I have two claims to fame. One – being the first chalk artist to create chalk art inside the Harvard Yard. And two – having my mural work featured on the cover of the Boston Globe in 2007 (before I moved to the East Coast).
About the second one — it is not really what you think. This was my first mural (a collaboration with artist Stephanie Duffy) and I was very pleased that it stirred up publicity. But the Boston Globe had a very different spin on our humble mural than Denver did, where the mural was created on the side of Snooze, a local breakfast eatery frequented by Colorado Rockies players. It was the World Series time and the Rockies were facing the Red Sox. No offense is taken by the artists. For your enjoyment and notable record:
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Over the years, I have experimented with different 2D and 3D media. Still preferring the ephemeral quality of the arts, snow sculpture was a daring adventure because I have not done much with sculpture since “The Kitty” in high school. I just did not have an adequate space to create sculpture living in a small studio apartment. Snowsculpture was outside – it was within my creative reach and I have always loved building sculptures out of snow. So I put a team of artists together and entered us into the Wintersculpt competition that is part of Winterskol Festival. We got an “Honorable Mention” the first year. And “Third Place” the second year.
One of the artists is currently quite a success in LA. Gogh, Carrie! (our team name was “Gogh Girls” and the sculpture was a surreal version of Van Gogh on a snowboard)
Loved: Snow is a fun adventurous material. Learned: I wish I could say that I learned how to use a chainsaw, but I did find that you could use a good amount of kitchen tools to get cool effects with snow.
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Please forgive me in advance for a creative writing spurt that you are about to experience. Here you will find a little more about the history of some of my work and a glimpse into my creative writing process.
The Flight of the Fish, Mixed Media (photo punch, water and acrylic colors, thick resin coating). Originally meant as a beeswax experiment. I still have to find a creative use for the beeswax. Location Unknown- regretfully donated to a local Northern Colorado Thrift store. 2010
Wait a minute. So…. this was the beeswax experiment! I am happy that at least some of the beeswax is now gone. Wait, is this caption writing everything i am thinking? What a strange coexistance with have with computers now a days. Nevermind. Moving on. This is one of my favorite special pieces. And I know exactly where this one is. I have sold it to a coworker – it is probably very well taken care of cozily just outside of Aspen, CO. I have always called it “here-is-my-heart.” The wax is peppered with different tea spices and smells nice. It was originally created as part of a cover graphic design job for a friend’s band called “Two Strikes.” The image was vetoed down and instead the band decided have me design something that completely did not make sense (I think they settled on two construction cranes over the city). I still think it was a bad move.
Ah yes, “The Kitty.” One of my High School works when I was just starting the experience with creativity. The original was a small sketch for a wood carving that I wanted to complete while still in High School. I carved it to about 50% of the original intent and abandoned project. You could tell it was a cat at least. But the sketch remained and somehow got digitally color-inverted one day when I was just playing with Photoshop. And I just always liked it that way.
“The Lobster Rose.” She hangs in my kids’ room – I showed her at the Cambridge Open Studios when I was working for the Cambridge Arts Council in a variety of roles. I just could not part with it. I like how shy she looks.
“The Tree” lives with a good friend PB in Chicago (it was an honor to have been invited to your wedding across the globe in India). It is mixed Media and also another favorite since I have designed it to be in 4 parts – so that each member of the family could hold on to a part- as part of the whole. So get working on baby #2 if you have not done so already.
This one I still own. A good friend wanted to buy it from me, but I have to fix the accidental hole in canvas caused by moving. I do not think it is just quite its time – it feels unfinished. Do not give up hope, Lindsey on the West Coast. I always felt like this one was yours. “The Two Matreshkas”
And the pair was exhibited in a group art show in Aspen, CO. They are veteran movers between CO and the East Coast.
Next we have an acrylic still-life called “Borsh.” It’s like a reminder of the ingrediets that go into a borsh – very practical for the Russian kitchen. This one is still above the quality line of your work being accepted into the Museum of Bad Art. Just kidding – I actually really like this one – it was painted out of boredom in Aspen, CO. I think it was just as I moved there and did not have any friends yet. Luckly for me, things change very quickly when you are working for one of the two competing newspapers in a small mountain town. You meet everyone and make best friends with people from your competition.
“Over the Fence” was created during the intro to Studio Arts class at CU. It was painted off a picture I took of my mom’s backyard. It feels very “saudade.”
“City Dog,” because you have to be in many places at once in order to succeed in a big city. This one was painted for the Cambridge Open Studios in 2010. 40×30 inches, Acrylic
