Artistic Entanglement
I am re-conceiving my home office as Home Field Station and my studio space near campus as Studio Field Station. What this means to me at this point is that I am making them into places where I work but in a more intensified and supported way. The rooms are themselves becoming artworks that help me feel, think, and make differently. And give me another viewpoint to consider my work from.
Over the holiday season, I invited two dear family members (nieces, who are sisters) to come into the Home Field Station. Two of the walls are covered with my tamarack bog photo print I have been using in my artwork, although pinned up upside down to create the effect of a camera obscura. I showed them the tall standing bookcase filed with the notebooks I have kept since being a teenager. And the other key aspects in progress - a desk and an artist’s traveling kit.
My nieces seemed to really appreciate this space. The next day they started a text thread of us three for the first time, and one niece wrote, "I'm inspired now to go on walks and sittings and REALLY look at the forest. " My other niece sent a photo of a black notebook on her lap with the caption, "I was inspired to buy a black notebook yesterday!" I felt so honored in an way that was so unusual. And reminded of the power of art, and what can happen when we let people into our work more deeply.
This has me wanting to write of another beautiful art entanglement. I recently met another artist, Claire Mack through an online class we were in together. Claire is an artist very attuned to the earth and mysteries; she makes tarot and oracle decks as well as paintings and prints. As we got to know each other better, she listened to the recording of my artist talk at Abel Contemporary Gallery and sent me a photo of a painting she had made in response. We both have put a print of this in our respective workplaces. Claire told me the other day that collectors had visited her studio, saw that painting, and commissioned her to make a larger version of it.
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