The past 12 months have been a swirl of activity which is still in progress. The year began with lots of work in the studio. This was followed over several months with three shows, teaching 2 workshops, attending 2 workshops and then making the decision to sell our home of 39 years!!! That certainly put a new slant on my activities.
With that decision made 98% of my studio and art activities ceased to focus on preparing to put our home on the market while looking for a new location. I was so pleased when I received the invitation from Judy Kirpich to participate in this blog hop which was initiated by my good friend Kathy Loomis.
Both Judy and Kathy are friends whose work I admire as well as how they have pursued their interest and passion for art and both have very popular and interesting blogs. Check them out at:
Blog Hop Part 1
The first part of this "hop" is to respond to 4 questions:
1. What am I working on?
2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?
3. Why do I do what I do?
4. How does my process work?
Mystical Notion - Terry Jarrard-Dimond
On first glance you might think these are simple questions but I don't find them so simple. Let's see...
Well as I mentioned earlier, I'm not actually working on anything right now except re-establishing a studio. For about two years I have been exploring work that has been stained, painted, printed, drawn upon, heavily stitched - both hand and machine stitching. I also use both piecing techniques and appliqué. While this work looks different from my work of previous years, for me it is always about discovering the unknown. I begin the trip and through the process of making one decision at a time, I uncover a work. The work continues to have the feeling of landscapes which might be an earthly landscape, spiritual landscape or dream landscape.
I think it is difficult to identify how your work is different from others working with the same materials but I'll say my use of shape and interest in the relationships of shapes is what makes it identifiable. Placing shapes in a space comes very natural to me and I get great pleasure from moving things around until I'm satisfied with what I see.
Midnight Garden - Terry Jarrard-Dimond
I am a doer. I am compelled to make things and hopefully what I make is art. This began when I was a child. I made all sorts of things, I drew and painted and found the most pleasurable part of my day in school was when we were allowed to cut, paste, draw etc. I did not think of this as a career path but rather just something I loved to do. I have had periods in my life when I wasn't making much art but never when I wasn't making something.
My process is rather standard. Usually I make something in response to something I have heard, seen, discovered, dreamed. I often pin things up and ruminate over them for long periods of time before I know why I'm interested. Once I understand my interest I figure out how to use that image or idea as a jumping off point to making work. I generally work on only one thing at a time but while I'm working I usually begin to "see" the next work.
Black and White Fan Calligraphy - Christina Laurel
Blog Hop Part II
An important part of this project is to introduce readers to quality blogs that might be new for you so let me introduce Christina Laurel. Actually I wrote about Christina earlier this year in an Artist Profile: http://studio24-7.blogspot.com/2014/01/christina-laurel-she-lives-and-breaths.html. You can find Christina's blog at: http://www.claurelartist.com/blog.html
Christina works primarily in paper and her work can be 2-dimensional, three dimensional or just recently she has begun to explore installation work. Her esthetic is very elegant and has an asian flair which surfaces both in some of the papers she chooses to incorporate in her work as well as some of the shapes and forms she uses.
Perhaps like many of you, she has had a life long love and interest in art but due to the twist and turns of life she did not complete her art training until just a few years ago when she earned her degree in studio art from the College at Brockport-SUNY. She is wasting no time in pursuing her passion and has just recently returned from a successful 6 week artist-in-residence in Paducah Kentucky sponsored by the Paducah Arts Alliance. During this residency she explored constructions and approaches for installation as well as meeting with people from the area.
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Christina is an excellent writer and her blog postings are thoughtful and interesting. I first met Christina when she viewed a showing of my work at the Fine Arts Center in Greenville SC. She told me she was going to write an article about the show and I was blown away when I read her poetic description of my work.
Christina works primarily in paper and her work can be 2-dimensional, three dimensional or just recently she has begun to explore installation work. Her esthetic is very elegant and has an asian flair which surfaces both in some of the papers she chooses to incorporate in her work as well as some of the shapes and forms she uses.
Ether Reality - Christina Laurel
Perhaps like many of you, she has had a life long love and interest in art but due to the twist and turns of life she did not complete her art training until just a few years ago when she earned her degree in studio art from the College at Brockport-SUNY. She is wasting no time in pursuing her passion and has just recently returned from a successful 6 week artist-in-residence in Paducah Kentucky sponsored by the Paducah Arts Alliance. During this residency she explored constructions and approaches for installation as well as meeting with people from the area.
Christina at work.
