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

One day late, the winner!

Thank you for all your support and love. My dear husband had the honors of picking at random the winner of the giveaway and that person is .......

Nina Cunningham! 

Congrats! 

Nina will be receiving her sweet little gift in the mail soon.  In the meantime stay tuned... I went ghost hunting yesterday and found some pretty cool stuff... I have some pictures to share in a bit.

....And one other piece of business...Not sure if you know this, but I am teaching three classes this year at ART-IS-YOU in Stamford, CT. With my busy schedule of family, school, work and art-making, I don't get to teach very often, although I really love doing it. Going to retreats like Art-Is and working one on one with students is one of the most amazing feelings. I am always humbled and honored to be able to contribute to the growth and development of people's artistic lives. I am really excited to be able to teach 3 brand new classes.

SATURDAY October 6th

WHAT HIDES WITHING, In this class was created from a piece that I made called: the Litany Against Fear. It is an interactive piece and I am using the workshop to teach artists how to use their emotions and past to create artwork that heals. 

SUNDAY October 7th

RURAL ROOTS: Here in Vermont we have roots. In architecture, in the land and in history. We will explore what your roots are and use my favorite new material: BARN BOARD to create beautiful assemblage as homage to our ancestors, real or imaginary.

MONDAY October 8th

RECLAIM YOUR CHILDHOOD: This class was originally called "Poor Dolly".  In is intended for you to use all those crazy bits and pieces of old dolls that you have been collecting. (I know you have been collecting them. They are so creepy and great, who can resist?) I started working with really odd and scary dolls a few years back when a friend asked me to participate in a show entitled "The Art of Horror". If you find something very beautiful in their detritus and decay and that their uncanny nature should be celebrated this is the class for you!

Alright! That's the whole kit and caboodle. Three days chock full of good clean art-making, lots of great ideas for you to kick start your studio practice and heaps and heaps of fun.

So. If you are on the fence and haven't signed up yet, ART-IS-YOU is a month and 1/2 away! You don't want to miss out on this. It is a great opportunity to re-charge your brain and be inspired. Take my advice.STOP MAKING EXCUSES. You owe it to yourself. Sign up today! October will be here before you know it.

OK. That's all I have for today, folks. Tomorrow, pictures of ghosts.... stay tuned.

Special Giveaway

I am finally back from my grad school residency and have some wonderful news to tell you.
I am so excited to announce that my new website is live and running! lorrainereynoldsvt.com.  I am so thankful to the Vermont Arts Council for their funding. As well as Beth Robinson and  Rick Levinson  for their fantastic contributions to the site. I could not done with without them.

To celebrate this new exciting new accomplishment I am doing a sweet little giveaway.
I have one last little shrine left in the studio and I think it's time for it to find a new home.

So with a little help from you in spreading the word about my new site, it could be yours. All you have to do to enter to win is mention my new website and with a link to your Twitter, Tumbler, Blog or Facebook page. Then leave a comment here and you'll be entered in the drawing. Easy? Right?

I draw the winner's name at random next Sunday.



Thank you ever so much for your continued support! Have a great, creative week. And Good Luck!

Mind Wide Open

Somehow, amazingly readers, I have completed my 1st semester of graduate school. Can you believe it? I sure can't. Someone should pinch me. Hard. There were times during the semester when I really questioned my judgement about the whole ordeal. I mean, seriously folks, this pursuit of knowledge has taken up a good portion of my free time. Ok, Ok, it has taken up all my free time. I mean, really, I haven't even had time for you dear readers. I will have to make a greater effort next semester about writing more. Poke and prod me. OK? Maybe, you can even convince me to share with you my deep intellectual (*cough. cough*) thoughts about art.

(untitled) L Reynolds copyright 2012

And as much as I am completely exhausted and so excited about having the next 2 weeks off from schoolwork, (Crazy right? 2 weeks, too bad it isn't the rest of the summer) I know there are so many things that I need to catch you up on.

So I will be investing some extra time to share with you some exciting things coming down the path.  And maybe we can talk a little, just a smidge,  about some of the more interesting things I learned in graduate school this semester. I promise I won't bore you with a recap on Jameson's theory of Postmodernism in the Late Capitalist Society. But we might talk a about somethings that connected deeply to my work, like objects, collections and souvenirs, nostalgia, Joseph Cornell and the punctum. We can open it up for discussion.

What I will say straight out is that going back to school has really changed the way I look at the world, as an artist, as a parent and wife, as a garment industry professional and as an educator.

It is really important to get out there and stretch your mind. As often as possible. If you can't go back to college, take a class. Art classes are EVERYWHERE. At your local high school as part of adult learning programs, at Craft/Art centers, at Community Colleges and near-by Universities. Get out there and start making. Make something you have NEVER tried before. I did. It helps to rewire your brain...

1. If you have the chance go someplace different and new, visit a city you've never been to, go to galleries and museums or attend an art retreat. Some retreats allow you to sign up for as many or as few classes as you want. I know ART IS YOU.... does.  I am teaching three classes there again in OCTOBER and I can't say enough about how happy and recharged people became after attending workshops in that sort of setting. The bonding and sisterhood that happens is amazing and renewing. I bet you if you went over to their website and checked out the course offerings you would find something that really speaks to you.

I fill you in more about the classes I am teaching in the upcoming weeks.

For now I am going to leave you with a link to my PINTEREST board with some of the inspiration I collected over the past 6 months. Mostly these are artists or works of art that really had a profound influence on my thinking since January.  Enjoy the eye candy, and seriously do think about cracking open that brain of yours by getting out of the studio and into a class room, even if it is for just a four hour work shop. It's totally worth it....

Cheers!

Vermont: Inspiration

I have live here for almost 21 years, which is as long as I have live almost anywhere else. So, (although, the died-hard Vermonters will never say I am one) this is where I call home. Vermont feeds me so much history and INSPIRATION.... I am so glad to be here. I suppose, if I was still on Long Island, I would just be working for old CDV's of whaling captains and potato farmers....But I am not, so instead, I give you Vermont school children and gentlemen from eras passed.

At any rate... I have been working on two series at once. The first, prints on old book covers and the second, transfers onto barn board. Each process has had its challenges but has been incredibly rewarding. I'll share with so, some works in progress. I hope you enjoy the little stories Vermont has to offer....

Oh- PS.... I love being PINNED on pinterest... (its an honor and a joy)but please remember, these all my work is copyrighted and I retain rights to all the art/photographyon my blog. Please PIN responsibility and give credit where credit is due... thanks!

Lost

I have been having a little bit of what I call "studio paralysis." My head and my life have been keeping me from getting "real" work done in the studio and it has been frustrating, to say the least. I found my head in a loop of bad internal self talk about not being "good-enough", what the heck was I thinking about trying to do graduate school, that my work was hack, ya-da, ya-da, ya-da. Negative self talk, especially that stuff the spirals around in your head can be very detrimental to the creative process. Everyone has their triggers, the things that set them down that slippery slope. For me, it's stress and feeling overwhelmed by everything that I seem to pile on my plate. I don't know how I do it, but I am ALWAYS doing something. For me, in this life, there is little down time. When all the stuff piles on high, I sort of melt down and end up in creative paralysis. So, the studio, has been a lonely place the last two weeks. Life and responsibilities, definitely got the best of me.

But this morning, maybe, because I can finally catch my breath at work and at home, I had an ah-ha! moment. A piece (and in idea for a series) that was somewhat elusive, finally became clear to me. Maybe it was the reading I have been doing for school, finally sunk in, I really don't know what made it possible for me to think clearly today. But, I did. I finally did! And now, I know where things are going.

Where IS it going?

Well, we are going to get LOST. Not in the TV show, but more in a symbolic way.

I am thinking about things that we lose when we are children and how this has an impact on us as adults. We all have this experience, we hold something very dear and then for some reason, usually carelessness on our own part, we loose it and it is gone forever. Where do all the lost things go? What happens to them when they are found? and most importantly, what happens to us, when the object is only a memory in our minds?

So that's what I will leave you with, that the crux of my next project. I'd love to hear about what you've lost when you were a child. The thing that you once had, was so precious and now is LOST.

I love NY

Yes, it's true. I do. I was born and raised there. And although I have lived in VT for 20 years, There is a part of me that will always be a New York Girl. Last week, I took my youngest son to the city. We flew down and it was the first time he had ever been on a plane. We stayed with friends in Brooklyn and toured all over the city. We had a huge laundry list of things we wanted to do. Lots of things that every tourist wants to see, but then some more "obscure" things as well. Well we did, visit Obscura Antiques down in the East Village and meet the cast of the show Oddities. Four days wasn't really enough time to see it all and visit with old friends. It just means we will have to do it again. Hopefully, sooner rather than later.