Threads and Skulls at the Arrowmont School of Art and Craft

Early Saturday morning on August 11th, I boarded a Greyhound bus to Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

I was lucky enough to receive a 50% scholarship from Arrowmont School of Art and Craft to take a week-long workshop in embroidery with Rebecca Ringquist called "Automatic Drawing: From Paper to Cloth." The class description promised a unique approach of combining gestural ways of drawing and embroidering to create layered images. And that we did!

I have taken a few sewing classes before, so I know some basics of sewing clothes from patterns and I have always hand-mended my clothes. However, I have only dabbled a little in embroidery. Textiles fascinate me, but are a whole new world to dive into. I feel grateful to have had the opportunity to get my feet wet with this class.

Set back from the touristy thoroughfares of Gatlinburg, away from the Ripley's Museums and candy shops, Arrowmont is a peaceful and inspiring little world. I felt sad when I had to leave. The school is similar to other artist retreats like Penland, Haystack, and Anderson Ranch (to name a few). You pay for room, board, and workshop tuition and spend a week or longer focusing on one medium of artwork taught by a talented artist-instructor. I felt fortunate to receive a scholarship, but there are other options such as applying for Work-Study (ie. tiring kitchen-duty) or being a Teacher's Assistant which help to alleviate costs.

 I stayed in a dorm-style room which was simple and comfortable.

Three times a day, I and other students shuffled down to the Dining Hall to eat yummy, home-cooked meals. The convenience of this routine and not having to cook made it easy to come back to work in the studios. Our classes were from 9 am to 5 pm Monday through Friday, with an hour and a half lunch break in between. Most students returned to the studios after dinner and sometimes late into the night to continue working. I loved the feeling of having a great studio space and interesting people who were creating things in the same room. It reminded me of my days at Pratt Institute where I was surrounded by other art students.

 

The building our class was held also had a beautiful gallery display of artwork from all the instructors who had taught during the summer. The building also contained a great library and an art supply store.

Our instructor was Rebecca Ringquist. Her work is inspiring to us all. Through her textiles, she "tell[s] love stories and create[s] veiled fractured narratives full of double entendre." Her work is brimming with stitches and layers of color and text. Here are some of her embroidery samples:

 

 

In our class, we created blind contour drawings and patterns.

 

We embroidered using found objects as inspiration. The fiber studio had lovely large tables that were padded so you could stick needles into them and iron right on top of them. Here is some of my embroidery:

  

A cow skull embroidered on a big quilting hoop.

My work space got rather messy.

 

Me!

More skull-inspired embroidery by fellow student Hannah.

Hand and machine-stitched piece by Victoria.

 

Our work on display for the critique on the last day of class. You can see the evolution of my skull piece on the right. I plan to layer and add a lot to this piece, but I don't expect it will be finished for many months! Sadly, I do not have the same amount of time and focus to work on my embroidery right now, but I plan to set aside some regular time to work on it.

Arrowmont offered other opportunities to get inspired. Every night there were slide lectures from resident artists and instructors. We also had a chance to tour studios and see what other people were making.

 

From the studio of resident artist and jeweler Ashley Gilreath. She made beautiful pieces based around the concept of family histories and the importance of honoring genealogy and memory.

 

Fascinating experiments in the papermaking studio.

I plan to make a zine about my full experience at Arrowmont. For now, I'll sum it up by saying it was eye-opening, inspiring, challenging, and invigorating. I am now in love with textile art and I can't wait to explore all that it has to offer. Arrowmont was a refuge of creativity that was invaluable for my growth as an artist. If you are an artist, I highly recommend an experience like this to get away, make art, and be part of an energetic creative community. I am already excited for next year. I don't know where I'll go or what class I'll take, but I know I have to include this as a regular part of my life and artist's practice!

What I Did This Summer

This has been one of my busiest summers yet. Here is a recap of how I spent my time from spring through the end of August.

This Spring, I took an Intro to Watercolor class at The Visual Arts Center of Richmond, taught by the lovely and thorough Susan Quinnild. I have done watercolor all my life, but never received formal training for it. Getting all the basics was a great experience for me. After the class, I wanted to test my skills in glazing and layering color and contribute a piece of art to the People's Portrait Project at the VisArts - a project where anyone could donate a 5 x 7" portrait. My boyfriend buys and sells records for a living, and I was inspired by an Art Blakey record that he brought home one day:

 

Thinking this would be a "test," I used paper that I had previously painted on which you can see a bit in the right side of the paper during the early stages. I really enjoyed the process of creating this painting. However, there are a few things I learned from it. One: I need to map out my composition better before painting! I left out his ear and didn't fix it because I didn't want to have to re-do my drawing. Also, I rather liked the looser, low-key (not as much contrast) version right before the final version. Next time, I'd like to build my painting so it incorporates more of the looseness and color blossoming. But overall I'm happy with it.

I created this small watercolor for a friend's baby shower. I think of the dog as a guardian, protecting the little one on his long and adventurous travels.

From May to July, I was busy assembling Golden Moth Illumination Decks for my Kickstarter backers. This took an incredibly long time, and stretched into mid-June when I started teaching classes to children during VisArts' ArtVenture summer art camp. I was hoping to have decks for backers finished before then, so it was a busy time for me with teaching and assembling decks during every spare moment. Luckily, I received a lot of help from friends and my boyfriend, and my dad single-handedly corner-rounded 50 sets of decks when I visited my family in Rochester! Here is the mess that was my kitchen:

It was physically and psychologically draining to have hundreds of unfinished cards in view for months on end. I have since put them away in a big box and only take them out when I need to assemble more. There are still over 100 decks to assemble.

On June 16th, I had a Golden Moth Release Party at the Blue Elephant, a vintage and home decor boutique. Friends visited, people bought decks and artwork, and I gave several Intuitive Card Readings (similar to tarot readings). Patsy, owner of Blue Elephant, and her daughter Jessica, manager, provided refreshments and a colorful array of tasty donuts. They are awesome people, and so is their store which has relocated to 119 Robinson St between Grove and Floyd Avenues in Richmond, VA. The new space is even bigger and better than the last. It is such a fun experience to sift through all the treasures in their shop. There will be a similar event at their shop coming up on Saturday, September 15th from 1-4 pm. I will be giving readings and selling decks and art.

As I mentioned before, I began teaching art workshops to children in June through the end of August. Here are some images from my Paper Toys class for youth ages 6-8.

This student spent all class working on his elaborate pop-up card: "Ryan Lochte crushing Michael Phelps." I myself did not follow the Olympics, so it was fun hearing the kids talk about it.

A student came up with this cute paper turtle. Note that the mouth opens to reveal a tiny pink tongue.

I also taught a Paper Bead Jewelry Workshop at the VMFA Studio School.

Some cool jewelry made by students in the class. The paper beads were made using recycled magazines, comics, and maps.

Most of you probably don't know that my parents have their own Paper Bead Jewelry business. They sell at craft shows and in shops around the country. As the story goes, my mother was inspired by me - when I was a child she saw me creating paper beads for fun. She and my dad took the craft much further and have a multi-step process of selecting papers, painting them, rolling beads quickly using a special drill that my dad created, applying several layers of varnish, and creating jewelry designs. I am proud that I can spread knowledge of this craft through my classes. Most of my students find the process of rolling beads to be soothing and even addictive! Here is a picture of a student rolling beads during a spring workshop at The Visual Arts Center of Richmond.

In July, I visited my hometown of Rochester, NY. One of the best things about going home is how accommodating my family is. They understood that I was utterly spent from The Golden Moth Project, and they helped me assemble decks and encouraged me to do some heavy relaxing.

It was perfect timing to be able to see art exhibitions featuring my sister Olivia Kim and her boyfriend Dario Tazzioli. Olivia had some sculptures and painting in a group show at Nazareth College. 

 

Here is an example of the new direction in her work - a more gestural approach to figural sculptural. Olivia is currently investigating the intricacies of the human body and how it moves. I have trouble enough drawing a moving figure, let alone trying to sculpt it! But Olivia has never taken a challenge lightly.

Dario had a solo show, The Inner World of Dario Tazzioli, at Ock Hee's Gallery in Honeoye Falls, NY. He is a stone carver, in heart and soul. I learned so much by reading descriptions of his process and inspiration for each piece. At the age of 16, he apprenticed with a stone carver who told him that a pyramid was the most challenging form to carve. So of course he went ahead and secretly carved a pyramid.

Dario draws inspiration and design from the stone itself - allowing the striking forms, color, and individuality of each piece to reveal itself in the artwork.

He also created fresco portraits of people from the small village where he lives in Frassinoro, Italy. The process of fresco painting is much different than traditional painting. Pigments are mixed into wet plaster, creating an image that is embedded permanently.

And here's Greg outside of Ock Hee's Gallery, communing with a stone buddha.

On August 2nd, I had the unique opportunity of giving Intuitive Card Readings at the Artist's Reception of two woman who I greatly admire, Robin Kranitzky and Kim Overstreet, at Quirk Gallery. Their elaborately-detailed assemblage jewelry was based on the concept of Rorschach Tests. You can read a great article about Quirk Gallery and their show here.

As you can see, their work is just amazing.

And finally, on August 11th I took a Greyhound bus to Gatlinburg, Tennessee to attend a one-week workshop in Embroidery at Arrowmont School of Art and Craft. I have lots of photos for this one, so I'm going to end this entry now and start a new one about my amazing experience there.

Origins

I've just written a new post on my Golden Moth Blog about the origins of the deck and my first experiences giving readings to others. Check it out and leave a comment! I'd love to hear from others who have used the deck themselves so we can start a dialogue. And if you don't own your own deck but have questions or comments, I'd love to hear about those too!

And don't forget about my online Sprout Head Shop sale (which ends TODAY!) and Giveaway (you have until August 19th to enter)! Check out this post for more details.

Sprout Head Sale and GIVEAWAY!

After taking a couple of weeks to relax from the project, I have finally listed "The Golden Moth Illumination Deck" and other related products in my Etsy shop, Sprout Head! In celebration of my 5-year anniversary, I am offering a 10% discount on all items in my shop through the end of July! Simply use Coupon Code: 5YEARS upon checkout to receive your discount.

As part of the celebration of my shop anniversary and the official release of the deck, I am also offering a GIVEAWAY of:
- One Golden Moth Illumination Deck (includes the deck, handbook, and spread sheet) with one free Intuitive Card Reading
- One Intuitive Card Reading to another lucky winner!

In order to enter, head on over to my new blog, which is all about "The Golden Moth Illumination Deck" and read all about it in this post.

Thanks everyone!

Moth Screenprint

Last Wednesday I made use of my summer membership to Studio 2 3 and completed a 2-color screenprint! I really enjoyed using the studio, hanging out with other printmakers and seeing them create their artwork while I created mine. I am now inspired to make more screenprint editions. I enjoy the process because I can paint with ink directly onto a sheet of mylar or acetate and then create the screen using the drawing. I might post a little step-by-step to show you what I mean for further editions.

Here is the completed screenprint! I used gold and brown ink. I actually editioned two versions. The first version is on the left, and it shows my original intended image. Version #2 on the right shows a slightly off-register image - I printed the brown slightly to the left of the gold moth. You can see it a little better in the detail photo. I made an edition of 29 for Version #1, and then halfway through I decided I liked how it appeared off-register because it made the moth look more like it was fluttering in motion. Version #2 has 20 copies.

 

This past Saturday was The Golden Moth Release Party at the Blue Elephant. It went well! I was very nervous before the party, even though most people who came were friends who I had no reason to be nervous over. But it was the first time I publicly released the deck for other people to take home with them, so there is always some anxiety before presenting my artwork to an audience. I will post photos and write about the event in more detail very soon.

Today I went to the post office and sent off 24 packages! More will keep rolling through the postal system throughout this week and next. Whew! I can't believe that it's really going out into the world! I feel relieved, as if I am finally coming to the end of the road. But I know that putting this deck out into the world is just the beginning. It is a way of reaching out to others, and I don't know what other surprises await me. While the process has been difficult in some ways, it has taught me a LOT. I plan to write more about what I learned from it all, and also share some advice for people who want to start their own Kickstarter campaigns.

That's all for now. More soon, I promise.

love,
aijung

Getting Over the Hump

I just want to update people after that negative post I left the other day. I am feeling better. I am scheduled to receive my new corner-rounder today, so Moth Deck production should be in full swing again soon.

On Tuesday I had another freak-out and felt like crap again. I bicycled in the rain to a health-food store and bought some herbal and homeopathic supplements to help with anxiety, and I started to take my B-complex vitamin again. I am a vegetarian, and lately I wonder if I'm not getting the right kind of nutrition that my body needs. I think that my physical state is affecting my mental state, and vice versa. This project has been stressful, but so is most anything to me. I have been an anxious person all my life, and I need to find healthy ways to release anxiety. Usually, making art helps me to do that, but this time it actually contributes to my stress. As I get older, I notice that my metabolism is also slowing down more too. I need to work harder to maintain my health. I am trying to attend more yoga and exercise classes at the YMCA, and it does help. I also have to pay attention to my diet and make sure I'm getting enough protein, B-vitamins, and amino acids. I am even considering eating a little bit of meat until I can figure out how to best maintain my health on a vegetarian diet.

On the bright side, yesterday I ate as much good stuff as I could stuff in my system - bee pollen, a protein-shake, salad, eggs, and anti-stress supplements. I did feel better, and I went into the studio and finished the 2-color screenprint which is the last reward I needed to finish for the Golden Moth project! I bought a summer membership to Studio 2 3, and I really enjoy using the studio. It's nice to be around other printmakers to get artistic input, advice, and inspiration. I will post pics of the screenprint very soon.

Now I have a lot to do to get ready for the Release Party at Blue Elephant this Saturday. Time to get off the computer and start working!

One of those days...

***July 31st, 2012 - Afterthoughts:
I considered deleting this post because it is rather depressing and pessimistic. But I decided to keep it after talking with my boyfriend. He said, "Well, it is a chronicle, isn't it?" And I realized why I wanted to post about it in the first place. I did want to share my feelings of hopelessness at that moment. Because feelings like that are very normal for a struggling artist, and for any human being! Those kinds of thoughts drift in and out of my life, at times consuming me, at times feeling as far away as a mirage. So I'm keeping the post to attest that I don't always feel positive about what I'm doing. But I keep on going anyway, and eventually come out of it.***

It started last night. The feelings of anxiety and of being totally overwhelmed by the Golden Moth project. It gave me weird dreams last night. And then I woke up to find that I had problems with the corner-rounder. The blade seems to be getting dull and it doesn't cut the way it used to. Then it all spiralled out of control as I become engulfed in negativity and hysteria. My eyelids are all pink and raw from the tears. I haven't shared much about how hard this process has been for me. I know I should just feel lucky and excited to be working on this project and the fact that it was funded through Kickstarter, but it has been DIFFICULT the whole way through. Like a birthing process, the baby just ain't popping out without a hitch. There have been setbacks and things that I should've done better, ways I should've worked faster or harder. There have been many hours where I whiled away the hours aimlessly on the internet, procrastinating and filled with anxiety because I couldn't face this project head-on. Times sitting at my drawing table with pen in hand and feeling like art is the hardest thing in the world to do. There have been screams. And there have been tears.

For some reason I just snapped this morning. I've been working on assembling the card decks for about two weeks straight. I've had lots of people come over to help, which has been a blessing and helped keep me in a good mood. But the assembly is simply tedious. When will it end? When will I ever finish? There have been little setbacks in almost every step of this process. Things I just couldn't have forseen. Things that take time to fix or figure out. I am tired from the hundreds of hours of working on this project.

I feel like it is all carving a place inside me, digging a depth of emotion and labor and questioning. The bigger question is: "Why do I make art at all? What has it brought me?" I guess you could say I'm treading into the zone of despair. I just turned 30 a few days ago. Three decades of life gone by, and here I am poor as ever and making things that 99.9999% of the population doesn't care about. For some reason, I care. I wish I was born with a head for math or computers or science. Subjects considered useful in our world and especially in our country, because the American government doesn't give a goddamn about arts or culture. Why am I toiling away at this? Why can't I just get a normal job and live a cushy life and eat out whenever I want to? Own a car and a house and go on vacations? And just do art as a hobby? Why do I feel that what I do is important in some way and actually contributes or uplifts anyone in this world?

To answer that last question - some people have told me it does. More than a handful. And to me it's the most fulfilling thing I can do with my time and my life. Because I do love it. I wanted to be an artist ever since I was old enough to draw. Also, I'm just not good at anything else. I'm hopelessly illogical and stubborn, even idiotic at times. It took me until my twenties to feel comfortable pumping gas and shopping for clothes. I have been so incredibly awkward and dreamy my entire life that I have had to work on life skills that most people were capable of in their teens. It doesn't help that I also look ten years younger than my actual age. Most people guess I am in my early twenties. Yes, I do look young physically. But the worst part is that I also act like I'm in my early twenties - wandering around with not a clue as to how I am going to make it in this world.

Sometimes I just feel like giving up. I'm not sure exactly what I'd do if I did. Right now I feel like Atreyu in The Never-Ending Story, a movie I used to love watching as a kid. I feel like I'm in the part where Atreyu is in the Swamp of Sadness. He's slogging through the mud and it's getting deeper and deeper and Artax, his beloved horse, doesn't want to go on anymore and gets swallowed up in the swamp. Atreyu keeps on going but he's getting overwhelmed by despair and mud until he thinks he can't make it anymore. And that's when Falcor the Luck Dragon swoops down and saves him.

I know I have a my boyfriend, family, friends, and even strangers who are there for me. But sometimes you just want a big, happy luck dragon to come down and take you up into the sky. You want to surrender and hold on and know that no matter what happens, things will be more than alright. That some have noticed and benefited from all the searching and wandering that you did. That you put something beautiful in the world that wasn't there before. That it was worth it.