“Two Sisters”

Not an official title, but maybe.

I don’t have concrete plans on my next few prints. This week I’m going to fix the ones that were shown and work on finalizing the thesis paper.  I messed with the scans on photoshop, but I’m not sure if anything fruitful will come out of the process. It’s certainly fun, but I’m not sure how fitting it is for the series. I might just have to go back and do some reading for fresh ideas to draw upon. It might just be a writing week with some studio visits for extra feedback.

This print is the most resolved out of the batch. I don’t plan on changing too much with it.

This one is got some splotches I need to fix, but otherwise near completion.

This photo is still a little off, I can’t seem to get it to look right.There’s a lot of shimmer in the ink that’s hard to capture.

I need to have something opaque to overlay on this print. There’s a lot of transparent layers that are making it hard to focus.

Prints that were in my portfolio, barely started. I’m going to try more restraint with printing on these prints. I don’t want to overwork them.

The first committee meeting went well. The general vibe was to keep working and let the intuitive process flow. The prints shown are by no means finished. Some are more complete than others. Others look complete, but are far from done. I could go into more detail what needs to get fix, but I’ll spare the chatter. The prints are poster size and the process has been quick and rewarding. I’ve been having fun for the first time in a long while. It’s nice to remember what it’s like to be energized with art making and investigating content.

I’m silkscreening this semester and creating monoprints (wiki link for my folks) . Some of the prints have a painterly and tactile quality. There were seven prints presented, four I kept in my portfolio since they weren’t nearly as completed, and four prints at the studio that I just started. This was all done in two weeks. If I keep this up, I could feasibly have a decent thesis show on my hands!

I’ve been fixing scans of silkscreen mylars on photoshop. I’m hoping to make new stencils for printing by manipulating some of my pre-existing drawings. Essentially I’ve been drawing characters and then compiling them together onto a print to create a narrative. It’s more intuitive and less planned/structured than I’m used to, but I think it’ll work towards the content of personal narratives and fairy tale/psychology. This character was suppose to be a kind of Red Riding Hood with her hair becoming the hood, but she’s kind of coming off more like Cassandra in Greek mythology. Anyway, her pose slightly mimics the main figure in Edvard Munch’s The Scream, so I get to fit a little homage into the thesis show.

Detail of an in progress print. Starting to put together the beginnings of my thesis stuff. MAKE IT WORK.

Creo Magazine is an online quarterly magazine that promotes student artists and visual culture. I got asked to be featured in their spring issue, “Nature vs. Nurture” along with a grouping of other artists from around the country. This is a preview of a page with my work. There’s another page with an interview included. I’m pretty impress with the flashy online magazine viewer. I got caught up in reading and forgot that I couldn’t physically move the pages except with my mouse.

Back to the studio/library/printshop/runningwithmyheadcutoff!

“Master of Fine Art candidates Thomas Boyer, Galen David, Megan Frauenhoffer, Graham Judd, and Levi Murphy will be exhibiting their work in the inaugural show in Gallery 148 from January 20th to the 29th.  This, an exhibition of current MFA work, marks the first showcase, in recent memory, of MFA opus done at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. This show was organized to bring awareness to MCAD’s MFA program to both the undergraduates and patrons alike through the aid of a public and professional space that is Gallery 148.”

I spent yesterday setting up for the school exhibition. Tomorrow is the reception, along with two or three other school sponsored shows.

Here’s photos of setting up and a sample of the work being exhibited:

Galen David’s paintings, mostly installed.

Levi Murphy’s furniture, installed.

A sample of Thomas Boyer’s photographs.

Graham Judd’s woodblock prints. Printmakers! Yay!

I put three of the collage/prints I made last semester. I’m itching to make new art. I’ve grown tired of constantly displaying/photographing this body of work. I want new prints to show! Hopefully this weekend will be the start of that.

After a whole semester of whining about my camera, my parents decided to get me a new camera for Christmas. Huzzah! Now I have to learn how to use it properly. I’m going to re-shoot recent artwork for an application I’m working on this vacation.  I need to have my images look top notch so I don’t mess up my chances.

I took a nice long break from art making, but now I need to kick my butt into gear and prep for shows. Buy frames, print, make new art, hang stuff, and of course, the thesis paper/exhibition for graduating school. SO MUCH! AH!

Expect more posting here in the near future. I want to document as much as possible for the upcoming thesis show. I might do a “photo-a-day” posting schedule or something similar to motivate my blogging.

Upcoming shows:

MFA group show @ Gallery 148 (MCAD/MPLS, MN)

Gender Show @ Altered Esthetics (NE MPLS, MN)

Glass, Cinder & Thorns @ 323 East Gallery (Royal Oak, MI)

Feminality Traveling Exhibition Round 3 @ Manhattan venue (haven’t learned much more than that)

MFA 2010 Thesis Exhibition @ Soap Factory (MPLS, MN)

Those are the main shows so far. I might keep my eye out for more shows that follow the thesis exhibition, but this should do for the semester. I’m starting my print for the Glass, Cinder & Thorn show. I’ll have a print in-progress for next week, maybe?

Yesterday, I got a catalog in the mail for the Los Angeles Printmaking Society 20th National Exhibition from last semester. This book is huge and full of lovely black and white images of prints from the show. For some reason, I didn’t include any artist statement with my image.

Bummer. It kind of makes me look like a goof, I’m the only one that doesn’t have a blurb by my image in the catalog. I must have been a space case when I sent all the information into the mail. I can’t seem to think of a better reason why I forgot. Still, it’s nice to see my artwork along with other printmakers in the field.

That’s all for now. I’m going to update the website later this week. The Art section will receive its usual overhaul, but I might also add my resume and tinker with the About page.

Later.

-Megan

That’s it. I’ve been taking in the review comments and figuring out my next steps. I have to catch up in paper writing though, which is not so fun. One more semester left, one more semester left…