Pinterest.

Pinterest.

Mmmmm....pinning.

It's become a little addictive to me. I have incorporated this digital collection of images into my studio practice. I probably spend about 15 minutes a day, researching artists or art movements and then pinning images to inspiration boards. I collect and then go back and review them, thinking about why they move me and how the image influences the work. It's an interesting tool and I really enjoy the ease and organization it creates.

You can follow me on Pinterest and see some of the things that move me. (CLICK here for the link) These are my virtual "Mood" boards, so to speak. The most active board right now is "Canticle". I am in the early planning phase of a new project. These images speak to some of the elements, moods, colors, and themes that I am thinking about. You will see older boards, from my 1st three semesters in Grad School. 4th semester officially starts on Friday. The new board for all the artists I am bound to encounter in the next six months is sitting there anxiously awaiting to be filled.

Oh, yes... there is the obligatory food board. Everyone seems to have one, this one I use to collect new and interesting recipes. Many of which are vegetarian, with hopes that I can feed my newly turned veggie son.

I'll be starting a new board later today...  for my Etsy shop...Glimmering Prize. Yes, don't pass out. I'm in the process of reviving my Esty shop. Check back soon. (Really, I promise. Cross-my-heart-hope-to-die-stick-a needle-in-my-eye promise) That there will be all sorts of goodies listed on Etsy within the next month. Yes, it is a new year and I have to clean out my studio to make room for this huge new project I am doing. (Did i say it was huge? It's going to be huge.)

So, if you are looking for assemblage salvage, old books, little bits of this and that, or you just want a good deal on some artwork, stay tuned.  It's going to be an EPIC sale. Plus, for you insiders and faithful readers, there will be a very special discount. You don't want to miss it.

Alright...I have to get back to work. The studio is calling me.

Hope you are doing well. Keep the faith and stay creative!

Lorraine

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

The Chicken Coop

On our property we have an old chicken coop that is falling down. In fact there is no roof and only three walls.  It's been this way for as long as we have own it. here and there I have been salvaging wood from it for a while. Some of those pieces have been transformed into barn board people. 

I'm trying to find a way to incorporate this structure into my studio work.... not sure how that is going to happen.

Working on this in my brain... 

Wondering what will come out of it.

Vanishing Vermont: Middlesex

Right off the highway the between Waterbury amd Montpelier is where you will find this sleepy little village. Middlesex, Vermont is a little town. fewer than 1,800 people call it home.

I stumbled upon this abandoned house and train depot not far from the center of town.  Trains still push through on this track on the way to Burlington and beyond, but the days of passengers getting on and off at this platform is long gone. So sad to bear witness to the decline of the railroad.

Thank you so much for visiting my blog. 

Please remember that I retain the rights to all original photography posted. While I am honored and flattered that you

might enjoy the work enough to want to use or repost other places, please do not do so with out permission. All photos copyright L Reynolds 2012

Thanks! Lorraine

Ghost Stories

Well, to say this summer has been a whirlwind is an understatement. I can't believe it's August already. Where has the time gone? I know a lot of my time has been invested with work, family and school. Just about a week ago, I was taking down a semester's worth a work at Vermont College of Fine Arts exhibit space, lovingly called "the ARK." I was really pleased with the feedback the faculty and the visiting "critters" had to give. So now, with one whole semester behind me, I can move into semester #2 of a 4 semester journey through graduate school.

copyright LReynolds 2012

copyright LReynolds 2012

This semester I will be focusing all of time and energy into researching ghosts and hauntings. Text and articles to read have been piling up on my desk. Movies to watch are queuing up. The purpose of this research is to better understand what it means for something to be "haunted." What makes a ghost, a ghost? How is it that some people see then and some people don't? Why do spaces and places, like old houses, cemeteries and abandoned buildings fill some people with dread and horror, when other people go hunting for spirits and spectral evidence?  These are just a few examples of the ideas that I am exploring. 

copyright LReynolds 2012

One of my projects will be to document abandoned spaces and those places considered ghostly or haunted through photography and video. Last weekend I went out looking at some old sites and I thought you might be interested in see what I uncovered... 

I will share more as they come.

copyright LReynolds 2012

copyright LReynolds 2012

copyright LReynolds 2012

copyright LReynolds 2012

copyright LReynolds 2012

Thank you so much for visiting my blog. Please remember that I retain the rights to all original photography posted. While I am honored and flattered that you might enjoy the work enough to want to use or repost other places, please do not do so with out express permission from the artist. 

Thanks! Lorraine

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.