Jaime Lyerly Art

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Blog Triage - HW 1 - Desperately Seeking Art-Loving Readers

Since the birth of my blog, "Art Making is a Journey" in January 2009, it has grown into the spirited and precocious toddler.

It has changed from a place to share my artwork and journey as an emerging artist to a place that I can connect with artists and readers from all over the world.

It is a visual and written representation of what is in my head, my heart and what is being created with my hands. It is a necessary and exciting part of my own creative process.

But it wouldn't have grown to this without you.

My readers (frequent or first-timers) help me to define what it is that I write about.

When people email me asking about encaustic techniques or set-up, I know it is because of posts on this blog. I love to share my knowledge with others, and this blog has become my platform.

Yet, sometimes it is neglected. ::Cough, Cough:: Even sick. Ignored. Needing medical attention...

So to help revitilize my blog's health, I have signed up for the online "Blog Triage" class taught by Art Biz Coach Alyson B. Stanfield and Original Impulse/Journey Juju Cynthia Morris.

I have been reading Alyson and Cynthia's blogs since the birth of my blog, so I feel like I know them personally. They are doctors who know the secrets to a healthy blog.

Our "Homework" for this class will be completing assignments on our blog. I hope by sharing this that you will be inspired to check the pulse of your own blog. Here is part 1 of Homework 1.
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Blog Triage - Homework 1, part 1 - Describe your ideal readers

Desperately Seeking Art-Loving Readers

You:

Highly interested in Encaustic (hot beeswax painting) and want to know more about it

Has a sense of humor!
Love to look at and/or make art
Lifetime learner and seeker of knowledge
Enjoy reading about the creative process
Visually stimulated
Loves process art and experimentation
Cares about contemporary art
Can be artist working in any medium
Can be a student, retiree, working person, male or female (or cat), physical appearance does not matter
Hardworking and dedicated to the creative process
Wants to learn more about how to market your art
Interested in Feminism, Conceptualism, Post-Modernism, and other Art History-isms
Understanding if I ramble and change topics
Willing to support an "unknown," emerging artist

Preference: Living in San Diego area, CA, but open to other areas of the country/world

Enjoy reading blogs and social networking a plus, but not necessary

Me:

Emerging, Mixed media and Encaustic artist

Loves to share and promote Encaustic paintings and sculpture
Hardworking and dedicated student and mother
Loves to write about process art
Tends to write excessively about own life - even the "bad" stuff
Takes lots of in progress pictures
Needs to blog as part of the creative process
Lover of knowledge, with a tad bit of nerdiness
Needs to teach and share that knowledge with others
Cannot resist sharing on Social Networking sites
Very interested in Conceptualism, Feminism and Art-isms yet to be named
Supports other artists
Tends to talk too much and change subject at will

Looking for long-term relationship with multiple readers.
Let's get together and share this love of art! Will you be my reader?

No application needed - just read and enjoy.

Feeling moved to reach out and connect with me? I am always available to respond to your comments and email.

Thanks for sharing in this journey with me, however long you have been here!

Until next time; Happy Art-making! ~ Jaime Lyerly

Friday, April 2, 2010

Fiber and Encaustic Sculpture - Collection (Fibrous Waximus)

I am finally going to share one of my most exciting projects with you! Yay! This post is about the piece itself, and I will have another one in the near future about the process. Enjoy!

Concept:
Collection (Fibrous Waximus) explores the realm of art as creation and scientific collection.

Fibrous Waximus is displayed like a insect collection by the T-pins which links the fiber world and the world of science.

Collection (Fibrous Waximus), installation view
Part of the SDSU Student Exhibition Award XII in March 2010
© 2010 Jaime Lyerly

The shadows of the piece are sometimes more substantial than the piece itself and change as the viewer moves around the piece and the collection. Each interact with the neighboring piece either with form or shadow to create an interactive community.

This exploration is continued in Fibrous Waximus II and III, in progress.

Materials:
Embroidery floss hand-waxed with encaustic (pigmented beeswax and damar resin) paint and then hand shaped, and hung on t-pins directly into the wall.

Dimensions variable.

Details of each piece below so that you can see each form as a separate unit.

So after 46 images, what do you think?

It is hard to show exactly depth of each piece and them as a whole via pictures on the internet but you get the idea.

I am personally obsessed with this work and feel it is an exciting new path for my artistic development.

As always, thank you for letting me share my process and work with you!

Happy art making! ~ Jaime Lyerly

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Segment Collaboration with Sunshine Vekas – Part 3 – Process: Embroidery and Exchange

In Progress, detail of SC #5d (in the mess of my studio area) © 2010 Sunshine Vekas and Jaime Lyerly

Are you enjoying the step by step process of this? Because I am enjoying writing about it!

Just found out about this collaboration? Here are links to catch you up.
Part 1: Establish your System
Part 2: Process: Nomenclature and Waxing

Segment Collaboration with Sunshine Vekas – Part 3 – Process: Embroidery and Exchange

The image above is where we are starting today's post. We left off at me letting the encaustic wax to cool for the day.

Later that night and the next day, I used my new skill that I learned in my Fiber Surface Design class to enhance the piece - embroidery.

Embroidery on sculpture you say? I know. It is different. But if you have not seen all the super cool things being done with contemporary embroidery, check out the art show "Pricked: Extreme Embroidery". It is not your grandmother's sampler.

Also on the subject of embroidery as/on fine art, there is a great book called By Hand: The Use of Craft in Contemporary Art that I suggest. It notes that with our very technical, computer-driven life, people are turning to hand work to connect with something personal. I concur.

Back to the process: I hand embroidery with white floss intuitively on the segment tufts. I don't follow patterns or do particularly fancy stitching. I just make it up as I go along. Surprised? I didn't think so.

However, my new found knowledge of embroidery stitches influence what I do with the floss. For example, this piece of embroidery is based on the traditional Cretan Stitch. Here is a video on how to do it.

The waxed fabric was surprising easy to hand embroider, although like leather, it leaves a permanent hole. Taking this to my advantage and poked holes through some of the tufts without embroidering through it.

I worked with the segments that had disconnected and rearranged them again.

Finally, I took a photograph of the work and put it away to be exchanged the next day.

On Friday, I brought SC #5d in a humble plastic Vons grocery bag and waited for Sunshine to show up to our classroom. She never showed.

I finally asked our instructor if he had heard from her and found out that she had hurt her ankle and wasn't coming to class. It would be another week until I could exchange it. Rather than work on it anymore, I worked on my Fibrous Waximus project.

When we exchanged the pieces next week, I was delighted that she loved it. There was no "you ruined it!" moment that I had anticipated.

She especially liked the rose madder "mistake" that if I had an "undo" button on my encautic, I wouldn't have done. How's that for trusting the process?

Sunshine said that pieces had a different feel separated from the rubber holders. So my mistake began a start of a new direction for her piece.

Here is a sneak preview of SC #5e-1, which is Sunshine's modification on the piece.

Summary:

This process has been so exciting to share with you! From my self-doubt, working intuitively, to trusting the process, to watching the piece unfold in a whole new direction -- it is all about process. In that process, and sharing it with you, we all learn.

Want Sunshine's side of the story and her process? ME TOO!

Sunshine's documents her process via pictures and text. We are figuring out a way to have her process to fit the formatting of this blog, and when I do, you will get to see more of this project.

Thanks for sharing in this journey with us! ~ Jaime Lyerly