Studio, December

Happy holidays, from my studio to yours. There won't be a new post next week, but I'll be back in January with new work, upcoming shows, and other exciting announcements! Peace, joy, and so much love -

DAAP Foundations Design Show - Student Work

a selection of some of my students' final self portraits



Audrey Eyman, final self portrait, graphite on Strathmore, 24x18"



a selection of student work from Drawing Project 2: The Exquisite Artifact



installation shot of the drawing room



installation shot, 2D Design Squares books



installation shot, 2D pattern and value projects



a selection of value projects from 2D classes



2D pattern and 3D texture installation



2D installation shot: color projects

It's been a fantastic semester. My students rocked! They also pushed me to be a better teacher, to work harder, to question what I thought I knew, and to keep striving for perfection. I'm going to miss this crew.

As inspiring as the past few months have been, I am definitely looking forward to having more studio time. I have big plans for the next body of work... stay tuned. Ciao tutti -

New Work and Upcoming Shows

*photo credit: Mieke Zuiderweg

I had a great meeting with Tommy Reyes at Gallery 19 last week. Looking forward to showing with them next year! I'm excited to be back into the studio again, and I've already started planning new pieces for next year's show. Stay tuned!

Apex   2016   chalk pastel on paper   13x13"

one of the pieces currently available at Gallery 19

Head over to my website to check out what I've been working on recently. And be sure to keep an eye on the News section for upcoming shows! www.samharing.com

Sketchbook poetry

The first pages from my last three sketchbooks... 

Happy Thanksgiving, lovelies. 

So much gratitude today and always, for this life, these hands, and you.

Drawings (sketchbook)

 

Quick ecorche study during my evening class...

My students worked on master copies last week, so I did one too. This is a study after a beautiful little Raphael drawing, with a half-finished Richer pelvis on the right.

When life gets overwhelming, drawing is a wonderful constant.

Studio, November 2016

I've been meditating on two different quotes this week, the first by Theaster Gates:

"We cannot ask artists to do the work of presidents, ministers, social workers or private wealth. We can ask artists to be present and to speak truthfully from their core. This is the beginning of change."
(source: http://theartnewspaper.com/comment/comment/what-is-art-for/)

and the second by Vincent van Gogh:

"In spite of everything I shall rise again: I will take up my pencil, which I have forsaken in my great discouragement, and I will go on with my drawing."
(source: https://www.instagram.com/manifestgallery/)

Wednesday morning, I told my students that they have incredible power as artists and designers. We are culture-makers, image-creators, wizards with paintbrushes and tablet pens. Through our work we have the ability to shape the kind of world we want to see. The future is uncertain, as it ever was. Am I afraid? Yes. But I will not let that fear paralyze me. Unfortunately, my work is still relevant - it has never been more important to pay attention to our surroundings, particularly to the things that seem quiet, unimportant, or irrelevant. I will go on with my painting. This is the beginning of change.

SOFA 2016

I was in Chicago for a hot minute yesterday, and had a chance to walk this year's SOFA show at Navy Pier. It was so restorative and inspiring. Below are a few of my favorites:

Deborah Zlotsky, with Kathryn Markel Fine Arts 

Carol Chave's "After Albers"

I had a great conversation with ceramicist Thomas Radca about wabi-sabi, the art of the imperfect, and the necessity of prioritizing studio time. It was a perfectly timed dose of clarity.

Chiara Lucato, "Confini liberi" (Free borders)

"Una griglia rigida pur mobile, una scacchiera per le regole del gioco, un contenitore per libertà d'intelletto, sensibilità e audacia: in equilibrio instabile tra libertà e vincolo esiste sempre la via dell'espressione creativa." 

Current Work

Note To Self

Note To Self   2016   oil on canvas   15x15" 

A self portrait of sorts

An experiment

An insignificant scrap, worth remembering

A reminder that some things are beyond words...

that there is only color and light... 

that anything is beautiful if you say it is.

Studio, October

Rough Patch

Rough (adj) - harsh, uneven, irregular; (n) - preliminary or incomplete sketch

Patch (n) - salve, adhesive paper or fabric, small identifiable area; (v) - mend, strengthen, restore

Rough Patch, 2016

Oil on canvas

15"x15"

Dettagli

Sketchbook: exercises and musings

Step Right Up

Step Right Up   2016   oil on canvas   32" x 32"

The sink painting is a theme I anticipate returning to for the rest of my life. My favorite artists always seem to paint sinks, and I can’t walk past a slop sink without studying it for possible compositions. There is something compelling about the inherent potential energy of a sink - particularly a studio sink, where the residue of so many past paintings lays lost and forgotten among the dense pentimento.

I was gifted with a particularly crusty slop sink in the Manifest studio, and I appreciated it every time I washed my brushes. But it wasn’t until close to the end of last year's residency that I felt ready to paint it. I was lucky – my easel just fit in the bathroom. I had to disassemble it a bit to get it through the door each day... but it was worth it to be able to work from life – there are so many subtleties in the chrome and all that lovely residue. 

I was listening to a lot of Tom Waits at the time. The title was inevitable. 

Threshold

Threshold    2016    chalk pastel on paper   13x13"

This is one of my favorite recent drawings. This piece was a turning point in the series, both in color and mark-making  The dust that had accumulated on my studio floor helped obscure the hard edges between floorboards, and my experience of perception was one of shifting color fields rather than clearly defined space.

Each pastel in this series shares a horizon line - the imperfect boundary between wall and floor extends from one piece to the next in an unending line. When arranged side by side, they give the illusion of an unending vista: a continual loop following the path of the baseboard around the room.  

No matter what else I do, I always come back to the baseboard. This imperfect space between wall and floor is so ubiquitous as to be nearly always overlooked. Every interior space has that sliver where the wall meets the floor, but how often do you actually stop to consider it? My hope is that these fragments of space serve as a point of departure for meditation: on the imperfect boundaries of existence, on the neglected liminal moments that make up the majority of our days, on ambiguity, betweenness, and the constant search for clarity. The lack of corners makes the depicted space forever incomplete – ever outwardly expanding beyond our peripheral vision along a constant horizon line – all encompassing, engulfing. Time stretches out in either direction.

Imprint

Imprint 2016 chalk pastel on paper 13x13" *SOLD

Imprint (n) - a lasting impression or effect

Imprint (v) - to fix (an idea) firmly in someone's mind

"The messenger, when on his way to visit Giotto and to inquire what other good masters there were in Florence, spoke first with many artists in Siena - then, having received designs from them, he proceeded to Florence, and repaired one morning to the workshop where Giotto was occupied with his labors. He declared the purpose of the Pope and the manner in which that Pontiff desired to avail himself of his assistance, and finally requested to have a drawing that he might send it to His Holiness. Giotto, who was very courteous, took a sheet of paper, and a pencil dipped in a red color; then, resting his elbow on his side, to form a sort of compass, with one turn of the hand he drew a circle so perfect and exact that it was a marvel to behold. This done, he turned, smiling, to the courtier, saying, "Here is your drawing." "Am I to have nothing more than this?" inquired the latter, conceiving himself to be jested with. "That is enough and to spare," returned Giotto."

- Giorgio Vasari, Lives of the Artists. Pages 7-8.

Studio, August