 à la ligne, string and thread on denim, stained with fabric dye and bleach, 10 x 8 inches This semester I tried some new ways of working. The piece above was created for an assignment I had early in the semester. Our assignment was to create a painting inspired by a piece of art that we don't like. I first fell in love with painting when I saw impressionist paintings in high school, but have always disliked Renior. His chalky pastel palette is off-putting and his forms often lack definition. They're so etherial, like they're made of someone's hot breath. But the assignment intrigued me. I started looking at his paintings online and came across the painting Le pêcheur à la ligne. I was drawn to the phthelo green + beige color palette and marks he used, so decided to try and reproduce those elements of the piece, minus the subject matter. The first thing I did was turn the reproduction of the painting upside down as a way to isolate the colors and marks. Working from "back to front," I poured fabric dye on a canvas of stitched jeans that I had made earlier. Then I added some bleach to the dye. I worked back and forth until I created a "stain" to work on top of. Then I began adding lime green stitches to the denim using my sewing machine and drawing with a royal blue marker to describe some of the forms I observed, like the flittering leaves of the vegetation. Then, for several hours, I continued layering machine stitches, hand embroidery, and loose threads to the surface until the image felt resolved. I really enjoyed the assignment. It was a practice in empathy. I learned to appreciate the technique of someone's work who I usually have a negative reaction to. It was a little like being locked in a room with an enemy and being forced to find common ground.
Left: A Piece of Me, A Piece of You, acrylic, spray paint, oil pastels, string and thread on sewn canvas and repurposed clothing, 18 x 22 inches Right: Love Quote, repurposed clothing and mesh on sewn canvas, stained with fabric dye, and oil on pre-primed canvas, 22 x 18 inches I continued experimenting with mark-making throughout the semester. Above are two different examples of experiments in mark-making that I tried. On the left, I layered a lot of different colored sewing machine stitches on top of paint, spray-paint, and oil pastel until the colors began to blend together. This caused the canvas to warp and buckle. I had seen this technique several years ago in a video of Rebecca Ringquist explaining her process and knew that I wanted to try it at some point. On the left, I created individual marks with the machine, dispersing them across the canvas. To me, they start to resemble letters or characters from an alphabet.  Detail of A Piece of Me, A Piece of You To see more of the work I made this semester, click on the tabs pieced and painted and fabric paintings.
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 Your Work Here @ Gallery 5
September 9-October 9, 2020 855 Commonwealth Avenue, 5th Floor, Boston, MA I recently installed a couple of paintings in the Gallery 5 Pop Up Show, Your Work Here. Undergrad and graduate students in the School of Visual Arts were invited to hang recent work in the space. I love the conversation that is happening between the two pieces I chose and how they interact with some of the other pattern and textile work in the show.  Creative Capital: Building Collaborative Art Spaces
Saturday, September 22, 3:00pm 808 Gallery Presented in conjunction with the exhibition, A Few Conversations Between Women, and Boston University Alumni Weekend, this panel will feature alumnae of the College of Fine Arts who have started visual art galleries, collaborative projects, or arts practice studios that create opportunities, space, and dialog for women artists. Panel participants will represent both local and regional projects and discuss the importance of expanding one’s individual practice to one that is more collaborative in focus. Panelists include: Angela Conant, Co-Founder, The Gowanus Studio Space, Brooklyn Erika Hess, Co-Founder, Musa Collective, Boston Nina Bellucci, Co-Founder, Musa Collective, Boston Adrienne Elise Tarver, Director of HAS Gallery at Harlem School for the Arts in Harlem, New York and Residency Advisor for Brooklyn Art Space/ Trestle Gallery, Brooklyn. Moderated by Lynne Cooney, Artistic Director Boston University Art Galleries  September 4–28, 2018
808 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215 Opening Reception: Friday, September 7 from 6:00-8:00 pm A Few Conversations Between Women stimulates an inter-generational dialogue of women artists working across a myriad of mediums and at different stages of professional development. This group exhibition explores the artistic voices of the women visual arts faculty of the College of Fine Arts and underscores the importance of mentorship of and between women. Participating faculty members were asked to select the work of a former mentor or recent alumnae they have advised to be presented alongside their own. The exhibition highlights the conversations that arise through these channels of influence and examines the multiple artistic lineages of women artists affiliated with the College of Fine Arts. To find this event on Facebook, click here. For a list of related events and programs, visit the BU Galleries website. Gallery Hours: Tue.-Sun. 12-6pm Image (from left to right): Nona Hershey, Shift (detail), 2017, graphite and gouche on paper, 40″x40″; Breehan James, Red Rock Lake (detail), 2017, oil on canvas, 50″x60″; Madeleine Bialke, Into the Fold (detail), 2018, oil on Canvas 22″ x 18″; Leeanne Maxey, The Choice (detail). 2018, egg tempera on panel, 9″ x 11.75″.  For the past seven summers, I have had the opportunity to work with high school students during BU's Visual Arts Summer Institute. Each summer, I haul my art supplies to the 5th floor of 855 Commonwealth Avenue and set up a second home. The studio space I have used the past two summer faces east and has incredible views of downtown Boston. When I was a student at BU, I remember being surprised at the amazing sunsets that I could watch from Comm. Ave. Living in a city can be disorienting and it's easy to feel disconnected from nature. I loved taking time each day to stop and enjoy the view.  The routine of going into the studio every day and seeing my work with fresh eyes is an exciting part of my process. I love being able to spread out my supplies and give myself time and space to find new connections between my ideas and materials.  Over the summer, worked on a few new bodies of work including Paper Quilts and Cycles. I am back in my apartment now and have been making some new Paper Quilts, working with friends to create new college pieces, and brainstorming some ideas for new projects. Stay tuned...
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