So that’s it- my ten things.  Okay, I am going to pass the tagging love around to:

Mark from Irreverent Vegan

Val and/or Ryan from i’m just doing this thing

I have purposefully been laying low on the exhibition front lately, as the beginning of the year was beastly with one solo show coming down, two and a half more going up, plus juried and group exhibitions (and school and life), I was wiped!  I am making new work, which I plan to exhibit in solo or small group shows down the road, but it will be a while before that occurs.  For now, I was pleased to receive this image in my inbox today:

of my work (island paintings) in the recent International Artist-in-Residence Exhibition at the Museum of Trade and Tourism in Budapest.  Thank you to Beata for putting the show together and providing the opportunity!

I am packed and ready to go.  I can’t believe I got all of that stuff into two suitcases and three carry-ons.

save yourself

I have been busy wrapping things up here.  By some miracle I was able to make my video camera work long enough to put all of the footage from shoot #1 on my computer.  Now Nannette and I can continue to work on the video remotely.

Yesterday she and I made vegan chocolate cupcakes to bring to the sending off soiree hosted by David last night.

wee tiny cupcakes!

David’s lovely apartment building

the view from his terrace

the sky was lovely last night

I’ve really enjoyed my time here and hope to make it back at some point.  I’ll miss all of the wonderful people I’ve met here.  Szia!  Hello!

I was recently told: when walking around in Budapest, instead of looking down, be sure to look up for all of the beauty that can be found above you. I am paraphrasing, but that was the general gist.  The architecture, statuary, and ornamentation here is amazing and thankfully survived a lot of the wars and bombing that befell other European cities.

Széchenyi Baths

just inside the entrance of Széchenyi Baths

just inside the entrance of Széchenyi Baths

The Opera

the building in which my and Mark's hostel was situated- these courtyards are very typical in Hungarian buildings

ornamentation on an old building now used as artist studios

I like the use of color on these shops in Buda

the entrance to the building that houses David's studio (part of it was on loan to Michael and me while here)

the falling ivy in the courtyard of the studio building

I feel like a mad scientist…perhaps an anthropologist spelunker.

I am really into the work of the artist Mike Peter Smith lately.  Can you guess why?

Friday was a blast and I am just now getting around to posting about it.  Nannette and I went to the Chinese market where I bought many pairs of crazy tights and enjoyed the empty spaces.  We enjoyed a coffee and lemonade at a really compelling cafe, Csendes (meaning silent), and shopped at Retrock.  We worked on the video and made spaghetti in the evening and then went off to the fashion show at Gödör.  It was one of those wild magical days full of serendipity.

Nannette and I have been collaborating on a video piece the last couple of days…

I’m not exactly sure how it will turn out, but it’s been a lot of fun to work on so far.  Props involve a bathtub, oil paint, a rock, the stuffing from a plush pig’s belly, a sharp knife (to procure the pig guts), a gold threaded cloud puppet, one broken video camera, one working video camera, ink- black and shimmery blue.  Here’s a still image from shoot #1.

The clouds have been floating over my bed.  I think they like it near the map drawings…

Nannette forbade me from posting her image, but since Mark wants to know who my new friends here  are, here’s her picture (with a giant breast):

Uh oh.  She’s going to kill me tomorrow…

In the photo, we’re at a place called Gödör, which, in Hungarian, means “hole.”  At some point, the city intended to build an amphitheater here, but never finished it, so a private party created a club out of the hole that the city started to dig out and thus resulted the Gödör.  Here are some photos of this popular hang-out spot:

When Mark was still with me for the first couple of days of my time here, we saw our friend Chris play with his friend’s band inside.

Getting back to tonight, at this point in the evening, we had been to a couple of openings, and decided to indulge in some decadent drinks, so we ended up at (rats I don’t remember the name of it!) some lovely bar.  Here we met friends, and got drinks that looked like this:

a rose-tini

an extra dirty martini (I've never seen this much care put into drinks before!)

You can see our bartender just behind my martini glass.  Just in case you think I’m spending all of my time here partying, here is an image of some work I did today.  I finished (I think) two smallish- to mid-sized island paintings:

In Budapest, even a casual walk down the street to Kaiser market is an adventure.  Here are some of the sights:

a view of the corner just north of my apartment building

a building I pass often- I bet it has hundreds of stories to tell

This particular Kaiser market is just like a regular grocery store, but it is located in this large market hall.  Also housed in the same building is a small flea market and several snack stands, and the like.

the market hall

the flea market, where the propretors are constantly rearranging the display of their wares

stuff galore

Since I tricked you into coming to the market with me, now you can help me carry these heavy bags home- köszönöm! (thanks!)