drawing bell hooks

A recently completed card and illustration of bell hooks to promote her upcoming residency at the Cassandra Voss Center at St. Norbert College. The clients, Karlyn Crowley and Anna Czarnik-Neimeyer who run the Cassandra Voss Center, wanted the image to tie into the theme of this year's programming which focuses on "heroes, power, comics, and identity." They asked for a loose drawing of hooks: cartoony, but recognizable.

I drew hooks several times and struggled to be faithful to her likeness without getting too fussy in the drawing. I also kept exaggerating her cheekbones to the point of making her seem gaunt.

It's been nice to do illustration work lately. The parameters of a commissioned drawing are like a puzzle with several possible solutions. In this case Karlyn and Anna had a strong vision and gave great (read: very specific) feedback. In sussing out different visual options I also drew hooks as Yoda, but worried that the image wasn't flattering enough. Karlyn and Anna took a print out of that image to the National Women's Studies Association annual conference to show hooks and reported back that she liked it. Woo-hoo!

Art at Amery Food Hub

Photos from our trip to install Who Shares Wins: Kate Casanova + Katie Ries at the Amery Food Hub. We got to stay the night in Hungry Turtle's warm farm house and woke to more thin snow on the fields and roads.

Inside the Amery Food Hub's center space

Land Scout sash, Guide Book, and field books

Bobby Maher carefully installing seed balls for What You've Got

Economy of the Amateur Ink desk and drawings

What You've Got 

from the Hungry Turtle farm house porch

Finish Strong

Now is the time in the semester when I start thinking to myself and saying out loud to my students: finish strong.  By which I mean ground yourself, take a deep breath, and do the work. Do not burn out, but sustain yourself with rest, food, good people, and a disciplined practice. Amen.

Poetic GIFs by Daniel Maw

Daniel Maw is an artist, teacher, and cartoonist. I first saw his work when we were in grad school together, but stumbled back across it recently and was struck by his GIFs. Linked here is one I liked from the Red's Barbershop series. They are brief and poetic.

 Below, a self-portrait of the artist at the gym:

Hungry Turtle Weekend

Coming up in the middle of this month, a sweet weekend of art, food, people, and music courtesy of Hungry Turtle Farm and Learning Center. I have the distinct pleasure of showing my work there with that of Kate Casanova. Casanova is an interdisciplinary sculptor based out of the Twin Cities. She is what the Ancient Romans called a bad-ass and her beautiful and minimalist work makes me swoon. I especially love this video piece, Ornament, in which hermit crabs traverse the landscape of Casanova's plaited dome.

You can see our work Saturday, November 15th from 7 - 10 PM and you can sign up for the many interesting workshops of the weekend here.