Hello there! We are working our way into April and I’m so thankful to be closer to summer. I recently came across a small gallery in Robbinsdale just on the outskirts of Minneapolis and close to where I grew up. I became a member specifically so I could enter their show “March Madness”, a members only show. It was fun to go to an art opening again and actually be in the show! The show was judged and there were ribbons and prizes and I’m humbled to say that I won “Best of Show”! In winning “Best of Show”, I won back the membership fee I paid, along with a bit extra. I have also taken on the roll of Board Secretary at the gallery. The gallery is taking show submission ideas for 2022 and a fellow artist friend and I are writing up a proposal for a collaboration. I really hope my vision comes to fruition, it would be awesome to have an upcoming show to create a body of work for.
I am nearing the end of a new work that is pencil, charcoal, wood stain and oil on panel. In my time since starting back up in the studio, I have been struggling to find my own unique voice through my mediums. I think this new work is a turning point for me. I am absolutely loving the vibe of pencil on raw panel and playing with stains on wood. I am in the process of building a handful of new panels for this new direction. Working on panel is really new to me and I’m coming across a lot of questions about the quality of the panels themselves. The ones I am working on now were built for me and are made from materials from a hardware store. I know there are a lot of chemicals in plywood panels and that makes me nervous. I want the integrity of the work I make to last as long as possible. I would be mortified if I put so much love and energy into a work, someone purchased it, and then the board warped or the surface cracked, or in 10 years the drawing fades or turns color. Another artist in my building was visiting my studio recently and I posed these questions to him and he said “well, after you sell it, its not your problem”. I was like “What?! Why wouldn’t you care about the longevity of your work? If it falls apart after you sell it, you look bad and you give your craft a bad image. Why would you want that?” I completely disagree with his statement. So there are questions I am looking into in order to create the best product I can. Once I find the answers I’m looking for, I will share them here with you!
Thank you for reading! Cheers,
-Cara