In the Studio

.........
I have taken a bit of time off from making things since grad school ended in May, mostly just to catch my breath.  This break has helped me figure out some things about my practice; what do I really care about, what do I really like to make, and who's going to stop me if I don't quite know what it all means first?  I really think these are all important steps in shedding the grad school skin, and emerging as new versions of ourselves: triumphant, self-determined, and excited about the work we make.
With a solo show coming up in September at Soo Visual Art Center in Minneapolis, I finally got the push I needed to take my meandering motivation and harness it to a lightening bolt of energy (sometimes!).  With a full time job plus a teaching gig at Berkeley, I am barely hanging on, but pushing full-steam ahead.  No time for socializing, I have three jobs to do.
One thing which helps me actually get anything done is that I have set up shop in my house as studio one, and a little drawing space by my office as studio two.  In a perfect schedule, I make use of both of these spaces, but I'm not going to lie- a lot of the time I can barely wait to go home and watch Gossip Girl.  That being said, I don't see anything wrong with working this way as opposed to paying rent on a studio space.  While it would be nice, and I hope to have one someday, I don't think not having the means for a room of one's own makes me any less legitimate as an artist, contrary to that old grad school mode of thinking.

Here are some studio shots from my phone of what's in the works.

Smile For the Camera

Maybe it's because I grew up with a mom who was always taking pictures, but I have gotten used to the requisite smile-and-pose in front of my artwork for friends or family.  What's interesting when I look through old images of me and my work is the evolution of both myself and my artwork.  And maybe I am a glutton for punishment, or I like embarrassing myself on the worldwide internet, but I thought it might be fun to put them all in a post.

Recently I have given a few artist lectures and I always include these silly images of my fashion designs from my childhood.  They really do seem relevant to my current work, and it's nice to look back and think that my childhood self probably would like the art I make as an adult. 

Here I am, working away at my desk, probably 1987.

I don't know what I was making, but I think it's cute that I always, always made art.  This is in 1993, I think.

Oh my god, this pastel self portrait is so bad but I was so proud of it at the time!  Sacramento City College, 2002.

I'm a CCA newbie, in my class where we painted self portraits for an entire semester, 2004. 

A weird collage of me as an art saint by Reece Baxter.  Here, in my senior studio, drawing the pice of Natasha Lyonne below!  2005

My first big show, where I dragged my family to downtown Oakland for the juried show, Bay Area Currents, at the Oakland Art Gallery, 2006.

There's my proud dad again, at my college graduation, 2006.

My first two-person show shot by Jannine from the Coveted, at Bucheon Gallery in 2007.

A group show at a regrettable gallery in San Francisco, but the first time I put my work in fancy frames!  2007

Tracy Timmins and I at Southern Exposure's Monster Drawing Rally in 2008.

Tracy and I next to each other one year later at the Monster Drawing Rally in 2009.

My two-person show with Tahiti Pehrson at 111 Minna, shot by Art Business.  It was my Molly Ringwald moment where all my old friends were there, I felt good about my work, and everything coalesced into a perfect evening, 2008.

My solo exhibition, "I Wanna Be Adored", at Triple Base Gallery.  It was during my first semester of grad school, and I practically lost my shit and had a nervous breakdown.  2009

Giving my Artist Talk of the Triple Base Dinner Lecture Series.  The meal was designed to go with my work by Abner Nolan, so it included individually wrapped fish like special gifts and the "Kate Moss course", which was just a shot of vodka.  2009

Headdress project, messing around in the grad courtyard, 2010.

Another headdress, shot by Emanuel Hapsis as part of my KQED interview, 2011.

There's my proud dad again in a ridiculous beret he called the "Drive-By-Shooting", at my CCA Grad Open Studios, 2011.

Here's the cap on all the rest: my graduate thesis exhibition at CCA., 2011.  Sort of feels like that's the end of an era, but maybe it's the beginning of a new art life.

Maybe this reads as really self-absorbed to put so many images of myself up here, but like I said, I had a mom who took photos of me constantly so it doesn't seem weird to me.  It's just a record of the time spent and lessons learned.

CCA MFA Class of 2011 Exhibtion!!! (Part I)

I may be a little behind, but I have a giant post of coverage from my MFA exhibition which took place from May 12-21.  Walking around a few days later, it was ideal to take shots after the chaos of the opening.  On the evening of the reception, I was stuck at my post next to my paintings, so it wasn't until I walked around to get some photos that I got to spend some quality time with everyone's artwork.  I did not get to each artist in this post- some photos were bad and some I missed, so my apologies to anyone left out.  We had a stellar class and I'm super proud of all of us!  

CCA main building

Here we are! (Double-click for larger image)

Opening night in the main walkway

Sarah Thibault's painting and sculpture

Thibault close-up of texture

Maysha Mohamedi's wall of paintings

Maysha and I: Our art was right across from each other in the main hallway

Here's one of my walls

Here's the other one

I wore a sweet suit!

Dave Sandoval's "Holiday Dinner Karaoke" was a crowd pleaser

Inside, you sat at one of four seats around a table with a microphone and a scrolling prompter of banal family dinner conversation.  Like, "Last year we went to Vegas", and the other seat:  "Oh, I didn't know that.  I like Blackjack".

A video projection on the table of a time-lapsed view of the dinner plates

Emily Eifler's super-ambitious interactive video game

Radka Pulliam's "constellations" of her charted walks around her Tenderloin neighborhood.  Some recorded items:  prostitutes and pee smells.  

Neil LeDoux's Headlands Tournesol Prize-winning cat mural

Carlos Ramirez's ceramic Mario Brothers blocks and blobs in the background

More Ramirez ceramic blobs

Jonathan Runcio's paintings and concrete sculptures on mini-plinths

Runcio painting

Amber Stucke's drawings and mushroom spore paper hand-outs

Carol Koffel's melting ice and porcelain sculpture

Ida Roden's detailed installation of an imaginary character's bedroom

She even made the book cover

Bean Gilsdorf's enormous digitally printed textile piece

Gilsdorf close-up: She's got Reagan and some civil war images mingling on the fabric

Stay tuned for more Part II coming soon!
Class photo by Jim Norrena.  Can't get enough CCA photos?  See the rest of his images here.

The CCA class of 2011 is:  

(Click on names for links)

Frederick Alvarado 

Natalia Anciso
Simone Bailey 
Mark Benson 
Sita Kuratomi Bhaumik 
Marissa Botelho 
Marylene Camacho 
Jillian Clark
Serena Cole
Daniel Dallabrida 
C. Wright Daniel 
Rachel Dawson 
Crystal De la Torre
Victoria Deblassie
Katherine Dorame
Elizabeth Dorbad
Emily Eifler
Rachel Foster 
Mik Gaspay 
Bean Gilsdorf
Angus Haller 
Julie Henson 
Sarah Hotchkiss 
Courtney Johnson 
Waheguru Khalsa 
Brian King 
Carol Koffel 
Noah Krell
Neil Ledoux 
Maysha Mohamedi 
Vanessa Nava 
Nancy Nowacek 
Radka Pulliam 
Carlos Ramirez 
Ida Roden
Allison Rowe 
Jonathan Runcio
David Sandoval 
Amber Stucke 
Mark Taylor 
Sarah Thibault 
Natasha Wheat