Virtual Tart Graffiti Exhibition

I’ve long been fascinated by Graffiti. For me, good (real) graffiti is equal parts art, soul and rebellion. It speaks to the viewer.Unlike art kept under covers and behind frames with signs that say ‘please don’t touch’ it has a life cycle. It interacts with both man and nature.

My original graffiti pages. These were cut up to become the graffiti boards being exhibited on the Virtual Tart website this month.

Sometimes it’s face is changed by social intervention and the process of life and death are quick. On others mother nature adds her touches, changes colours, washes pieces away, continuous evolution causing the piece to change in relationship to time and climate. Like all good stories there is a start and an end.

 I invite you to be part of that.

A collage of images from my exhibition. Visit the Virtual Tart site to see each image in closer detail. All works are for sale. Email me for more information. To view another series of collages completed by me click here!

Graffiti Exhibition.

Remember these book covers? I mentioned a while ago that I was going to use them as collage boards.

This book covers and I have been on quite a journey. Having a project has been so good for helping me to over come my depression. I missed the deadline for the international signature exchange due to it and the fact that I had made graffiti collage signatures that now had no purpose became depressing too!

But I got over it! One day I picked up a craft knife and cut those signatures to pieces. There was no turning back after that!  I cut out interesting pieces of the collages and re-assembled them into new collages. Instead of graffiti pages they became graffiti boards instead. I thought the boards would be my contribution to the 2012 International Collage Exchange....but guess what?

"D" was still my companion and I missed the deadline for that too! I made 6 boards in one almost manic session and couldn't bring myself to make the other 7 I needed in time. I hit the deadline with only 8 done. Depressing!

All was not lost. Just recently I had an unexpected opportunity to do my first ever solo exhibition at short notice. Lucky for me I knew just what to submit! My exhibition will be on the virtual tart website through out May. Please drop by and check it out! I am pretty excited about my accidental opportunity.

Is it just me or do these boards look wonderful just like this?

One of the original signatures, sorry for the shoddy photo. If I still had the collage I would re-photograph it but it was cut up with all the others. I really recommend cutting up homeless works, it's so much better than having them collect dust and reminding you that you failed to meet a deadline...it's a bit like having the last word, there's something satisfying about that!

Map pieces for me represent the community. Recycled papers, walnut dye, thread, indian ink...

Below: One of my collages for the exhibition. It has the remnants of multiple collages with some addition details. This is a particular favorite of mine because it has the look and feel of weather collage. The image is not really of anything but I really like it.

It's titled "Side Street." All of the collages are named after places you typically find graffiti. 

The text says:

I looked for signs and wonders

I have desired fame, riches

In strange webs of fortune caught

Thirsting to be more than mortal

I was even less than clay

If you have an interest in graffiti or guerrilla type art watch this space. A new collaborative project is in the pipelines. It's a little bit DisCo, a little bit Erosion Bundle Project and a little bit like graffiti...

Avacado dye and a sneak PULP peek!

I am excited to get my Labyrinth book back even though it was bitter sweet! It's not quite over for us Girla's but I am already looking forward to the day when the  chance to collaborate like this again comes my way! One of the things that bothered me most about my book wasn't that it might get lost in the post, it was actually the quality of my own work. Or, the poor quality! I don't think anyone else felt this way about it but it didn't take long before I did. When I sent my book off it was the best I had to offer. I was pleased with it. That said, I grew so much and so quickly from the exchange. Very quickly I knew I could do better than what I'd sent so I couldn't wait to re-do some of my own work. Above is a peek of a nights work. Here is what I made disappear. I am happy now.

These are the MOST AMAZING shades of grey I've ever seen. True story! The reason they excite me so much is because I made this dye from good ol' avos. Yes, avacados!

I didn't even know you could make avacado dye until I came across it on another blog and as luck would have it I had 2 avo's in the kitchen and no-one to eat them.

This was the darkest shade of grey I could achieve before my paper developed serious tension issues. I had to dye both side of the paper in the end, iron it and then flatten under books! Isn't it beautiful though?

If these look a little familiar to you it's because I've played with similar patterns before. They were indian ink and home made walnut dye. This time both my colours are home made dyes so for me that's a double happy! Amiria featured my background papers on her blog a while ago now. Check out the great selection of styles and  artist's here.

These ones really appeal to the wanna be graffiti artist in me! Some of them have a touch of walnut dye as well. With the last of my dye (2 avacados gave me enough to play with) I threw in some wet fabric scraps just to see what would happen. I like what happened!

Strangley enough, when I made this dye I expected to get pink not grey. As usualy I through bits of different methods together to make do with I had. It's ok though, I don't actually like pink!

Slow and steady...

I am making slow but steady steps forward with my detox mission! My head really is cluttered at the moment but I feel good about the progress.

So far I've blown the dust off my visual diary and started scribbling down my ideas for next years ICE exchange. I'm playing around with the concept of life lines, originally the idea was laughter lines. I don't mean the wrinkly sort...my ideas are more focused on paths represented by

 lines _________dots.......dashes _ _ _ 

and the paths are the places I've been, seen and loved. I am not well travelled having never left the North Island of my own country but there are definately places that have helped shape me as a person and as an artists. I have an emotional attachement to them. Here's a link to a series of Mick Mathers that's appealed to me for some time now. Not the same thing but appealing to me for similar reasons as 'life lines' is. This post is also very inspiring, thanks Robyn for your perfect timing in sharing this! I like the idea of taking a meditation memory walk and revisiting some special places. I then wonder if I should be looking forward and not back? In my head I can see pieces of maps, sewing pattern paper and navigation symbols such as the Southern Cross and compass points but I'm not sure how it all goes together yet and I havn't  reached that 'ah huh! moment. As you can see I am still confused and my vision is a little cloudy. It will come to me in it's own time and until then I will patiently wait. I'm good with that.

The other thing I have done is finish my 9 Grafitti pages.  The weather isn't photo friendly at the moment so no photos yet. The collages had been in the 98% finished stage for months and all that was left was the stitching. I can't believe a project that took months to get to only took me an hour to finish! Really! It feels good to see them done and I think I will turn them all into a visual diary to use next year.

Photos soon I promise!

Thank you for your kind comments, I have intentions to visit everyone a few blogs at a time so see you soon if I havn't already! 

Anatomically Inspired Grafitti

I am so excited to be back in my art zone! I have been wanting to do another lino cut for a long time now but couldn't settle on an image to carve. I thought a lino cut could lend itself quite well to my graffiti pages for the International Signature Exchange and for want of a better search term I googled "lino cut grafitti' or something to that effect. Look what I found! The whole website is fantastically inspiring for a graffiti 'wannabe' such as myself! Full of inspiration I seized the moment and spent several hours drawing, carving, printing and collaging. In the end I only stopped because my shoulder blades were insisting! (Standing hunched over a bench isn't as easy as it used to be! lol)  Below is the result of my efforts...an anatomically incorrect inspired linocut heart-nest!

I realised after printing several of these that my heart is not anatomically correct. The valves are back to front! I was going to re cut it and but had a little laugh at myself when I realised that I was worrying about making a heart with a nest in the middle anatomically correct! The existence of the nest made it incorrect  and the rest I am putting down to artistic license:)

This is signature two for the swap. I am enjoying adding collage elements to my grafitti inspired papers. Below is the inside of page two, which will have a blank double-sided page in the middle making these pages 1,2,7 and 8.

Above, my sketches, not included in my signature!

Below, signature one for those who missed it.

Below, a segment of the inside of this spread and the back of the signature, heart-nest added!

Sneaky peaks of the signatures I've collaged but not yet stitched. Anatomically correct or not, I love this heart-nest! 

PSSST> Watch this space to see my contribution to Seth Apter's Style File, coming soon!

Graffiti Papers- New Series of work

Graffiti Papers. This was made using rusty bottle caps, real walnut dye, paint, paper scrap and thread.

The page below is pretty much as it looks...dye, pencil and paper scrap

I am finding my feet here! Trying to mix graffiti with collage while  keeping true to my style.I am pretty happy with the results. The page was interesting to develope. Creating accidental and non-accidental layers of different mediums. I've been reading books on street art, enjoying the many graffiti posts that seem to have popped up everyhwere and thinking, thinking, thinking...

 I don't like tagging, defacing someones personal property isn't cool at all, but I would be delighted to find a work done by Banksy!

Image from http://www.banksy.co.uk/shop/index.html 

I know some of my attraction to graffiti is to it's rebelious nature and some of it is purely visual, like the photos at the bottom of this post. I like the transient collaboration between multiple people and nature. It intriques me that this sort of work is allowed to stay, even in the city centre yet if it was a sprayed work it would have been removed immediately. I decided that my signatures for the international signature swap will be my visual diary pages. I sense that this series is the foundation for something more and I am not sure where this exploration will lead me...but I am excitied to find out!

Nothing like a little inspiration...

I was at the Tauranga Art Gallery today viewing the work of Colin McCahon and Lynley Dodd. Very inspiring works although completely different from each other! On the way out I spotted a smaller collection of works by students (these were assesment pieces for exams) and that was not only inspiring but exciting! Some very, very good art and it's hard to believe they were done by teenagers! On the way back to the car I spotted these old posters. Quite fitting given how much inspiration I am drawing from the street at the moment!