March Art Scene
When I look back at March ‘23, I can’t believe how long the month felt. Scrolling through my phone to find pictures for this post felt like an archeological dig. Time is passing slowly this year, but that doesn’t necessarily feel good. I’ve spent a lot of this year feeling less than stellar physically, which has made it hard to focus on doing the things I want to do. As I write this I’m finally starting to feel better and am making some lifestyle changes to aid in that as well. I didn’t document as much of my art life as I wanted to this month and sadly I went on NO Artist’s Dates which is a huge bummer. I am going to schedule them in my planner in April because taking time to fill the well makes a huge difference in my creative output. Read on to see some of the creative things I did this month.
As far as art output goes, I was pretty prolific in March. I participated in two art shows. First the Green Theme show at Mike Hess Brewing Company and the Thrift Remix show at Bar Basic Pizza. Both were great turnouts and my piece for the Green show, “Sixteenth Century Greensleeves” actually ended up selling! That felt so exciting. I loved the idea for the Thrift Remix show and since I bought a couple thrift pieces as potential bases for my collages, I have two more thrift finds that I can remix. This might become something I incorporate into my work more often.
In terms of art events, I went to several this month. Of course, I went to the openings of both of the shows that I participated in. I think it’s great to have art featured in communal spaces like restaurants, it brings in a whole new crowd and makes art accessible.
I attended the memorial of one of my Revision artists, Mark, at the beginning of the month. It was quite an emotional day, to say the least, and many tears were shed over the loss of Mark. However, that man was prolific. All of his art adorned the walls of the new Revision space and there were piles and piles of drawings and paintings to take home. I took home many pieces I worked on with Mark and am so honored to have his work to remember him by. We made donations to the National Parks Project in his honor, since road trips through national parks were something he loved.
My coworker, Chloe, premiered her play Enhanced at Mt. Everest Academy this month and it was a thought-provoking and deeply symbolic show. I was blown away by the talent of the writing, acting, and production.
Last weekend I attended Mary Jhun’s solo show Sons & Daughters, at Gramercy Gallery in Riverside. It was fun to get out of town for a few hours and take in her deeply personal and emotional work. I’ve been a fan of Mary’s work since the Sketchparty days and I’m so enticed by the shapes her work is taking lately. The rich colors and symbolism painted a narrative of questioning, discovering, passion, hurt, rage, and ultimately acceptance and triumph. I found myself drawn to the deep colors and the way the work reveals more through intense looking.
On the Art Ed front I’ve been working on lots of projects with my students. We’re getting close to the end of the school year and it’s been great to see their skills develop. I put up some new art displays at St. Rita’s with some collagraph prints and notan paper cutting projects. We also worked on linoleum block printing which was fun. At my other sites we’ve been doing projects inspired by Jack Medved, Lubaina Himid, and John Baldessari.
Personally, I’ve been spending a lot of time getting ready for my upcoming SoulCollage® workshop. I am so excited about the guidebook I created. It was an intense labor of love but I think it’s going to be really cool. I’ve also been having fun with my BuJo. I’ve kept up with my daily illustration so far and I’ve been using it to envision new ways of being and I’m liking the results so far.
Hopefully next month I’ll have a bit more to share with you process-wise. I’m trying to remember to document my artistic process and what’s going on in my studio. I feel like that would be fun to see. I also want to document my Artist’s Dates but I have to do them first. Maybe for my 34th year I’ll make Artist’s Dates a priority and see where that takes me. Until next month!
