End of January Check-in
Hello! Happy last day of January! The better part of the last week and a half has been consumed by moving, which I forgot to mention in my last update. I just moved down the road, but I had forgotten how much work and time moving takes. We’re on the tail end of it and finally settling into our new place, and I’ve been able to get back to the studio to work on my paintings. I’m a little behind on administrative and computer work, but I’m hoping to get back on track in the next few days.
What I’ve been working on:
I’ve made significant progress on the painting from my time at the Cuttyhunk Artist Residency, which I’ve decided to title Morning Swim. Painting water is always challenging, but I feel like taking a break to move helped me see the painting with different eyes when I came back to it.
For my upcoming group show in the summer, the two other artists and I met to see how our test collaborative piece came out. We shared feedback with each other on what was working and what wasn’t, so now we’re ready to work on the actual collaborative piece that will be featured in the show. We cut out a unique shape for the artwork, and I’m responsible for the first layer of the artwork, so I’ll be starting that next week.
One of my goals this year is to have my own solo show. It’s a really big stretch goal because there are a lot of factors outside of my control for this to be able to happen. I have found a community art space in San Jose that seems like they’d be able to provide the space for a solo show, and I’m working on a proposal to send them. Since it’s a community space vs. a gallery or museum, I’d be responsible for putting together the entire show, planning programming, and getting the word out. It feels daunting, but the first step is sending out a proposal to see what they say!
Outings
genARTS, the volunteer organization that I’m a co-chair of, had its Creative Career Panel at Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana (MACLA) this past Wednesday. I’ve been working hard with the rest of the organization to plan this Career Panel over the last few months, and it was great to see so many people come out to learn more about how to make a career in the arts. This Career Panel is the first event of a four event programming series that I helped win grant funding from the City of San Jose’s Office of Cultural Affairs. The next event will be a workshop for artist statement and artist resume/CV writing held on February 12th. It’s been a lot of work, but I’ve been learning a lot about event planning and working with various arts organizations in San Jose through this process.
So there are a lot of activities on my end, and I’m reminding myself that it’s okay to be busy but not overwhelmed. The beginning of the year has a lot of planning and future thinking involved, but I’m starting to transition into being more present in what is happening right now. I’ll be sending out my public facing newsletter soon (which you can sign up for here) with updates on new available paintings as well as commission sign ups. Thanks for following along in the behind the scenes of my artist life; I appreciate all of you!
