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- The International Arts Megacrew Builds Tallest Temporary Wooden Structure in the World :: Gaia Gallery on The Best Corn Mazes for Halloween 2011
- The Mask | The Canvas of Another Color on Interview with Qaaim Goodwin, Part 2
- Interview with Qaaim Goodwin | Design News on Interview with Qaaim Goodwin, Part 1
- Mixed Media As Art :: Gaia Gallery on Interview with Qaaim Goodwin, Part 2
- Interview With John-Andrew Boyajian: Part 4 | The Canvas of Another Color | All About Arts | Scoop.it on Interview With John-Andrew Boyajian: Part 4
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Interview with Becky Joy, Part 4
RC: What is your process? How do you go about creating, and what do you set out to express through your work?
Becky: I like the challenge of plein air painting, but I also work from my imagination. When I paint from my imagination, it is subject matter that I am familiar with.
Image Credit: Becky Joy
I usually start with rudimentary lines capturing a design. I often paint small to play with color and get a color scheme and composition that I am excited about. Then I will paint some of them larger. I try to capture a mood, a time frame that is identifiable and also attempt to create a mystery. Part of plein air painting is the exploration and the story. I hope that the viewer connects and is able to walk through the painting and see some mystery, explore, and then put part of their story into the painting.
Image Credit: Becky Joy
RC: You are trapped on a deserted island (adequate food and water, etc.) and you can choose exactly 3 tools to create art with. What are those 3 tools, and how do you use them?
Becky: I suppose I would have to pick the 3 primary colors, lots of tubes of them. I could paint on any surface and use fingers and other tools to paint with. Color is very important to me. It makes life…well…colorful!
Image Credit: Becky JoyInterview with Becky Joy, Part 3
RC: What is your workspace like?
Becky: My studio is an “L” shape with a storage room on the small end of the “L”. The office is an alcove off the long end of the “L”. I have several feet of space where I can step back to view my easel, sit down or view it in a mirror. There is a wall of cabinets, drawers and a counter for work space. I have a place to store all my plein air gear that is easy to grab to be on the go.
Interview with Becky Joy, Part 2
RC: What kind of art training have you had?
Becky: I started off in college twice, but quit not knowing what direction to go . I always wanted to go to art school and just paint, but that nagging feeling of doing something “practical” stayed with me for many years.
Image Credit: Becky Joy
RC: What happenings and ideas have shaped you as an artist?
Becky: I have played with art all my life and tried many different mediums including ceramics and sculpture. I grew up in Oregon and it wasn’t until I moved to Arizona in my late 40′s that I saw several working artists making a living. I then knew it was possible and had the courage to pursue art. I started exhibiting, but soon realized that I didn’t really know much about art. I then started taking workshops at Scottsdale Artists School. Things started coming together for me,but then I was plagued with personal problems that took me away from pursuing art for several years. I got a divorce about 6 years ago and since that time I have worked like crazy, taking several workshops and painting and painting to improve. I was approached about entering a facebook competition 3 years ago. I entered and was one of 12 selected from about 900 enteries . That gave me the confidence to enter more competitions.
For the first time I submitted to a national show, the American Women Artists and was accepted. Since that time I have been in 3 OPA shows, 1 AIS show, another AWA show and several others, having winning paintings in some of the shows. I have now been invited to some plein air events and started teaching more.
Image Credit: Becky Joy
Interview with Becky Joy, Part 1
While exploring plein air painting, I came across the beautiful work of Becky Joy. She captures something that I feel is hard to come by for other who seek to capture nature. There is something special about the light and the controlled, demure energy that comes from her work. Becky’s paintings go beyond being mere representations of her surroundings. They transcend experience and show the raw emotion that nature can evoke through the interplay between light, shape, and shadow. This week, I’m happy to get to talk with Becky about her work, and to get to show
RC: In one sentence, describe your “style.”
Becky: There is a spontaneous yet controlled look to my paintings with lighting and color as important aspects.
Image Credit: Becky Joy
RC: Why is art important?
Becky: It seems so basic to me…art expresses emotions. We all have to express ourselves in some way, and art has always been that vehicle for me. It’s my way of communicating. I’m a quiet, reserved person. I’ve often wondered what comes first – am I expressing who I am as far as what others see of me? Or, am I expressing who I feel that I really am? Some days are bolder than other days. But, art definately is how I express who I am.
Image Credit: Becky Joy
Interview with Megan Frauenhoffer, Part 5
RC: What is the most difficult aspect of your work? Why?
Megan: With printmaking, I think one of the most difficult challenges is not knowing what the image is going to look like until you’re finish. The indirect process keeps you guessing. It used to frustrate me not knowing if the silkscreen layers would look right with the colors I chose or if I carved the right amount off of linoleum block for a reduction print. Some of the most technical aspects of printmaking, such as registration of layers for block or silkscreen printing got to be s0 tedious for me that I changed my approach towards less reliance on perfect registration and the perfect print. I love the imperfect, intuitive and unpredictable.
Image Credit: Megan Frauenhoffer
RC: What is the most challenging part of being a professional artist?
Megan: Time management. It’s easy to spend endless amounts of time on projects and daily sketching while in school, but now I have to balance studio with a job as well as a home life.
Image Credit: Megan Frauenhoffer
RC: What one piece of advice would you give to someone who is just beginning their journey or career as an artist?
Megan: Fully commit yourself to finding everything you can about techniques, business, and the questions that you need to ask in order to push content in your art. Keep making art even when it’s not “fun” or inspiring because art is hard work and sometimes you have to create a lot of bad pieces to work out your ideas to perfection.
Interview with Megan Frauenhoffer, part 4
RC: When it comes to art, what is your philosophy? Why is art important?
Megan: To investigate and always ask questions in your work. I believe great art is not only aesthetically appealing but causes me to question things and become more contemplative.
Image Credit: Megan Frauenhoffer
RC: What is your favorite piece that you’ve done? Why?
Megan: I feel bad, because I’m the type of artist that doesn’t really enjoy the art work after it’s completed. It’s usually seen with all the mistakes or choices I should had made on the image. Sometimes I enjoy the artwork because the process allowed me to learn something. I think one of the pieces that I enjoyed making and manage to still like now is Bird’s Nest. The process to make it was quick (3-5 hours altogether) and I loved how easy the concept and visuals worked when completed.
Image Credit: Megan Frauenhoffer
Interview with Megan Frauenhoffer, Part 3
RC: You are trapped on a deserted island (adequate food and water, etc.) and you can choose exactly 3 tools to create art with. What are those 3 tools, and how do you use them?
Megan:
1. A knife, which could be used as a weapon, but also as a stylus and drawing tool for sand, mud, or wood.
2. A bucket. With it, I could gather water, sand, or any other material, whether it’s related to art or survival
3. A Shovel/hand shovel which could be used to gather material as well.
Using the tools combined, they can gather mud or sand to create sculptures that can be shaped with water and carved with a knife.
Image of Megan’s studio and tools
Image of Megan’s studio and reference books
Interview with Megan Frauenhoffer, Part 2
RC: Why do you do what you do?
Megan: A need to have a voice, a need to create. If I spend too much time away from drawing, creating images and ideas, I get cranky or depressed. It’s a need that has to be indulged and shared with others.
Image Credit: Megan Frauenhoffer
RC: What is your process? How do you go about creating, and what do you set out to express through your work?
Megan: I sketch a lot of ideas intended to be drawings for silkscreen prints. Sometimes it doesn’t work out and I have a whole scrap pile of collected drawings. Occasionally when I print I’ll use those drawings and create an automatic printing process that relies on intuitive layering and pure experimentation. If those prints don’t work out, I throw them into a different scrap pile. Occasionally those prints get cut in two and then turned into collages. I try to use every piece possible and not waste potential artwork or ideas. It’s an interesting, transformative process that way.
Mostly, I try to express moods or a theme that threads throughout the work. The art tends to express a romantic, but haunting feeling with each piece of work. There’s a sense of mourning, but never a distinct notion over what the figure is mourning about. Overall, it’s just a confusing sense of loss that lingers in the back of the mind along with other feelings.
Image Credit: Megan Frauenhoffer
Interview with Megan Frauenhoffer: Part 1
RC: Did you have a formal education in the arts?
Megan: I hold a BFA in Studio Art from Missouri State University, where I gained my technical skills in printmaking and drawing. Then I earned my MFA in Visual Studies from Minneapolis College of Art and Design where I gained my visual content and critical thinking that pushes the art into a body of work. Outside of my formal training, I was always sketching and researching all that I could learn about techniques and ideas.
Image Credit: Megan Frauenhoffer
RC: What is your “story?”
Megan: I feel as if my “story” is rather boring, but perhaps that’s why I always resorted to living with an active imagination. Having an active imagination as a kid and a lack of social skills, I think I unintentionally did my best to isolate myself from any lasting friendships other than my twin sister. Several instances I was told that I was a “weird kid” and as a result I related more to animals, read books, invented pretend games, wrote stories, played video games and sketched. I loved stories of myths and adventure, anything that offered a sense of escape from who I was a child.
Image Credit: Megan Frauenhoffer
The Mask
In the next week or two, elementary art teachers around the U.S. will introduce their students to mask making, a superbly appropriate time of year to do so with Halloween just around the corner. It will more than likely involve paper mache, gesso, and tempera paint. The last day, after everything is dry, there will be an explosion of glitter and glue and feathers as kids have fun expressing their alter-ego in mask form. After all, that’s what a mask is – you just slip a covering on your face, and don a different personality. You show what you want to show, and hide what you don’t. You express your mood, you express an idea…you have stepped outside social normalcy.
While researching images for this post, I came across a photo of what is believed to be the oldest mask in the world.
Image Credit: Frontiers of Anthropology
When I saw this, I couldn’t do any more image searching. I just sat there and stared at it, immobile in front of my screen. Like our recently featured artist of the week Qaaim Goodwin noted in an interview with us, there is so much complexity in simplicity.
This mask is 9,000 years old, dating to roughly 7,000 B.C. It was found in what is now Israel, and is carved of stone.
But that’s it. That’s all the information I could find. The artifact is so simple, it’s almost elementary. Two round eyes, a half moon mouth, and a small lump for a nose. But something about it is absolutely gripping. So many questions, and no answers to pair with them. The question that is bothering me directly relates to the whole purpose of masks. If a mask allows you to express an emotion, personify another being (animal, human, or other), or allows you to express facets of your personality that are otherwise off-limits…
Then what does this mask MEAN?
Yes, I can appreciate art for art, but my gut says that there is so much more than “art for art’s sake” going on here.
The most haunting thing I’ll see all Halloween? You bet.
