Monday, November 29, 2010

Card Pack

As I said in my previous post I made a small letterpress version of my wolf pack drawings. I printed them in florescent yellow ink! Bam! Bright! And then cut them all down and rounded the corners. Each card is rather small, 2.5" x 3.5," that way you can carry them around in your shirt pocket and always have a wolf pack with you. Should you be interested in carrying them around in your shirt pocket, I've got them for sale on my etsy shop.










Thursday, November 18, 2010

Wolf Pack

On October gallery stroll I had a show at Copper Palate Press. I depicted my wolf pack of seven. I, surprisingly, titled the show, "Wolf Pack." It consisted of the below pieces (media: graphite, colored pencil, watercolor) and also smaller simplified letterpress versions of these, made into a card pack.






 


My boyfriend, Alexander, wonderfully helped me put up the show (the arrow was his idea.) Here are some shots of the set-up. One picture with lights on showing token empty PBR cans (and snack bag,) one with me looking goofy holding semi-full PBR can, and one with lights off with glowing PBR cans in foreground. I apologize for the terrible quality of these photos (I should buy a better camera.) I'll post pictures of the card pack in a later post.





Artist's Statement:

The meaning behind the show title, Wolf Pack, is not of a literal pack of wolves, but of a pack of individuals who look out for each other just as wolves do within a wolf pack. My wolf pack is seven strong, comprised of individuals all significant to me. Most of those within the pack relate to events that have happened in my life over this past summer, making them significant to who I am right now.

Claire Elizabeth: is myself, Claire Taylor.

Alexandre: is my old friend and boyfriend of 6 years, Alexander Pratt. Alexandre is the French spelling of Alexander, paying homage to his heritage. Alexandre is depicted naked so as to show his kinship with animals and the wild.

Cindy Night: is the endangered and mysterious California Condor. While on a camping trip in Zion National Park, I was near the top of Angels Landing where I saw a California Condor cleaning itself. I watched her for a long time. Once I turned my back to the bird, to complete the hike, she took flight and flew in the direction I had turned to face. She had an enormous wingspan; it was a great and powerful sight. Her name is partly inspired by my mother's name, Camille. Though, Camille did not seem to be the right name for this bird, I instead chose her a name starting with the letter “C.”

Johnny Quick Shoes: is the wise and clever fox. Though this depicts a red fox, it was inspired by a grey fox I saw in Zion on this same camping trip. I saw him at night in our campground walking ahead of me on the path from the bathroom. Once I got to the edge of my campsite he turned to sit and looked at me for awhile, until I left him.

Wolfe: is the fierce cat. This cat is inspired by the many cats I see within the city. Many of these cats I interact with, petting them. Often, they will run up to me and my boyfriend, Alexander, meowing to be pet. They always leave an impression on us.

William: is a fictionalized version of the actor, Bill Murray. I have always loved Bill Murray, often depicting him in my art. I've come to realize that the Bill Murray that I depict is not the real Bill Murray, but something he simbolizes to me.

Katherine Wise: is inspired by the many small owls I have seen over this past summer. These owls have flown near me and landed close and stared and chirped at me. Katherine Wise is also named after my sister, Katherine who also saw many owls this past summer.

Thanks to members of my real life wolf pack. Thanks to Camille Biexei, Katherine Allred, and Alexander Pratt all of whom had many good thoughts and ideas. Thanks to Laura Decker and Max Kelly who helped me come up with the name, Wolf Pack.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Do You Remember September?

In September I entered two prints into a juried print show put on by Saltgrass Printmakers and the University of Utah Art Department. It showed at the Gittins Gallery. The grand prize was awarded to my good friend, Amber Heaton, for her mysterious jellyfish prints. Here are my pieces that were in the show. Both were printed on the letterpress. The first one, Pony and Pondwater, I originally made for a print exchange, A La Carte, put on by Leia Bell, which showed at Signed & Numbered in 2009. It was also featured in the Summer 2010 edition of the Graphic Impressions quarterly newsletter. I made it from type, cintra, and photopolymer made from hand drawn scribe coat negatives. Scribe coat is a coated plastic originally used for map making. The coated side can be scratched into with sharp objects, making a negative image, which can then be used as a negative to expose photopolymer plates. Oh, the joys of printmaking. The second one, Cat Talk, was made from a pressure print (a process where a matrix made from cut paper is used,) linocuts, and photopolymer made from hand drawn scribe coat negatives. A somewhat exciting fact: Cat Talk is double-sided. The backside is a series of triangles in blue. I was originally going to make the print on that side (this is the image the pressure print made) but decided I liked the opposite side, where the pressure print made an indentation of the triangles into the paper.


Cat Talk is a print version of a drawing, which I made for the Kayo Gallery members show last year.