Mar 16, 2012

Ah, Whitney-Anne

How much did I love working with her? SO MUCH. And she's cheeky, just like a "proper" English woman, in my mind, should be. I loved reading her updates and conversing with her on facebook throughout these months. Little things here and there, the time we had the mail sent and received and no photos to speak of between the two of us. That was an episode of dimmed excitement for me, as both of our cameras were not working.

All this is to say, that I was thinking earlier about how I actually converse the most with my fellow artists in ATCTE. And you know, the vast majority is on facebook or on their various blogs, where I try to keep up, and at least read about them when I see them pop up on my google reader. I had an idea in regards to that, and it may show up in the final exhibition as the literature / statement aspect. The idea just floated in but it's still formulating.

Anyway, you should check out Whitney's Weird Stuff where she wrote the nicest recap on her end, of what transpired this year with the one mandala. I loved reading it and looking at the photos, and you will too. Go there now and see what happened to the piece I started!

          _______________________________________

Just after I wrote the above passage, I got up from where I was sitting...I was having this nagging feeling yesterday that my portion of the other mandala wasn't finished, even though I had acted like it was finished, shot and edited the photos, saved them in the appropriate desktop folder....but no, it wasn't finished...So I just got up, and walked past an unopened box of Sweethearts candy from this Valentine's Day. They're not my favorite candies, but I always liked the little stamped words. So I walked by the box, and then promptly reversed my walk, picked up the candy and went to work immediately finishing the mandala, just now. Yep, it's done now. I felt like this was such a "sweet" little piece. I always loved the markings in the background, the stitching, the texture; it has a whimsical and eccentric quality to it. I can only imagine that it was a bit of Whitney-Anne's personality sneaking through. This finished product is bright and very fun!

So here us our little mandala, from start to finish, Cycle 7, Round 4:

Round 1:


 Whitney-Anne Baker to Shana R. Goetsch
Brixham, Devon, England/UK to Baltimore, MD, USA



Shana R. Goetsch to Whitney-Anne Baker 
 Baltimore, MD, USA to Brixham, Devon, England/UK



Whitney-Anne Baker to Shana R. Goetsch
Brixham, Devon, England/UK to Baltimore, MD, USA


 And now for the final mandala!





Mandala (with candy) finished by Whitney-Anne Baker and Shana R. Goetsch in Baltimore, MD, U.S.A.

Layers - One on Top of Another

I have updates from Alexis and her father, Richard Iammarino. They are working on an interview that I submitted to them a few weeks ago as well, so look for that coming soon. In the meantime, we can look at this layered triptych imagery that they sent to me, and I received just a few days ago. It's always very exciting to see what Alexis has been up to, and this was no exception. I can see definite elements of both Alexis and her father in these three pieces. Their two styles merged together really seamlessly and effortlessly, in my opinion. I am very excited to see these go up on the wall for the exhibition!

Here they are:










Mar 14, 2012

Within the Family II

I received the mandala back from my dad, Robert Goetsch, just this week. If you'll remember, he insists he is not an artist. Oh why are the non-artists always so creative and artistic then? He has typified this very symptom in his portion of this piece, and I'm not entirely surprised. He created a very "Wisconsin" themed mandala for me to work on. He depicted the cow jumping over the moon from the nursery rhyme, The Cat and the Fiddle (or Hey, Diddle Diddle as it is often known)...




Perhaps I'll make some dishes and spoons to go along with this cheese wedge...?

Mar 10, 2012

The ATCTE Exhibition

Hey, hey. Guess what time it is...it's exhibition time! Here is the poster image I created for our first ever event...


If you are in the Baltimore area, please join us! It will take place in conjunction with the 2012 MFA in Community Arts Thesis Exhibition, "Heartland". This exhibition will run April 25 - May 16, 2012 with a reception open to the public on May 12 from 5 - 7 pm. Be there, or be square, Bmore (and really, who needs squares when we have all of these lovely circles).

Hope to see you!


Mar 3, 2012

Within the Family

Hey all, a few things...
I am getting us all ready in the ATCTE project for our first exhibition, this spring (more information on that to follow)! I have also started a mandala with my father, a "non-artist". He couldn't escape me though, because I used to see his doodling when I was younger. Very accurate, tiny doodling involving three point perspective. Not an artist, my foot. Those with talent always say that, don't they?

Here is the start of it, I began with something small that wouldn't overwhelm him. This is a pre-fabbed cardboard something or other that I believe came with some sort of dishes. The outside had a shiny coating on it, so I thought it might create a nice texture if I sanded it down with sandpaper. I then put several aqua blue watercolor coats over it, which then clung to the sanded marks. The inside is acrylic, because it had no shiny coating, and it was therefor easier to paint over and soak in. I used several shades of blue because it's both my dad's and my favorite color...



I know that he at least has glue, scissors, pencils and pens and markers at his house, so we'll see what transpires. I sent it in the mail yesterday along with my third round with Brian Sylvester. Stay tuned for the update on that cycle, as I'm just waiting for his to get to me first. I am working on a "Turning the Tables" post with Alexis, I will be generating the questions for her this weekend. So, keep an eye out, more exciting updates are coming soon!