Christine Aaron
This fall and winter, I traveled a great deal, unable to be in my studio for more than days at a time, for many many months. I found myself distracted, unfocused, jittery, and unable to sustain levels of concentration.
Read MoreLast month I returned from a residency at the Vermont Studio Center (VSC) in Johnson, Vermont. I greatly enjoyed my first experience there in November 2019 and looked forward to my return.
Read MoreI was invited to exhibit work in the Moira Fitzsimmons Arons Art Gallery at the Hamden Country Day School (Hamden, CT). It's curator, Caryn Azoff, has had an integral part in creating a rich and wide-ranging art program, as well as a vibrant exhibition schedule rooted in both traditional and contemporary art. It is an unusual space in that its main wall is a large, curved surface facing a bank of glass windows and doors.
Read MoreAfter the anticipation and intense work involved in mounting my solo exhibition, it came down at the end of May. I felt unable to dive back into my work. I was drained, listless, let down and had little desire to actively create.
Read MoreAs an artist working alone in my studio, being part of a larger art community is essential. I have been actively involved as a member of several cooperative art galleries, and supported other artists by attending openings, offering resources, trading and buying art. However, when I first learned about the International Encaustic Conference in 2011, I had never been away for multiple days solely for my art practice.
Read MoreIt happens every time. Even though I know it's coming. Even though I've experienced it before. It still creeps up on me… the post-solo slump. My work comes down. I drive past the gallery windows and see the empty walls. I feel a little anxious, decidedly blue, and somewhat at loose ends.
Read MoreGiving my artist talk for the Marking Time exhibition at Palmer Art, I was endeavoring to explain my lifelong habit, dare I say need, to collect objects. From a young age I have sought out secondhand stores, flea markets, and garage sales, searched for sea glass by the shore. I imagine all the hands that touched the object, wonder about the lives led; sense the history contained within.
Read MoreAfter the holiday rush, family visits and winter digging out, it was suddenly time to get ready for my solo exhibition. Marking Time opens on April 1st. and that date rushed towards me with unexpected urgency. The creation of work, though vital and essential, is only one part of preparing for a solo exhibition.
Read MoreYears ago, I had the fortunate experience of watching a juror choose work for an exhibit at the local nonprofit arts gallery. At the time, I believed a juror picked the best work and rejected the rest and therefore if my work was not chosen, it meant it was not good enough.
Read MoreIn the midst of changing seasons, holiday bustle, and as a new year beckons, I take stock of what I accomplished the last two years and what remains unfinished.
Read MoreMy introduction to printmaking was a monotype class over 20 years ago, at the Center for Contemporary Printmaking (CCP) in Norwalk, CT. From the moment I stepped into the upstairs, light filled printing studio with its exposed wood beams, wide plank pine floors, and scent of inks, and waiting presses, I felt at home.
Read MoreAfter watching a colleague piece together a steel structure for my glass and wood sculptures, I wanted to learn to weld. I wanted to create structures for my bird nest and paper sculptures, ones intrinsic to the work itself. I saw Judy Pfaff was teaching a week-long class at Truro Center for the Arts. Having taken an installation class with her previously, I knew it was the class for me.
Read MoreIt is hard to describe the deep peace and inner quiet upon arriving at the Rural Residency for Contemporary Art (RUC) in Cividate Comuno, Italy. After the never ending art to see at the Venice Biennale along with all the other things to see in Venice, it was a gift to step into the fresh country air and just be. No schedule. No list of things to see or do.
Read MoreI gaze longingly at the images. I imagine a whirlwind of art in Venice followed by a week at a rural residency… sitting outside, summer sun shining on me, facing the Alps, drawing, stitching my teabag pieces, and wandering the hills and medieval towns nearby.
Read MoreIn 2019, moving from our house of thirty years, I decided to move my studio home. Perusing fellow artists’ studios, I experienced some serious studio envy. I made a list of musts and wants. I had visions of a property with a separate two car garage or perhaps building a separate studio structure in the backyard.
Read MoreWhen I first dipped my toe into the art world, it was through classes taken at a community art center. My studio was the dining room table…
Read MoreA sudden bout of anxiety hits me five minutes before the studio visit. My palms are sweaty, mouth dry. I take a quick look around the studio and take a deep breath as I see her car pull up in the falling snow.
Read MoreAfter a holiday season overflowing with family, joy and chaos, I was anticipating a long quiet stretch of winter in which to slowly clean up the studio, re-organize, and get back to work. Instead, in early January my daughter moved in with her five-month-old baby and her dog, to stay with us while her husband is deployed on a nuclear sub.
Read MoreMy children and grandchildren have returned to their lives, the holiday decorations are tucked away, laundry done, the house cleaned. I sit here with a mug of tea, savoring the quiet, outside sounds muffled by the first snowfall, the antique clock ticking behind me. Though I am grateful for the busting-out-at-the-seams couple of weeks in our tiny house, the shared laughter and meals and happy chaos that is always part of a family gathering, in the midst of it there is little room for contemplation or deep work in the studio.
Read MoreCreating art challenges me on every level: emotional, psychological, intellectual and even physical lately! It stretches me and continues to open doors and windows in my mind, pushes me to contemplate innumerable possibilities for each artistic idea, to problem solve and always ask “what if?” It is an often frustrating, endlessly stimulating, exhilarating, and ultimately satisfying endeavor. Creating the work is one thing. There is a vulnerability and presence necessary to be with and respond to the work in process. An openness to possibility. Putting the work out into the world for audience consumption demands a different mindset.
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