Water, Wind, and Time

 

Sunday, March 10, 2013
Women's Art: A Conversation with Elizabeth Ostrander and Shanna Wheelock
3:00 p.m.at the Eastport Arts Center
36 Washington Street, Eastport, Maine
Click here for Shanna Wheelock's website.
Click here Elizabeth Ostrander's website
Click here for the Eastport Art Center website.


Thursday, March 21, 2013
Machias Women's Forum
5:30-8:00 p.m.
Helen's Restaurant, Machias, ME
Presenters: Shanna Wheelock, Elizabeth Ostrander, and Sherry Ashby Cunningham
Topic: How Spirituality informs and inspires our artwork
Save the date and check back for more info.


 Click here for a recent article about the marathon and my artwork in the Bangor Daily News

Check out Maine artist Kenny Cole's blog about his current project "Parabellum".
Chris is collaborating on part of the project. Very cool!
 

 

Factory C (or Columbian Canning Plant?) Located behind the old Columbian Store , Lubec, Maine

I have been photographing these ruins for a current art project.

Click here to see photo of what it once looked like.

 

Another shot of the factory ruins.

 

 

I collected bricks from the American Can Factory site, North Lubec, and am experimenting with pulverizing the fragments and embedding the dust into clay.

 

 

Just a few days after winter storm NEMO, our big boy Bello Shroom was outside enjoying the sunny day melt-off.

 

 

I found a recipe that clued me in on how to fry tofu perfectly. No batter involved - just straight up tofu and sesame seeds in olive oil. It is so yummy that we have eaten a version of this three times in the past four or five days.

 

 

2013 Bay of Fundy Marathon

 

Click here for an Article about the marathon and my work in the Bangor Daily News

 

Awards are coming along for the Bay of Fundy Marathon. I am giving my wrists a break for a week before tackling the next group of pieces which will be the most intricate and complex of the bunch. These are the tumblers that will be awarded to the teams in the 10k and marathon.

 

If you are traveling to Lubec during the marathon be sure to book your accommodations sooner rather than later. I know that as of this morning, Away Downeast still has a couple awesome and affordable cottage available.

 

For a more comprehensive list of B&B's and motels, etc, check out the VisitLubecMaine website.

 

If you still need help finding accommodations, contact the Bay of Fundy Marathon organizers for suggestions.

 

 

Thinking maybe I should change my blog title to "Food, Cats and Art." That seems to sum up most days here in our little nook in the far reaches of the country. The past couple weeks have been fulfilling on all fronts. Chris and I have our super busy times where we find ourselves on the road to various readings, exhibits, meetings, or family events, but other times we are able to find these stretches where retreating to our respective work spaces is unfettered by outside distractions.

 

I set aside one week to (almost) fully dedicate to the beginning stages of a new art project. Most weeks I am juggling a little bit of "this" and little bit of "that" but this week I wanted to be able to solidify some ideas. For an artist to have that time without outside distractions is worth the weight of any hefty item in gold.

 

I had been waiting for the right conditions to visit the ruins of an old factory site here in Lubec. On Friday I finally had the opportunity. I needed compliant weather, tide, and Chris. I had never been to the site before and was unsure how approachable it would be. It is not a safe space by any stretch with the massive deterioration but was in better condition than I had expected. I snapped over a hundred photos that have been filed and later this morning I will begin printing them to use as inspiration in both clay, conte, and encaustic.

 

I am excited by my level of excitement. When I got to the ruins close-up, I swear my heart skipped a beat. Something resonated with me so strongly on such a deep level. With some things in our lives, we don't always understand our reactions, but over time, clarity begins to come forth presenting the bigger picture. For me, with this site visit, I started to understand some of the images that had been emerging in my work over the past couple years. At the time of creating those works, or even recently seeing images in my mind but not being able to translate, this one afternoon allowed all kinds of connections to be realized. The images, understandings, and connections is only in the most infantile stage but at the precipice of unfolding in a most profound way. I can feel it.

 

It is amazing to look at these ruins and to know that this is not a war-torn village and that these walls and ceilings are not collapsed because of bombs. Merely, it is water, wind, and time that has eroded the structure. Such awesome power in the elements.

 

Looking at these ruins, even though used for a period of time and when no longer profitable abandoned and left succumb to the elements, there is beauty and reverence. The energy is still. In some ways, a ghostly still. But also, a reverent stillness. Pier stubs emerge from the sand like gravestones. Columns, broken, and slanted, lean against one another like Stonehenge dolmens. Slabs of concrete hang from steel rods exposing an opening in the ceiling that is a gateway to infinite sky. Every square foot guards a memory or story.

 

At the moment, my mind is buzzing with ideas. This part of the process takes a while for me to decipher. Images snap through mind's eye and it is an art in snagging the right one that can carry and artist through from conception to artwork. My cave is warming up now, waiting me to begin this journey.

New Year's Resolution

Sculptures completed over the past three months by Shanna Wheelock....

U.S. Totem Pole
approx. 22" tall
Wheelthrown and slab construction
Stoneware, acrylic paint

Incendiary
Approx. 26" tall
Slab and wheelthrown construction
Stoneware, acrylic paint, wood, metal
with interior light source

Pomegrenade, sequential series
Total 6' wide. Individual sculptures approx. 8"x8"
Slab and press mold construction, fuze toppers each individually carved
Earthenware with acrylic paint and encaustic medium, metal, wood

Well, the New Year is upon us. Folks all around the world are making their ritual New Year's resolutions: Lose weight, exercise, get to work on time, spend more time with family, pay off debt....The list goes on and on. Some people will accomplish what they set out to do, but most will probably fail miserably. Sure, we all get off to a good start. It's the New Year afterall. We certaily have gorged ourselves so much over Christmas and other celebrations this past month that we think we might vomit if someone so much as mentions another glass of eggnog or piece of cake.

Add me to the list of those who have failed miserably in the past. I can't count the times I have made the same resolution over and over year after year. I finally gave up on making resolutions. Still, people ask, what New Year's resolution have you made this year? I have come to the conclusion, after years of failed attempts, that if you think you should do something for your overall betterment, then why wait another month, week, or five days to begin?

So, I planned to begin 2011 with no resolutions.

But, I have been pondering this thought....

What if....

We were all (yes, the entire world, every last one of us, child or adult, no different what country we are from, the color of our skin, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, etc. etc.) were to.... make the exact same resolution?

What if....

We all proclaimed enthusiastically to ourselves that we would make 2011 the year that we...

Make a vow for Peace.

Yes, I really do think it is that simple.

If every person in the world would vow to not say or do another hurtful thing to another being.

PEACE.

Just like other resolutions - it may take while to catch-on. But eventually, with enough people on board, vowing year after year to be kind, empathetic, forgiving beings ...change is destined to come about.

Power in numbers.

Why wait until January 1?

First Full Day in the New Studio

Worked in the new studio all day planning for a five month long sculptural project

Today I write from the new studio space. I admit that it has been a slow process moving myself in here, not only physically, but psychologically. The space is wide open, scarce in decoration, and so pristine. What if I don't create a masterpiece? What if I mess up this gorgeous new bamboo floor? What if...what if...what if....

I came in here about 10:00 a.m this morning, lugging from storage my old drafting table that has not been used in well over a dozen years. I spent the first two hours cleaning dirt and clay from the legging, then sweeping the floor, and washing windows. Methodically, I was preparing myself for the work ahead. In my mind whirled possible ideas for my first MFA class proposal.

Now that six hours has passed, I don't want to leave. The ambiance is extremely conducive to creativity. The drafting table is placed in front of an eight foot wide sliding glass door, from which I watched two eagles and a hawk soar overhead today. I spent time (nearly nodding off!) reclining on the futon in the little nook, wrapped in a comforter, smelling the candle scents of warm apple pie and sugar cookies, and listening to the "spa" channel on satellite radio. I time thumbed through art books and sketched possible ideas for a five month-long concentration in a series of my choosing.

I am excited to begin working on my Master of Fine Arts. I was accepted into the new low residency program at Heartwood College of Art, in Kennebunk, Maine. It is the first program of its kind in the state (and only one of two MFA programs for visual arts in Maine) that will allow me to keep my full time teaching schedule as well as be a student.

It's interesting to be a student again. I finished my fine arts degree in 1993, then my teaching program in 1999. Now I am back at it, thrilled with the possibilities. However, I was less than thrilled when I received my first assignment. I reacted EXACTLY the way some of my own students react when I assign them a project. I thought "twenty six sculptures in five months? I am trying to get away from mass production!"

I am the type of person who translates things literally in my mind, and often, I get a visual and get fixated on that one idea. I doubt that makes much sense to anyone but me, but there it is. I became a complainy whiny student. I found immense humor in this, and a better understanding of my own students. Then I thought, what lesson would there be in this for me, and what would I expect of my own students?

So, I let my mind open and wander and think of the positives. It is a meditative process to concentrate so intently on one object. Also, it teaches me to focus, and if you know me personally, you know that I can become quite scattered with a million things going on at once, multi-tasking, hopping from idea to idea, medium to medium.

I also needed to remind myself that I am artist, and interpretation is quite individual. So, how I approach my one subject twenty-six times may not be the literal translation that another might have. The final topic I decided upon and the final presentation of it is not at all what I was expecting of myself. It is a completely different path than I expected to take when I first started planning three or more weeks ago. And already, I am sensing the possibilities for growth in my own work. Perhaps the bulk of that growth has already occurred, just in my being able to apporach the project from a different perspective and to find its inherent value.

I won't share all the details just yet. First the proposal needs to be accepted, then I need to get into the studio and feel my way around it. There may lie still a learning curve or two for me. But expect an update in May when the project is complete...or perhaps...transitioning to a new phase.

Full Circle

The big project this weekend was the cleaning of the barn loft. I hadn't looked up there in nearly eight years, and had never before actually walked up there. Eight years is plenty of time, apparently, to accumulate a lot of junk. We weeded through boxes, old painted house trim, chairs, easels, windows, rope, pipes, camp bed, squirrel nests, and rugs. The neatest find was an old box of artwork that I had made maybe twenty years ago. I had the realization that my artwork, though it has evolved and grown, has not necessarily changed all that much, rather, it has kind of come full circle. I found an old drawing that I did, nearly 20 years ago, of peace symbols and guns. Interesting, I thought, since my "Machine Series" the past few summers has been about War. Then I remembered that yep, I was heading in an activist direction from an early age. In a high school of nearly 1000 students, I was the only kid to join the group "Beyond War". So that was interesting, to revisit that part of me from the past.

The loft looks great - all cleared out. Chris and I are thinking that down the road we might be able to turn that space into a little reading/writing or some sort of creating nook. But for now, we have bigger remodel plans with the new studio/office addition that we are having built. Finally! An indoor studio space that can be used year round. It has been such a challenge these past few years to not have a winter space for clay. Especially frustrating since the passion and ideas don't stop flowing just because the winter months have arrived. If all goes as planned, we should begin building the end of July. Lots more updates on that project down the road.

We also moved the greenware pots out to the barn. Yey! I think we are in the clear of below freezing temps at this point (hope so anyway!) and the pots should be safe. So happy to have the pots out of the house and the kitchen table and floor back for their proper use (piling-up other junk and papers, of course!).

I have been busy writing for various projects. The big student art show is this Thursday at school, so that meant pulling together an art newsletter of sorts, kind of the year in review. Wow. We accomplished so much this past year in our arts program! I am trying to get things finalized for our field trip to the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland next week, and the following week, we have this super cool presentation by Figures of Speech, a Bunraku puppet theater performance of Nightingale.

Aside from all that (my head has been spinning the last couple weeks) I am applying for an MFA program, which requires lots of essay writing. Also, the Lubec art project planned for this summer is moving forward. I have been working closely with Maine artist Natasha Mayers to bring some great artists to our area to lead several site-specific art projects in a week-long arts event in August. I will add updates on that as we get closer to the date (and decide on the actual name to use in publicity!). I just had a group of super neat local artists and art lovers over last week to get things moving. It's a project that requires great passion and energy, and I know we will pull it off - and it will be grand! Now, crossing fingers that we get the grant.

Centered

This morning I feel like spring is finally on its way. I walked outside at 7:00 a.m. to turn the heat on in the barn studio, and as I stepped out into the back yard, I heard the loud drumming of a pileated woodpecker. The deep, rhythmic, sometimes offbeat, knocking is distinct. I have only heard it once before, three summers ago, just moments before the bird swooped over me and landed on a dead branch of the walnut tree. She was followed seconds later by her mate. It was an amazing moment and one I won't ever forget. This morning, she has returned.

Animals have a way of showing up for me at times when I am seeking guidance. I have a multitude of happenings in my life right now - things on the verge of coming into being, but nothing solid. The prospect of being on a new path excites me, but at the same time, new directions can be scary. Having choice is a good thing, but working it out in my mind how to make the best choice, to try to foresee all possible outcomes, is the tough part.

The pileated woodpecker and the eagle have come to me in profoundly moving ways. Three summers ago both showed up in a way that I had to take notice. At that time, major life changes occurred (or opportunities) that helped move me along my path in a creative and rewarding direction. Now, the two birds have returned and I feel that I need to not take their presence in my life for granted. I need to be open and receptive and hear their message.

Whether it is a dream image or a real-life experience with animals, I like to refer to a book called Animal Speak: The Spiritual and Magical Powers of Creatures Great and Small. This morning I read (or re-read) the passages for both the eagle and the woodpecker. The words were completely relevant to what has been rolling around in my noggin lately. Just yesterday, I began to doubt a decision that I recently made, but this morning, I feel clarity once again. I needed to revisit my personal philosophies, and ask myself what is the best way for me to reach my goals and dreams.

I feel centered now.

Partly because of this morning's drumming visitor, but also because I am back in the studio after a five month hiatus.

And now, back to the barn studio I go.....