First Thursday at Pioneer Square

Ok.  I went to the art walk at Pioneer Square here in Seattle, WA this week.  It's similar to Sacramento, CA's "Second Saturdays" where you just walk around the galleries and there's tons of art.  I went with a couple coworkers, just to get inspiration and motivation to get myself pushing my artwork into galleries, and also to see what the art market looks like these days.

The first thing I saw, I had to stand in front of and say under my breath out loud, "Be open minded, Shannon.  Be open minded."  This was poorly curated, too, and very confusing.  The painting looks like a dog with socks on, and a horn like a unicorn or a goat.  I was totally open to give it a chance and not jump to judgement, so looked for the description next to the painting.  It had the name, which was non descriptive, and on the opposite side of it was another name, as if the name of the group of works as a whole.  It wasn't.  I was confused now by the two titles, and the work surrounding it being completely different from one another.  Also, if you can't justify your work, or say what the hell you were thinking when you did it, don't show work that looks like a toddler doodled it.  It's a waste of perfectly good canvas.  But- to each their own.

This gallery was cool.  It had works that were painted, and were open to several interpretations, so I remained curious the entire time.  Here's what I saw (images to the left, right, and below):

 (Images to the left, right, and below)

(Images to the left, right, and below) 

(Images to the left and right)I kept walking around and saw in a very tight, small and confined room with little light and space.  It caught my eye because it was so painterly, and very focused on using color to paint light and shadow, rather than any interesting specific subject- this is something I have personal interest in, so I'm biased.  Here's what I saw:

Once I went to the next gallery, I found myself staring at a piece of art called "Red Envelopes."  I loved it so much; it had some kind of dramatic effect on me, making me stand there staring at it.  What makes someone stand there and linger, feeling the desire to look at it longer?  I thought about these questions but could not find a definite answer- that in my opinion is a successful piece of art.

At this same gallery, we saw a bunch of people wearing costumes, like armor, as if they were medieval knights or something.  It was weird, but funny and exciting at the same time- plus the environment was very laid back, almost like a dance club.  Imagine a huge dance floor, a DJ playing dance music, free alcohol with a bartender, and all the walls were exposed brick.  It was pretty awesome.  All the work in this area I spent most of my time in, had photos of people wearing armor like the costumed people walking around.  I couldn't identify any of them as the people in the photos, though, so it must have just been for a dramatic effect.  I have to say, it could have been pushed harder than having just a few people dressed this way, and the effect would have been better and really brought these photos to life.  Not to say that they weren't already so lively- they were on wood panels so they all had shadows cast behind them as they stood a few inches from the brick walls, and they were completely covered on the surfaces with a resin, so they were very shiny and the color was very enhanced and rich.  I was stunned by their beauty and stood here most of the time.  It was pretty crowded so only got this one photo:

 

The next pretty cool thing I saw that intrigued me, was at a quilting shop where they were showing some quilts and selling a bunch of materials to make them.  I liked this little area I saw, in a corner, where thread was getting the dye sucked out and into a jar for recycling, or, maybe the string was setting in dye and getting its color right in front of my eyes?  I couldn't tell for sure, but it sparked my creativity which I liked.

Walking down some more streets, it was definitely feeling like Seattle, and I had only visited here a few times ever for vacation before moving here and actually living here.  Since I moved here, I hardly make time to do things that make it feel like Seattle, but this night was pretty cool.  I love how there is art to be seen everywhere, versus Sacramento where I'm from, where art just isn't a big deal unless you're in a super busy area like San Francisco, CA, which I never made my way out to since it was so far.  This was definitely a good experience for me, and we still had more to see.

At the final galleries we attended, we saw a lot of generic art, that was just paintings of beaches and people swimming, all in pastel colors, feeling like they were meant for beach condos or something.  I was not impressed, neither were my friends, so I knew I wasn't just being an arrogant asshole.  I was attracted to the more painterly of things, like this:

And definitely drawn to some abstract works, like this:

I'm definitely doing some more art walks soon, and asking around for galleries that show work like mine, to see if they're interested.  Till then, I'm applying to a few international contests- wish me luck!

Dark Stuff

I have this new energy about social justice lately.  It started last week, and since my partner is a social worker and I used to study Criminal Justice, it seems fitting, actually.  I have been getting a lot of flashbacks of my childhood lately, mostly memories of an abusive foster home, and it has created a negative energy that I'm channeling into my art, and creating more expressive work.

This made me actually understand what it means when other artists say to find my "voice" and that we're "storytellers".  This story, of my past, I haven't been able to tell anyone with my voice, because it would hurt people if names were named.  So, here is my voice for now.  The work is dark, but effective.  I did a painting last night that I have yet to photograph, and I'm not sure how I feel about the result, but the process was extremely emotional and I believe it shows.  Here are some sketches I've done this week:

Seattle Life- Inspiration from Interior Design

Living up here in Seattle, WA  has been an entirely new experience for me.  There are so many art opportunities for me, and I've been working as a Design Consultant for a slab and tile company Showroom since I moved here.  I am becoming extremely inspired by the different slabs, it's a new type of art for me.  my work has become more fluid, expressive, and free.  I've been exploring the landscapes in my mind, and painting them without thinking throughout the process.  I'm trying to keep my former professors' words of advice in mind: "Shannon, don't fully neglect drawing and painting to explore 3D art.  Do both simultaneously, and let them compliment and influence each other."  Working full time has lowered my energy stamina, but my drive is still the same.  I have updated photos of my newer work on my website: shannonstarv.weebly.com, so please check that out.

I have been entirely unimpressed with the art I've been seeing in cafes, restaurants, and galleries here.  The museums are sort of a disappointment, too.  I must say, it looks as though art is becoming lazy, rather than truly conceptual.  I do have to say though, my work is non-representational most of the time, and I am trying to be open-minded, especially since I'm trying to allow my work to reach a large audience.

I found an artist named Alex Turco.  He is what's called an "interior design artist."  He creates large panels, as large as I'd love to work if my studio and storage space would allow, and they look like precious stones, some are dripping, and they're all created using different elements and minerals like graphite, apoxy resin, aluminum, etc.  I'm going to explore this as well because- let's face it- artists are THIEVES!  With pride, right?  This will be an excellent way to utilize the skills and knowledge from my interior design job, while maintaining productivity in my medium.  I am curious to see the outcome- it's difficult to find my niche, but then again, the saying goes, from all well-established artists I've met such as Ann Weber, Steve Kaltenbach, and a few others, "It takes a decade after graduation to find you voice as an artist."  Beautiful, tragic, depressing yet inspiring, and, I'm sure time will come to reveal- TRUE.

Here's some of Alex Turco's work:

Well that's it for now, next show I go to and next research I do, hopefully will inspire my new work even moreso!  I'll be posting about this new experimentation once I've got a finished result to show for it.