Digging Up the Past...In My Garage

Moving things around in the garage, I came across some old college-era drawings, paintings, and prints that I kept. It was funny to go back and look at these things that have rarely seen the light of day since the early 90’s.

It’s especially funny since I’m a completely different person now than I was then, and the imagery I gravitated towards oozed with my youth. With titles like “Angel of Suicide” …What? All that’s missing is my “Question Authority” bumper sticker.

I knew that I wanted to make some kind of statement, but I don’t think I ever knew what that statement was. I just knew what imagery fit the bill - or formula - for cutting edge, music saturated L.A./Long Beach California. But really, it’s very similar to a lot of other statements that you see even among today’s emerging young artists that I see online. And, we thought we were being so avant garde. I just knew that I DIDN’T want to “illustrate” as that was a bad word in the fine arts department. Oh, silly me.

What I do see that is worth anything is the interest in detail, linework, and texture that are a big part of my current work. I just think I took a pretty round-about way of getting here.

I remember that 3-D box face that I had on my wall, the mannequin head with the Mickey Mouse ears, the gas mask…I just can’t for the life of me figure out which apartment that was (I moved several times during my college years).

Long Time - No See

Hi Folks! I'm back from the CHEA convention. I thought I'd be able to post something before I left, but I just ran out of time.

Overall, it was a GREAT time - 4 of us made the drive down to Long Beach. I lived there for about 7 years during college and it's changed A LOT! I moved away from there sometime around 1993. However, while I was down there I stopped at Lyon Supply Company where I used to shop during those years and the owner remembered me! WOW!

My friend Kerie and I only attended the leadership day of the convention and it was so nice to see several of the people that I'd known from homeschooling in Torrance. We saw some wonderful speakers including Mike Farris (note the parentalrights.org link in the sidebar - please sign the petition).

The 2nd day, however, we went to the Long Beach Museum of Art. It's a beautiful museum - an older craftsman style building overlooking the Pacific, but with a modern art collection. However, I can safely say that we were not impressed the new work of art looming in front of it, visible over the wall.

I know art can be many things to many people, it comes in many forms, it doesn't always have to be beautiful, yadda, yadda, yadda. But there were many things on display that left us scratching our heads, wondering how some of this stuff makes it into museums while others don't! Well, some are on loan from private collections in some cases. In other cases, I think if you can market yourself, convince others that there's some intellectually "deep" about your work, then...

I'm sure there was no shortage of artists doing any variety of work who would love to have something placed in the gardens of this museum. To each, his own.

On a more positive note, I enjoyed a lot of the Gord Peteran work exhibited, however.

Thank You Paul O. Zelinsky!

It's funny how things work out.

About 15(ish) years ago I was finishing up my degree in Fine Arts at California State University in Long Beach. I chose to specialize in drawing and painting, although I wasn't sure what I was actually going to do with it. I did, however, manage to find art teaching opportunities in a private school and a few workshops over the years.

Fast forward to the present...after coming home to homeschool 3 kids (which is still in progress), I've found myself working part-time in a bookstore. Not long ago, I picked up an issue of The Artist's Magazine that showcased an article about Caldecott winner Paul O. Zelinsky. It turned out to be an unexpected turning point for me when I read the following:

"...art purists have traditionally made a distinction between fine art and all forms of illustration, often viewing the latter as inferior work that can't hold its own."

Mr. Zelinsky goes on to speak about his experience at Yale: "In the art department, illustration was a derisive term."

BINGO! I completely understood what his experience had been, because I had gotten the same (mostly) unspoken message in my art department. I can even recall one occasion when my professor got into a heated debate with a classmate (who happened to be an illustration major), insisting that illustration was not real art.

Why did this matter? Well, I guess back then, my youthful ideals and I didn't want to pursue a "lesser" form of art. In spite of the fact that my work fit quite naturally into the illustration category, I fought against that tendency and never really found my artistic groove.

But time, wisdom, and a few words in a magazine have started me on a new creative journey. At long last, I've come to embrace the idea of illustration. Who knows...maybe I'll have a future in it as my kids become more independent. Regardless, I've never had more focus (and fun) building a portfolio!