This is How We Learn

Lorrie Frear of RIT got us all hand lettering in one of the morning sessions at #Wayzgoose16

A video posted by Katie Ries (@ktries) on Nov 5, 2016 at 11:29am PDT

Really Big Dandelions

Continued work on my block for ReallyBIGPRINTS!! The block on the right shown below is by two great SNC art students.  It's crunch time for all of us.

Work in Progress

I've been slowly chipping away at this drawing of a dandelion for ReallyBIGPRINTS!! this summer. Next I'll add in the gradated lines of the sky. Then: sand my wood, raise the grain, sand again, transfer the image, seal it, and carve, carve, carve. All in time to print in July.

Plywood by Post

I now live in a place that is somewhat lacking in visual arts culture. It exists and some of it is excellent, but it's harder to find and geographically scattered relative to my previous homes. As an extrovert and artist this means I have to work harder to make and maintain the connections that feed my spirit and sustain my work. This need for creative connection is compounded by the recent birth of my son. Though he is a delight, caring for him makes getting to galleries and museums, to say nothing of events after 8 PM, more of a challenge.

All of this led me to stew on how I could cultivate and experience the kind of creative community I seek. Number One on the list: be better about showing up for what's going on in my area. There's the wonderful John Michael Kohler Art Center, the Lakeshore Artists Guild, and the Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum to name a few. Number Two on my list is Plywood by Post (#plywoodbypost for the digital savvy), a recently launched collaborative drawing project in which participants will draw on and pass along by mail small pieces of birch plywood. The boards went out earlier this month to 14 artists all over the country-- listed and linked at the end of this post-- and I'm excited to see what happens. 

Wood going out in the world thanks to the USPS. 

I modeled the project after Global Drawing Circles, a project by Thinking Through Drawing, an "interdisciplinary education and research network." In those circles each artist started and then worked in a a sketchbook which we passed on monthly. I don't know if it was the chemistry of my group or the large amount of real estate afforded by a whole book, but my drawing circle did not draw on or into the previous drawings. My expectation here is that the limited space of the plywood will force us to respond to what others have done. These are the participating artists: Alex Cline, Brian Hitselberger, Bud Ries, Chatham Monk, Don Krumpos, Genevieve Lowe, Holly Briggs, Justin Rice, Katie Ries, Rachel Clark, Rachel Schattman, Sara Marie Miller, Susie Ries, Tanyssa Behnke, and Veronica Siehl. (Update! Just added to this mix: Steph Untz.)

I look forward to seeing the project unfold and to the artistic communion of shared drawings (and occasional emails about the project). Need to get my board started soon. 

Birch plywood, 11.75" x 9"

Photoshoppery

Below is a screen shot from work in progress. This is a detail of a second drawing to accompany Bruce Tonn and Dori Stiefel's article featuring Willow Pond, an imagined typical American subdivision converted to be more self-sustaining.

It's a great pleasure to be immersed in a detailed and multi-layered drawing like this one. I especially enjoy the transition from drawing on paper with pen and ink to adding color digitally. You can see the first illustration made for the article on my website here. 

Start Anew

2015! Blistering winds and sub-zero temperatures. Hark, the new year arrives full of potential, promise, and (today) a threatening chill. Behold, the days grow longer. Or so we are told. The lake freezes and thaws and the ice clanks together and freezes again.

New sketchbook freshly sprung from the binding press that sits behind it. 

And in the spirit of new beginnings here is a sketchbook I bound for my Global Drawing Circle, an international collaborative sketchbook conversation facilitated by the fine folks of International Drawing & Cognition Research, "an interdisciplinary research network" who "host drawing symposia, foster collaboration, publish on drawing and cognition, and run educational courses and workshops."

Each member of our circle has started a sketchbook and we will dutifully mail them to one another each month. The idea is to be in conversation with one another through the drawing. It is a different feel than inhabiting one's own personal sketchbook. Here's to welcoming others into our process and the serendipity of collaboration.

Red Bird

The mascot for the high school down the street from our house is the Red Bird. It looks like an angry cardinal. The marquee in front of the school spells out in LED lights: It's a Great Day to Be a Red Bird. I find this funny and take it as a challenge. We'll see how great it is to be a red bird.

So far I've draped the veil-like portion of the Red Bird head piece. Need to anchor my head-mannequin so I can lean into it. I love the challenge of moving from drawing to object, although so far the drawings are more exciting and engaging than the red corduroy hood waiting in the studio.

I imagine wearing it and dancing around my neighborhood as if in a music video by Mimi Cave. The neighbors might worry. Or they might join in. Such could be the greatness of being a red bird.