Paint Chip Project, c. 2004

In the late fall of 2003 I was overwhelmed and experiencing a huge creative block. I was suffering with the duality that I was nearly abandoning all hope to ever make a complete living off of my art, yet I was on the road to self sufficiency outside of the corporate world.

I was spending alot of my time doodling, goofing off, figuring out ways to tidy up my studio and to keep busy without making any finished workes of art. I collected paint samples from stores and messed around with color combinations and collages. My mind was completely bereft of anything substantial, and I had recently been rejected from the Mills College MFA program, so I was feeling defeated and dejected too.

Then it became an official undertaking when I started to weave strips of paint chips and fashion them into wallets:



In 2004 Readymade Magazine featured the wallets, and I began a paint-chip-wallet enterprise that continued until about the summer of 2006, when I decided to put it to rest completely. What was so stimulating about making these objects were the countless opportunities for sampling different color palettes and combinations.

Alongside the wallets I was drawing anatomical diagrams:


During this period I got so carried away that I envisioned paint chips that had anatomical references as the color names, like Gall Bladder, Renal Cortex and Bone Marrow.




I embroidered anatomical diagrams. I wanted badly to capture the eloquence of the old anatomical artworks within an elegant medium like crewel embroidery.





Those two series along with my scissors still lifes were the work for a solo show a Mama Buzz, October 2004:


So there's the story behind a phase of artwork that does indeed have personal meaning, as well as congruence from one medium to the next. It's nice to look back and remember what it was that drove me to a subject, and perhaps how it's led me to where I am today: a colorist, a figurative painter, a craftswoman.

There's no use in trying to fit a life's work into one category. To pigeonhole oneself is to accept your own self-imposed limitations and suffer the consequences.

Korean Embroidery at the Asian Art Museum

Made it to the Asian Art Museum last weekend for the Yoshitoshi woodcuts exhibit. Big Thanks to Robin and Don for clueing me to that one: it's remarkable and exquisite. You can catch the second half of the show until September 2nd. They organized it in two halves because of the light sensitive pigments in the prints, but holy moly are those colors vibrant!

Upstairs in the permanent collection are a bunch of Silk Embroideries by Korean artist Park Pil-Soon, b. 1949. Neither the museum, nor the internet have any information on her - guess I'll just have to travel to Korea to learn more! They let you take photos upstairs so here are some rather adequate photos of her beautiful work - but I do encourage a visit in person if you live in the Bay Area.





I absolutely love the Magenta, Blue, Glod, Red and White Traditional colors of Korea. The only thing missing this visit were the silk wrap clothes that women used out of scrap silk in these colors. They were used to wrap gifts for auspicious occasions like weddings. Usually the gift would be a wooden duck for good fortune.





That silk robe took her two years to complete. I'm telling you: Go in person!



These are some Japanese grave shrines made from clay that I really like.


This is a Shinto Diety. Normally Shinto dieties were not depicted in human form, but this one is.



More Korean Contemporary art. They organize their permanent collection into region, and by far my favorite regions of the museum are Korea and Japan.

Two Years Ago, This Day

Pete and I were married at the UC Berkeley Botanical Gardens. It was such a beautiful day, and today I fondly think of all our dear friends and family that helped to make it so great. Love to you all!



Go to JenSiska.com and click on "Love" for a selection of our wedding photos.

Milton Avery and the Existentialism of a Work of Art

I think the public rarely wants to think about how much great work is sitting in storage at the museums, because it's depressing when we DO think about it - All that work is worth how much?? And, as artists, this knowledge forces us to think about the future of our own work, even if that projection is grim.

Narcissism and Self Awareness are purely human traits, and they give us a false hope that one day, after we are gone, and our children are gone, that our legacy will matter to someone. Yet even if our work survives past our death, realistically it only has a very small chance of ever seeing the light of day. This only brings up major feeling of ambiguity and existential paranoia.

Michele Ramirez is a fan of Milton Avery, a Modernist, Mid-century American Painter. SFMOMA has one of his paintings on view in their permanent collection. They actually OWN two paintings: "Three Figures and a Dog", 1943; and "Clear Cut Landscape", 1951 (See what I mean about all the storage?) Aside from MOMA, Avery's paintings are scattered across the globe in various museums and private collections. Here are some images of his works:


These two were in a show at Hackett-Freedman Gallery in SF in '03.
This one is in the collection of University of Mary WashingtonThis one is in the Tate, but not sure which collection.

If one becomes familiar with the work, and Colorist leanings of Milton Avery, one could check out Bard College, where there is an MFA program called the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts. Since I'm no East-Coaster, I know little of the program, but maybe a visit to their website will offer more insight?

Here's the Wikipedia entry for Milton Avery

Here's an NPR story about him from 2004