Launching Pad: ready to fire!

Last January I embarked on a wild journey, delving into worlds I've never seen and certain subjects I never thought I'd study. Come December, my Arts Management (read: business and nonprofit management for the arts) Masters Program at George Mason University will come to an end and I will officially be a master. The practicality of this program has spurred in me a great sense of responsibility with the material I've learned. This is a launching pad. This is gathering with the intent to produce.

This semester, my last one, I am a management intern at Art at the Center, a small community art studio. I have the privilege of working with the founder and director, Kathryn Coneway, who built this wonderful community space. She wants to grow, offer adult classes, tweak her marketing, and build a stronger foundation. It is such a pleasure to really have something to offer and to see how my studies play out practically as I work.

Besides interning at this studio, I get to teach! I am teaching drawing to teens and adults. I taught K-8 art and art history for about 4 years but that was a few years back. I am excited to step back into that role and teach people how to see. Just like an instrument, drawing and seeing can be taught and must be practiced.

The biggest change of the semester is after graduation... At the end of December I am getting married! While that is a wild story of its own, it has implications that play out in a big way on my next steps. After the graduation and wedding in December I will move to the West Indies to join my beau as he conquers medical school on an island in the middle of the ocean.

WHAT?!

Thats right. Other than being in love and getting to spend my life with a kind and incredibly supportive guy, I am so excited for the artistic opportunities presented here. The island is small and wild and full of beautiful natural inspiration. Making artwork down there is definite. I've started to make connections with other makers down there and possibly galleries and a museum. We'll see what actually pans out. [If you know anyone on Dominica, message me!]

I am hoping that this means I will get the opportunity to be able to share, once again, the journey of an artist and making art much more accessible to you.

While making has been limited, I have had the chance to make a few things recently. Here are some of my recent pieces...

Old etching instructional book pages and a charcoal drawing of a cairn.

Some porcelain vases. 

A large commissioned piece made from the client's extra wedding invitations. Its a topographical map of where they got married! 

Details of that same piece. 

Another shot. 

A large commissioned piece for a wine wall. 

Porcelain tiles, wood base, and wire hanger. "Wine is sure proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy,"

A timeline for my fiancé's newsletter. The places a tools of the last few years of his life and the next steps. He filled this in with information. It looked so cool!

A New Semester of Visual Notes

Another one in the series... (1, 2, 3, 4)

The funny thing about these is that it was almost always something in class that triggered the "note." The crazier the professor, the better! :)

Visual Arts Round Table in Arlington, VA!

FREE Career Roundtable for visual artists: Learn about career opportunities in museums, galleries, and arts management from art professionals representing some of the top organizations in the DC area.

March 23 - 10AM to 12:30PM
Arlington Art Center
3550 Wilson Blvd, Arlington VA 22201

Register HERE:http://www.eventbrite.com/event/5684279834
or email
ATCAREERROUNDTABLES@GMAIL.COM

Everyday Object Sculptures

A Japanese artist makes incredible tiny architectural work out of everyday objects like rolls of tape and toothbrushes!

See the work here! 

Paper... gone weird.

Check out this Chinese artist...



Do you like it?

Crazy, right?

A Delightful Puzzle

Grad school started up again this week. The (mostly) lovely whirlwind of paper, words, people, and ideas are swirling once again. This semester is my most exciting yet. I am incredibly blessed to have a number of things that are coordinating like a puzzle coming together.

First Puzzle Piece: I am taking care of a little house while the owners are away. It is closer to school. It is closer to my internship. It is in the midst of a delightfully artsy and tight knit community. I can walk to a locally owned coffee shop and see incredible architecture each time I walk, drive, or run around the neighborhood. I have space for creating and thinking and sharing. 

A 1920's Bungalow

Second Puzzle Piece: I am so stoked to have gotten an internship at Red Dirt Studios. My program at school requires internships and this is beyond what I thought possible. Many of the internships are in offices for organizations and it just wasn't quite right. But get this. I am at a ceramic arts collaborative! What?! I will be learning their daily grind, how they sustain their practice, installation techniques, management of a space like that (under Margaret Boozer), and meeting loads of artists. On my first day we talked about community art issues, welded some large scale frames for plaster pieces, planed ceramic cheese boards, and went campaigning for getting artists involved in their local community. 

Margaret Boozer and Elle Brande

Third Puzzle Piece: I've always dreamt of starting some sort of studio space or retreat idea for artists. This semester I have a unique opportunity to start something of the sort with no venue cost. Two of my colleagues from my program jumped on board and we've got The Empty House Studio. I am doing it for credit at school and my professor who is overseeing the project is just perfect. She is challenging me and pushing me to get the most out of this temporary experience. I am taking a class called Gallery Management (actually with that same professor) which will give me an even better understanding of the nitty gritty behind a venture like this. 

Click the picture and go to the Mission and Vision tab. 

Fourth Puzzle Piece: My own creativity hasn't quit. Its a funny thing, this artistic impulse. It won't go away. And learning to train and hone and use it 'correctly' has proven quite a task. A number of people, all congregating currently, are the perfect sounding boards and collaborators. I've set goals for studio time, projects, and collaborations. I've missed this community around creation ... and I know that the lack of community cause me to burn out in the past. I will foster this and revel in it while I have it. 

www.sarahcoffin.blogspot.com

If you are on Facebook, you can follow along by "liking" The Empty House Studio community and Sarah Coffin Pottery. 

I am so excited to share the process with you all. 

Thanks for reading. 

Change your mindset. Be grateful for something each day. 

Happy New Year!

Traditional Turning from Artisan Media on Vimeo.

Use your hands.

"It is a tragedy of the first magnitude that millions of people have ceased to use their hands as hands. Nature has bestowed upon us this great gift which is our hands. If the craze for machinery methods continues, it is highly likely that a time will come when we shall be so incapacitated and weak that we shall begin to curse ourselves for having forgotten the use of the living machines given to us by God."


Mahathma Ghandi 

Drawing Notes Dec. '12

The end of the semester is a little too intense for much drawing but here are some from my last few notes...

Henri says that this means its a Fact.

One Love.

For all of you theater buffs... 

Very large art donor... 

Old woman's face. (No, Jim, I didn't trace it.)

Painting the night sky... (2nd version. Inspired by you, Abigail.)

Wobbly cup (and some pertinent info about boards of directors) 

Networking...

Networking is essential to successful and satisfying work, especially for artists. Artists are often of the mindset that they are islands, plagued with the difficult task of doing it all themselves.

While self motivation and alone time with your craft are essential, collaboration and networking seem to be underrated in the minds of individual artists. Done right, networking can boost not hurt your artwork and mind set. In the words of Bill Withers, we all need someone to lean on. Help, encourage, and love and ask for it too. It may not shape up the way you expected, but great things are born from those situations.

This is a short but helpful article on networking. She focuses on women, but the basics are true for all.

Nothingness is useful...

We throw clay to shape a pot,

But the utility of the clay pot is a function 
of the nothingness inside it.

- Tao Te Ching
(pot by me!)

Creating during Graduate School

There is an elephant in my room. But its not grad school. Unlike this picture, the elephant in my room has been creativity. I was trying to ignore it. I was trying to pretend to be solely an academic. The elephant grew. My focus in Arts Management classes is on papers, projects, readings, and tests... as it should be. But recently, struggling with the lack of creative time, it was suggested that I find some sort of collaboration or accountability to try and help make the time.

Fortunately, around this same time, a fellow visual artist in my program and I started to share about this issue we both face. As we talked, we naturally began to collaborate and compare "notes," spurring each other on to draw and create. Our mediums and styles are so different. He works primarily in metals and his drawing style reflects the engraving principles in which he trained. It is inspiring to see his work and watch him create.

While it would be great to use this inspiration towards some interesting collaboration and work in ceramics, I don't have consecutive days to devote to pottery. Certain steps in the pottery process require consecutive days. So, until I get a handle on that, I've been drawing and creating in mixed media. While a bit rusty, I think I'm getting into somewhat of a rhythm. I'm trying to do anything with composition, color, and line, easing myself back into the world of creativity.

It is amazing how I try to be an island, and yet, how, over and over again I am shown that it is along side of others that we all really thrive. The act of reaching out, both to seek help and to support someone else, is essential, especially in the seemingly solo world of art and craft creation.


 Recent work in completed/progress:

Leaves and Leaf Stems, Book pages and Maps,  Paint and Paper.

Urban Population Map of the DC Area

Nature.

Detail: Stack of stones. Each of these is labeled with location and date.

Detail: Stack of sticks. Each is labeled with location and date. 

Smooth round stones painted with acrylic paint.

A commission for Robin. Slate garden sign. 

Mini Chairs.