A new adventure...at the heart of my mind!

I've now returned from my first semester's residency at Goddard College.

Goddard College - Port Townsend, WA

I'm full of new ideas and a renewed curiosity. My study plan is all about creating a more 'body-centered' art practice, because if all the labels of race, gender, sexual orientation, and sexuality are stripped away, what remains? Someone commented that this seemed to be my way to connect form to process and content in my work, and I can't help but agree.

What will the 'body-centered' part of this look like?

From my Spring 2012 study plan:

In order to build a more embodied art practice, I will work with manual processes and traditional media: figure drawing, large paintings that use my entire body, sculptural body casts, and linocuts, lithographs, and serigraphs made by hand. I recognize that it is possible to engage in these very physical processes and not reconnect with my body. To that end, I will use movement: Kundalini yoga, the sensory-based Nia, ecstatic dance, and the movement-based acting technique known as Viewpoints. As I do these exercises, I want to record the knowledge from my body in a journal. What will begin as weekly classes I want to become part of my daily life. The works I intend to make this semester will focus on the female form in ways I never have before, as my own body awareness increases. My body has nearly three decades of stories gathered within it. It is time for me to learn to listen to them.    

Wait. What? Serigraphs? Lithographs? Yes. I have long wanted to explore more and varied printmaking processes, because I am curious and because different printmaking techniques yield very different looking results. I'd like to spend a bit this semester playing with media of all kinds, even if nothing tangible comes from it. No matter the media, though, I want to concentrate on my body as subject and object in my work.

I have a feeling this will lead to lots of very interesting work.

Oh, and feel free to recommend other artists whose work I should look at, books I should read, or shows I should check out.