Art is/and Recovery

This is Ann's work. It is special to her and special to me on many levels, and we have never met. Ann was not an artist, or didn't think so, until her brother (who is an artist) suggested that she draw her feelings as she was treated for breast cancer.

Ann is now an assemblage artist, but more about that later.

My younger sister is a breast cancer survivor, and I have only watched her look at that new face in the mirror, that new body in the mirror. It is a very singular experience, and I wish I had suggested to her to draw through the transitions too. I saw Ann's work without the back story, but I had an immediate sense that she faced breast cancer. Her raw, naive, self-portraits reveal the struggle eloquently...

And beyond surviving breast cancer, Ann took her visual work far beyond those pictures. Now she assembles work that literally comes from her journey~ the things she finds in her path as she walks. The found objects speak to her and she in turn meshes them together to create rich, colorful pieces...in another voice, much less naive. It is a year or so in the life of an artist picking up life in a whole new way.

Photos of this year's work will be posted soon!

Zen, Creativity, and Theft?

Jan here: A few weeks ago I attended a creative conference. One of the pieces of paper included in my registration packet or one of the journaling workshops was written by Leo Babauta on his website zenhabits.net. This particular page starts out with:

“The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.” - Albert Einstein

and I took the placement of the quote to mean that most of the stuff like this you find out there you have heard before, but this list pulls it together in quick-read way. Simple. Zen. Stolen!

The Little But Really Useful Guide to Creativity:

Play.
Don't consume and create at the same time ~ seperate the processes.
Shut out the outside world.
Reflect on your life and work daily.
Look for inspiration all around you, in the smallest places.
Start small.
Just get it out, no matter how crappy that first draft.
Don't try for perfect. Just get it out there, asap, and get feedback.
Constantly make it better.
Ignore the naysayers.
But let the criticism help you grow.
Teach and you'll learn.
Shake things up, see things in a new ways.
Apply things in other fields to your field, in ways not done before.
Drink ridiculous amounts of coffee.
Write all ideas down immediately.
Turn you work into play.
Play with kids.
Get out, move, see new things, talk to new people.
Read wildly different things. Especially stuff you disagree without.
Get lots of rest. Overkill kills creativity.
Don't force it. Relax, play, it will start to flow.
Allow your mind to wander. Allow distractions when you're looking for inspiration.
Then shut them off when you are going to create.
Do it when you're excited.
When you're not, find something else to be excited about.
Don't be afraid to be stupid and silly.
Small ideas are good. You don't need to change the world~ just change one thing.
When something is killing your creativity, kill it.
Stop reading creativity advice, clear away everything, and just create.
Most of all, have fun doing it.

Making stuff is great for the soul, but it really piles up around the house if you don't tell anyone you do it or share it. So we are going to show ourselves. Hope you can come see the stuff in person. It is really, really cool LIVE.

Christopher Shaner

Christopher Shaner
Rocky Hill Ct

The face and figure have always been the main inspirations for my work through the years. Originally a painter, I developed a passion for drawing while in art school, and have devoted much of my work since then to this medium. My lifelong Muse is the delicate beauty Lillian Gish, whose features figure prominently in most of my compositions of women. The wonderful atmosphere of the silent film has had an enormous influence on my style, and it is this monochromatic and other-land world I seek to replicate in each of my finished pieces. There is always music on when I am working, and contemporary artists like Judy Collins and Laura Nyro, among others, have provided me with the imagery that brings life and meaning to my art.

After some years of being diverted by life's pressing issues, I am gradually returning to the creation of new pieces, thanks mainly to the encouragement and support of beloved colleagues like Cathleen McLain, who has invited me to share studio space with her for this event. The images on the handmade note cards I will be offering at Open Studio are selected from some of my favorite drawings, and serve as a link from art past to art present and future. My style has not changed much through the years; only my desire to put on paper what is in my heart is what gets stronger.

Janice Warren

Jan has been making art for the walls and decoration for the body for years. This year she presents lightweight delight in colorful earrings and small scrafito drawings with details that only reveal their complexity close up.

Jan is thrilled to be back in ArtSpace Hartford displaying work with old friends and new. She has just come from "Art Is..." the East Coast Artist Retreat, where a formal network of " found object" artists in Connecticut was formed. 2010 will mark the return of small sculpture to Jan's new work and a sneak peek will be at her table.

see more work at:
www.broadbrookart.com
Learn more about the art and the artist at
broadbrookart@blogspot.com

Maureen Maalouf

email momaalouf@hotmail.com

website momaalouf.webs.com

About my work: I work predominantly with oils on canvas. My paintings are inspired by nature, particularly trees and sky. At times I paint landscapes as they are and others I play with the shapes and colors in an effort to capture a feeling rather than a realistic representation of what I see. Very often, as the painting progresses, the image evolves into something quite different from the subject that inspired it.