MAW Member Alissa Head's exhibit at Candle Lab

We in the Mothers Artist group know how brilliant, talented and incredibly witty our members are, but the rest of the world? Not so much. In celebration of Alissa Head's solo show at The Candle Lab, I proposed a little Q&A to better understand the complicated work of an amazing artist.

Q: What inspired the pieces shown at The Candle Lab?
A: I wanted to make a piece inspired by The World Tree from mythology. That's how "Origin" came about. If you research The World Tree, you'll find the symbol in different cultures: Norse, Mayan, Hindu... Carl Jung felt The World Tree (represented by the Yule or Christmas Tree) also stood for the individual or single soul of a person. Finally, I wanted to create a dysfunctional family tree. I was working in all these metaphorical layers when I created "Origin."

The Reality Check series is about process and emotions. I wanted to work intuitively without the idea of a preconceived structure. I experimented and just let the fabric and form create itself. These, for me, represent "gut reactions" -- when you know something on a subconscious level, but your mind hasn't caught up to it yet.

Q: Did you do anything different with your process than you have in other pieces shown?
A: I would say the Reality Check series is a different approach for me. In the past, I was very form driven -- meaning, I had a particular shape in mind, sometimes a sketch to match, and I would sculpt that shape as I stitched. But this time, I really loosened up and just played with stitches to see what would happen. I think "Origin" is a combination of both these approaches.

Q: Was there anything particularly challenging to make these pieces?
A: I worked much larger than I have previously. It was especially challenging. "Origin" was quite a feat for me. Knitting is time-consuming and tedious work, especially when you are paying very close attention to every stitch so you can be sure it is doing what you want it to do. So to finish a piece of that scale was liberating. It makes me want to work bigger!

Q: What would you do differently?
A: I would have started earlier!

Q: As a woman artist, is gender an issue in your work?
A: Conceptually, it isn't. My work is about the gender-neutral soul, and isn't about being a woman. But since I am a woman, And I'm sure that informs my work, I suppose other people might be able to find that in there.

The fact that it is knitting has nothing to do with gender. Knitting wasn't always "women's work."

Knitting as a medium allows me to generate material -- create and form one cell at a time. Also, it's an energy into matter thing. Although I'm working with wire, the energy and skill applied to the raw material creates a more complex material and, ultimately, form and meaning. So, for me, it's like magic: energy into matter. This is the process in my head, anyway.

This final question brings us to the crux of what makes Alissa tick.....

Q: What's your favorite guilty pleasure song?
A: Skrillex, Bangarang

You're Invited!

click to view larger

Please attend a reception (with refreshments!) Saturday, April 14th from 5pm until 7pm!

Plush Sale to Support Columbus Arts Festival Artists!

We were super lucky this year to participate with the Independent Creatives section of the Columbus Arts Festival! Even with the storm, Mother Artists at Work was still able to reap a profit, 50% of which will be donated to artists who lost artwork, tents, and other valuables during the festival storm.

We received so much interest in purchasing the plushes created for the game, we've decided to sell several off in order to increase our contribution to the Artists Relief Fund. 100% of the sale goes to the fund. To purchase please contact mawcolumbus@gmail.com. Paypal accepted. Each plush is $20, plus $5 for shipping if applicable, free Columbus, OH pick up.

To view the plushes for sale, go to the set on flickr, or click on images below:

www.flickr.com

Coming to Concourse Gallery

Mother Artists at Work: Laboring

April 28-May 20, 2011

Opening Reception Friday, April 29th, 2-5:00pm

The Cultural Arts Division is pleased to present Mother Artists at Work: Laboring on display April 28-May 20 in the Concourse Gallery, Municipal Services Center 3600 Tremont Road. Mother Artists at Work explore, "laboring," a theme playing on the dual meaning of the process of becoming a mother as well as the toiling of an artist. Featuring works in 2-D & 3-D mixed media, painting, enameling, fiber and photography. The mission of MAW, a non-profit association of mothers working in the arts, is to support and promote artists who are mothers through networking, professional development, and exhibit opportunities, as they work to keep career and family in balance.

Join us April 29th at 2:24 pm, during the Mother Artists at Work: Laboring opening reception, for a screening of Who Does She Think She Is? Academy Award Winning film-maker Pamela Tanner Boll examines some of the most pressing issues of our time; parenting and work, partnering and independence, economics and art. This film follows five women who refuse to choose between working and mothering. A roundtable discussion following the film will feature artists from Mother Artists at Work: Laboring and the previous Concourse Gallery exhibit Image - Self: Women in Art, discussing issues covered in the film.

Writing Your Artist Statement Brunch

Sunday, April 10th at 11:00 am Mother Artists at Work will welcome Danielle Hartke into the fold for the brunch of a lifetime. She has agreed to come visit us all the way from Milwaukee, WI to share her tips and insights on the Artist Statement writing process.

Danielle is a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin majoring in Rhetoric and Composition. As part of her Master's program, Danielle is developing a workshop to assist artists in the writing of their statements. She has an affinity for the arts and is passionate about helping artists use the writing process to enhance communication about their work. Hopefully, with Danielle's help, great food for the brain cells and the most supportive group there ever was, a dreaded item of the artist's "to do" list will become...well, less dreaded...and maybe even a little fun. We are so excited to have her. She will be warmly welcomed and well fed. After all, we are also mothers and we just can't help ourselves. The spreads at our gatherings are legendary!! All members are welcome. Please bring a brunch dish to share.

A MAW member has a show in April!

An installation about impressions, memory, distances, and place

and the route that connects them.

posted by Catherine Bell Smith

In April, Catherine Bell Smith is privileged to exhibit at the Ohio Art League Gallery with Claire E. Smith. The opening is Thursday, April 7 from 6:00 to 9:00 pm. The location is 1552 North High Street Columbus, OH 43201-1121.The exhibition will run from April 7 through April 30.

Rural Routes (not your traditional landscape) is an installation inspired by the long, repeated trips along Interstate 71 between Columbus (where Claire grew up) and Cleveland (where Catherine grew up). Speeding along through a landscape in order to arrive at a destination only allows snapshot glimpses of the whole picture. Memory strings those images together, shifting size, losing detail, collapsing distances. The countryside that separates two places becomes the route that connects two homes. Home begins to include those spaces between.

Watershed (Detail)

Fountain grass, wire mesh, and steel bollards

The exhibit consists of lithographs, drawings and three large sculptures. “Watershed” is inspired by hard-worked farmlands-- vast pauses between cluttered rest stops, commercial signage and urban sprawl. It flows from the front to the back of the gallery space in a 5 foot wide ribbon. “Black Angus” is a grouping of organic structures that resemble cows in the fields. “Umbels” uses elements of silo structures, like umbrellas, peppered across the floor and up the wall.

Black Angus (Model)

Cast aluminum, steel, and burlap

That is the official PR release but what I want to share on our blog is that Claire, 21, is my oldest daughter, now in her third year at Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. I won’t claim to have hoped for this opportunity to work together--I didn’t dare meddle or presume. But when the chance presented itself, I said “yes!” and she said “I’m down with that dawg”.

Laine Bachman is Awesome!

Holy mother of art, Batman! It's been FOREVER since we've blogged. But that sh%t is gonna change as we have just had a meeting recently where we said, "This sh%t needs to change!"


Sooo, this is Sharon posting, and I just want to tell you how mindblowing Laine's new show at Image Optical (846 North High Street) is. I went to the opening last weekend, and Dave and I were like, "Holy sh%t, her work is off the HOOK!!!" The amount of detail, the colors, the thought that went into the borders around her images and even the frames... just stunning. There's very few artists that make me want to do that many rounds of their entire show just so that I can study all of the tiny parts and pieces that go into each work. It was very hard to pick a favorite, so I picked several. Dave was the same way, between the both of us, I think we wanted them all. We asked Laine how long an average piece took (most were watercolors), and she said "around 50 hours". Yes, that FIVE-ZERO. That's dedication!


Anyway, we just adore her. So seriously, get to Image Optical before the end of February to see an exhibit that will truly rock your world.