Los Angeles

I have a sweet husband, who dedicated an entire day of our honeymoon to looking at art. We explored the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and The Getty. Here are a few of my favorites.

Chris Burden, Urban Light, 2008

Mr. Ridge is very strong holding up Levitated Mass by Michael Heizer.

This Picasso portrait inspired Mr. Ridge and I to create a combined self-portrait.

Kurt Schwitters

Jean Jacques Henner

Paul Klee

Stas Orlovski

Married

I've been awfully distracted falling in love and planning a wedding these past eight months. My life is forever changed for the better.

Provo Gallery Stroll

I had a nice little show thanks to Anna Peterson curator of  Easel Gallery at the Innovation Network. Thank you B for coming to support.

Artwork by Jessica Li

Artwork by Jessica Li

 

Dinosaurs and Unicorns

Now that I have graduated college, I am supposed to be a real adult. I'm supposed to have life figured out...but I don't. I feel anxious about the future in regards to where I will live and how I will support myself. I'd prefer to not be alone. And, I don't know what to make art about anymore.

So, I might as well paint what I like. I like dinosaurs and unicorns a whole lot. I take particular inspiration from this gem of a drawing.

Here are some of my dinosaur/unicorn paintings.

Now, in all honesty, these look pretty stupid. But, I think that's okay. I think they're still valid because right now, I just want to paint dinosaurs and unicorns. Along with my hula hoop drawings, I believe these paintings are helping me deal with growing up or at least they're manifestations of nostalgia for childhood. Either way, I feel validated by other artists like Andrew Ballsteadt, Fidalis Buehler, and Brian Kershisnik who choose to paint in a childlike manner. They're faces of Utah faux naive art.

Hula Drawings

I'm really excited about these new drawings I'm making as I attempt to break a childhood record of hula hooping for 2 hours and 16 minutes.

Final Show

The week preceding my BFA final show was pretty killer but I survived. Thank you, thank you to all of my paper cutting helpers. I'm so grateful for everyone who is in and apart of this exhibit. It is with great relief that I feel satisfied by the final result.

New York City

I jumped in a frigid, cold lake twice this week.

Oh, and then I flew to New York City for the National Art Education Association (NAEA) Convention! I have been given incredible opportunities through the art education program at BYU. I feel very fortunate and blessed to have been invited to attend.

This was my very first time to NYC and I thought it was busy, dirty, gray, cold, wet, diverse, loud, amazing, smart, and filled with so much art I couldn’t possibly absorb it all! I only had five days in the Big Apple, and I only saw a sliver of it.

In addition to attending lectures and workshops on the latest in art education, I visited four major museums and explored the city at night.

Here are some of the highlights of the trip in no particular order:

1.     Met well-known, contemporary artists Janine Antoni and Oliver Herring. I particularly admire Antoni who has been an influence to my work of late. Her work exploring questions of feminism, identity, and the body really resonate with me.

2.     My first glimpse of Time Square was quite bedazzling, but not quite as fun as when I walked through it in the rain with a good friend.

3.     I rode in a taxi! I’ve always wanted to do that! It was on my list of things to do before I die.

4.     And, I navigated the subway system all by myself.

5.     Attended a lecture by Jason Blair, an elementary school teacher in Ohio, who collaborated with other teachers to foster this wonderful yearlong investigation of “identity.” He demonstrated that deeply personal, intelligent connections and meaningful art can be made by 8-10 year old students. His students’ work was even featured in the Columbus Museum of Art. Here are a few newspaper articles explaining the project: article 1, 2, 3.

6.     Presented my research to fellow students.

7.     Ate the best cheesecake I’ve ever tasted…I even ate cheesecake for breakfast.

8.     Spent time with a dear professor and his friend who took interest in my work.

9.     Felix Gonzalez-Torres’ "Untitled" (Placebo), 1991 and “Untitled” 1991 at MoMA emanated beauty and poetic loss. (Placebo) felt especially powerful; there was something that held me in that room awhile as I literally partook of the art piece. I just thought it was so lovely that the artist would continue to give in spite of the work's tragic implications.

"Untitled" (Placebo), 1991 Image credit CarbZombie

Image credit The Felix Gonzalez-Torres Foundation

10. Janet Cardiff’s The Forty Part Motet, 2001 at MoMA PS1 raised my eyes heavenward. It felt peaceful and inspiring, such a breath of fresh air amidst the predominately negative, critical, and overly political work I saw in New York. Watch a covert video in a different space here.

Image credit PS1

Utah Art Education Association Conference

This week was jam packed, every minute, pushing for productivity! I cut a good deal of paper (even on my holiday), began publicizing my show, and tried to prepare for a presentation at the Utah Art Education Association (UAEA) Conference amidst a myriad of other “to-dos”.

Thursday evening, I crammed myself with 12 other people in a van to journey down to St. George where the state conference for art education was held. Though my stomach was clenched with dread and my brain wracked with worry at the thought of presenting my limited amount of experience and research in front of very intelligent and qualified teachers who I admire, at least the beautiful desert landscape brought me a fraction of relief. I always forget how beautiful the desert and open sky can be.

Anyway, I stressed way too much about presenting. Even when I’m aware I’m stressing too much, I can’t stop. It’s this horrid personality trait of mine.

If you’re curious, I shared a bit about my research I conducted in Germany this past summer in attempting to study this coming-of-age ritual called Jugendweihe and how this experience informed my artwork concerned with finding self, which lead me to seek greater understanding of adolescent identity formation, specifically as it pertains to the art classroom and what I found is that by granting greater autonomy, students are more likely to create meaningful artwork and be aided in forming healthy, stable identities themselves and also that I am really, really good at writing a terribly, long run on sentences!

The best part of this weekend:

1.     60+ degree weather and sunshine that soothed my soul.

2.     Getting to know and respect a professor more.

3.     Feeling a sense of community from my art education program and the Utah teachers in general. It’s just so nice to be surrounded by people who are passionate about some of the most important things in my life: art + teaching.

MORE Paper Cutting Parties

FRIDAY, February 17th                12-3:00 pm @ JKB 3115
SATURDAY, February 18th          9-1:00 pm @ Home; 2-5:00 pm @ JKB 3115

MONDAY, February 20th             9-3:00 pm @ Home
WEDNESDAY, February 22nd     8-11:00 am & 5-7:00pm @ JKB 3115

I baked some cookies for you.

I researched some artists suggested by my professor. I happened to like Cornelia Parker.

All images courtesy of Google Image search

Trial Run

I set up a trial run in the gallery just to see and feel the space with all my paper. Sadly, I realized I need A LOT more.  It was exhausting putting everything up and down in 24 hrs, but it fed some ideas and got me organized. I still don't know how I feel about the tissue paper paintings. I love them on their own, but they may not make it in this exhibit.

 

P.S. I can't show pictures of the set up because I want it to be more of a surprise (or less of a let down) when it finally goes up.

Paper Cutting Parties!

Thank you! Thank you to all my wonderful helpers! I am so grateful for the support of friends and my ward family.

Christmas always come and goes way too fast. Visiting my family felt very relaxing and healing. Now, here I am back at school for a brand new (and my last) semester excited and motivated to do "all the things"! I can't let one minute slip  by unappreciated.

However, I have a serious problem. I injured my hand/wrist last semester with my obsessive paper cutting. I am going to need to employ help, which will shift my concept...or abandon this aspect of my project entirely and try something new (a very distressing realization to say the least).

There are several reasons why it was so important for me to painstakingly cut each and every letter of my project.

1. I feel liberated from the necessity to make polished art objects. 
2. I am increasingly interested in process over product.
3. Art is a means of learning and understanding.
4. Art is work.
5. I am striving to develop patience.

I went to the Provo Gallery Stroll this evening, because my friend Jena was showing. I loved the gallery space. It's run by current and former BYU art students Steven Waggoner and Annie Henrie. They're cool. They're art is cool. I also appreciated Clark Goldsberry's work. Provo kids should check it out every first Friday of the month.