Song of myself

In preparation for an online class that I am making for the Artful Gathering, I have moved myself into a brighter, more cozy (albeit, smaller) studio space on the main floor of our house. The attic has proven to be too cold in the winter and the stairs too tough on my knees. So, our three-season porch, has become winterized. I have been busy out here for the past few weeks, moving into my new space. 

This past fall has been a complete whirlwind. I don't know how it got away from me. I taught two classes at Shake Rag Alley in September. Then I headed up to Minneapolis to spend some time vending a Art-Is-You. October and November had me designing and building costumes for NightFires, shipped them back to Vermont. How I missed working on that show. I'm was so excited and grateful when Marianne  asked for my help with the dancer costumes.

Then December crept in.  I was immediately off to Asia to work for two weeks with some of our vendors in Korea and Hong Kong. The day job has left little space for making or even thinking of making new art. 

But, finally, with this new space, with all my materials around me- I have become inspired to work on art again.

New Work

Whitman

2016

Assemblage from found objects

Volt meter case, rusted lamp parts, metal lid, rusted spring, recovered bottle, vintage text, wire, china marker.

9"x 6 1/2" x 3 1/2"

This piece was inspired by a single atom and Walt Whitman's Song of Myself. In some ways it reminds me of the Shrine of Invention. There's a bit of an evolution my assemblages have changed some since 2008. 

Every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.

We are all stardust.  We are all interconnected. 

Wishing you Peace and Joy was we move forward into 2016.

UPCOMING CLASSES

I'm excited to announce that I will be teaching at this Shake Rag Alley, in Mineral Point, Wisconsin in September. That's only two months away!! 

If you haven't been to Shake Rag, you are in for a treat. This arts and craft school, resides in a cluster of small historical buildings nestled along a babbling spring.  Built along the hill side on 2.5 beautifully landscaped acres these little structures house a Blacksmith shop, Jewelry classes, Fiber Arts and Mixed media programs, youth arts education and a small performing arts stage. 

I'll write more about Shake Rag and it's history in an upcoming post: But if you want to wet your appetite click here to check out their website and see what's creatively in-store for you at this magical location.

I am teaching of two of my most requested classes

SOUL HOUSES
an introduction to mixed media assemblage and process orientated art making

September 12th 

10 AM -5 PM

click here for the link to sign up. 

and......

BOOKS UNBOUND
begin your journey into altered books

September 13th 

10 AM -5 PM

click here for the link to sign up for Books Unbound.

Space is LIMITED - I recommend signing up soon.


























It's going to be a beautiful weekend of art-making and memory collecting. Won't you join us?

New Work: 'o Danny Boy

There's something about titles that can tend to be difficult. Sometimes the name came be so elusive. You don't want the title to give away too much, but you don't want to waste the meaning either.

This piece might have spawned out of one too many nights in the studio watching Outlander. Although not Scottish,the tune has been stuck in my head for weeks now. I even tried watching old 27th Lancers videos to get passed it. As the work began to come together on the table there was no second guessing it. 'o Danny Boy it would be.

Whatever the influence, this box assemblage come together rather quickly.There's something different and new about the work that have been coming out of my studio the past few weeks. I'm excited about how things are coming together. More photos (and more work) to come- I promise.

New Work
'o Danny Boy
Assemblage from found objects
Game board, old Victorian scrap, chess piece, gilded picture frame, transparency, rusty metal.
$175

Contact me for purchase or more information- glimmeringprize@gmail.com

Settling in

I can't believe the weather here in Wisconsin this week. The temperatures have gone from 17 degrees 10 days ago, to a balmy 65 degrees today. I've swept the front porch, opened the windows and have been basking in the warm sunlight drinking my morning coffee. 

As I still here, dog at my feet, listening to the birds, the wind and the occasional passerby.  I am thinking about what it means to be here. As in here in Wisconsin. Little by little the boxes have been unpacked. Our home in Vermont rented, our new lives in the Midwest starting to take root.  

Getting back into the studio after the whirlwind of graduating from VCFA and moving has been challenging, to say the least. There are still plenty of boxes that need to be unpacked. Lots of materials that need to be purged. Things that need to find their right space. My new studio is up on the 3rd floor of this old 4-square we've made home. I'm not crazy about the old paneling, but the finished attic looks out on the neighborhood and offers a quiet place to be by myself and work on my art. 

Opening boxes and shifting through all "the Stuff" has definitely been inspiring. I've finished a few new pieces and mended a few that were damaged in the move. There's new work on the table. My old style mixed with a new sensibility informed by 2 1/2 years of grad school. This is something I just cannot escape-the resonance of crits and reviews by my peers and faculty. The endless defense of the work you make and the "why's" associate with it. It took a long time for me to open a jar of gel medium and start working on assemblage again.  

Finally, I feel like I am getting my mojo back. It's not as if it really left me. More like it was taking a long nap. Winter finally breaking into Spring, has opened a mental door for me. I am excited about the months to come. 

So, readers, if you will allow me, I am back to provide you further musings on Art, Life and Making. I hope you have been well. It feels like it has been an eternity.  I know it sounds cliche, but a new chapter has started. 2015 is going to be a fantastic year! 

NEW Upcoming Classes - June 21-22 2014- at DAVIS STUDIOS- Burlington VT

I am thrilled to announce that I will be teaching at Davis Studio this summer. Two FULL day workshops. Back to Back. 

It's a mixed media weekend extravaganza!

DAY 1-

Saturday June 21 2014

9 AM- 3PM

SOUL HOUSES

The symbolism linked to birds goes back to the ancient world, where birds were considered to be a supernatural connection between the gods and men. In many Asian and Middle Eastern cultures, birds can represent immortality. In East Indian and Christian mythologies birds represent the soul. These soul houses are a safe haven for your hopes and dreams. This class will introduce you to the art of assemblage as you learn to construct basic house forms that have relevance and meaning in your own world. You will learn the basics of assemblage construction as well as plot a creative journey through storytelling, personal myth and metaphor. You will take away power new ideas about process and art making.

Supply list provided upon registration – don't worry!

Clean out your junk drawer and/or gather up the bits and pieces that you have been collecting with the thought of doing something with it. This is the something you have been waiting for.

$110 ($200 for Altered Book & Soul Houses)

Register at the DAVIS STUDIO website

DAY 2

SUNDAY June 22 2014

9 AM-3PM

Books Unbound: 

An Altered Book Workshop

$110 ($200 for Altered Book & Soul Houses)

Register at the DAVIS STUDIO website

This workshop will have you gluing, cutting, painting and tearing up old books to create 3 dimensional works of art. We will break all rules set into place by librarians and school teachers who told you books were meant to be kept on shelves. This class will offer you a space freely develop your own personal narrative with found objects; transforming ordinary pages of text into something mythical and profound, using something as simple as an old book as your base. We will bravely enter into creative new territories in this process oriented class.

SAVE $20 when you register for both -

Classes will be held at 

Davis Studio 

4 Howard Street, 

Burlington, VT

Davis Studio for more information:  

802-425-2700

or 

email : info@davisstudiovt.com

Don't delay. Class size is limited. This is the only time I will be teaching these classes in 2014.

Hope to see you in the classroom!

Inspiration: Judith Scott

Judith Scott
(1943-2005)

Judith Scott was a internationally recognized "outsider" artist. ( I have a love hate relationship with that word- but that is blog post for another day.) She was born deaf, mute and with Down Syndrome. She was the fraternal twin of Joyce Scott.  When Judith was about 7 years old Judith was separated from her twin and her family and sent to live in a state institution for the mentally retard. This separation had a profound effect on this girls. Judith lived in the state system until 1985 when Joyce found her, became her legal guardian and moved her to California where the laws concerning the education and welfare of mentally retarded citizens are more compassionate and inclusive. Judith, then started going to the Creative Growth Center in Oakland, California. 

Judith worked with the materials she had around her, fabric, found objects, yarn, thread, etc. Her wrapped pieces show an obsessive, almost complusive need to encaspulate or obscure the objects inside. She was know in the center for stealing other members materials and belongs and then burying them deep into the sculptures with layers and layers of wrapping. 

I find her work so compelling and her story inspiring. I hope to have an opportunity to see some of her pieces in person some day- but for now I will have to be satisfied with what I can view on the web and through Creative Growth's website. 

I hope you find her work as intriguing and enjoyable to look at as I do.


You can find out more about Judith at the Judith and Joyce Scott website. 

CLEARANCE SALE ON ETSY

Yes! It's true! I'm cleaning out the archives and making room for some new work in my studio.

All my birdhouses are specially priced on ETSY right now, 

and this just adds to the savings.

Glimmeringprize.etsy.com

Don't delay. This offer end 2/28.

COUPON is ONLY GOOD ON ASSEMBLAGES over $100 

and cannot be used towards supplies, de-stash or barn board pieces.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Here's some great news to start off 2013!

I hope everyone had the most blessed of holidays. Things here at Casa Reynolds have been a little hectic lately. Extra time seems to be elusive these days. I'm trying to snag up as much time as I can with the kiddos while they are on vacation and catch up with some household chores. My final paper of the semester has magically made it's way off my computer and onto my professor's cyber desktop. 

So, in this brief moment of calm, I wanted to reach out to everyone and thank them for all their love and support in the past year. I could not have made it to 2013 without you.

The hot topic for 2013 is where am I teaching. I had to scale back a ton of things in my life to make room for graduate school. Unfortunately, traveling to far-off destinations to teach workshops was one of those activities. Don't worry, it's only a hiatus, but this year's class schedule is very limited. 

Right now, as it stands, I am only teaching in two locations:
This winter here in VT and in July in New Jersey.
Both locations have very limited space, so if you are really dying to take a class with me, don't delay. Sign up early. 


Here's the scoop:
I am teaching 2 of my most requested classes: BOOKS UNBOUND and SOUL HOUSES.

BOOKS UNBOUND

This workshop will have you gluing, cutting, painting and tearing up old books to create 3 dimensional works of art. We will break all rules set into place by librarians and school teachers who told you books were meant to be kept on shelves. This class will offer you a space freely develop your own personal narrative with found objects; transforming ordinary pages of text into something mythical and profound, using something as simple as an old book as your base.  We will bravely enter into creative new territories in this process oriented class.

If you are into ALTERED BOOKS, this class is for you!

Saturday
FEBRUARY 16th
10AM-5PM
VINTAGE INSPIRED LIFESTYLE MARKETPLACE 
180 Flynn Avenue, Burlington VT
$95 

Please contact Mary @ Vintage Inspired to sign up for this class
802-488-5766

SOUL HOUSES

The symbolism linked to birds goes back to the ancient world, where birds were considered to be a supernatural connection between the gods and men. In many Asian and Middle Eastern cultures, birds can represent immortality. In East Indian and Christian mythologies birds represent the soul. These soul houses are a safe haven for your hopes and dreams. This class will introduce you to the art of assemblage as you learn to construct basic house forms that have relevance and meaning in your own world. By tapping into your true creative spirit we will transform ordinary bird houses into vessels that whisper of remembrance. You will explore your own imagination to find the ghost in old things and tell their tales in a 3 dimensional form, without fear or self-doubt. Learn to be creatively brave in this process orientated approach to creating altered art. You will learn the basics of assemblage construction as well as plot a creative journey through storytelling, personal myth and metaphor. You will take away power new ideas about process and art making.

Saturday and Sunday 
July 13 & 14th
Lemoncholy Studio click the PAYPAL link at the bottom of the page to register
Jersey Shore, NJ
$220 (for 2 days)
Email Kecia Deveney for more info 

Hopefully, that catches us up a little. I know it's been a while. Check back soon for other new interesting happenings in 2013. I'm working on a book and some new art projects and there's a little giveaway coming up soon... and a big sale... yes, a sale on all current assemblages coming for in a few weeks to celebrate my birthday!

sometimes what you are LOOKING at isn't what you are really SEEING

Sorry to say, I have been very neglectful of my blog as of late. I'll use the old excuse, I've can't seem to find the time. That would be the truth. You see, I've been busy in working on art these days. 26 hours a week, to be exact. (that's on top of the 40-50 hours a week I spend at the office.) Yes, I AM counting. The reason for this? I started graduate school last month and I am required to devote at least 20 hours a week to my studio practice. So, that's what I have been doing, besides trying to  figuring out how to balance it all: I've making art. If I haven't been making art, I've been reading about it, thinking about it and preparing to create it. Now, I'm writing about it! 

Why grad school you ask? I don't know.... I'm crazy... I guess, a glutton for punishment. I like school . (I know, I'm a dork.)  I completed my bachelor's almost 15 years ago. The MFA, has been taunting me, hanging out in the shadows for years, but the timing never felt right. Then, somehow, last year, good friend and mentor of mine, put the bug back in my ear. She told me about this lo-residency program at Vermont College of Fine Arts. I went and checked it out. I was totally sold. I decided that there was no time better than the present. I needed to dive in fast, before I got cold feet. I already had a strong studio practice. I told myself I that I was almost doing all the work already, so why not get credit for it. (Hmmm... not sure if that was an accurate assessment, but whatever.)  Now, I have found myself on this wild ride. Working with an artist teacher and developing study plans, reading essays and criticism about modern (and post modern art) and try lots of new ideas in the studio. 

So, readers, I ask your gentle patience. If you don't see a post every Sunday, as I was apt to do in the past, prod me, poke me, cajole me. I haven't gone too far away. I'm probably, just up to my elbows in gesso or glue and need to sharp reminder that I need to blog , to reconnect with the rest of the world. Let me know you need a little glimmering prize fix and I will share with you what's on the worktable or what books I have been reading. We can get through the next 2 years together. Learning more about who we are as artists and what we can offer the world!

How does that sound? Deal? 

Ok, here's the first installment. I have been working on ideas of containment. So continuing the the Rural Roots series, two new FINISHED pieces to share: The Little Things and Limits of the Visible.

Limits of visible (6"x3")

limits of visible (detail)

limits of visible (detail)

limits of visible (detail)

Little Things (19"x7")

Little Things (detail)

Little Things (detail)

Little Things (details)

And I will leave you with this thought about art (but you can apply it to almost everything in life)

Sometimes what you are LOOKING AT isn't what you are really SEEING.

NEW SERIES: RURAL ROOTS

Great Rebellion- Full View

The Great Rebellion- Detail

I am so excited about this new series of work that I started this weekend. I really have my free-cycler and fellow Etsian Lynn Findhold to thank for the barn board that led to these fantastic new pieces. She answered my call out into cyberspace last week, when I was looking for old wood and metal roofing. That's the beauty of FREECYCLE: One woman's trash is another's treasure. So, I went down to Hinesburg on Saturday to fill up the back of my little SAAB with great re-usable art materials. Lynn's chickens were quite excited to see me too.

I have been toying with this idea for quite a while. I have collected some great old rusted tools, locks and kitchen implements and I knew just a little worn, jagged wood would be the perfect foundation for the work. Vermont is full of a tremendous supply of inspiration and materials to make art. I love living here and very happy with the results of incorporating the old wood with paper and local artifacts.

Great Rebellion - Detail

At any rate, I finished these pieces this weekend. My quite mellow, 43rd birthday weekend, to be exact. I  am extremely grateful for the gift of un-interrupted studio and treasure hunting time my family gifted me. For the most part, these pieces are a departure for me, outside my safety zone; in size, composition, tone and materials. (And yes, I did not use any Van Dyke Brown whatsoever, go figure.)

Great Rebellion- side view

NH Primary- Full View

NH Primary- Detail

NH Primary - Detail

NH Primary- Detail

NH Primary - Detail

The Great Rebellion- 12"x6"x 4"

New Hampshire Primary 30"x 28"x 3 1/4"  

The Waif 7"x4" x 1 1/2".

The Waif- Full View

the Waif- Detail

What stories of a rural past would you create if you had some barn board to play with?