Photo from Take the Day

I found this photo on the Washington Pavilion's website today whilst updating my CV for collegiate employment application season.

Info on Take the Day and the associated exhibition, Remains of the Day, here.

Drawn Together Update!

Here is my work in the Drawn Together Exhibition at the Siena Art Institute in Siena, Italy. If you don't remember, a close-up of the artwork I sent in is included (Title: Diadema).

The Sketchbook Project

I have signed up for the The Sketchbook Project as an individual artist and I am in the process of signing up all of the students in my studio courses at Northland Community and Technical College.

Hopefully we will be able to have a sketchbook send-off reception to showcase the hard work and dedication of said art students at the end of the semester.

The sketchbooks will be part of a traveling exhibition in the following cities:
Brooklyn, NY

Boston, MA

Chicago, IL

San Francisco, CA

Atlanta, GA

Austin, TX

Los Angeles, CA

Philadelphia, PA

Portland, OR

Portland, ME

Vancouver, Canada

Toronto, Canada

It will be my first time exhibiting in...all of these places. It will also break the (exhibition) ice for many talented art students in northwestern Minnesota.

I am excited! Stay tuned...

Another WIP! Yuch! (sarcasm)

Here is a photo I took of a work-in-progress--and you know how much I enjoy posting WIP's. It is still not finished, though it is quite a bit further along than this pic. Obviously I have begun using xerography in my work. Additionally, I have been working quite a bit larger as of late, so Artworks have not been getting resolved as quickly as similar smaller works did.

This is also similar to the work I completed at Take the Day 2011 (Yeah! Pics ASAP!), this will end up being a diptych or two separate works bound forever (haven't decided yet)...perhaps by a ring...

Take the Day 2011

I will be participating in Take the Day 2011 at the Washington Pavilion of Arts and Science on October 1st, 2011. I am a first-time participant, and I am eager to experience the dynamic of open studio production in the presence of so many great Artists.

I would like to extend special thanks to T.J. Donovan, Jodi Lundgren, David Merhib, and all of the staff at the Visual Arts Center at the Pavilion for all of their hard work.

Exhibition in Italy

My last blog entry, Diadema, will be in an exhibition at the Siena Art Institute in Italy opening September 24. Diadema will also "...be collected into a bound portfolio to remain in the collection of the Siena Art Institute Library."
- from http://www.sienaart.org/call-for-submissions.html

For more information on the exhibition, check out http://www.sienaart.org/drawn-together.html

Diadema

New Work!
Mixed Media on Mylar, 2011.

Old Sketch Post for Carissa.

Carissa sketch, pre-thesis, 2009.

Graphite on Mylar.

Off to the side is a thistle sketch in graphite and acrylic.

Carissa asked for a digital picture of this sketch, so I thought I would share it with the world! Sorry it is late, Carissa!

More work coming soon!

I have been busy prepping courses for the Fall semester in my first full-time teaching role, so uploading anything has been difficult. Let's face the facts--my track record for posting has been anything but 'regular.' Nonetheless, I am excited about the possibilities and opportunities coming up in the near future. As soon as I begin concluding new work, I will post it here.

-John

Frogman's In-class Activity

Feast your eyes upon one instance of the laid-back-and-groovy daily workings of the Fick/Huck atmosphere.

Frogman's 2011: The Proof Wall

This is late, please excuse.

Frogman's Print & Paper Workshop 2011, Relief Shootout with Fick & Huck.

The Proof Wall is where we all hung and shared proofs of what we were working on during the week.

Locomotive II: Bumblebee Variant

I had a great time at the 30th Anniversary of the Frogman's Print and Paper Workshop last week. The class I enrolled in was taught by Bill Fick and Tom Huck, two of the baddest printers and coolest dudes I have met so far. Google them.

I will post more pictures from the actual workshop over the next week, but here is a picture of my parents' foyer doubling as a drying rack for an edition of 15 prints I took with me to trade.

Locomotive II: Bumblebee Variant
Rattle Can and Serigraph on Paper, 2011.

Locomotive III: version 2.0 Serigraph Image

Digital from Photographed Drawing, 2011.

I will again be traveling to the local screen-printing house to ask them about transferring my image to a screen (obviously) with their exposure unit.

And again, I will run 15-20 prints in black-and-white.

More info on prints and AP's for sale/trade and any planned variations coming when I post the information from the last screenprint, which I should do soon (if you have read anything on this blog, you will notice that 'soon' is a relative measure of time).

And I still owe you some Locomotive II woodcut images...

Locomotive III: Sempiternity, Impetus, Acculturation

Graphite on Mylar, 2011.

Creative Commons Licensing and Attribution/Citation information coming soon.

My intent is to undertake the development of this and other drawings-on-mylar with additional media.

Locomotive II: Version 2.0 Number III

Serigraphy and Monoprint on Paper, 2011.

Archive: Cyborg Centaur Questions His Marginalization

Hand-Laced Mixed Media Montage with Drawing on Plexiglass and Linen, 2010.

This Artwork is from my Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition at the Washington Pavilion of Arts and Science in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Archive: Under Guise of Purest Order, a She-Knight Strode Forth on Ancient Steed

Hand-Laced Mixed Media Montage with Drawing on Plexiglass and Linen, 2010.

This Artwork is from my Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition at the Washington Pavilion of Arts and Science in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Archive: The Cycle of Inassimilable Antiheroic Nature

Hand-Laced Mixed Media Montage with Drawing on Plexiglass and Linen, 2010.

This Artwork is from my Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition at the Washington Pavilion of Arts and Science in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

New developments

I have been trying only to post 'finished' work lately, but I have been pretty poor about posting anything over the last couple of weeks. So...I decided to post a section of one the drawings I am working on now. The mythic qualities of space travel, the space race, and associated science fiction are my obsessions of late (in addition to the other 'myth stuff' I am always looking at). NASA has a ton of great source material to work from, and I believe that I am only scratching the surface in my research.

I believe I stated previously that shifting back to working more loosely is important to me (if I hadn't yet, I did now!). I hope to have the drawing work completed and photo-ed/scanned soon so that I may delve into some other 'goodies'...

More soon, stay tuned.

Archive: Conducting the Cumulonimbus with Lucid Dichotomy

Hand-Laced Mixed Media Montage with Drawing on Plexiglass and Linen, 2010.

This Artwork is from my Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition at the Washington Pavilion of Arts and Science in Sioux Falls, South Dakota--which was the first ever MFA Exhibition in the Pavilion. It is also in their permanent collection.

Archive: The Measure, The Maelstrom, and The Matriarch of Many Minn-Athenas

Mixed Media on Paper, 2010.

This work was produced for the MacRostie Art Center's Mail Art Exhibition.

Locomotive II Woodcut coming soon.

I have been away for a spell. Work has slowed recently thanks to both the Spring thaw and MS Ed. coursework, but I have begun work on a new woodcut. Stay tuned.

Locomotive II Serigraph v.I

Full title is Locomotive II: Version 2.0 Number I, but I drew a titling blank whilst preparing for this show and physically wrote Locomotive II Serigraph v.I on the print. So be it--this print has dual titles.

Serigraphy and Monoprint on Paper, 2011.

The second of two Artworks for the MacRostie Art Center's Regional Printmaking Exhibition.

Participating Artists:

Jordan Acker Anderson - Wauwatosa, WI

Larry Basky - Plymouth, WI

Paula Brandel - Coleraine, MN

Benjamin Brockman - Minneapolis, MN

Sui Conrad - La Crescent, MN

J. Charles Cox - Thief River Falls, MN

Marlon Davidson - Bemidji, MN

Rebecca Gramdorf - Grand Rapids, MN

Don Houseman - Tenstrike, MN

Eric A. Johnson - Fingal, ND

John Leopold - Thief River Falls, MN

Cecilia Lieder - Duluth, MN

Beckie Prange - Ely, MN

Locomotive II Serigraph v.II [Japan Aid]

Full title is Locomotive II: Version 2.0 Number II [Japan Aid], but I drew a titling blank whilst preparing for this show and physically wrote Locomotive II Serigraph v.II [Japan Aid] on the print. So be it--this print has dual titles.

Serigraph, Relief, Monoprint on Paper, 2011.

This print is headed to the MacRostie Art Center in Grand Rapids, Minnesota for their Regional Printmaking Exhibition. The exhibition will take place in the Minnesota Gallery, and will be on view throughout April. Feel free to Attend the opening reception on Friday, April 1st from 5-7pm.

Proceeds from the sale of this individual print will benefit the Japan Earthquake/Tsunami Relief Effort.

il Toro

Woodblock, 2011.

I have pulled 5-10 proofs from this block--all on newsprint. I will print on better paper soon, and plan for this to be the head of an upcoming minotaur Artwork. Stay tuned!

I just noticed that the last few posts feature work with figures facing the right...that is weird.

Locomotive Subseries I: Muybridge/Pisanello

Graphite, Colored Pencil, Thread, Inkjet Transfer on Mylar and Paper, 2011.

Headed to Duluth Art Institute's 'Mad at the Rad' Event.

How peculiar. Do you fancy me a cat, Ariadne?

Woodcut, Thread, Colored Pencil on Paper, 2011.

This is an Artwork I collaborated on with my oldest daughter, Aisling, and donated to the Washington Pavilion of Arts and Science Visual Arts Center's 2011 Art's Night Benefit/Exhibition/Juried Exhibition.

This is the statement I sent in about the Artwork:

With equal ease I imagine Baron Von Trapp (Christopher Plummer), Grand Moff Tarkin, or Eddie Izzard as Theseus dryly returning this line, with a smirk and a raised eyebrow, when handed the ball of string or thread that will be his salvation from the Daedalus’ Labyrinth.

The thread in this artwork, combined with the visage of the young woman, allude to this myth.

Creating mythos is filled with confrontations with the absurd, and situations embracing this absurdity often lend themselves to humor. I must point out that I am not stating that every ‘corner in the labyrinth’ of myth contains a joke. The research is undertaken with all seriousness, but attempting to limit opportunities to chuckle as they present themselves is ill-advised. This should be applied to any field of research, really—but we all know that.

There are two separate father/daughter relationships at play here: that of Minos and Ariadne, and that of me and my 4-year-old daughter, Aisling. Aisling helped me finish this artwork by attempting the maze, which she completed in three attempts.

Locomotive II: v2.0, Serigraph Image

Digital from Scanned Drawing, 2011.

I am currently working with a local screen-printing house to transfer this image to a screen (obviously) with their exposure unit.

Initially, I will run 15-20 prints in black-and-white.

More info on prints and AP's for sale/trade and any planned variations coming soon.

Take Art/Leave Art '03

I was fortunate enough to stumble upon a call-for-art at the Association for Visual Arts in Chattanooga, Tennessee called Take Art/Leave Art. I sent an Artwork off a couple of weeks ago (Permanence, Pressures, and Power [Locomotive Version 1]), and, after corresponding with one of the curators, found out that the work made it there and the opening was a huge success. I look forward to turning some peers on to this next year, but in the interim any interested Artists can still send work in for the duration of the exhibition this year (March 4-April 1, 2011).

Here are some links to Take Art/Leave Art articles and the AVA itself:

http://media.www.utcecho.com/media/storage/paper483/news/2011/03/10/Features/Take-Artleave.Art.Event.Grows-3984623.shtml

http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2011/feb/27/take-artleave-art/

http://www.chattanoogahasfun.com/entertainment/the-arts/take-art-leave-art/

http://www.hamiltoncountyherald.com/Story.aspx?id=2042&date=3%2F4%2F2011

http://www.avarts.org/www/docs/110.12

Locomotive II: Perpetuity, Velocity, Edification

Graphite on Mylar, 2011.

Variation series coming soon.

Creative Commons Licensing and Attribution/Citation information also coming soon.

Permanence, Pressures, and Power [Locomotive Version 1]

Mixed Media on Paper, 2011.

Archive: Ideal Quests Occupy Impish Explorer

Mixed Media on Paper and Mylar, 2010.

Barack-Paper-Scissors

Digital, 2011.

Archive: An Elevation Enigma

Mixed Media on Paper, 2009.

Archive: Stripes and Gliders

Mixed Media on Paper and Mylar, 2009.
Limited Incarnation.

Archive: 45 Minute Figure Study

Graphite on Paper, 2009.

Archive: 30 Minute Figure Study Detail

Graphite on Paper, 2009.

Archive: Being of the Field

Oil on Panel, 2008.

Archive: Small Construction 12

Mixed Media on Panel with Photograph, 2008.

Archive: Small Construction 11

Mixed Media on Panel with Photograph, 2008.

Archive: Small Construction 8

Mixed Media on Panel with Photograph, 2008.

Archive: Small Construction 7

Mixed Media on Panel with Photograph, 2008.

Archive: Small Construction 6

Mixed Media on Panel with Photograph, 2008.

Archive: Small Construction 4

Mixed Media on Panel with Photograph, 2008.

Archive: Jupiter, Athene, and the Deception of Thrym(r)

Mixed Media on Panel, 2009.