Having a website with a site tracker, I keep record of what pages, posts and images people visit. Despite the push and pull graduate school gave me, the two pieces that continually receive the most attention are The Wound and The Swarm:

vs.

I’m not sure how I feel in response. They’re my first pieces done at MCAD and yet I was more or less bashed for the illustrative qualities of the work. But this is the work that has been the most successful outside of school for reasons other than the “Lowbrow” or “Juxtapoz” connection (always a slight cringe now whenever I hear that comparison). One the prevalent comments I receive about the newer work is that, while the new series is great, people have a hard time “remembering” the art, or perhaps specifics about the work fail to stick on the forefront of their minds. This feedback is somewhat frustrating and not easily resolved.

Revisiting the subject of the summer job, one of my former critique teachers visited and inquired about my post-graduation life. When I told her of my lack of motivation on art-making, she replied that it’s my “recovery period.” It’s normal… I suppose. I remembered this recovery period previously mentioned by other MCAD MFA alumni and younger art professors. The recovery period estimates taking half to equal the time spent in school. If the theory is right, I hit back into my studio stride within the 1-2 year mark. That’s reasonable…if it’s a guarantee… but I get anxious, fearing that time’s passing creates more difficulty for the eventual return to the studio.

I’ve started to map out plans for research and lists of what I want to incorporate visually. Sometimes when I feel stuck in my studio, I backtrack my steps in order to explore alternative routes. I contemplate previous prints/drawings in relation to current studies.

What elements in The Wound/Swarm need to be reexamined in future works? What technical/narrative aspects succeeded in those images that I neglected to include in recent series?  I sense that the new series needs to merge the strengths of the earlier works with current strengths in an attempt to pare the re-occuring weaknesses. Time to reflect and research for future visual study.

I graduated with my MFA! It’s good to be finished. Now I get to spend the next six months to a year to adjust and manage an art life outside of school. Whoohoo?

The art page is updated with the Thesis work. It’s going to be awhile before new work will be seen. I have no studio or printshop access. Have a good summer everybody!

I had another committee meeting that went well. The work is coming along and now I just need to wrap prints up in the next few weeks then name and frame!

Keep in mind that these are mostly still works in progress. They’re probably change again before the show. Also they’re not photographed as well as I like, my fault though.

This one above is being traded for an etching by Graham Judd. Whoohoo.

This one is really blurry and I’m pretty sure the colors are still wrong. Actually, it looks down right awful in comparison to the real deal. Most of the ink I’m using has metallic sheen to it, so photographing and adjusting later has been a pain.

This one has an “Alice in Wonderland” fall down the tunnel feel.  Kind of trippy. Wolfdogghost is technically in there, but the layers obliterated him to be super transparent.

This one I mistakenly printed over a flipped version of the same figures and created a mirror of four figures. At first I thought it would be a throw away print, but I managed some recovery out of it.

I have more to show, but I’ll spread it out through the week. There’s not going to be much posts for this month since I got to prepare for the show and graduation. Work work work.

“Two Sisters”

Not an official title, but maybe.

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.

“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.

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…

Joshua Bindewald told me that my artwork was in the newspaper… and it was! So excited. The article doesn’t say anything specifically about anybody’s work from the show. It’s more general and fairly complimentary, although I get the feeling that the pricing comment was poking fun at my price tag (haha, whoops). The article was posted online as well, but I went ahead and took a screencap for your reading pleasure:

and the actual article:

Yay. This makes all those feelings of failure from last year go away, albeit temporarily.

-Megan