Inspiring Artist - Judith Schaechter

Judith Schaechter, Stained Glass, Snakes and Ladders 31"X30", 2003

The first time I ever saw Judith Schaechter's work I was doing our yearly NYC Chelsea gallery walk with our senior high-school class and it was quite a few years ago. I was floored by a stained glass artist using the medium in such a fresh/new, illustrative way. To me, she is the first artist that has therefore given a medium that I felt had been relegated to sun catchers, imitation Tiffany lamps, craft fairs and cathedral metaphors of 'enlightenment' a new face. Not everyone may appreciate Judith's work since it has a macabre, sombre often deathly glow about it. She enjoys investigating "...sex and death, with romance and violence the obvious runners up. I'm trying to be as cliche, sentimental, and decorative as possible--not as a strategy for ironic commentary about how stupid sentimentality and clichés are, but because this is the stuff, that time and time again, I am obsessed with, in love with, and that I have faith in."- Judith Schaecter

Grant it my husband and I, appreciate this kind of sensibility. We are after all huge Tim Burton fans! We each are collectors of Nightmare Before Christmas memorabilia before we met...he had all the Jack stuff and I had all the Sally. In fact, my husband's cousin Facundo Rabaudi worked as a model-maker on the set of that film (along with quite a few other phenomenal animations), and we were able to see some of the actual pieces used in Nightmare in real life! We love Edward Scissorhands, Corpse Bride, and Tim Burton's book of poetry - The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy...so you see Judith Schaechter's work doesn't jar us in any negative way.

Technically, Judith's art is brilliant and painstaking work. She uses something called flash glass, a material that I am still looking into which she sand-blasts, etches and layers to get the color. I am still researching the areas that look so painterly.

My understanding is that Judth Schaecter uses the copper foil method, as do I. If this is true, it makes me happy to hear since I haven't had the opportunity to learn the lead came method and I always berate myself for it. So yes, I enjoy stained glass too. Here is a sample of one of my older stained glass pieces of a Phoenix.

My work pales in comparison to Judith Schaecter, but I am looking forward to the inspiration she serves me and my newest adventures in drawing on glass with powdered frit. Right now though I'm working on a series of oil paintings for the Herstory project and it will be while before I get to play with stained glass again.

Whether you work in glass, are a writer, illustrator or painter, seeing the work of other artists can inform your own discipline in countless ways. So check out new artists working around you and get inspired!

Celebrating Creativity @ The Oscars

This is a picture of a miniature model that I discovered while going out to dinner at a Spanish restaurant called EL CID in Paramus, New Jersey last weekend. The details in the model are incredible - Cheers to the artist or artists who continue to go unknown to me.

Behind all the fanfare and star-struck glitz of the Oscars (which many of us will be watching tonight) are the humble, model-makers, story-board artist's, art director's, musicians, costume designers, set-designers, writers, sculptors, prop-designers (along with countless other creatives...I can't seem to name this Sunday morning) that go unflanked by spotlights and paparazzi on the red carpet. So tonight, as you watch remember those who are instrumental in creating a genre of artistic expression that moves us regularly at box offices and in our DVD players. Good luck to phenomenal artist, designer extraordinaire, Elsa Mora and her Beau Bill the Hollywood Producer who will be attending the Oscar's tonight and the work he did on Lars and the Real Girl and The Kite Runner!

With all that said, let it be known that my favorite category is ...the ANIMATED FILM SHORTS!

We have some wonderful pieces being nominated tonight that are not big studio shorts and these are always my particular cup of tea. It takes a very special kind of artist to deal with making an animation; understanding how to create believable characters consistently and sequentially, pacing, composition, writing, sound, layering. I am in awe of the genre and hope to one day create something beyond my current youtube tests.

I have embedded part one of Moya lyubov (My Love) a Russian animated short that is one of the nominees tonight that I am particularly interested in, since it was done by painting onto glass!!! Check it out!!

To me this is an exemplary feat. It is the visual arts at its finest. This piece transcends translation, the way most universal works of genius do!

To see some of the other absolutely amazing nominated animated shorts go to TickleBooth who has done much of the online searching for us!

Here Comes the Snow & A Call to Live

All my students are at home hoping for a snow day tomorrow. This would make for our second long weekend (last weekend we celebrated President's Day), but you don't hear me complaining. I have so much painting to do, I could definitely use the time. My two four legged children are feeling the cold front too, check out my 14yr. old Maya and the new addition to the family, Chulo (8months) who has discovered a fetish for burrowing!

Last night the four of us (including my husband) ran outside around 10:30pm to frolic in the cold under the amber light of the lunar eclipse.

This really brings the concept of time passing, to the forefront for me. The next lunar eclipse will be three years from now. Which brings me to the point of today's blog. This blogging community has inspired me not to wait for New Years Eve or Birthdays to set my intentions into action. While I was out there in the blog world, I found SuperViva, great little site that encourages you to write down (list) your goals, dreams, desires for things you want to get done. I for one, have done this before in various journals. So why not just do this on paper? You may ask. Well, the cool thing is they encourage you to set timeline categories (like one of mine is 'Before I die' or 'In The Next Five Years'). You can connect with people who have the same goals and or, may have completed your goal and be able to assist you in getting your dream accomplished. I thought it was great fun! Try it!

Here are five of my top dreams to get accomplished:

1. Be a surrogate mother to chimpanzees (no, I am not joking)

2. Be able to walk or ride a bicycle to my daily grind

Right now, I commute a horrible 1hr&15 min. to work each way!

3. Write a graphic novel

4. Travel to Ireland, Africa and/or India

5. Adopt a child

So Share-- What are your top 5 (I know we all have more) things you would like to get done before you die?

To inspire you think of this:

One of my students, spent last weekend at an intense family gathering bidding farewell and celebrating a life past of his great Aunt Doris Willner. This was the quote on her refrigerator door, "Life's journey is not to arrive in a grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways shouting 'holy shit...what a ride'."

Update on Sunday, February 24, 2008 at 11:06AM by Amarettogirl

I was traveling through the blog world linking from one blog to another and I found this quote by author Dawn Markova on the Journal of the Meandering Muse Blog.
It's a great follow-up response to my last post.

• Fully Alive
  I will not die an unlived life.
  I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire.
  I choose to inhabit my days, to allow my living to open me, to make me less afraid, more accessible, to loosen my heart until it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise.
  I choose to risk my significance; to live so that which came to me as seed goes to the next as blossom and that which came to me as blossom, goes on as fruit.
  

~ dawna markova ~

I want to thank every one who shared their five 'must-do's and left me such great comments! Keep making, altering and better yet, accomplishing your goals!

Loose the Plastic Bag...the Beautiful way!

These are my reusable shopping bags, that I bought In Portland, Oregon made by the BlueQ co. I love these bags so so so much, that I ordered more and now have a total of 5 awesome shoppers! Enough to go bonkers in the supermarket, carry clothes for an overnight slumber party and a bag to pack flat in a suitcase on my next trip!

So can we please stop taking plastic bags at the grocery store?? BYOB!!! And if you have already been so gracious to be doing so, can we now take this opportunity to self-define, be creative and make that Shopper BEEE--OOO-TEE--FFULL?

According to the NY times, it is estimated that the US uses over 100 billion plastic bags a year. That is sad. What are we doing with all those bags? Building houses? I would like to think that we as a country are beginning to take the steps necessary to stop using plastic bags (since the Europeans have been practicing the waste-not BYOB for years) and we're usually not that far behind. Yet, when I was in Portland this summer taking a 'glass class' at Bullseye, I was sideswipe with how eco-conscious Portland was, I mean NO STORE gave a bag without first asking! Yikes, I felt like we are slow to the mark back here in New Jersey. Grant it, around my parts the supermarkets have started selling those small reusable photo-sharp dollar bags, Yipee! And Whole foods has just made using reusable bags official. I have all the faith in the world that we here in the Garden State will indeed get there. When we do, there is another 'creative' side to the 'Plastic or Paper, Actually Neither-thing' and that is DESIGN.

First, we have to ask, "Now, What do I do with the 1000 plastic bags stuffed in my pantry?" You CRAFT them!! Here are some of the things I've been doing with my plastic bags:

What's that I heard? You don't sew, crochet or latch-hook? NO WORRIES!

DDIYers (Design and Do-It Yourselfers) are rising to the challenge and creating beautiful alternatives to the shopping bag for YOU! Like Etsy seller and designer Lima Bean who makes great re-usable canvas shoppers, and Monk Rock Creations makes eco-friendly shopping bags. Say you really want one of those awesome crochet out of plastic bags bag, go see My Recycled Bags by Cindy who creatively places recycling at the forefront of all her designing. Warning these are FABTASTIC crocheted bags and you may want to purchase more than one!

Whatever you do, self-define yourself and BYOB.

On the Absence of Color

My White Bedroom Wall

I thought a good follow-up to my chaotic desk would be this image. The absence of color is often soothing to me and brings a fresh start to my palette. Silence is such an important tool in processing and listening to information. I think in the art world the equivalent is the colorless plane. The stretched white canvas or the fresh sheet of sketchbook paper ready to be marked. I guess it doesn't hurt that I have a fourteen year old white dog within whom I can see the universe.

There is also a weird relationship between a colorless environment and why so many of us love hotel rooms - something about the neutral space. My studio however is an over stimulating eye-popping hot-pink, lime, eggplant purple space that can only generate madness (which I of course associate with my particular brand of creativity). My bedroom on the other hand, needs to function as a space to foster meditation and peacefulness - hence whites and beige. Some of my art students unknowingly get caught up in this same 'to color or not to color' question and ask, "do we HAVE to add color? Color is going to ruin it!!" Then there is the other group of students who say "Are we going to get to add color to these, because the value-only drawings aren't as fun." Interesting isn't it? Learning to quiet our minds from all the visual noise is a challenge.

Now a moment in defense of a color. Buy the book Color by Victoria Finlay and discover an amazing history and origin of every major color we engage with as creatives.

Who Says Disorganization is a Sign of Creative Genius?

Apparently, there is some truth to this notion, although I would much rather be organized!

It seems that this has been a subject of philosophical debate. There has been an 'on and off again' controversy with creatives about whether or not your lack of organization caters to or distracts from your creativity. I just know that when I am in the throws of a project (which just so happens to be obsession over this blog right now) I am in the biggest state of disorganization there is. However, and this is a big BUT, I can't start a new project (and I usually live on 3-4 projects at a time on average) until everything is put back in its place and clean. Wow, but this image is my desk as of this week - which is a direct result of this blog! So I have a plan, I will update this blog three days a week (instead of everyday) Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. So hopefully, the next time you see my desk it will appear much more 'tidy'.

So I have a question for y'all. Is 'messiness' the dress your muse finds herself in when your in the throws of creating or is your muse a polished dresser always ready for those impromptu run-ins with the paparazzi?

Update on Sunday, February 17, 2008 at 01:40PM by Amarettogirl

O.k. so that was as long as I could go...Today is Sunday and I cannot wait until Monday to update my blog!!! So this is a follow-up/quasi-disclaimer announcing that I cannot box myself into any time frame of when it is and isn't o.k. to blog. In fact, having an excuse to write everyday even for 15 minutes is important to me and so I blog when I blog, mess or no mess.

Dia de San Valentin

This is a ceramic drape-mold wall piece that I made as a wedding gift for a friend.

Well -today is that lovely day of tugging on someone's shirt sleeve and reminding them that you celebrate your LLLL OOOOO VVVVVV EEEEE for them. And no worries if that person is not an intimate partner, but instead a person who has simply lit up your world with "I'm there for you always-buddy".

For example, yesterday I received a phone call from a florist trying to make a surprise delivery of flowers. Since my hubby insisted they were not from him, all I could ask myself was "Who could they be from???" I asked this question over and over until the delivery arrived. Honestly, I was kind of excited, yet nervous about having the prospect of a secret admirer lurking in my midst, especially one that wasn't my husband. Could someone else find me special???? What if it was someone creepy? Having an anonymous crush can be amusing, but only for a bit. So the flowers were delivered and I was spared all the mysterious-secret-spy-movie-stuff and was deeply relieved and moved when the card read "From MOM, Happy Valentines Day!" So please at least take out a moment to call Mom or Dad today. Or if yor mom is anything like my mom, you'll never hear the end of it:-)

I received some wonderful stories and words from people - so thank you to all - YOU know who you are. I encourage visitors to this blog to read these fantastic little stories that my guests have shared. Stories of burnt overflowing rice and parental love that lasted through the ages. Life is great and regardless of the commercialization we can't deny what makes it great is love.Would you like some wine with this cheese?

Love Story With No Words

Well, here we are one day away...

I have received some awesome feedback to my blog questions and I'm going to post those responses as tomorrows special VDAY BLOG! So its not too late to add your responses to those last two blogs.

Also here's an awesome tip- if you're running out of time and need to do some serious lovenote gifting go to this awesome PHOTOJOJO site designed with us creatives and photographers in mind. You are going to love these easy peasy ideas. Just click on this little arrow:

pRECIOUS mETAL loVE

Today's love note goes out to all my students for all the love I get from them on a daily basis...enough to keep me at my job!

This piece of jewelry is made out of precious metal clay (pmc) and what an awesome material this is! Invented by the Mitsubishi corp. PMC is fine silver that has been ground down into a powder and mixed with starch to make it pliable - like clay. When you are done sculpting it- you fire it and VOILA your left with 99% silver - not sterling silver but pure silver! Sweet huh?

I made a few of these word necklaces for holiday gifts a couple of years ago.

So here is today's request, you favorite 'love' word is...click on post a comment and let me know!!

Its not to late to leave me a funny VDAY story in the last post comment slot - I want to post them on VDAY!

Love is in the Air

This is the week with one of the most reviled and adored reasons for being romantic that there is- VD...oh no, I mean Valentine's day.

In honor of this week, and all the crazy things I have done in the name of love. I've decided to do a-blog-a-day in the name of that dirty little word 'love'. But don't worry thats just four days!!

So for today, Monday Feb. 11th, I have posted 'Falling For You' and embroidery piece that I made, on red satin. I made a series of 'drawings' on the sewing machine with the dog-feed down so I could move the fabric around at will. I ended up really liking the bobbin side (the wrong side of the fabric) as opposed to the top-stitch side. For this particular piece I placed the satin as the bottom fabric- hence, you're looking at the back of the piece.

Here's a funny vday story: I anonymously sent 14 rhyming and paper-engineered valentines beginning on Feb.1st to my now husband when we were barely dating and just co-workers. He had absolutely no idea at the time who these 'secret-admirer' valentines were from and he started visiting the school psychiatrist and principal in fear they were from a student (we work @ a school). I revealed who I was in the last valentine (on the 14th) via a scavenger hunt card, complete with landscape arrows that led him to a basket of gifts and a pop-up card revealing my pic! Boy was he relieved!

It may be difficult to see (the post button below here) but write me a comment and share one of your NON-DEPRESSING vday stories!!!