From the National Encaustic Conference, a list of questions asked by Kay WalkingStick in her  workshop (as reported by Linda Womack). These are wonderful questions; questions that I wish that someone had asked me 20 years ago – and then asked them again annually. These are questions that cut to the heart of making art and why we do it.

1. Do you spend at least a couple of hours in the studio every day? (about half of the people in the room were able to say yes, but Kay said that was better than she thought it would be.)
2. What is your goal for your art career? (Have your work shown in a museum, pay your bills and feed your family or somewhere in between — it’s all valid)
3. What are you looking for when you go to look at art? Does your work fulfill that need?
4. Who is your favorite artist and what do you expect their art to do for you?
5. What subject do you want to investigate?
6. How to do conceptualize your work? How do you begin (through color, image, idea)?
7. How are your pieces related to one another, if at all?
8. What symbolism are you trying to convey?
9. Who is your audience? What do you want your audience to see?

In reading Kay WalkingStick’s own artist statement, she reflects a little on these questions herself:
“I initially painted landscape in the mid 1980s. My question then was, what does landscape visually imply? What does the earth convey to us metaphorically, and how can I use this visual trope to express my personal take on our late 20th c. experience? I continue to explore these questions but their meanings have seemed to change as I change.”

Encaustic painting is painting with heated beeswax to which colored pigments are added. In an era when collage is being explored deeply, encaustic is a natural medium, since it allows both painterly explorations of color and the possibility of embedding objects and layering. The technique has been around since (at least) ancient Egypt, when it was used to create mummy portraits.

In 1955, Jasper Johns used this technique to create one of the first of his flag paintings. The Metropolitan Museum of Art describes the process:

“The painting consists of three separately stretched panels of cotton fabric joined at the back: the forty-eight stars area; the seven upper stripes to the right of the stars area; and the long area of the six stripes below. The painting is predominantly in the wax-based medium of encaustic. Johns worked on each panel separately, first laying down the overall flag design in charcoal. After applying a thin ground of unbleached, translucent beeswax, he built up the stars, the negative areas around them, and the stripes with applications of collage: small cut-out pieces of newsprint, other paper, and bits of fabric. He dipped these into molten beeswax and adhered them to the surface while the wax was hot. He then joined the three panels and painted over the entire surface with short, deliberate strokes of more unpigmented beeswax and touches of white oil paint.”

I have been poking around the internet, gathering more information on this technique. The most fascinating bit that I have found so far is a 12 page booklet titled, “Examples of Stencils and Masks” by Linda Womack from the 2008 National Encaustic Conference. Linda is the author of a book on the topic, Embracing Encaustic (which I have not seen yet) and the teacher of a recent workshop at the John C.Campbell Folk School. She has posted lots of exciting photos of the workshop on her blog.

The Second National Conference of Encaustic Painting at Montserrat took place June 6-8, 2008. Several bloggers have posted their comments on the conference, including an online presentation of the talk, “Encaustic with a Textile Sensibility” (Thanks to Joanne Mattera for this list!):

• Linda Womack’s Embracing Encaustic: Conference, Day 1; Conference Days 2 and 3; Linda’s Critique with Kay WalkingStick)
• Judy Wise’s blog: Encaustic Conference, Part 1; And Judy’s close encounter with Norman Laliberte
• Deanna Wood’s Artist Emerging blog
• Nash Hyon’s Encaustic Process blog
• Supria’s Encaustic Musings blog
• Daniella Woolf’s Encaustifiberopolis blog, which features an excerpted look at her talk “Encaustic with a Textile Sensibility” She begins, “I opened the door to encaustic from my perspective as a textile sculptor. The encaustic “medium” energized my work, and forever changed me.”

I’m not sure that I am ready to take the plunge into encaustic, but the layerings give me some inspiration for ways to take my acrylic paintings and textiles!

images:
top: Metropolitan Museum of Art via Flickr artist ggnyc
middle: Elise Wagner
bottom: Linda Womack

I love the patterns from the Arts and Crafts/ Art Nouveau era. Chronicle books has recently released a 19th century pattern book, Plants and Their Application to Ornament A Nineteenth-Century Design Primer By Eugène Grasset Introduction by David P. Becker. What makes this book special is that a plant is beautifully drawn on one book plate. Then the next book plate has that same plant interpreted as a design motif, with several variations. In an interview, David Becker explains the concept of the pattern book:

“This type of book is really a ‘pattern book,’ (sometimes called ‘model book’ or ‘ornament book’) the illustrations of which are used by other artisans and/or designers as ideas for works in various media. They are related, but perhaps slightly different, than books of anatomy or expression expressly meant for artists to use in their paintings, tapestries, or sculpture….

What is the history of the ‘pattern book’? DB – Pattern books actually began in the medieval period, even before printing was invented, when artisans themselves would sketch out their repertory of designs in small sketchbooks to show potential customers the range of objects they could produce. Eventually artists began inventing design motifs and reproducing them in prints, from which other artisans could produce objects. This is a huge category, including furniture, jewelry, silverware, fans, clothes, architectural motifs (interior and exterior), landscaped gardens, and so on. This specific type of book did change somewhat after the Industrial Revolution, when the more corporate ’sales catalogue’ came more into use, displaying ready-made products—but it didn’t disappear.

What would be our modern equivalent to this type of book? DB – I think the ‘pattern book’ still survives, if not exactly in a book form. For instance, catalogues from Home Depot or other do-it-yourself stores present hundreds of different doors or kitchen counters for the individual consumer to pick from and assemble, in any variety of paint colors. Finally, the Internet is, I believe, a logical continuation of the pattern book…”

Chronicle obtained the book from the Boston Museum of Art. While I would dearly love to have the book to hold and read in bed, I am cheap. I discovered that the BMA has which has decent resolution, large size (800 x 800 pixels) individual plates from the book available online. I can’t read it in bed before I put out the light, but it is free, which is always good.

In this morning’s New York Times, there is an article about Cal Lane, sculptor who whittles thick industrial metal into graceful lacy motifs reminiscent of your grandmother’s wedding dress or of delicate Scherenschnitte.

Ms. Lane, 39, grew up on Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, and studied welding, planning to use the technique to make art (and, if that proved impossible, simply to make a living). Some sculptors, including Richard Serra, who has called welding “a form of stitching,” use the technique to join pieces of metal. Ms. Lane, by contrast, uses her torch to cut baroque patterns into such mundane objects as shovels, Dumpsters and old oil drums.

The work is about the contrasts between the industrial and the fanciful, the opaque and the transparent. Ms. Lane described herself as ‘a person who always has opposites in my head.’

In an artist’s statement, Lane says about her work:

“I like to work as a visual devil’s advocate, using contradiction as a vehicle for finding my way to an empathetic image, an image of opposition that creates a balance – as well as a clash – by comparing and contrasting ideas and materials.This manifested in a series of “Industrial Doilies”, pulling together industrial and domestic life as well as relationships of strong and delicate, masculine and feminine, practical and frivolity, ornament and function. There is also a secondary relationship being explored here, of lace used in religious ceremonies as in weddings, christenings and funerals,

In this Structure I hand cut lace trimming patterns into 9 I-beams, then constructed a tower, simultaneously macho, and of delicate finery. The metaphor of lace further intrigued me by its associations of hiding and exposing at the same time; like a veil to cover, or lingerie to reveal. It also introduces a kind of humor through the form of unexpected relationships. Like a Wrestler in a tutu, the absurdity of having opposing extremist stances is there for reaction and not rational understanding; the rational discussion arises in the search for how one thing defines the other by its proximity.”

Links to more of Cal Lane’s work:

• Cal Lane’s web site
• Nova Scotia College of Art and Design
• Page and Strange Gallery

Designer Stefan Mumaw (co-author a book on jumpstarting your creativity, Caffeine for the Creative Mind) created a list of 17 Rules For Designers. This list was originally published in the How Blog. I edited the list down a bit to a few jolts that might inspire the lagging artist:

1. Pay attention to detail and everything that surrounds you.
A designer should have to be able to pay attention to the small details in both design and life. Sometimes the details that most individuals would either overlook or be too lazy to pay attention to will make a project great. Spell check everything, find value in correct punctuation, calibrate your monitors, color-correct images, go to press checks, make sure it works on every browser and every platform, build a mockup, name your layers, organize fonts, call…don’t email, backup your files and stop naming things FINAL. Like insurance, the positive and negative results are usually magnified in crisis. This is true of one’s environment too. Noticing the details of an eroded piece of wood might lead to you using it as a brush or background image in a project that you’re working on. Design is all around us wherever we go (even nature has it’s own design), and being able to pay attention to it often helps in some way or another.

2. Outwardly express your passion.
Passionless design is like a grill with no propane. If you’re not passionate about what you do, your work will show it, your character will show it, your life will show it, so find some charcoal or do something else.

3. Fail triumphantly.
This is stolen from Disney’s “Meet the Robinsons” but it’s 100% true. If you’re not willing to go so far out on a limb that you fail miserably, you’re not getting any better. Success may not be at the end of the branch, but anyone and everyone can grab the answers that are around the roots.

4. Know your limitations.
My kids often bite off more than they can chew at dinner and the result is really uncomfortable to watch. It usually involves watery eyes and a fresh napkin. Know what we have the ability to do and where we’ll need help early in the process. There’s nothing wrong with getting help or saying “no.”

8. Remove thy pride.
We pour ourselves into our work, we’re proud of the solutions and ideas we generate, but what separates us is the client. We do this for them, we are communicators first, and as such, we need to be able to put aside our pride for the sake of the client and their wishes/goals/business. It’s completely acceptable and encouraged to defend one’s work, but it’s also equally acceptable and encouraged to be able to remove our own pride from a situation and serve the client.

10. Play.
Ideas don’t always appear when you’re sitting in an expensive business suit and staring at your computer monitor. Put on a Mexican wrestler’s mask, play some office hockey, finally set up and execute that practical joke on the new guy. Sometimes being able to play and laugh releases ideas that are stuck inside your brain. Designers should be curious creatures, and with curiosity comes playfulness. You don’t have to be silly or a jester all day long, but a certain measure of playfulness goes a long way to promoting creative thought and it certainly makes what we do a lot more fun.

13. Never, ever, ever stop learning.
The moment you think you know everything, your learning/growing/executing curve stops right there and you will be doomed to a life of simply repeating what you know. This industry is constantly turning over with new technology, new avenues of communication and new techniques to reach new people. The desire to constantly relearn the technical skills required to execute our ideas is crucial to our future success, but moreover, our desire to improve our ability to generate better ideas and conceptualize stronger solutions is of greater importance. Anyone can use Photoshop. Only you can decide why to use it.

14. Assemble the right group.
Surround yourself with people that are smarter than you and truly support your creative endeavors. Don’t under estimate the importance of people who genuinely encourage your passions. You’ll need them. Alot.

15. Look behind everything that is in front of you.
The obvious may be the right answer, but you’ll never know until you’ve looked beyond it to see.

16. Fall in love with the aesthetics of the world.
Typefaces, color, architecture, music, the human body… There are even beautiful curves to emotions and conversations. Pay attention to the beauty in mediums outside of that project on your desk and you might find that inspiration you’re looking for.

Poking around on the internet, I also found a taste of the book itself: three exercises from creativity:
The following three exercises are excerpted from Caffeine for the Creative Mind, by Stefan Mumaw & Wendy Lee Oldfield, published by HOW Design Books:

1. There are signs posted around every office in the world, signs that warn us of impending danger, bathroom segregation, or even which way the exit is. What if those signs were changed to an international pictorial language that not only identifies, but adds art to the space? Forget the shapeless figures and celebrate the difference between men and women, janitors and upper management! Create new signs for:
a) Men’s/Women’s Room
b) Fire Extinguisher
c) Janitor’s Closet
d) Executive Washroom
e) Parking Garage
f) Exit

2. Every one of us has dreamt, at some point in our lives, what it would be like to be rich and famous, living in Beverly Hills, shopping on Rodeo Drive, walking overtly pink poodles with more bling around their neck than the NBA bench-warmer down the street. We’ve imagined what that life of luxury is really like. Oh, the crazy things we would own! Let’s imagine it one more time. Your task is to write down 10 things a single woman living in Beverly Hills would own.

3. Point of view can make the difference between good and great. By looking at problems from another point of view, we often find solutions we’ve never seen before. On a piece of paper, draw nine triangles, all of equal size and composition and equally spaced across the entire paper. Now, interpret those triangles from another point of view by making a drawing using the triangles. Create something out of each triangle that sees it from the point of view of:
a) Mad Scientist
b) Baseball Player
c) Dancer
d) School Bus Driver
e) Mortician
f) Street Cart Hot Dog Vendor
g) Fish
h) Lawyer
i) Zookeeper

Courtesy of Youtube, The Sewing Machine song as sung by Betty Hutton. It the opening scene in a 1940’s musical. Sadly, no, she doesn’t love her sewing machine. Of course it might have more to do with the sweatshop that she is working in….

Ohhh the sewing machine, the sewing machine
A girl’s best friend
If I didn’t have my sewing machine
I’d a come to no good end
But a bobbin a bobbin and peddle a peddle
And wheel the wheel by day
So by night I feel so weary that I never get out to play

Ohhh the sewing machine, the sewing machine
A friend in need
If I didn’t having my sewing machine
A wicked life I’d lead
But a bobbin a bobbin and peddle a peddle
And dream about romance
So by night I feel so weary that I never get out to dance

Ohhh the sewing machine, the sewing machine
Me pride and joy
If I didn’t having me sewing machine
I’d a married James McCoy
But a bobbin a bobbin and peddle a peddle
And that’s the end of Jim
‘Cause by night I get so weary I don’t even look good to him

A Creative Boost arrived today from the HOW design newsletter:

“Ray Bradbury is the author of more than 500 published works—short stories, novels, stage plays, screenplays, TV scripts, poetry. Exploring become his oxygen and the secret of his prolific creativity. Bradbury told Jack Foster that he had read a short story, an essay and a poem every day since childhood.
“If you stuff yourself full of poems, essays, plays, stories, novels, films, comic strips, magazines and music,” Bradbury said, “you will automatically explode every morning like Old Faithful. I have never had a dry period in my life because I feed myself well.”
Make an exploration list for your life. Fill it with readings, films, music.”*

As visual artists, we need to be stuffing ourselves with inspiring treats for the eye: paintings, photos, textures (cloth, yarn), images that are surprising and amusing.

*excerpted from “zing! Five steps and 101 tips for creativity on command” by Sam Harrison

Flickr is a place of great inspiration! It can be a moment of refreshment in a hectic over-committed day. Whenever I need a quick break I head over to see what my ‘contacts’ and their ‘contacts’ have posted today. The visit lends itself to free association wandering. I may start out on a page of embroidery, but find myself wandering over to photos or paintings.

Today’s visit took me to a nature and children’s book illustrator, Kathleen Holshek Pequignot. Beautiful illustrations with nice detail, but not rigid or fussy. Her work is even more amazing when you realize that she has done most of it in a Moleskine notebook.

Kirsten Chursinoff is another contact that I like to check out regularly. Lots of contrast, color and imagination in her works. Her web site give a glimpse into the creative process that is intricate and allows her to create evolving works.

Somehow, in my wanderings, I found myself awestruck by a passion flower photo by Ken Hircock, a British walker, who records his surroundings for those of us stuck at a desk. Then, off for a brief, vicarious hike through the Columbia Gorge with Anne. I feel refreshed. I’m ready to start writing my nest class lecture… maybe even grade some papers…. get that exam posted online….

One of my favorite Flickr features is the ability to mark photos as ‘faves’. These then are aggregated into a collage in my Flickr space. I can drop in and take a quick revisit anytime I want. The collage also helps me to clarify what images are holding my attention right now. These images serve as prompts for visual ideas that I might want to explore on my own later…. in my copious free time….