art.food.love.

whirlwind of events

2008-10-02T05:51:00.000-07:00

This final year of grad school has started off fast. Aside from getting ready for teaching and settling in to my new studio, I was recently in New Orleans for the Southeastern College Art Conference, where I chaired a panel on art and memory. It was a great conference and I got lots of good ideas for teaching and thinking about my work. New Orleans, although still recovering from hurricanes, is quite lovely and I think I finally have an understanding of why people are so dedicated to staying there. It was one of the most unique cities to which I've been. My work within there lies seven was also featured in the SECAC Members' Exhibition at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art.

Also, taking away from my blogging activity has been working on my website which you can now visit at www.jessievanderlaan.com
Check it out. There are still some things that are on the way or may change but it's a start.
Enjoy.

to the big farm

2008-08-01T13:06:00.000-07:00

Goodbye sweet Saba.
You were loved and you will be missed.

a hole in my nest

2008-07-23T18:33:00.001-07:00

Monday brought rain, and wind, and nature a little closer to our home than even I usually care for it. This event left me a bit shaken, but also very thankful. While I was forced to abandon the dinner I was making and the vacation that was on the horizon, all members of our home are safe and were even able to sleep in our own beds that night (sleep and nerves being aided by a glass of whiskey). My heart goes out to all the people that have been displaced by the natural disasters plaguing our country and planet in recent history and whose troubles were not so easily remedied. Now, the tree is cleared, the wholes tarped, and my next exercise will be in patience, as I'm sure that the repair will not be as swift as the damage. Hopefully we'll emerge with a stronger nest than we began, and a new appreciation for our little home as well.

steps towards balance

2008-06-21T10:02:00.000-07:00

It seems for the last year or two my work and my thoughts keep coming back to the idea of balance. Lately, I've been particularly focused on figuring out how to balance my needs to be more economical, more healthy and more eco-friendly. Is it possible to spend less, eat better and buy local, organic food all at the same time? Some days are better than others. Today, I went to the local farmers market, which luckily seems to be both popular and growing. I bought kale, carrots, zucchini and cucumbers, all lovely and affordable. I skipped the organic chicken, much to my embarrassment because after asking for one, I realized the chicken was $20, which exceeded my budget of $10 for the whole trip. I was forced to apologize profusely and go home chickenless. I bet that would've been one tasty bird though.
My other quest lately is to revert back to my hippie ways of buying used, and in general being less wasteful. Ken and I recently traded in many unread or overly read books from our full bookshelves and were able to pick up some new reads and movies with credit left over. I am stunned that I haven't taken advantage of buying used books more in the past, what a waste! My other recent step against waste is beginning to compost, which so far is going well, I think. It's too early to tell if I'm producing excellent soil, but I have my fingers crossed and it's wonderful not to through coffee grinds and veggie scraps in the trash. My next step: not wasting my time. This I think will be my biggest uphill battle, my prowess for procrastination is legendary.
Lastly, the step towards balance most revered by Van der Laan women, I decided to make bread today. There is just something so satisfying about kneading and kneading until you have a lovely ball of dough to let sit and do its magic.

new resolutions

2008-03-22T14:01:00.000-07:00

Here are some images from my most recent show, Sewn Together.

This was a fabulous show that I held along with my friend Jamie Alonzo, at The Birdhouse in Knoxville.

Jamie and I each had our own space, so these images are just of my work.

Transitioning from the show in October, I have begun thinking of the balance between inside and outside as well as up and down. I am continuing to explore the "in between" moments and portion of a story they tell. These fragments of journeys are moments of hope, filled with desire and fear, mingled in a quiet moment.

I was also in this show able to return to working with sewing and fabric, in a more integrated way, long overdue to return to my work. Also, I have begun a new love story with casting, which seems to be a logical extension of printmaking. Funny enough, just as I do with prints I have been casting one of a kind objects, somewhat subverting the process.

As you can guess by my title, I have made yet another resolution to be more faithful to my blog.

It's been hard, with show, school and new family member, Josie, a sweet lab mix.

She had a hard beginning to life, she spent the first two weeks we had her at the vet fending off parvo but now she's healthy and happy, as are we. Pictures of her are on the way. Please keep coming back to this portion the web I've staked out, I promise to make it here more myself.

the missing time

2007-10-12T10:31:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pics from my latest show,
the missing time.

the missing time is a frozen moment situated in between weightlessness and gravity. It is the calm of a familiar longing, which both aches and comforts. The metaphorical implications of weightlessness and gravity are dense. Weightlessness implies release and freedom but is also abandonment and a lack of roots. Gravity is related to severity and feeling bound, but also being grounded and stable. Both hold positive and negative connotations that speak of emotional desires and burdens. As these two sensations cross there is a fragile stasis, a moment of infinite potential regarding the future and past. This narrative is undefined yet, like a fragment of a memory, is repeating, haunting and familiar. This piece rests on the edge of deep feeling intertwining with the temptation to completely let go.

I have to send out thanks to Katie for helping to come up with the title for the show, during a late night talk we were discussing this time of year; it has that bittersweet quality of being the time that I most look forward to and also the time that I feel the most nostalgic, the missing time.

This time of year also happens to be right in the middle of Prenumbra, the season of shadows. We're now on the later edge of Prenumbra, heading towards Ombre and I have been noticing the darkness creeping in but the days have been so full of sun it's a happy balance.

In terms of restoration of balance, the culmination fo my show has been a thankful end (temporarily) of long hours and poor nutrition. I began the week by cooking dinner! at home! with Ken! I apologize the excess of exclaimation but this really deserved it. I also make a big crock pot meal that I've been able to eat for lunches all week and it has been so nice to eat my own cooking and not just whatever I could grab on the fly. As the weather continues to cool, I'm looking forward to squash and root vegetables and big pots of chili.

Hopefully as the pace of school, work and home shift back into proper balance, my frequency of blogging will become more regular and focused. Thanks to everyone that helped me to put this show together while maintaining a bit of sanity and grace.

a chill is in the air

2007-09-09T07:40:00.000-07:00

A chill is in the air, and it is so welcome. The first hints of fall are emerging, things smell better, the air feels better, the skies are blue, it's almost time to wear all the sweaters that have been waiting patiently in my closet. Sadly, I am busy, busy, busy and while the outdoors are begging me to abandon my tasks to bask in the early autumn glow, I have been working away in my studio. I have to remind myself to leave the building and take my fresh air breaks; it's funny that now that I'm not a smoker I have to remind myself to leave the building. My lungs are cleaner, except that I'm breathing recycled art building air all day. Is that better?

In any case, I'm trying to enjoy the lovely days before they turn to short gray days and make work for my upcoming show on October 5th. I am thankful for the work, work, working because it keeps me from the melancholy that sometimes accompanies this time of year. Even though it's one of my favorite times, I miss the people in my life that I know I'd like to share it with the most. Those of you that are many, many miles away, I am drinking tea/wine and sitting on the porch with you in spirit, those of you in this home, you will see me more often when October comes. Please use these glimpses into my studio to place yourselves with me.

a photo from my studio in the midst of working

a detail of the drawing above, "...of which way I'm headed"

Nathan has a home

2007-08-25T14:38:00.000-07:00

This week marked the official beginning of the school year. With only three days under my belt, I am already feeling the intensity of the year coming down. With the intesity, though comes a strange relief of feeling purposeful and directed, a little less lost and confused than when I arrived for my first year of grad school a year ago.

Also this week, Ken found a little kitten living outside in the bushes outside of his work. So, after a long day in the studio, I climbed through these bushes, hoping to rescue this cat and find a loving home for him. He was not eager to be rescued and I eventually gave up. Over the course of the evening and next day, however, Ken, armed with charm, patience and a healthy amount of salmon scraps from the kitchen lured this cat out of the bushes and he became a lovey loiterer at the restaurant's back door. Not wanting to be shunned by our own two by bringing home a new addition to the family, we tried all week to find a home for Nathan (yes, I still named him, even though I didn't want to bring him home). He was finally adopted by one of Ken's co-workers.

It's so funny that the safety of this cat became such a focus of our week. I think because home is so dear to me, in the sense of not only having shelter, but love and comfort and calm. I began thinking that this year's beginnnings, while off to a bustling start, and with some losses of those who have graduated and moved on, my home is so much better than last year. I now am not sure how I made it through those beginning months without my warm, funny, animal-rescuer Ken around last year. Here's to having homes with people that love us.

the beginning...

2007-08-18T19:13:00.000-07:00

Evidently I have decided to become part of the blogging nation.

This is strange in many ways:

I'm not sure I even knew what a blog was this time last year.

In general, I have never been a diarist, mostly because rereading past entries makes me cringe in self-doubt and criticism.

My use of technology is typically limited to checking my e-mail frequently and replying infrequently, finding recipes to fit the random foods scattered through my kitchen when the grocery store seems too far away, and the hour sucking pasttime of online solitaire, which now comes is many varieties to woo my procrastinator tendencies.

Lately, however, I find myself all too stuck in my own thoughts that seem to quickly fade before they are put to good use. In the interest of turning the previously mentioned solitaire time I am destined to spend in front of the computer into something that may actually contribute to the world, other artists or at the very least myself, I have entered into this community, equally anxious that everyone will read this blog or that no one will. Only time will tell.