I painted a lot of swatches and cut them out with a circular edger puncher. I've digitized them in hopes to get them printed on fabric. Here are some results:
Amber & Adriana's Progress on Paonia Cocoons
Wet felting, something new to both of us, is starting to become routine and we are hitting our stride. We have also have been doing our home-visits. These moments have been special and unique, we are so thankful for all the friendly people who have welcomed us into their home and let us translate it into cocoons. If you live in Paonia and you're interested in setting up a home visit, email us at venisonmagazine@gmail.com we are still looking for people interested in being involved in our project.
These are in-progress shots of our Paonia Cocoons by Amber Imrie-Situnayake & Adriana Villagran
Progress Pieces
Struggling with imagining the finished product, but hell---the process is just such fun! The final showcase is on Thursday, January 29th beginning at 4pm at Elsewhere.
In progress.
Can’t say that starting a new year off with an artist residency is a mistake. My initial goal was to mix abstract images with organic shapes and to mix media, that being charcoal, ink and paint. When it was time to sit down and work, all I wanted to do was play with gouache swatches. “The Alternative Polka Dot” is what I’m tentatively calling the series. I’ve taken swatches I've painted, cut them into circles, arranged them into designs which I will digitize and turn into repeat patterns for fabric.
I eventually sat down to paint and churned out black trees. I painted other things beforehand, but currently there are black trees sitting on an easel in the studio. My attempt at adding to the series of geometric paintings I did last year was a terrible one. I couldn’t get into “the groove.” Anyway, the black trees represent life. Your life, my life, you know---a life. I plan to fill the background with dozens of colors---which will represent the chaotic world around us.
I haven’t completely forgotten about using charcoal and ink. It’s in the back of my head. I’ll find the motivation and desire at some point, I’m sure. Maybe that’s just not something to focus on for this Colorado venture. Meanwhile, I’ve been tossing back and forth the similarities and differences between being an artist and a designer. Right now I feel more like a designer than an artist. I’m excited to go to Lasting Impressions, a local screen printing shop to get some swatches made from the “Alternative Polka Dot” series. I’m upset I feel like I have to choose between being an artist and a designer.
I finally figured out how to explain the idea I proposed for this residency in the beginning. ‘To create chaos using tools of order.” I feel like my paintings revolve around chaos and order. I have this need to paint geometry, to control the lines and colors, to use shapes I create. I should have discussed this at the meet and greet with the residents of Paonia, but I couldn’t. This is the type of work I’ve created in the last couple years, and so I probably should've shared it. Instead I decided to wing the presentation. And boy did I wing it or what.
I ended up talking about my desire to design textiles and my desire to paint. “I like painting” is exactly what I said. Woop di doo. I studied fashion design at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles. That explains it. Err, maybe. I’m pretty sure I confused everyone there by getting straight to a point and not discussing the different aspects and concepts of my art or its history or future. It was truly abrupt. I’m going to be working on my presentation skills indefinitely.
I am happy I was able to bring something different to the table though---abstract, modern designs with textile aspirations.
My fellow residents and I have decided to have an art show at the end of the month, January 29th to be exact.
The four of us had a critique earlier this week, which was the best I’ve ever experienced. After feeling a little lost and torn between things, they helped me discover how to combine it all. The geometric paintings and contemporary textile designs will be brought to life in an installation. I’ve never created one before so this is exciting. One large installation will be the piece I’ll be showcasing at the end of the month. I’ve inserted some photos below to show you the starting point of this residency and where I am now.
First Week Recap
You can officially make fun of us, Paonia, we both suffered from altitude sickness for the first few days while we stayed at Elsewhere. Dizziness, nausea, and disorientation hit us and crippled our motivations to construct work. We spent the first four days thinking and talking things through. By Friday, we had come up with a concept and ordered materials for our collaborative work, which was good since we needed to talk about it at the meet and greet that evening.
I sketched this image to help illustrate our collaborative plans at Elsewhere. We will be making cocoons representing the homes and businesses of Paonia using wet felting techniques, stitching, home-visits, and object collecting. These cocoons will be installed in the upstairs studio and hung from canopy of woven sticks and twigs collected from around Paonia. The result will be an installation-map in which each cocoon will represent the identity of a place in Paonia and explore what is quintessential about each location.
While we waited for our wool for wet felting to arrive, we played and experimented with fiberous materials. Tomato was a big help, he really knew just what to do and when to do it.
Introductions: Collaborations at Elsewhere Studios
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Hailing from the Bay Area, Amber Imrie-Situnayake and myself have collaborated artistically since our days at the UC Berkeley Honors Studio, circa 2012. Last year we applied to Elsewhere Studios for a collaborative residency here in the ever lovely Paonia and as luck would have it we got a spot. We will be living and working at the Elsewhere house this January and February. Our goal is to test out new materials and stretch our wings a bit by getting some new experiments going. We will be sharing our journey here and also in the weekly section of Venison Magazine, which we founded last year alongside our fellow artist and friend, Lucy Wonsower. You can find our full portfolios including examples of our collaborative work at our respective websites. Give us a click: Amber Imrie-Situnayake and Adriana Villagran.
Departure
Constraints - is what I worked with during my stay at the Elsewhere, and is what I am grateful for. Constraints push me to experiment and find new directions. It is just like this blog post; I originally planned to edit and post the sound of rain drops hitting a tin sheet in the garden of Elsewhere in the morning of my departure, until I realized that it is not possible to post sound files with this account. So here it is, imagine it in your own way, through three different presentations of sonogram analysis of the sound that the Elsewhere played for me that morning.
With my deepest gratitude to the time I had (with my collaborator and dear friend Sibylle Irma) and people I met at Elsewhere, I look forward to see future endeavors of the Elsewhere and its supportive community.
Reiko Yamada, composer and sound artist
My lessons seem to always come to me in retrospect. I suppose this is the way for most, but for those of you living in the moment, never looking back or forward, I'm open for suggestions. When I arrived in Paonia my life was an uncertainty. I suppose that's always the way as well, but had I stopped to think I may have found myself turning back to those reliable almost-certainties. Instead I was given and took up residency in a building that in some way spoke to me. It said "be here." So with now immediate plans but to go back to what I've known I found myself unloading my car of my life's possessions into a funky little cottage that built on a vision and with the helping hands of a beautiful community. The energy was felt immediately and for the first time of a handful of times I sat on the well worn rug that would offer comfort to many and began to build my little fire. I pulled out my sketchbook that consists of more words than images and I wrote:10/6/14 "Fate has a funny and dominating way of making it's presence known when life seems almost hopeless. Wood stove crackling keeping me warm in the Gingerbread House, I sip on my tea without regrets at this very moment. Listening to Ray Charles, sitting on an oriental rug loved from years of footprints from artists past. The new chapter has begun. The desire to create art for my sanity has returned and grows like a tiny flame whipped to near extinction from life's uncertainty and despair. I look forward to climbing the ladder each night I'm here, this ladder made by some thoughtful hand. It's a sturdy ladder with a lot of character and I guess that's just what I need."
There was a freedom behind those walls of Elsewhere that reminded me everything is going to be ok and on the days with no worries I was restored by the energy there to hope for greatness and appreciation. As the days went on as they do I learned from my mates. Different perspectives and acts of kindness and thoughtfulness were daily lessons that I had somehow been immune to for some time. My studio, Filled with light and positivity, was a sanctuary where I could move freely without self consciousness. I could get weird whenever I wanted and I did. The time flew quickly and with each curtain drawn to the evolution and community involvement of that sanctuary I fell more deeply in love with my life. I suppose had I been more presently aware I would have understood that then in addition to now, but time moves quicker than the mind and I find myself working on a way to slow time down so I can live appreciating each moment until I move on. Heidl Hasenauer
Five things…a Daniel Fonken retro post
at once it is so easy to be a part of community here
Elsewhere & Paonia both abound with new friendships, connections as well as sweet summertime fruit
thrift stores, free stuff and give-away garden produce are three excellent realities of the lovely North Fork Valley
my original project proposal has blossomed into four separate-yet-linked series
from the fifth of July (during the "Paonia Cherry Days" festival) an abundance of photographs have filled many days since
mid-autumn now, looking back... these five things I revisit, these five things hold true, these five things remind me of the gift of this residency
daniel fonken, elsewhere resident july - december, 2014
danielfonken.com
Elsewhere Episode IV: A New Home
With this residency, I sought out to explore through video and mixed media what it meant to find home home. Having never left home before in 24 years, I wanted to explore new context and investigate the character and heart of this home of others. Paonia has answered my questions in a remarkable, unexpected way. There is so much diversity in such few residents and blocks of streets. From miners to old-schoolers; farmers, artists, musicians, story-tellers, "hippies", solar engineers, doctors, scientists, families. It is a community in every sense of the word. There's an awareness and concern for one-another's well-being and there is a humble intelligence to the simplicity here. The pace is slow, but there is always work being done and creativity flowing free. They are open, warm, and everyone is celebrated for their individuality. At the same time, there is a real seriousness about preserving the landscape and sustaining this way of life.
It was quite apparent early on that this is how people should be living.
I intend to further develop my video series upon returning to Sault Ste. Marie, ON. In revisiting these captured moments carefully and deliberately I'll assemble the videos experimentally through self-derived processes. The videos will be the first installment of my current research project "A Progressive Understanding of Home and The Journey"
Find the first finished videos here: http://vimeo.com/katyhuck
