Can I Carry the Weight of the Story?

Back from a very long hiatus.... 

(my apologies... life has gotten in the way of my blog, I'm sorry....)

this is what's new in the studio.........

I have been busy with this new project. Yes... I have been cementing books. Literarily, taking old, discarded books from the dump and dipping them in cement. (Ok, and other stuff. I can't tell you all my secrets. Right?) This project was prompted by a call for work by the curator at Artistree Gallery in Woodstock, VT. There are about 25 of these books are on display in the Books Unbound III show.  I think I may have totally blown Adrian's mind at this point.  I Have the feeling that he really didn't know what to make of them when I dropped them off a few weeks ago.

These books are definitely "unbound" and completely outside of what people consider as "book arts." At this point, I have plunged head first into sculpture, without really thinking about it.

So, after a great response to these books in the gallery and at my 3rd semester residency at VCFA, where I showed an additional 50 piled directly on the floor, I am preparing to continue the cementing process. It is a process that is meditative and restorative, completely pared down and simplified compared to anything that I have done in the past. There will be more of this to come... I promise you. 

So, now that I am home, back from my 10 day intensive at VCFA. Completely critiqued and ready to move forward.  

Another semester has officially started and the text books and reading assignments have started to pile in.  Wait to you hear all about what I am writing about this semester.

Hopefully, readers you are still there and willing to hear all about the research I will be doing this term. And, of course I will keep you updated on all the art... as it is being made. Successes and failures.

I leave you with a link to video, that I just finished edited last week. It's called, Dreamwalking.  This is the result of my husband gifting me a new computer and a FLIP camera. Hmmm... and to come completely transparent, most of the editing happened while I was sick in bed with a 101 degree temperature. 

Keep creating and stay true to yourself.
Yours in art!
Lorraine

Apparitional Experience COMING TO: Vintage Inspired Marketplace: FRIDAY: May 3

Apparitional Experience

New Photographs by Lorraine Reynolds

VINTAGE INSPIRED MARKETPLACE 

180 Flynn Avenue

Burlington, VT

802-488-5766

On Display:

May 3rd to June 5th

OPENING RECEPTION

FRIDAY May 3rd

5-8pm

Here's a little bit of information about the new exhibit I will be hanging next week in the gallery at Vintage Inspired Marketplace. I am really excited about this new body of work. It is the first time, outside of showing it at Vermont College, that this work has been shown to the public.

A majority of the photographs were taken during the fall when I was out and about in the state of VT photographing crumbling remains of buildings and farms. This process was featured in the Burlington Free Press in October of 2014. 

click for link to BFP article.

These photographs are peaceful, silent, still, resigned forms of evidence. They are monuments. They are tombstones.They serve as documentation of "what was." On the surface they are images of crumbling buildings but they speak to something else. They point to the thing that is missing. These abandoned spaces are without human habitation.  Beyond the images of decay and abandonment there is something there that we can't quite define. Its untraceable. Indistinguishable.

The place between seeing and knowing is imprecise and extremely hard to nail down. It is a location in the mind that is only mapped by the memory artist.  It can be as elusive as a phantom that comes and goes into view like a fog.  It resides in the dark corners of our cellars and the cobwebs of our attics. It finds refuge in the gaps of our memory and solace in our childhood reminiscence.  

We find the spirits of the past lingering in the landscapes of trauma deeply rooted with a permanence of the ground that has reclaimed it.  Crumbling buildings and ancient estates serve as sanctuary for the forgotten, the lost, and the unclaimed. The souls who haunt our present are constant reminders of a past we cannot escape. We are intertwined with these beings as they are a symbol of our own mortality and our need for our own personal histories to persist in the memories of others.

NEW WORK: LITTLE STORIES: 2nd Series

I just finished another run of prints on book covers... I did these last summer and I really love the process and the ghostly effects that I get. 

This afternoon I boxed up 80 prints to send to the TWIST gallery in Nashville, TN. I have a solo show that it opening there next weekend. I am so excited and honored to be in this space.  It's a great space and I am looking forward to visiting later next month.

I also think I will be showing these in the Books Unbound Vol. 3 Show in Woodstock later this summer. I was really happy with the new diptych method I accomplished with some of the prints. The exposed binding and linking the two prints together  really does something for me. What do you think? Sometimes you just have to try something new.

This is just two of the groupings I've completed. 

I'll post more in the week to come. (I promise)

Be Well and Stay Creative!

class schedule: work in progress

This year I have a very limited teaching schedule. Last month I taught a fantastic group of women at Vintage Inspired Marketplace. we worked on altered books and had a great time making altered book. Mary and I are working on putting together another class for May or June, probably another offering of the Doll Shrine class I taught at Art-Is-You in October.

The only other class this year  is down on the New Jersey shore at Kecia Deveney's studio Lemoncholy.
I'm really excited about teaching this program.
It is a a special 2 Day Version of my popular
SOUL HOUSE CLASS
the cost for the two days is only $220
JULY 13 and 14th.
Space is limited and  reservations are needed in advance.

Check out Kecia's website for more information.

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!