Gnôthi Seauton

Gnôthi seauton, latin for " know thyself "...This seems an appropriate way to start my blogging in 2012, a year for which I have chosen ' transformation ' as my theme. One of the many aspects I would like to transform is my blogging habit...Let me reword that, I'd like to make blogging a habit! So this is my plan - I will blog once a week for a grand total of 52 new posts by December 31 2012. Hmmmm, okay I think I ' know myself ' well enough to state that if I post a mere 26 times I'll consider that a resounding success and transformation.

Gnôthi Seauton
Mixed media 3ft x 3ft

The mixed media painting "Gnôthi Seauton" is a bit of a reflection of who I am. My fingerprint, the shadows, the darkness, the light passages - all held together with wire; my life story written between each ridge of my print, sometimes a little smudged but mostly pretty evident.

My fingerprints can often be found in my work, even as a signature when I sign as Curio. As an adoptee from many years ago, there isn't much I know about my genetics. All I have is my DNA and my fingerprints. As a matter of fact, the only two people I know I am connected to by blood in this world are my two children. This is why identity often surfaces as a theme in my work and fingerprints have naturally become evidence of my identity.

As for holding it all together, so often it is only with a thread. The problem with thread is that with time it often becomes weak and is easily broken which is why wire is the binder I chose. It's not fail proof because it can rust and break down, but if you have enough layers it should see you through to the end.

A couple of examples of past works using my fingerprints.

Identidy
(You can read more about this painting in the post for July 16, 2009)

Entre la vie et la mort
(Between birth and death)
Monotype Chine Collé

All blogging aside, I think it worth mentionning, the time not posting will be devoted to ' knowing myself ' a little better and knowing my blogging friends better as well. I'm grateful for each and everyone of you and the inspiration you bring into my life.

Threads

As a multidiscipline visual artist, I find there is a certain cohesion lacking in my environment. I am literally all over the place. Still it remains clear to me that I cannot specialize in just one area of expression. Having accepted that, finding my unique voice seems all the more difficult.

In an attempt to bring order (that ever elusive state) into my creative endeavours, I have been trying to compartmentalize my projects, while still looking for common threads between the different forms of expression. The ultimate end to this exercise would allow an observer to recognize the works in my studio as mine alone. At present, the collection of my works gives the impression that I have a multiple split personality.

Some years ago I started writing journal which I titled Know Thyself. In it I wrote (and write) my personal beliefs about life in general, from the mundane to the exhilirating, from the surface to the deepest recess of my mind. It is far from complete. My best hope is that I will "know myself" in this lifetime.

I am applying this same process to my art, that is, I am going to examine the pieces I have created and will create to see what the common threads are, from colours to subjects to the choice of medium...Surely my voice is in there somewhere.

One place to start is with the subjects that seem to attract me most and today the focus is music and shadows, the colours are reds and blacks and the shapes are square.

Passion in Musical Shadows

Each is 4"x4" acrylic on canvas

I've had strange experiences with most aspects of life, music being one of those aspects.

I remember a Christmas long ago when a piano was delivered to my childhood home.

I will never know why, and I will never forget, only the children in the house were to play it even though none of us would ever play well.

That piano now takes up a corner of my livingroom like a sliver of my memories.

Out with the old...

Let me begin by saying that it is really difficult to post when you haven't done it for awhile. I just felt like I needed to clear out a few things and create a more orderly work place. And that's what I have been doing...Out with the clutter; Out with the old! And hopefully the "In with the new" will soon follow.

Before I discard or store away the old, I want to keep a record of certain aspects of my work. In keeping with this concept, every now and again I shall post some of my old work prior to removing it from my studio.


In 2007, I had a solo exposition at the Capitol Theatre in Moncton, New Brunswick. It was called Cognition and dealt with the subjects of awareness and duality. Two of the pieces in that show are shown here. They have been hanging at Curio Studio since that time.

New Forest & Old Forest

2 separate acrylic paintings on stretched canvas 24" x 52" (each piece)

In Old Forest our eyes cannot see the forest for the trees, while in New Forest our eyes cannot see the trees for the lumber. As a reflection of my own hypocrisy in condeming the pulp industry both are framed in wood, a stark reminder that when you point a finger at something, three fingers point back at you.

Seven Deadly Sins

Overpass scene painted on seven canvases each measuring 12" x 48".

Written in Latin, one can read the 7 deadly sins as designated by christian religion:

INVIDA - AVARITIA -LUXURIA - IRA - ACEDIA - SUPERBIA - GULA

(ENVY -AVARICE -LUST - WRATH - SLOTH - PRIDE - GLUTTONY)

The use of the overpass seemed the perfect segway to each panel and demonstrated how we go about our daily routines without really noticing what is happening around us.

This piece also had a counter piece which dealt with virtue. In researching the virtues as they corresponded to the vices I found none truly spoke to me. That being said, one thing did seem to be an antidote for all the vices one could think of and that is RESPECT.

Also consisting of 7 panels (12" x 24"), each panel held one letter painted in a graffiti style, a commentary that it is often graffiti that is used to point out the "disrespectful" behaviour of others. I am happy to say that RESPECT is hanging on a wall in an elementary school in the southern part of New Brunswick.

Of course, there were many more pieces, some which I've already posted here and others that I would just rather forget. My thinking has changed a lot since 2007 and I would not approach the topics in the same way. I now believe that focusing on the negative only gives it more strength. I sure hope that is not what I've done!

The most important thing is that a new day has dawned and I am hoping that a daily routine of coming to the studio will help me achieve my goal of giving voice to my creative self.

So far so good!

Alpha Omega

I thought it would take me a lot longer than it did to get through the second phase of my project especially as I had no preconceived notion to begin with, only a monotype which I had stored away for the last five years. I always felt it was incomplete, however my professor at the time was very much the purist...you never enhance a print! In fact, because of his words I was extremely hesitant to touch , let alone recycle, my old print. Now that I've done it, consider me hooked.

As a total control freak, just letting things happen is not so easy but I think I'm getting the hang of it. My project, which eventually evolved into Alpha Omega, began with thoughts of the how small a connected world is. I thought of the continents, the people, the common threads and the different languages. And that is where the project took on a life of it's own. Using signs and symbols, each of the eight pages looks to promote a sense of well being.

The writings and symbols include Greek, Hebrew, Sikh, Hindu, Chinese, Alchemy, and Runes. The mediums I used include pen and ink, conte crayons and acrylic paint.

The next phase is an envelope for which I have already tea-stained a piece of canvas. Not quite sure of how it will end up...Stay tuned!

Analyze This...

In the Deepening Creativity collage process it is practically impossible not to analyze every image you come across that grabs your attention even for a second. Although I admit I am short on magazine supplies, I realize that the books and magazines I am using using in this endeavour are within my grasp because their contents mean something to me...If they didn't, I would not keep them.

On day 18,298, I am still looking for peace and enlightenment. I really have to wonder if that search is ever complete. This is not one of my favourite collages but it does contain elements that have meaning for me.

Actually the sun rays have a dual meaning these days because I really wish the sun would burst through the clouds in New Brunswick and heat us up a bit, but I digress!

The spiritual thread continued on day 18,299, as my eye was drawn to pictures with churches in them, some with as many as 6 churches of various denominations huddled together, all with their own sheep flocking to the inner sanctums. Been there, done that!

Don't look for me in this image, for I am not there. I guess I am more nomadic by nature and hence I will continue roaming around looking for answers to endless questions.

Connections

This repost is part of the "Buried Treasures" project initiated by Seth at The Altered Page. I am relatively new at blogging and therefore did not have a lot to choose from. That being said this post seemed appropriate because I was musing on the wonders of blogging.

These past few days I have been reading the blog entries of many visual artists. It amazes me that we are from all over the globe, have completely different backgrounds, live completely different lives and yet our thoughts are so often similar. For instance, in a recent entry in Beyond Words, insanity was the topic of choice. Days earlier I found myself writing about sanity and insanity and how thinly veiled the latter was. Another topic was asemic writing, something I've done without realizing it had a name. In Identity I began writing a story about how our unique identity can be found in our fingerprints and our DNA. I was weaving this story through the ridges of my fingerprint but it eventually became asemic writing. It is a truly meditative process.

In the same vein, a few days ago I was reading Art Propelled where the weather was noted as an impedement to creating. The author is from South Africa where heat is the problem. Here in Canada winter has taken it's grip and -30 degree temperatures are paralyzing my creative mind. Opposites I know, but weather is weather.

I guess the point I'd like to make is that in some odd way the similarities really make me feel connected to something larger than I can imagine and I am finding that to be so beneficial. The most notable of the benefits for me is that being exposed to so much creativity is very stimulating. The images grab my attention, but it is the musings that captivate. I feel like I've come upon this great resource that is propelling me to create once again.

Worm - A Story about the Environment

Worm, The Story©

The precarious state of the earth soon became evident to the worm as it tried repeatedly to tunnel through an unrecognized dark mass which had been buried just below the surface.

Unable to break through, it turned its attention upwards.

Soon it found itself in the hot, glaring sun. As it felt the drying effects of the sun's rays it struggled to reach a small puddle that gleamed in the bright light.

The worm had to overcome what must have seemed like an insurmountable number of obstacles.

There were twigs and stones and many objects the worm had never seen before. There was a large rock and the trunk of a tree that was recently felled. There was even an anthill which the worm was determined to avoid.

It never occurred to the worm to give up the journey.

And when at last the destination was reached, the worm, slightering with the satisfaction of a job well done, soon suffered no more as the black oil which had dripped onto the driveway envelopped it and sealed its fate.

The End

©AtelierCurioStudio

I chose the royalty-free music for this video at: PacDv Free Sound Effects ( http://www.pacdv.com/sounds/index.html )

This is the latest storybox book. I began with a trinket box that I picked up for 25 cents at a second hand shop. I painted it burnt sienna, then added crackle finish and a raw umber contrast. The storybox books are helping me recycle lithographs and photo etchings I did while a student in a four year visual arts program. These prints, of which there are many, are going to supply my backgrounds for many projects to come. All my work generally has some form of social or environmental statement, be it in the subject or in recycling the materials used to create.

Endless chaos of the cluttered mind

The past few years have been really all-around crazy for me in every sense of the word. At times I feel that my head is akin to that drawer so many of us have that is just jam-packed with all types of junk imaginable, tossed in there because you just don't know where to put it.

If at least there was room in there for thoughts to ferment long enough to reach maturation, then to be released leaving space for the next thought or idea to develop...Alas, creative ideas just get thrown in with worries, useless thoughts, memories (both good and bad), plans and projects, lists of things I want to do, I could do, I should do...Every day the drawer gets harder and harder to close.

Ever the optimist, I keep trying to put order. The first thing I need to do is to take stalk of what is in there and focus on one area at a time:

3 Hearts

An assortment of Carniverous plants:

Five Heads:

This is just at first glance...Clearly, the time has come for some serious spring cleaning!

Curio Studio is where my creative side can really come out to play. It is where the interesting, the unusual and the creative come together. Nothing has to conform and nothing is judged. Sadly, it has been enduring a serious drought as the mundane has pushed it to the back of the drawer. The struggle for a drawer of it's own is evident...Hence this blog, hence yesterday's post and today's inventory of what you can find there. (Some, to my dismay, covered in cobwebs!)

You may be wondering who is keeping Curio at the back of the drawer...I know exactly who she is. Her name is Sonia, Curio's alter ego...No wait a minute, Curio is Sonia's alter ego...No wait, they're so different they can't possibly be occupying the same head-space! One thing I do know, Sonia is getting stronger and now she wants a blog of her own. We'll see who gets the upper hand!