ATfreespace

Just Focusing on the Utopic

2009-10-18T19:28:00.000-07:00

Please read Drawing on the Utopic. That's where I am.

Jules de Balincourt's paint pallet pictured above.

What to do about this space?

2009-07-22T09:24:00.000-07:00

Studio available in the 526 w. 26th Street Street Building - 650 square feet, $1425/ per month, does not include utilities. Used for small storage. Build out and share possibilities. Long term lease poss. too. Beautiful space.

lots to love about Sharon

2009-07-15T19:13:00.000-07:00

Sharon Butler documents free space.

Dusting off "freespace"

2009-07-07T05:34:00.000-07:00

Since Pocket Utopia came out of working in the "freespace," I decided to dust off this container for my "freeway" philosophy of making art in order to see what might come next. To begin or restart, I'm reposting an item from Sharon Butler's new blog. Old blog, meets new blog, together with new ideas about working freely.

Sharon is the artist in resident all month at Pocket Utopia. After July, Pocket Utopia will close. I will move on to advise both Kris Graves Projects on his new space and Norte Maar on their various art projects.

Norte Maar and I will work towards setting up a Black-Mountain-like school, called...Pocket U, which will take place in Rouses Point, New York the last two weeks of July 2010.

Here's to letting ideas flow freely.

Reminder

2008-05-10T20:44:00.000-07:00

This is a reminder to go over to my new blog. Thanks!

Pictured above is my very new and very temporary studio. You'll find me there and writing here. The new blog will not be an art blog but will be a blog written by an artist.

Moving Day

2008-05-01T08:00:00.001-07:00

Today is moving day. I'm moving into a studio for the first time in 3 years, and to mark this occasion, I'm starting a new blog! It's called drawing on the utopic, please check it out for all future posts on all things utopic!

Bag it!

2008-04-28T07:53:00.000-07:00

I'm on the verge of a momentous change to the way I make art (and freespace). After 3 years without a studio and working everywhere else, including the basement laundry room, libraries, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 60 Wall street public area, and many other spots (the subway, a park bench, and random cafe), I am moving into a studio space, with a door, a lock and air conditioning!

About 2 weeks ago, the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts contacted me and asked me if I was interested in one of their studios. I looked at it and said yes (I did ask to see the cheapest one and that's the only one I looked at). It's just for 3 months. If it goes well, maybe I can continue to rent it month-to-month, and maybe I would be eligible or at least I'll be alerted to apply for one of their subsidized studios.

Now, I will take all the drawings out of my closet, out from under the couch, out of my underwear drawer and onto the walls. I haven't had an opportunity to look at everything all at once for a long time. My studio space will be a viewing space and a new, not free, workspace.

At this point, I need to really thank Karina Aguilera Skvirsky for suggesting me to the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts. Karina is an amazing artist. She doesn't just offer her fellow artists ideas for opportunities, she makes the first move and suggests artists to institutions that are looking for certain artists for certains things. She understands the proactive power of suggestion. Thank you!

Pieces at Brece's

2008-04-26T18:32:00.001-07:00

I ran with my bag-o-art over to Brece's and set up on the floor, working on the cover photos of the New York Times until it looked like I'd been there working for months and I had ink on my face. You've worked on one floor, you worked on'em all!

Like mother, like daughter

2008-04-23T20:06:00.000-07:00

Me and my mom drawing. Thanks mom for teaching me to be creative, resourceful and to giv'em hell!

From light to dark to the garage

2008-04-19T09:13:00.001-07:00

Before going out of town (I wish New York city was a "town"), I freespaced at StoneFox architects and artspace. It's such a beautiful place, bright and everything is either black or white and the floors charm you with their ccreakiness. It's a grand building and an inspiring place to work. Plus Elissa was installing her show which opens next Tuesday, so the excitment was in the air.

Here at my mom's I drew in bed in the dark using the light from my phone. Then Mike showed me that I could use the dimmer switch on the light next to the bed so not to wake Grant. Funny, I'm not getting as much drawing done as I had hoped. I'm a little dim (witted).

Now I write from inside my mom's garage, in order to get a friendly neighbor's wireless internet connection. Everyone needs
neighbors.

StoneFox pictured below:

The view from the garage:

Making and not making

2008-04-14T18:32:00.000-07:00

I can't live without art, without making art. I realized, after not making art for a couple of days, that I'm certainly not a happy person when I don't make art. I changed my categories of creating; my days for making it, my hours of drawing, and the places I make it.

I made a poor decision to work on Pocket Utopia-related things on Saturday and Sunday instead of drawing. Monday morning arrived and I hadn't made any art for two days, and I tried to find beauty in things and it wasn't there.

But now I've sorted things out by making again. I discovered that I've made many drawings on two sides of the same page. Perhaps there are two sides to my personality that of making and that of not making.

Same Place, different drawings

2008-04-10T07:33:00.000-07:00

I'm supposed to be redoing this blog, but I just get can't get the overhaul underway. I've been concentrating on actual art-making, and have overhauled all my drawing categories.

I am now doing new drawings on different days, even if it is in the same old places and I'm writing about it on the same old blog. The result will be different.

Pictured above, a found sculpture in the laundry room, surprises abound!

Libby has built me a bench

2008-04-06T19:14:00.000-07:00

It's part of Libby's show, but I feel like Libby built me a bench to freespace on! Thanks Libby!

Idea becomes art

2008-04-04T07:48:00.000-07:00

About a year ago, I received my first blog-related fan letter from an artist named Libby Hartle. Tonight Libby's solo show opens at the Pocket.

For the past six months Libby has been working at a table in the back, walking to and from the space, collecting detritus and turning it into cast paper sticks. The sticks have become nests. Her drawings, made at the table, now cover the wall. Libby has even created a seating area that extends out from her work table. I feel very fortunate to sit there and watch idea become art.

Packed up

2008-03-24T20:22:00.001-07:00

I'm watching Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless, a strangely appropriate film for packing and planning my weekend away working.

Free bird

2008-03-22T07:39:00.000-07:00

The weeks and free spaces have been flying by and now I am getting ready to go away to a weekend artist-residency. I've been planning this work-escape for 6 months and now it's here. Before I go I promised the Center for Books Arts a cake design and now I want to mention their upcoming fundraising event. It's time to pack my bags.

brownies and merlot, text and helvetica

2008-03-17T07:30:00.000-07:00

I think little G's preschool reads the blog because Mike was grilled by the head teacher about little G's whereabouts on Friday! Busted!

Pictured above is a group of art enthusiasts watching the Chuck Close movie. The best thing about the picture is Fred's face peeking out of the lower left corner. We learned that night that brownies, egg creams and popcorn goes well with merlot. Also pictured above is a collage of a possbile new form.

It's Monday and I'm continuing my new form, new week experiment. Tomorrow, Tuesday, brings my attention to my text pieces and I've decided to draw them in helvetica. I watched a convinicing film on the font and I'm sold. As the filmmakers describe the font and it makes sense to me using it as a drawing tool, helvetica has a "neutralism." "It doesn't have a meaning in itself. The meaning is in the content of the text and not in the typeface."

New forms, old theme

2008-03-13T05:56:00.001-07:00

I just spent about an hour trying to buy gel pens online. I'm working on new forms. I think I need to try out the pens in a store. I cancelled my orders. I watched a great movie last night at Fred's about Chuck Close.

Grant and I skipped preschool today and went to look at art in Chelsea. CRG gallery had an exhibition of Jim Hodges and due to the delicacy of the work there were 2 guards. Grant asked one of the attendants for a flashlight, which was a totally appropriate question. The work looks so much better online then it does in person. I think right now all work in Chelsea galleries looks better online (which is the opposite of gel pens).

A headbutt to the nose...

2008-03-11T07:05:00.000-07:00

Monday morning mandala:
new rulers:
new work area created from one of my old perches:
Me, Libby and Brece working:
New York Times cover drawings:

A headbutt to the nose can really ruin your whole day, but before that, I was facing a Monday morning of mandala making and contemplating that way of thinking-mental mandaling.

C. G. Jung wrote that the mandala, with its mid-point, represented the self-it's expressions, reflections, dreams and memories. With Jung in mind, I have probably made over hundreds of mandala collages.

Before mental mandaling and collaging, I joined the other artists working on Sunday at Pocket Utopia for an afternoon of art-making and that way of thinking-creating as central and working communally. Freespacing, with it's Pocket Utopia counterpart, has become the way I work. It's the mental re-appropriating of managing mothering, art-making, and salon supervising that's tough. Where's my center? And what form does all that take?

More often then not it seems like it's all responsibility as opposed to reflections and dreams. I think Jung had full-time help and never changed diapers. Mandalas don't cut it (of course, I had to make hundreds of them before having this realization). A new form is required. I need a form that encompasses the cover of the Times, rulers and responsibility. Next up, experiments in and with new and different, reformed, informed and all encompassing forms of selfhood (folded, presented, performed, baked, butted, and drawn crooked).

Filling up

2008-03-07T18:51:00.000-08:00

The above drawing is sketchy and blurry and sums up my week, but I saw some good art this week and listened to an awesome lecture by Robert Storr on being an artist. The lecture can be found on ItunesU and it's free! ItunesU is an amazing resource, MOMA has some great lectures on there too!!

I saw some great shows this week and now have a new route of walking and looking in the far West Village and then I head into Soho. I first went to Gavin Brown's enterprise then Michele Maccaronee, on over to Harris Lieberman, into Soho to Peter Blum, and ended up at the Drawing Center. All shows were exceptional, I even stopped for a coffee, and actually sat down to drink it. I arrived back at Grant's preschool with time to make more blurry sketches.

I also posted a new drawing on the Fine Art Adoption Network. Blurry sketch looking for a stable home.

For some reason the Harris Liberman link isn't linking?

Transitions

2008-03-05T14:13:00.000-08:00

Taking my cue from Thoreau and his inclination to have three chairs in his cabin; one for privacy, two for company and three for society, I've made three little work areas for me and the artists in residence. Pictured here are Brece Honeycutt and Libby Hartle. The space is a lot more functional for visiting artists and guests. We were all very productive.

Reading the Times and about Pocket Utopia artist Tattfoo Tan

2008-02-28T05:45:00.000-08:00

From today's New York Times:

With the help of students from P.S. 307, Tattfoo Tan, a Malaysian-born artist, has installed a mural on Front Street in Brooklyn, based on his "Nature Matching System" place mat. Like the place mat, the mural, made of 10-inch wood squares painted by the students, is a reminder to eat a kaleidoscope of fruits and vegetables, he said.

(I will draw on this later.)

Do I do laundry or make art?

2008-02-25T07:54:00.000-08:00

What I've noticed about doing these drawings on the cover of the newspaper everyday is that often the photo behind the cover is even more interesting. There's this powerful effect in the unveiling of the cover to discover sometimes an even more telling photo. The photo behind the cover photo is often more graphic, although it is always in black and white, and often more intense.

This process of drawing, cutting out, and then discovering what's behind it all is a real metaphor of my current methods of making art, needing space (and time) and providing space and opportunities (art-making, showing and space) to other artists out at Pocket Utopia. There's a connection there for me and it's black and white and not on the front page (and continues to reveal itself day by day).

Breathing space

2008-02-22T12:33:00.000-08:00

After having an allergic reaction to an antihistamine in medicine I took for the flu, I had trouble breathing, sleeping, and being normal for about 12 hours. Let's just say it was worse than the flu. Somehow around the 13th hour, my throat opened a little I was able to breath enough to get myself out to Pocket Utopia and work on the news of the day.

Art Auction

2008-02-20T09:28:00.000-08:00

While I've been waylaid with the flu, my friends over at Recurring Films have been busy organizing an auction to support their latest film making projects. Here's a link where you can bid on my drawing!

RECURRING FILMS ART AUCTION IS LIVE!

It ends on Monday, February 25, 2008
Buy Art and help make a movie happen!

Click here:

Recurring Films has organized a small works art auction featuring
international New York-based artists. All proceeds will go towards
our new short film AUTOPILOT, currently in pre-production. Because
AUTOPILOT is a fiscally sponsored project, you're purchase is tax
deductible (to the extent permitted by law, of course).***

Participating artists include:
Noriko Ambe, Scott Andresen, Melanie Baker, Michael Bilsborough,
Lishan Chang, Ernest Concepcion, Cesar Cornejo, Anna Craycroft,
Nicolás Dumit Estévez, Franklin Evans, J.B. Herndon & Celina Paiz,
Yoko Inoue, Rossana Martinez, Allan McCollum, Marcie Paper, William
Bryan Purcell, Igor Pusenjak, Mike Quinn, Rebeca Raney, Adele Roder,
Kristen Schiele, Austin Thomas, Ka-Man Tse, Lumin Wakoa, Viola
Yesiltac, Lisa Young

visit: Recurring Films

Lightening my load

2008-02-15T08:13:00.000-08:00

For the next few days I'll be working at my friend's studio. I'm leaving everything there for the next few days, so that I can come and go, without having to haul everything back and forth. We all get to breathe, thanks Fred!

Out of Order

2008-02-13T08:02:00.000-08:00

I can't get down to the basement to work a little bit because the elevator is out of order, so I'm in the hallway in front of the elevator. I figure no one will disturb me here. I'm working right in front of the elevator.

The light isn't very good and the floor might be a little dirty, but I get to say hi to all my neighbors walking up the stairs (Yani just passed me, walking up to the 6th floor, and a few minutes ago Anita was out here surveying my spread). This moment is definitely a freespace...Going up?

A corner moment

2008-02-11T07:48:00.000-08:00

Here I am working away in the studio of Elissa Levy last night. She is one of my favorite artists. She even put a pillow behind my back. She also let me use her gel pens! Pocket Utopia will be editioning a print of her's in April. Can't wait!

Drop and draw!

2008-02-08T07:46:00.000-08:00

The other night I sent the boys out for dinner, they walked out the door, and I just sat in the hallway and worked right where I had been standing a moment ago. I've been drawing on the cover photos from the New York Times everyday and it's been a really intense project. It's a type of editing this drawing, my mark making done daily with customized and craved rulers now un-straighline instruments on the faces and places of the news from Bhutto to Obama and from Kenya to ticker tape parades downtown. It seems to fit my life right now, slightly unpredictable, mundane, incredibly boring, punctuated, only occasionally, by a passing marching band.

Today I worked for 5 minutes in perfect peace and quiet

2008-02-06T08:35:00.001-08:00

My secrets are out. I need new hiding places (and I've got them). Today I set up a momentary studio in the conference room of Grant's school only to be outed by Grant a few minutes later. He wanted mommy not school, so I had to feign the urgency of mysterious errands, return him to class and vacate the premises.

Now it's time to go collect him. Who knew my locations, methods and even materials (particularly special items selected off of Etsy) had to be more closely guarded? Even a perch of mine, a private one, has been copied (even though the copy is pathetic). Let's just call that one "pathetic perch!" From now on it's mum's the word for this mom-artist!

Right on

2008-02-03T09:39:00.000-08:00

The pictures above are from a dinner party of all women artists. Lots of fun and discussion that feminism is a daily practice (yes, that's right, practice) of generosity. Give, eat, and make art (life)! Do something nice, make something nice, just do it.

Trying different things

2008-01-23T08:44:00.000-08:00

The other morning while Grant was at school, I set up a quick work area in the bedroom. Everything is there, my dresser drawers are filled with supplies, under the dresser there's a cutting board at the ready and under the bed there's a shelf that functions as a desk ready to be pulled out and put into service.

There's something about this experiment of not having a studio that fills my head, hands and drawers (as well as bags in my closet hanging off of hangers) with art "parts" that are ready to be assembled. I have a creative army at the ready, making formations on paper needing no enemy but glue.

A post-post

2008-01-21T10:51:00.000-08:00

I've been post-studio, working in all sorts of places, making drawings and creating social spaces and events, for about the past 3 years, and I've been post-gallery, creating my own art world through Pocket Utopia for the a little over six months and now I've been investigating other ways of being beyond specific identification.

For Rico Gatson's upcoming show at Pocket Utopia, I've been reading about the relevance of the situational prefix “post-black." Are we all black now? If so, maybe we are all moms too. Therefore, I'm adding post-mom to the repertoire of deepening defitinion. So let us all embrace definitions beyond ourselves.

Gotta get home and blog about it!

2008-01-16T08:02:00.000-08:00

After returning one of the last remaining packaged-up art of an Esty artist to it's handler, I ran back home to sit and blog about my new freespace! Thank goodness the little guy has a new fabulous babysitter that allows for me to hop on over to StoneFox, an amazingly cool architecture firm that has a pocket utopic art space in their offices called StoneFox Artspace! Another added bonus, is that the art part is organized by friend and fellow artist Elissa Levy (pictured above)!

It only gets better, Elissa and I not only share the same birthday but we also share similar art ideas. We have both dwelled in the land of the mandala and now we are both working with the Gray Lady and her inspirational pages as platforms, although I primarily stay on her front page, Elissa plays with the sports page. It's validating to to see how "all the news that's fit to print," winds up working for another artist, so much so, that I've decide to edition the next Pocket Utopia edition with Elissa for her upcoming shows at Nurtureart and StoneFox Artspace.

On top of all this lovefesting (and secretly I am fantasizing of constructing a building in Bushwick and having StoneFox design it), after freespacing at StoneFox I went up to Donnell Library and freespaced some more! It doesn't get much better than that for I love architect's offices and I love libraries. I love freespace!

Sublime inspiration

2008-01-11T06:57:00.000-08:00

After going to a few openings last night and seeing Robert Rauschenberg and Merce Cunningham, sitting side by side each other in their wheelchairs, I came home and worked till after midnight in relative peace and calm.

I also saw a really interesting show of Judith Bernstein's work from the sixty's and seventy's at Mitchell Algus Gallery. All these artists are very relevant and still working, inspiring...

Drawing on Beckett

2008-01-09T08:12:00.001-08:00

I bought a mini-sketchbook the other day on my way out to Pocket Utopia. The sketchbook is small enough to fit in the pocket of my jacket and I can leave the book bag with all its papers, pencils and newspaper clippings at home for a while and enjoy small drawing and the fulfillment that comes with traveling light.

So last night while waiting on line to see Baryshnikov play Beckett, I pulled out a mini-ruler and lined my way through a few pages. After the play, I went home and got in bed and finished a few more pages in a post-Beckett glow.

Cover me

2008-01-08T05:51:00.000-08:00

A mostly quiet Sunday at Pocket Utopia gave me the opportunity to catch up with drawing on the cover photos of the New York Times.

Drawing differently

2008-01-04T08:30:00.000-08:00

Just as I am looking at space differently, I'm approaching my drawings from a different spot. Going nowhere might be going somewhere and drawing might be a social space that takes a long time to make. I started a new collage last night that I am going to spend some time with, move it around, blow it up, and work it.

The above sculpture titled "cart corral" by Matt King is made from bendable drinking straws and hot glue. A super-easy sculpture to own and display.

Additional Information
Sculpture
Completed in: 1999
2 x 5 x 7 inches & 0 lbs.
Near or in New York, NY / United States

Adopt it through the Fine Art Adoption Network

We're on the road to nowhere

2008-01-02T07:50:00.000-08:00

About every other day I get a chance to go somewhere and work, some "freespace" somewhere beckons and I'm off. Most times this chance comes and goes because more often than not I have nowhere to go. But I've started thinking about this nowhere as an opportunity? Why not go nowhere? So yesterday, in the pouring rain, I ventured into a nonspace of a walk right to the water's edge, the clouds parted and the sun came out.

The painting above is Danielle Dimston's oil painting on linen, mounted on wood. There is a basic frame around it.
Completed in: 2005
20 x 16 inches

This piece is available for adoption through the Fine Art Adoption Network

Back from vacation

2007-12-30T11:18:00.000-08:00

Back from a little vacation and battling a virus that put Grant on his back for 3 days. I'm slowly recovering, moving from bed to couch and back again.

The above picture is Ben Godward's piece, titled "Convenience Warhead" which will be making an appearance in Pocket Utopia's FAAN show. Please adopt this beautiful piece, it needs a home.

A 2-hour Oasis

2007-12-20T09:16:00.001-08:00

Every once in awhile an opportunity presents itself, and I think that's what creativity is-an opportunity. Today, a new babysitter is upstairs and I am in a very quiet basement spot, not next to the dryers, but out in an anteroom, on the other side of the dryers, next to a window where I have a slight internet connection. No one is around but me in freespace. I'm just typing, thinking, and working on Pocket Utopia's next show.

The next show will be the 5th official and 7th in a series of trying out my post-studio practice in a relational aesthetic way at a nicely renovated old storefront in Bushwick. This place provides other artists an opportunity to show their work and speak about their ideas. Together, for maybe a 2-year period, after that that project will probably change, us artists are looking at other pocket utopias, discussing art-world issues, art-making, and community. Pocket Utopia is primarily funded through an editions program where established artists (defined as artists that have gallery representation) contribute their time and creative energy in producing and creating a limited edition silk screen-type print or Gocco.

Pocket Utopia is a salon space and social sculpture. It is not a gallery. It's more like a salon and studio space. There's no phone in the space, no backroom, no frontdesk. There is a place for artists to work, I call it a "post-studio residency program," and it's basically a table with a chair. Artists using the space to make work get a key and can work there whenever they want, like a studio. We have monthly salons called "Excuse me, you have art in your teeth." At the salons, relevant art issues are discussed and food is served. The next salon will be about money and art.

The space, like this blog, is about art-making. Whether online, in a space, or in an anteroom, I am out there making work. I guess I should go start my laundry now.

The photo above, of the laundry room bookshelf, was inspired by my fondness for Nina Katchadourian's sorted books pieces.

Away from downtown and down in the basement and off to the upper east side

2007-12-14T19:40:00.000-08:00

Friday night found me gratefully drawing on a bench at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in the European Galleries. I've filled so many sketchbooks that now I just have file folders filed with my preferred and beloved graph papers and newspapers. I'm still working on my "unstraight" line drawings on the cover photos from the New York Times everyday and realized tonight that my craved and taped up rulers really need to be redone. My line in getting tired and I need to change it up. So tomorrow I'll lay out all my rulers, remove their taped up edges and re-tape them up to interesting effect, I hope. I haven't reworked my lines since August, so it is definitely time.

After awhile at The Met tonight, I heard a security guard's voice ask, "Can I peek?" I looked up to welcome the security guard's view and once again my "freespace" became social space and we discussed work and being creative and inspired, and I definitely was.

A perch that is a pocket utopia

2007-12-09T08:16:00.000-08:00

I have photographed and worked in this spot on my living room floor so many times that I've decided to make a perch of a pocket utopia out of it.

Freespace is a state of mind.

2007-12-05T20:09:00.001-08:00

Down in the basement working tonight. Lots of people doing laundry. Earlier this week I worked down at 60 Wall Street. Lots of "down-under" working. I need to work "up" somewhere. Lots of people in both places nagging, stumbling, playing backgammon or drying clothes.

On a conference table at garden-level I spread out and worked on my New York Times cover-photo drawings. The conference table is at Grant's school. The table faces an ideal Greenwich Village garden. I can work there quietly for a couple of hours. It's an interesting and very viable "freespace." It's not my space and I have learned to coexist in it.

Before "freespace," I would walk into another person's studio, home, office, or workspace and immediately think about how I could alter and use it. I'd make mental notes about possible changes.

Today, the secretary at Grant's school offered me coffee and I was grateful to sit while Grant and his schoolmates rumbled above me. The only change happened on paper and only my state of mind was altered.

Freespace is a state of mind.

2007-12-05T20:09:00.000-08:00

Down in the basement working tonight. Lots of people doing laundry. Earlier this week I worked down at 60 Wall Street. Lots of "down-under" working. I need to work "up" somewhere. Lots of people in both places nagging, stumbling, playing backgammon or drying clothes.

On a conference table at garden-level I spread out and worked on My New York Times cover-photo drawings. The conference table is at Grant's school. The table faces an ideal Greenwich Village garden. I can work there quietly for a couple of hours. It's an interesting and very viable "freespace." It's not my space and I have learned to coexist in it.

Before "freespace," I would walk into another person's studio, home, office, or workspace and immediately think about how I could alter and use it. I'd make mental notes about possible changes.

Today, the secretary at Grant's school offered me coffee and I was grateful to sit while Grant and his schoolmates rumbled above me. The only change happened on paper and only my state of mind was altered.

RISD students visit my basement laundry room freespace

2007-12-04T02:14:00.000-08:00

Friday afternoon found me running between Grant's school and the basement in my multiple efforts of post-studio mom, artist and gallery/salon director. Everything coalesced into one art form momentarily for a few students from RISD.

Like all the news that's fit to print, I'll make it anywhere and anyhow

2007-11-30T08:24:00.001-08:00

Like..."all the news that's fit to print...," I have a daily practice of making drawings and creating social spaces and it gets done even as the sun sets behind me and another day brings another newspaper delivery at my door. The laundry gets folded and shows get hung (tonight). Drawings eventually get finished and small children go to asleep and then we start all over again, looking, seeing, making connections, editing, and inviting you along.

to the bed

2007-11-28T06:04:00.001-08:00

I worked from bed last night in a quiet apartment and re-sorted a method for making art that might be more amiable with running a social space. Instead of just adding Pocket Utopia as a task on another day as if it were another type of drawing, I need to re-emphasize that it is an artwork that is text-based, folded, and built. I need to incorporate it back into the overall structure of my art practice.

On another note, I met an amazing woman the other night, France Morin, who has just got back from Luang Probang, Laos, where she has been working on The Quiet in the Land. It's a curatorial project that places artists in a special community context where they then create artworks. Sounds like a great place to go. Now to go prepare for a "studio visit"" in the basement for a bunch of RISD students. Maybe they'll help me fold laundry.

On the floor of the tunnel, feeling the light

2007-11-26T13:49:00.000-08:00

I'm working on the floor, crying my eyes out while emailing all the Etsy artists to tell them how amazing they all are and that I can't wait for the show! I draw a little, send more emails assuring more people that they are doing great work. I make a call and tell another artist that I love their paintings. All true.

I am so overwhelmed by my schedule. I get up at 5:30 am Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, workout Wednesday and Thursday. On Fridays I clean house (which really is better for Mondays late morning), I pick Grant up at school Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons at 12:15 pm after blogging, collaging, and cleaning up some more. I say hi to all the moms and their kids, I schedule playdates. I work on Fred Gutzeit’s art career, for he's got an amazing show up at Sideshow Gallery right now. Tuesdays and Thursdays I play with Grant all day long. I spoil him and feel terrible. He's getting bratty and his teacher told me he had a tantrum today over some issue about glue or was it snack. I'm a bad mom.

I still need to get references for Grant's new babysitter (she started today) since the last babysitter didn't work out so well (I never got her references). Saturday and Sunday I'm at Pocket Utopia all day. I mediate on the subway, meal plan while in the shower (and scrub the tub for that will save time on Monday or is that Fridays that I clean). I need to sell some more Lucas Reiner prints so I can pay the rent for Pocket Utopia in 5 days. The babysitter called, Grant just had an "accident". I need to go home and do laundry, make dinner, find an outfit to wear to somebody else's dinner (I'll draw on the subway on the way uptown). I need to call a therapist for I'm losing my mind (I need to get more references). But there's light at the end of the tunnel, I hope, for the new babysitter is coming tomorrow too and I can sit on the floor again somewhere and try to compose myself.

Kay space

2007-11-24T19:08:00.000-08:00

I took my freespace frame of mind to Chicago for Thanksgiving and relaxed at Kay's place (mom) for a few days. Here are pictures of her studio.

Waking, sleeping Etsy

2007-11-18T17:58:00.000-08:00

Whether I'm sleeping on the floor in Grant's room or he's sleeping on the floor in the kitchen at 6:00 am keeping me company, it's been a lot of sleeping and waking hours devoted to organizing the next show at Pocket Utopia, titled Etsy! It's a selection of artists from the hand-made artworld from the online site by the same name (Etsy.com)

I'm starting to understand why sharp divisions are made between art and craft, and the sensitivities those divisions stir up. I think the hand-made makes for a million emails. And I'm not done yet! I'm not free yet. This show is definitely going to cost me.

Pictured above, The Face of Nature, 2007 by Esty photographer Irene Suchocki

Morning sunshine

2007-11-16T07:33:00.000-08:00

There is a Friday, and after toady, there's a utopia-weekend! There's been no babysitter all week to give me my precious 8 hours (a week), no money, no time (I already mentioned that but it's worth repeating), no space, it's cold and it's dark, but not today! I sold 3 Lucas Reiner prints last night to a distant member of the Royal family, Grant is at school, and I am just about to finish an un-straight line, turned geometric drawing/collage. I would call that a life in the sun!

Working in back

2007-11-14T07:27:00.000-08:00

People walk into Pocket Utopia and read about Lawrence Weiner while I work in back. No artists were in residence, so I filled in. And now I am working again and preparing for a social Saturday with the other artists in residence.

It's all in the bag

2007-11-10T04:16:00.000-08:00

All week, I've been roaming, sitting, and drawing wherever I can. I've been fighting a cold and fighting some new weird operating system named after an endangered species. My studio is with me all the time. It's in my bag. It can get heavy but I don't care, wherever I am that's where I draw.

Primarily, I've been working on my current project of drawing with my crooked, craved, and taped up rulers on the cover photos from the New York Times. I'm not sure why I started cutting out this pictorial current event, but it is daunting, interesting, keeps me on my toes and keeps me current.

By drawing on the cover photo, I'm recycling and using what's at hand as paper. I get the paper delivered, but just adding up the price printed on the paper, the daily newsstand cost of this project is $469. 50. Add in the weekend price and that's another $442. I don't pay that much, but it adds up in other ways. I'm am always cutting and drawings on major events happening around the world...And that's all the news that's fit to print.

Daylight Savings Time

2007-11-06T03:53:00.000-08:00

This is the first time in my life I like Daylight Savings Time. I get it, for I've been getting up early to do my artwork (5:30 am). Working so early is hard and I inevitably wake up Grant. Although the other morning he brought his blanket and stuffed star out into the hallway and kept me company.

My brain doesn't work too well in the early morning, so I'll have to redone my drawings tomorrow morning.

Pictured above is a rocking chair at the The Early Childhood Resource and Information Center (play space) at the Leroy Library Branch. Grant played there yesterday for 2 hours, while I sketched.

Speaking in the public realm

2007-11-04T03:48:00.000-08:00

This week found me speaking at a symposium on “Public Sculpture in the Community and its Responsibility to the Environment,” at Lafayette College. Audra Wolowiec spoke with me and showed images of her current work as did Del Geist and Patricia Leighton, Jose Balcells from Chile, and Tom Moran, the Director of the Visual Art Program at the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, among others.

Joining the early morning shift

2007-10-28T04:25:00.000-07:00

From time to time you hear about writers, mostly women, primarily mothers who wake up at the crack of dawn to write their masterpieces. Well, now that Grant no longer naps, but sometimes sleeps until 8:00 am or even 8:30 am, I have joined the early morning shift. It's too early to tell, in more ways than one, how it will effect my practice, but I hope to finish some pieces, if not masterpieces. Right now I'm thinking I need warmer pjs!

Late yesterday, in a quiet Pocket Utopia, and while Christine Catsifas worked in the back, I pulled out my sketchbook with my New York Times cover photos and drew on them with some of my wacked and hacked rulers.

The sun was setting a beautiful pink and now another New York Times with a cover photo of newly recruited Iraqi policemen greets a new morning. Maybe I should have some breakfast. I hear Grant waking up.

Notes on and in several freespaces

2007-10-24T08:26:00.000-07:00

I've been combining tasks this week, by working at the Mid-Manhattan Branch Library while doing research on Lawrence Weiner and then reading "Deep Economy" for my book group at 60 Wall Street while making mandalas.

I've also been sharing my thoughts on a post-studio practice with others and they have been sharing their thoughts with me, see below.

some notes on a post-studio practice sent to me by Audra Wolowiec:

the world is your studio - including the sidewalk, the street, a
rooftop, your stairway, the subway, an entrance, (your pocket),
everywhere and anywhere - insert yourself

don't wait for someone else to create a space, claim one for yourself,
then move on

make do with what is at hand, use what others have discarded

make something out of nothing and nothing out of something

bonus thoughts:

"If you will cling to nature, to the simple in nature, to the little
things that hardly anyone sees, and that can so unexpectedly become
big and beyond measuring; if you have this love of inconsiderable
things and seek quite simply to win the confidence of what seems poor,
then everything will become easier, more coherent and somehow more
conciliatory for you..." Rainer Maria Rilke

From the bottom outward

2007-10-17T19:00:00.000-07:00

Although I am focusing on ideas of inclusiveness tonight, the basement laundry room of my apartment building has been my exclusive freespace this week. I haven't been able to work down there until recently because it has been too hot. The basement is a seasonal workspace only comfortable (even though I think good art can come out of being uncomfortable) from October to May. There's a limit to being uncomfortable while artmaking.

I actually set out attempting to make the basement more hospitable. I intergrated art books into the communal bookshelf, by placing a Vito Acconci book within the out-of-date travel books and by placing an inspirational but useless book on flower arranging amongst old books on yoga (which will reappear in some of my drawings) and "The War on Choice" as well as a book about coming out of the closet. I also placed a big, thick 2-year old copy of ArtForum within the community magazine rack along with a new issue of ID magazine.

After setting the mood, I sat down to work and chatted with a couple of folks doing their laundry. I finished up before one of them finished folding but not before feeling that this freespace had become a pleasant social space.

The AT, The Free, and The Space (the pocket and utopia)

2007-10-15T08:36:00.000-07:00

After a weekend out at Pocket Utopia, I feel that all my various practices (AT, Free, Space, etc.) are separate yet compressed. There's probably some psychological disorder related to separate compression. If so, I've got it, but I probably just need more air. So this week I'll try working out of the basement laundry room freespace where my evening work-time will be filled with the hot air of the dryers.

Calm in the storm

2007-10-10T19:29:00.000-07:00

It hasn't really been stormy, but even though I don't work out of a studio, I still need a quiet place to go. Working at 60 Wall Street has been that quiet place.

Most of the places I work are public. The semi-private work areas have given way to public space. I no longer knock on the homes of friends and set-up shop at their dining room tables. It has proved more comfortable to be public, even calm.

The Met as a free and wide-open expanse

2007-10-07T10:08:00.000-07:00

My freespace, post-studio mate, Audra Wolowiec and I, slipped off, after a day at Pocket Utopia, to the soul-enriching expanse of the Metropolitan Museum of Art to draw.

We viewed the recently installed Abstract Expressionism and Modern Works from the Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman Collection (that's a mouthful), and then found a bench and went to work long enough to feel renewed. Stuart Davis paintings pictured in the background.

Not free

2007-10-05T06:50:00.001-07:00

"Not free" sums up the week, although I am making reference to the above photo that shows Audra Wolowiec and I working at the Archive, an internet cafe in East Williamsburg. I even had difficulity sketching on the playground this week, for there was a lot of nasty nanny negotiating to be done and hand-holding of the artist that is opening today at Pocket Utopia.

I lost free space this week. So how do I get it back, by working and not holding anything but a pencil. After the opening tonight, it's back to work. So go figure it out for yourself!

After working on the floor...

2007-10-02T18:44:00.000-07:00

After working on the floor, on a "fill-in" drawing while Grant was at school, I needed to look up, so I went out to look at a show curated by 2 friends, fellow artists/parents at the New York Center for Art and Media Studies or NYCAMS in Chelsea. The show is titled "Strand" and features the work of Ellie Murphy and Rico Gatson. The images above are of Rico's light piece and Ellie's yarn installation. A beautiful show!

Today's cover of the New York Times

2007-09-28T07:00:00.001-07:00

In describing my drawing project on the cover photos of the New York Times, I point out that the photos move under the master head from day to day. That's my reason for doing this project, it's a daily drawing record. I'm marking time. Sometimes the photo is placed to the right of the master head, the next day the photo moves to the left. I mention all this because today the photo for the first time since I started this project is directly under the entire masterhead. Perhaps this is because the photo shows Japanese photographer Kenji Nagai after being shot by a Burmese soldier. The caption says that Mr. Nagai later died. Today we dedicate freespace to this fallen artist shot down obviously trying to capture a fight for freedom. A reminder to all of us to stand up.

(Interestingly, these demonstrations began because of an increase in oil prices after the ruling party of Burma decided to remove oil subsidies.)

Two freespaces and companionship

2007-09-24T20:12:00.000-07:00

Today, I actually spent the afternoon at Jefferson Library and the evening at 60 Wall Street.

After a trip to Storefront for Art and Architecture's tacos in the Ring Dome and a discussion of how vacant or leftover urban spaces should be used, Audra Wolowiec and I sat down to draw at 60 Wall Street. Again, the large atrium was empty. I guess vacant urban space should be made useful by artists!

Diner drawing

2007-09-21T07:27:00.001-07:00

I was on my way to 60 Wall Street when I ran into Pocket Utopia's spring post-studio artist in resident Brece Honeycutt. We walked up to Ben's Delicatessen ate and worked for about four hours total. Veggie burger and matzo ball soup accompanied "unstraight line" drawings and knitting. Brece worked the soup and yarn and I worked the paper and fries. It was a real treat! Thanks Brece Honeycutt!

Pocket U. Pieces

2007-09-17T20:19:00.001-07:00

Today (my birthday) I didn't really have a designated place to work. I mean, I have places to work, there's always 60 Wall Street and the library, but I didn't think about where I wanted to work today. I have a little extra time now, with Grant going to school and a new baby-sitter, so I really do have "freespace."

Walking out the front door with ample supplies I stopped on the sidewalk to think which direction to go. I went back upstairs (which didn't really help the Grant/mommy separation process). I grabbed the keys to Pocket Utopia and rode the L out to Brooklyn. It was a great place to work, definitely not as close as the library, but I had a little more privacy than I usually have and a little more time.

High - Low Drawing

2007-09-15T06:17:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I perch on the subway platform and sketch, next to a Tom Otterness sculpture, while waiting for a train

and other times I sit down at this exquisite table at the Met.

The places that I work are really developing personalities, for instance there's the "Big Empty" which is 60 Wall Street and the "Down Low" which is sketching on the subway. My only problem is that because I have a somewhat mobile practice, I loose drawings, or rather misplace them for months. And then one day the drawing reappears and gets reworked.

Today it's off to Pocket Utopia. No sketching, just social space.

Private vs. public

2007-09-13T12:06:00.000-07:00

It seems like lately all of my freespaces are public places; 60 Wall Street, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and neighborhood playgrounds. I am productive in public and comfortable. At Pocket Utopia, which is an extension of my social sculptures and therefore also public, I'm uncomfortable. I want to lock the door of Pocket Utopia and have privacy. I think I might be on the verge of my own paradigm shift.

A big and empty freespace

2007-09-11T12:14:00.000-07:00

Between the opening of Pocket Utopia and recovering after the weekend of talking to gallery visitors, I've been working at 60 Wall Street. To my surprise, I have found it empty on almost every occasion except yesterday at 5:00 p.m.

Being in that empty space and working alone has been a little unnerving, so I called up Matthew (his amazing self-portrait pictured above), one of Pocket Utopia's interns, who lives across the street. The first time he joined me in the empty space, I showed him pictures of my work and it turned into a productive studio visit. The second time he kept me company, he started to advise me on my collaging, encouraging me to cut it up! I joked that I would not be asking him to join me anymore! The combination of company, Matthew's, and the empty freespace, made me reconsider the dimensionality of my work. The collage I was making might benefit from being in a bigger space, and since 60 Wall Street has a lot of empty tables, maybe I need to spread out and have more studio visits there! Or just make more use of the space. Anyone else want to join me?

Creating an interest, just another Saturday night at the museum

2007-09-09T06:45:00.000-07:00

After the longest 4-day week I can remember, Saturday night finds me in the cool, slightly dim Asian galleries of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I chose the Asian galleries because it was so hot out at Pocket Utopia today and there's a bench that has a wall behind it for me to lean on while I draw on cover photos from the New York Times.

Jorge, a guard of four years, asks me what I'm doing, I show him, we chat, he leaves his post, but returns later to check in on my progress. Jorge also clues me into another drawing spot that I will try out next Saturday night. I've noticed, after 3 evenings of freespace work at the museum, that the object or painting I work in front of always gets more public attention, museum visitors swarm around it with curious intent.

I draw some more, cool down, take the train home and pass out.

Blogging, writing, working

2007-09-05T11:12:00.000-07:00

A summer of sketching has subtly expanded the beginnings of my fall forays into a new and seemingly renewed sketching regimen. I've been incorporating the cover photos of the New York Times, a daily current-event of a drawing project and I am continuing playground sketching, which comes in handy when childhood hijinks can be drawn out in the shapes of dollar bills, tickets, ballons and smiley faces. Other children sometimes join me and I am happy to supply paper and pencils.

Now it is off to hang the first official show at Pocket Utopia!

The Metropolitan Museum of Art: New Freespace

2007-09-03T12:51:00.001-07:00

Saturday night found me in the European Galleries sketching on a bench. What surrounds me on the walls effects what I sketch.

At the end of each evening of work, Friday and Saturday, I walked to the Asian galleries for continued context for my work and on the way, I passed the back on this painting which contained this interesting pattern. The pattern s on the back of a paiting of Christ, maybe it suggests a larger organization for an alter painting or arrangement. Whatever it is I really relate to it. I'll have to work it into something.

Today it's Monday, Labor Day, and I am working on the floor on my "mandala drawings." I have also started a new project. A few days ago, I started to cut out the cover photograph on the New York Times, and I am incorporating the images into my daily process, so that the photos are getting cut up and sketched into mandalas, folded drawings, and "fill-ins."

The other day, I dropped into an empty 60 Wall Street, and had an impromptu studio visit. I explained to my visitor and Pocket Utopia intern Matthew that my work constantly tries to redefine already defined space, for example ATfreespace attempts to redefine the studio space, Pocket Utopia the gallery space, and my drawings usually take a predetermined structure, like the mandala or spheres, squares and reworks those spaces. Back to floor space.

Sept. 1, new freespace

2007-09-01T12:28:00.000-07:00

As I embark on another year of blogging about freespaces and having a post studio practice (I've actually been working beyond the constraints of a studio for about a year and a half), I spent last night at a new freespace. I grabbed my sketchbook and other drawing surfaces and went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I should really call this freespace, vacation space because it's almost free (I usually pay one dollar admission) and it's one of the most amazing places on earth!

I had one minor set back, I realized that the chair I had scoped out during the day was a gallery lit by natural sunlight and that on Friday night it was dark, so I had to decamp to the brightly lit European galleries. No problem. Working at the Met allows me to place the result of my working practice within a variety of contexts. I can examine an interesting photo by David Smith or how text is conveyed in 17th century Japanese woodblock prints. I feel like my work is getting better already or at least more informed. I'm going back tonight!

One year anniversary

2007-08-30T13:23:00.001-07:00

Mike snapped this picture with his Treo the other day. He might need to clean his lens. I found a lovely bench for drawing on 22nd Street in Chelsea at the 535 building. It being August, Chelsea was very quiet. This space was cool, Mike was late. I got a lot done.

Today is the one year anniversary of ATfreespace, so I've decided to start another blog about Pocket Utopia. On the Pocket Utopia blog I'll able to really write about other artists, their projects, and the issues of running an exhibition and salon space. Visions can be shared, defined, and refined. Hopefully, in another year the view from here will be free and utopic and not so blurry.

Every drawing is a work in progress

2007-08-26T11:54:00.000-07:00

Being that it is almost the end of the summer, I have removed all my drawings from their sketchbooks and laid them out for some fresh air and a viewing. In total there are 22 larger drawings and 37 small drawings. They are all works in progress that will make their way into more finished drawings this fall. The sketchbooks which go everywhere with me, from dentist waiting room to playground, have become an essential component to my post-studio practice. I really have the dentist to thank for making me incorporate this sketchbook regiment.

The subway ride to Pocket Utopia has become one my favorite places to draw. After evaluating the drawings on the floor, the blank sketchbooks await more drawing. Draw whatever you go and you'll get a lot done.

Excuse me, you have art in your teeth #8

2007-08-22T19:33:00.000-07:00

Tonight's "Excuse me, you have art in your teeth," salon was held at the post-studio of Bill Gerhard. Using the available light in his apartment, black construction paper and sheets of glass, among other objects, he exposes paper to varying effects that are beautiful, Zen-like, purple and poetic. He exposed us to wonderful pesto and thoughts on process and performative work. Bill will do a site-specific installation at Pocket Utopia for the Pierogi Show.

It's good to be home, done with California. The whole experience left me with a lot. I've been thinking about the constant social space of the family and how to make it more like an art and food salon and less like a trip to the dentist. And the dentist is where I'll be tomorrow. Enough of the dentist and enough of family. Neither are going away, unfortunately, both are constant and not relative. Maybe a little bit like Bill's art. Rain or shine, it's exposed.

Home from the honeymoon

2007-08-19T08:29:00.000-07:00

My sister comes home from her honeymoon today! Mike is back in the kitchen and we have a clean up job before my sister's plane lands. We leave tomorrow and then all week it's going to be Pierogi, Pierogi, Pierogi!

We had a wonderful day yesterday, hanging out and drawing. We drove to LA to visit Lucas Reiner. It was good to chill out after dropping off my sister's kids with their dad. My nanny job is done. Now I just have to be a maid for a few hours. Then it's back to Pocket Utopia!

5-minutes, maybe more

2007-08-16T14:40:00.001-07:00

I've taken a plunge into serentity. Grant is asleep in the car, which is in the garage (the door is open and I can see him sleeping). The other children are at camp (which they hate, by the way, so I'm not the only one that hates camp). I'm at my perch in the kitchen again, with sketch pad and coffee. Grant says, "Mommy drinks coffee all the time." He's right. An empty house, a white sheet of drawing paper, and a cup of coffee surround me.

No honeymoon here

2007-08-15T16:22:00.000-07:00

While my sister, pictured above with her new husband, honeymoons, I am in the middle, it being Wednesday, of nanny-duty. Mike left. Three kids and a grandmother remain. Things are hectic, but I am attempting to move from a place of love.

Reports from the renovation of Pocket Utopia cheer me on (new doors and storeage unit additions). Individual structure, keeping to a schedule, and carrying Grant everywhere I go keep things happy here. There's so much sun too! I long for the subway and it's dark tunnels. Where's my sketchbook? It must be under the sunscreen and the gas card!

A spirit of optimism

2007-08-12T15:13:00.000-07:00

Reporting in from Costa Mesa, Ca. My sister is on her honeymoon and I am settling into my nanny/artist-in-resident position. I've got a new perch here in the kitchen where I can draw, cook, drink coffee, and finish planning the opening show at Pocket Utopia.

It's easy setting up a "post-studio" work area in the home of a working mother or rather two working parents, for the house is very efficient, clean, and adaptable. The kids have their schedule, parents have theirs, meals are simple, and everything seems to be optimized for work and getting things done.

This house reminds me of an exhibit I recently saw at the Corcoran on Modernism. The exhibit contained a Frankfurt Kitchen that was designed in 1926 by Austrian architect Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky for enabling efficient work at low cost (no sub-zero here). The kitchens were installed in housing projects.

Grant is napping and finally catching up on his sleep after travel and wedding receptions. I am optimismic about the week ahead, like a good modernist I will chart a discernable path through Costa Mesa. and the kitchen.

Building Utopia

2007-08-10T11:03:00.000-07:00

We made it to California and have discovered that we are immediately in charge of the kids, house details, driving or rather shuttle service, etc. The wedding is tomorrow. I've just returned from Trader Joe's and have set up a small drawing station. Perhaps I can view this trip to sunny California as a nanny/artist-in-residence project/program.

While over here, the work over there in Bushwick on Pocket Utopia moves forward. The walls are almost complete and painting will begin soon. Right next to me right now is mom (a.k.a Kay Thomas) and origami expert, so maybe we'll do a round of folding between car-pooling.

Off to California

2007-08-08T04:16:00.001-07:00

From the palm trees at 60 Wall Street to evergreens up in the country and now to more palm trees in Newport Beach, California. My sister is getting married and we are watching her kids while she honeymoons.

I have to pack light and be in constant contact with my friends renovating Pocket Utopia, but I will bring all the "unstraight" rulers that have been carved and manipulated and my sketchbook. My plan is to fill up my notebook, for when I get back a new project awaits. I'm going to switch up my focus to assembling all the "unstraight-line" drawings into larger works on paper and then focus on the text pieces for fall. It's all about building a post-studio system.

Mommy escape

2007-08-05T05:29:00.001-07:00

My bags are packed with a small sketchbook, pens and craved and manipulated rulers. My train leaves in about an hour and ten minutes. I plan to work on the Pierogi Flat File Show on the train. I'll gaze out the window dreaming of utopic social space and after about 2 hours I'll arrive in the country, where for about twenty-four hours I'll be with like-minded souls!!

Pictured above is one of the rose windows from Jefferson Library.

Social space being built

2007-08-03T10:18:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to type and Grant keeps banging his head on the keys! Perhaps we could discuss my typing and his head banging on the computer in terms of relational aesthetics!

Pictured above is my pal Roger taking pictures of Pocket Utopia with his new iphone.. The space is coming along just fine. I'm trying to save areas with old wallpaper and tin, tailoring the old space for new purposes. The first of those purposes to be the Pierogi Show!

It's so hot today, the only place to go is 60 Wall Street, for it's my avant-garde ice box of a free space. Up the air conditioning, I'm packing up my pencils!

Done with DC, back to building Social Space

2007-07-30T11:44:00.000-07:00

Camp is really over, and although it took 2 1/2 hours for Grant to take a nap, I am now in a quiet apartment dreaming of a busy social space. I am planning to coordinate an artist-in-residence program at Pocket Utopia. For artists that have a portable practice, either drawing-based, computer-derived, or some other format that is well suited for a table. I am going to have the table in a designated area specially for them.

The designated area will be painted a different color than the rest of the floor. Having a cordoned off area makes it clear that the artist is working there. A defined working area is important, especially for the post-studio artist like myself, and I'll be inviting other post-studio artists as well as visiting artists for this program.

This weekend in VA/DC at my sister-in-law's house, my mother-in-law threw out my "fold" drawings, and it was really the first time that I didn't clearly demarcate a workspace. Another lesson learned in this post-studio journey. I love in-laws, for they make you stronger, and having to always define your work and your work area makes you really strong. I would go so far as to say it makes the work stronger too.

Pictured above, 2 years after deinstallation, a shadow remains of my social sculpture"Dreamer: an Eyrie Perch" that was installed at the Corcoran for their 48th Corcoran Biennial in 2005. A space still demarcated, maybe I should work there next time I go visit in-laws!

Drawing while driving

2007-07-27T07:39:00.001-07:00

Camp is over, and I couldn't be happier. Good-bye nasty nannies and mean mommies! I actually got a lot of drawing done at camp and Grant did have a lot of fun.

Grant and I are in DC now (Mike drove the whole way last night). I am embracing my new work schedule that fully incorporates Pocket Utopia as a social sculpture. I'm working on my "fold" drawings today, Friday, and tomorrow I'm working on social space. Phase 2 of the construction on Pocket Utopia begins on Tuesday. And I guess we'll deliver work to our new and wonder Pocket Utopia collectors on Wednesday! Every day out of the studio means there's more art out in the world.

Excuse me, #7

2007-07-25T06:13:00.000-07:00

Today is the last Wednesday of the month and therefore salon night or "Excuse me, you have art in your teeth," night. This evening's event will take place out at Pocket Utopia and will also function as a closing party for "Not Yet Utopic."

Today being Wednesday, it's also my day to work on social sculpture. I've redone my schedule of art-making to now include social space-making, which will fully integrate the Pocket Utopia project into my daily post-studio (and maybe post-gallery) practice. I'm dedicating the time and commiting to the space in order to really make it art (social sculpture) and therefore meaningful to me.

pictured above, from the show "Not Yet Utopic," Dana Gentile's Dreamboy 2007 6.5 x 11 x 1.5 inches mixed media collage, wooden spool and cigar box ($300)

A revolution in line (and hopefully in time and space)

2007-07-23T12:45:00.001-07:00

Still in Ohio. We will probably leave tonight. Ohio is a place to be only for a very short period of time. I have redone all my lines, meaning I have taped up all my rulers and am ready to continue my summer of filling sketchbooks. With each altered straight-edge, I'll practice what Agnes Martin called an imprecise line.

Back home, I'll continue this investigation in impreciseness while I plan for a closing salon at Pocket Utopia and a little trip in Northern Virginia (more family). So there will be some car drawing in my near future.

Ohio

2007-07-20T12:50:00.000-07:00

I'm in Ohio (at the in-laws). There's a free bedroom here and I've set up shop in it. Upon arrival, this is a perfect free space. Before leaving New York, I packed up all my rulers and an adequate palate of pens and pencils. I am ready to work away (and away from New York for a few days).

I was feeling dystopic before leaving, like life was about suffering, but not anymore. It's amazing what a few miles of asphalt under your tires can do for your well-being. Maybe I'll nap. Grant is playing with the dog. Mike is drinking beer. My drawing notebooks are open and breathing.

Ever since I started doing drawings in the waiting room of my dentist, I've been carrying sketchbooks and pens and pencils with me everywhere. I've been filling them up every free chance I get; at the playground, on the subway and while Grant is at camp. I don't know what took my so long to develop or rather adopt an on-the-go drawing practice, but it really suits my post studio situation.

The daily drawing (also a good way to entertain Grant while at a restaurant or similar environment) is allowing me the possibility to built up my spare parts, which get assembled into more formal works on paper later. Filling notebooks with simple “unstraight line” drawings is also providing me the opportunity to reconsidered color choices and of course, to rework my lines, every page, at every free moment, is an experiment in a new lined space. So I will spend the next few days craving and altering my rulers to fill more pages, trying out new ways to draw and work. Free moments fill pages; free space in Ohio clears the mind.

Hitting a brick wall

2007-07-16T10:17:00.001-07:00

What do you do when you hit a brick wall? Say, "Ouch!" Turn around and walk the other way. Clean out your purse, portfolios, sharpen pencils, plan new play dates, hire a new babysitter, edit, cut anything out of the schedule that isn't absolutely necessary. Continue drawing and maybe bake a cake.

It's crowded here at Jefferson Library. But I spot a pencil sharper and there's no more brick walls in sight.

Print project

2007-07-12T10:17:00.000-07:00

We made it through another week of camp. Now Grant is napping and I am folding on the floor. I am trying to catch my breath from a week of making sure my 2 year old has the time of his life at camp and otherwise (potting training is going stupendously) and editioning my first Gocco print with artist Lucas Reiner.

Making the print, which definitely took a little trial and error, but turned out beautifully, felt like a really important thing to make. Three other artists (Brece and Rob), and myself, were on hand, assistanting Lucas in the production process. It felt great to work on someone else's art. It was a really fulfilling joint effort and the print is beautiful. Lucas Reiner will show at Pocket U. in October.

Bushwick

2007-07-09T20:22:00.000-07:00

Spending both Saturday and Sunday out in Bushwick at Pocket Utopia has a strange and fuzzy anti-vacation/second home feeling. For it's summer and it's pretty quiet out there. I hang out, people visit, I think about art. Then I go back home to my clean apartment (which I usually tiddy up on Saturday mornings before going to the gallery). After the weekend, I am grateful to be home and I feel refreshed.

Weekending in Bushwick got me thinking in that "freespace" kind of way, for I don't spend a lot of money or other precious resources to get there and I am happy to get back home. Maybe we should think of our weekday homes as vacation spots, all cozy and quiet, and spend our weekends at nearby pocket places that might need a little improvement. I'm sure these places are all over the metropolitan area and accessible by public transportation. Spend a weekend cleaning a park, reading to children, voluntering at hospice, teach art, plant flowers down the street. Pick up trash. Go home and feel refreshed. Be on vacation.

Social space, sold

2007-07-07T19:49:00.000-07:00

I made it through the rest of the week of camp and am spending the weekend in utopia. I was worried about going out to the gallery and being lonely, but nope, I open up and people hang out. We even made our very first sale! I say "we" because it seemed like a group effort.

One of my objectives, in opening (and the official opening is in September) Pocket Utopia, is to give artists the opportunity to be full participants in the current artworld mircoclimate. I believe, contrary to what Peter Schjeldahl might think we artists are not cows at a creamery. We own the barn, the gallon jug and the tractor you rode in on! So when a young, enthusiastic, knowledgable, passionate artist and art worker became our first collector; I saw one of my dreams of utopia start to become reality. Or perhaps, this utopia I am building is not a dream but a wide-awake work of art.

The day after independence

2007-07-05T05:39:00.000-07:00

The day after the 4th of July means one more day before "Not Yet Utopic" opens at Pocket Utopia. A forgiving title for a very interesting and beautiful photography show.

Today also means back to camp. On Tuesday, one of the other mother's told me that my son was happier when his dad was there. (Mike took Grant to camp last week when I was having gum surgery). She said he smiled the whole time with his dad. That didn't exactly make me smile. I'm really looking forward to camp today. After camp it's off to Pocket Utopia. Hey thanks Art Fag City for putting up Eric's images and plugging the show!!

Indoor and Out

2007-07-02T19:20:00.000-07:00

I have an outdoor space, a little urban oasis, my own outdoor free space. The backyard of my apartment building has an outdoor space with lots of free internet! It needs a little work. And when it's dark I go back inside to the basement.

I've been working on the "fill-in" drawings (and the next Pocket Utopia show and looking at everything in the Pierogi flatfile). I am trying to redefine already defined space all around me. At least the pain in my gums is subsiding, a little.

Dental work drawings

2007-06-29T16:12:00.000-07:00

More dental work has revelaed more drawing. I feel like this is the summer of mouth replacement and it continued yesterday with gum sugery, which was part of the root canal, but I was the last to know about the procedure until the stitches were all tied up. Ouch! I did put my new sketchbook to the test, which I bought for camp, but seems to work well on the subway and in the waiting room of the dentist.

After popping some pain killers last night and holding an ice pack to my jaw (needless to say I did not go to any openings), I packed up my gocco printer and unpacked it at my friend Rob Burke's studio. We wanted to get a good ook at the thing before Lucas Reiner comes to town and we start inking!

doing, dusting, and eating french fries

2007-06-27T18:14:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe what Pocket Utopia looks like now that it has been through the first phase of demolition. I met with the now six photographers (we lost one due to a cross country move) out at the Life Cafe and we eat fries and looked at work and tried to comprehend a show within the dust and crumbling plaster of Pocket U. I think in a strange way it's going to work because this photo show will become a sculpture, capturing a moment before the next building phase begins.

While I try to figure out how to re-attach the florescent lights to the now 12-foot high, maybe higher ceiling, I've found a "free space" at Grant's camp! Of course, we have to successfully complete our separation process, meaning he plays and makes art with the other kids while I make art by myself, but this desk is just fine for me to camp out at for the next month. It's one camp day at a time.

Floored again

2007-06-25T13:02:00.000-07:00

The floor is grounding. And I'm folding and drawing down here again. Tonight is the sixth "Excuse me, you have art in your teeth," food and art-based salon and it will essentially be a pre-show discussion with the seven photographers that will show at Pocket Utopia in the month of July. This will be a show in a demolitioned but not a renovated space. It'll be raw and ready to show or rather it'll be a raw space, showcasing Terry Girard, Dana Gentile, Jason Hanasik, Eric Hairabedian, Kristopher Graves, Tricia Zigmund, and Jersey Walz. The show opens Friday, July 6th, 6pm-10pm.