The Laramie Project and Montessori Schools

I donated these two images from the Laramie Project to the new Montessori school in Laramie. One of the ladies in my Bible study is playing a huge role in setting up the school and sitting on the board. She asked me to donate some work; I decided to donate two photographs. Here they are.

The Connor: Hallway

The Connor: Window

Kevin Sloan

Pat Kikuit, University of Wyoming professor and the Student Art League Adviser, is a good friend with Kevin Sloan. Sloan was a part of the Visiting Artist Series at UW a few years back. We (the Student Art League students and Pat) were able to have lunch with Kevin and tour his studio). It was a great opportunity to meet/re-meet this fascinating and talented painter from Santa Fe, New Mexico. Three of the most significant pieces of advice which he gave us included…

      1. Have your studio space be a place you are comfortable in.  It should be a place where you want to spend time.  His studio included a “work” area, a couch, a desk and an inspiration area.  Though his studio was quite large I think this can be achieved in a smaller space.

      2. Don’t approach galleries too soon.  Right out of graduate school/college is not always the right time to pursue representation at a gallery space.  There is a good chance you are not ready.  One of the first galleries Sloan approached looked at his work and said “keep doing this and come back in 5 years." This was not because the gallery did not like his work but rather because he simply was not ready.  Another reason to wait may be that you have not developed enough solid bodies of work at this time in your career.

3.   3. When you are working it is acceptable to accept distractions.  For Sloan, distractions (such as phone calls and visitors) are a way for him to get his mind on something else and often lead to great revelations.

What advice do you have for emerging artists?  What is the best advice you received as an emerging artist?

Klein Collection

Work by Kiki Smith

While we were in Santa Fe, we were given the opportunity to visit the Klein's art collection.  A couple of the students there were in an art history class studying contemporary minimalism and they knew nearly every artist in the show.  It was pretty neat.  We saw several work by Andy Goldsworthy, which I was excited about.  We walked on a trail that he built and walks on many summers while creating work.

See more photos on Facebook

This was part of an installation.

Great Lesson Plans Online

13 Art Lessons that I found on a great blog for art teachers.  I think that these would be perfect for the boys I give lessons to over the summer.

1. Back to School Backpacks

2. Surrealism and Picture Consequences 

3. Paper, Scissors, Glue   
Lesson 2

4. Mehndi Hands

5. Dia De Los Muertos

6. Spectacular Skies

7.  Boxes
Boxes 2

8. Draw what you Build

9. Cardinals in the Snow

10. Chinese New Year

11. Crazy Hair Day

12. Molas 

13. Artist Trading Cards

Book Artist Sharon McCartney

 Oh, I absolutely love Sharon McCartney's Artist Books. 

She also has paintings, watercolors, fiber arts and mixed media.

I am curious to know how I can incorporate graphic design into book arts.
I found one way.

I know that there are ways, but how can I make it my own?

Moonlight And Music
Mixed Media Vintage Compact Book
3.25"H x 3.25"W

This makes me want to take the Book Arts class in the near future...

Here are the books I have taught myself how to make so far.  

These are just using scraps nothing facny, just trying to learn the basic techniques. 

My Work in the Student Art League Show had a zine with it.
I was actually told that I would like books arts but a couple of the girls there.

Zines could be one way to combine books and graphics.

My second and favorite book

My first book (well since 5th grade) 
Short Lived - Just got into the Book Arts Show at WOW

Muertos Mask

Here is my mask for the Ivinson Memorial Hospital Foundation fundraiser.  This year's proceeds will be going to support cancer research.  The pre-ball was the evening of Friday May 20 and the actual event, La Grande Fleur, was Saturday. .

I designed this mask with the Dia De Los Muertos masks as a source of inspiration. Within the first few hours of the pre-ball event my mask sold in the silent auction (two others did as well).  My mask was pictured on page 3 in the Laramie boomerang May 20, 2011 so check it out.

4orMore

Art Alley
Felicia Follum
Photography

Every year the University of Wyoming's Student Art League does an excellent fundraiser, The 4 or More Show.   The 4 or More event is composed of cutting 4”x4” panels of Masonite and mounting them onto balsa wood strips.  Each member takes 4 or more squares and creates some form of artwork on them.  They can also be used as a pedestal for a three-dimensional piece. 

For the actual sale the league picks a night when there is a concert or some other large event in the Fine Arts building, hangs the pieces on the kiosk wall and holds a silent auction.  The prices range from $4 to $44 in increments of, you guessed it, 4.  We usually sell upwards of 100 squares.

This fundraiser is excellent and raises a significant amount of money.  This past year my squares all sold for at least $16.  I was quite excited. 

Visit my website to see the rest of the images from this year and to see my squares from past shows.  One of my favorites from the past was a wood burned image of my salamander that stretched across two pieces.  A professor bought these two squares for her son.

Liquid Jesus
Felicia Follum
Photography

Dragonfly
Felicia Follum
Photography

Barnacles
Felicia Follum
Photography

Spider
Felicia Follum
Photography (no Photoshop)

I think that I would like to use this technique in the future to mount larger art pieces....Hmmm but what?  Any ideas?  What would you place on a 4"x4" square?

African American Posters and Visual Research

Though not up yet, 

the posters will be under my Social Justice category as well as the African American category.  

After my show in November 2011, all of the work will be up. 

Be sure to check back.  

If you sign up for my mailing list you will get to see images before the show.

My process typically includes a ton a of research.  I spend hours at the library reading about the topics.  I research online (blogs, websites and forums, even Wikipedia).  One of my favorite aspects of research is what I can't visual research.  It can include anything from looking through an old art history book to walking around downtown and looking at trains and the graffiti.  I also have a ton of photographs on my computer and a photography blog that I look through.  Here is some of the research I have been doing for my most recent body of work and upcoming art show.

1. Graffiti photographs - the graffiti all inspiration for a specific work(s)...

222 and 333

Kay Harvey, owner of 222 and 333 Galleries had work up and openings in both galleries tonight. Her work consists of abstract paintings. She tends to use a large variety of mediums. This show included oil, acrylic, Mylar, and aluminum.

We were also given the chance to chat with the galley curator and learn about the time consuming, and complicated process of picking work for a show.  We looked through considered work and discussed why work was or was not included.  

It helped me to see, how in a sense, your works acceptance into a show is not based on you work but rather how it will look with others work. 

Pat Kikut and Shelby Shadwell, both University of Wyoming professors, are represented at this gallery.

Racial Sterotypes

Here is an older graphics project. It is from a class that I took with David Carson.  We spent most of the class on one series of projects.  The assignment was to create a lecture that we would give about ourselves or our art work.  My talk and book were all about the myriad of racial stereotypes and prejudices that I have seen and experienced.

This 24"x36" poster was accepted into the AIGA Denver's Annual Student Exhibition in 2009.  

This quote is from my grandma.  When she found out that I was getting married she was overjoyed, not because I was getting married, but rather because I wasn't marrying a "nice white boy."  She then continued on about why she was glad that I was not marrying a black man.

Both my parents are white yet I am black, and maybe Native American (but I didn't know that was even a possibility until I was in college).  When I was little, kids would ask why I was black...

African American Social Justice Poster Series and More

I am currently in the process of brainstorming and researching for my solo show in November. The show will be focused on African American culture, history and politics. I am looking at creating a poster series as well as an ink and wash section. The posters will address individual topics such as hair in the African American community, Black theology, and hate groups like the KKK and their impact in everyday life (mine included). The ink drawings will be about individuals that have played a large role in African American history.

Here are seven topics that I researched a couple months ago and plan to use.

In addition to those listed above, there are several names, events, and issues that I would like to research more. Here are six.
Haji Malik Shabaz
Angela Davis
Mumia Abu-Jamal
Al Sharpton
Tyler Perry
and
Tuskeegee

I will share some of my visual research in the next couple weeks...

SITE, Santa Fe

While in Santa Fe we visited the SITE museum/gallery.  The current show consisted of three artists: Ruth Claxton, an installation artist; Amy Cutler, a painter; and Runa Islam, a filmmaker.

Amy Cutler’s work included detailed gouache drawings.  We were not able to photograph her work because it came from other galleries and museums.  One of her pieces was women carrying goats up a mountain side with a bunch of Tibetan prayer cloths.  This one reminded me of Bear Butte in South Dakotan and the large number of tobacco prayer bags.

Ruth Claxton’s installation was incredibly fun to play around in.  It was like a giant playground for adults.  This site specific piece consisted of mirrors, gray and white metal, and figurines.  The mirrors were arranged in ways that you could find all sorts of hidden objects and images. 

Runa Islam’s work consisted of several videos.  The most interesting one was of a room with a large number of sculptures and other art related objects.  She placed many balloons in the room and popped them.  The popping sound sounded like huge explosions.  There was second silent video that was meant to be seen at the same time.

This gallery/museum was a fascinating place to visit and explore.  There are more photographs below.

Composition project.

Take an artsy photograph. I selected one of wire fences in a field.

Benton City, WA

Use your photograph to come up with as many compositions as possible. The compositions should all be different and it should not be obvious that they were all the same photograph. Using Photoshop (or another editing program) to crop several sections of the photograph. Feel free to play around for a while. Create as many compositions as you can. Look at them in black and white and color.

Modifications to the lesson plan and final photos below...