So, I went to Chicago to the Femme Conference in mid August and promptly fell off the face of the earth. The conference was fantastic. I was reminded of who I am and what I'm capable of in ways that I haven't been in years. Spending time with so many beautiful, brilliant, quirky femmes was nothing short of my soul's salvation. The opportunity to have keynote speaker Dorothy Allison witness and affirm all of our lives as femmes, was like being baptised by a fiery queer preacher. The only difference being that this clergy member actually has your best interests at heart and really DOES want to save your soul.
I was fortunate enough to present an interactive art workshop with Julie Jewel, Renee Gaudet and Adele Sanchez. Renee and Julie are phenomenal artists in their own righ and Adele is a generous supporter of queer art. We spoke about our experiences as femme artists and then led an interactive project which was enthusiastically indulged in by a variety of femme creative types. I was overjoyed by the cooperative frenzy of creativity and what was wrought.
Little did I realize that when I arived home from femme-con, still basking in the femme-tastic after-glow, I was about to endure the trials of Job in my personal life. I won't go into details but I will say that I'm fairly amazed that my sanity has remained intact over the last month. I'm finally beginning to wind my way out of the labryntine sadness I've endured and of course I've got an assload of work awaiting me as reward. Whee!
The next Square One art Extravaganza will be held at the Ritz Ybor in Tampa on December 6th. I'm very excited to be a featured artist for this event and I'll be premiering work from my globalism series which was made possible in part through a grant from the Pinellas County Arts Council. These events consistently excite me and this one is certainly no exception.I'm featured this week on the Queer Etsy Street Team blog! Some friends and I started the team to help promote and support the vast numbers of fantastically talented queer etsians. If you happen to be one and you're looking for your tribe, stop by the team profile page and join the fray!
I'm sensing a pattern here. Can you feel it? Are your arm hairs standing on end?So, I busted ass last week to prepare for the islandsfest at Davis Islands and although the organizers were lovely people, and the day , something out of a fairy tale about good weather, The event itself was a little...meh. I'm still learning about outdoor festivals so it was a good teach and I did meet some very cool peeps who had nice things to say about my Sea Dragon Plates and Paintings. I also finally met artist Carolina Cleere who's work I've admired for the past couple of years. I love the dreamlike quality of her mixed media pieces...especially the more disturbing montages. They're like tequila candy with a worm inside and I like that.I also like that I was able to add a beautiful painting by Julie Jewel to my art collection. Her work is symbolically rich, deeply personal and utterly gorgeous. Go look at her art and read her blog too while you're at it. She'll be showing in Massachussetts soon, so if you're lucky enough to live in the area go see her stuff in person!Recall above when I mentioned my ass busting session for the islands-fest? Well, it's the latest of many such sessions and I'm sure some of you will relate to the fact that when I have a lot of work to produce I tend to spread out all over the place. Since I share space with my loved ones this activity isn't always gleefully welcomed. I came to a realization this week that people who do not produce art really don't comprehend the process. I was exhausted after "the session" and although I cleaned my ground zero disaster site up, I left another randomnly organized super-fund site on the dining room table. By Sunday, it was causing duress. I certainly had no intention of leaving it there for days but shit... One extra day would have been nice. What I'm getting at is that I feel really drained after a big art attack. I need a little time and space to just shut off from it afterwards. Additionally, it helps me to SEE the things I'm working on. It keeps me motivated. When I have to put everything away and take everything out, over and over it kind of fucks with my flow. I think there's a misconception that because I am gratified by what I do that it isn't hard work. Conversely, I don't want to be unfair about my needs as an artist. I don't really WANT to invade the common space in my home, but not having to travel somewhere to work seems to keep me on track. I'd love to have a dedicated space inside my house, or a shed or something but there's no way that's happening in an apartment with two adults, two cats and a teenager. Then when I talk like this I feel like an ingrate. It's all just so confusing.There's a real battle going on surrounding all of this right now and I just don't know how to resolve it. The art demands to be in the world. It. Demands. It. I have no choice but to submit my will to what it wants...and for this I am told that my "dreams" are making "everyone in the house" uncomfortable.Conversely my peeps can be very supportive; coming to shows giving me the space I need to paint in our small home. I suppose it's the inconsistency that is hard for me to handle. I'm not able to switch the creative flow on and off when it suits people. For years I suppressed the demands of my muse and well, I guess I just can't anymore. I don't know how to keep the peace and do what I'm meant to, fulfill my cosmic obligations. I suppose if I look at the issues more critically they go deeper than a pile of random shit on a table. It's not something I neccesarily want to confront in any real way but sooner or later I suppose avoidance won't be an option anymore.
