Talking it out

Brandywine Workshop Artist Talk with Tyler Yvette Wilson 12.14.23

With Tyler Yvette W/ilson at the Brandywine Workshop and Archives (photo: Gustavo Garcia)

Last Thursday, I had the honor of being one of two artists participating in an artist talk with Tyler Yvette Wilson and moderated by Klare Scarborough, PhD. The talk was held at the Brandywine Workshop and Archives where the show Flowing Abstraction: Contemporary African Diaspora Printmaking is on view until December 19th. After that, the show travels to Minnesota. Tyler and I are two of the featured artists, along with El Anatsui, Sam Gilliam, Enise Carr and more. The talk went really well and we had a nice turnout for a Thursday evening. The talk was recorded and when the video is available, I’ll post it here and on social media.

We started by talking about out work and practices in general and then the questions moved to our work in relationship to the show itself. All of Klare’s questions were really well thought out and allowed us to move deeper into our ideas about our work in the show and otherwise. I’ve done a lot of talking about my work this year in a variety of contexts. I’m really thankful for these experiences because every time I get to talk about what I do, I feel that I get better at speaking publicly about it. Whether in front of a live audience, recording with someone for a podcast or responding to emailed questions, it all makes me think about how to communicate about my work in different ways. I feel like this has helped me understand a little more about what it is that I’m doing in my artwork.

One thing that I like about watching artist talks or studio visit videos is taking in how other artists communicate about what they’re doing. I’m constantly looking at how I can be more succinct and still include pertinent information. I try to keep myself focused on the question at hand as much as possible and not drifting too far off course. Then, there is the issue of looking back at an interview or talk and seeing things that could have been said better. Hindsight is a helluva drug and I try to make mental notes about how to deal with certain topics the next time. I really have to write these things down if I’m going to have any hope of keeping up with what I tell myself I’m going to do.

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New life

Not too long ago, I mentioned having a few large, damaged works on paper that I’d set aside to be used later. Well, later came and there are some results worth talking about. The original works on paper were 38” x 50”. Since there was already damage on the surfaces and with the overall form, of both drawings I used, I chose to tear them down into smaller, very uneven pieces. I got roughly four quarter pages out of each. I like working on top of other drawings and paintings I’ve made and integrating those initial layers into the new work. Most of the time, I wind up covering all of it up, but sometimes, as in the new works (seen above), there’s some bits of the original work coming through.

I like the uneven edges and shapes of these pieces. They remind me of torn posters that can be seen on walls and utility poles. I feel like these would be good framed or loosely hung with magnets on the top edges, as long as there is a good amount of room between each piece. White, minimal floater frames would be best, I think. These, or the next batch I make could wind up in my show in the spring.

New drawings in the studio

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Waning days of the year

A lot of people are making and posting their “best of” lists. I don’t think that I can remember a lot of the things that I liked this year. It’s been a tough year and a lot of my mental energy has been spent just trying to keep on top of things in my immediate life, on top of keeping my nervous system from imploding from witnessing so much of the continual ugliness of humanity. I’m thankful for the glimpses of good that happen, but it seems to always pale in comparison with how destructive and terrible we can be to each other. It’s a lot to try and balance and I’m thankful that I have good people in my life directly and out in the world that counteract my worst feelings about humanity. Keeping myself out of online arguments with trolls, bots and other disingenuous people has helped a lot. I highly recommend unplugging from the need to prove John57932439 wrong, block the account and going about your day.

I like going through other people’s “best of” lists because it gives me a chance to check out some things that I’ve missed during the year; movies, books, podcasts and tv shows that have slipped by me or were just on the fringes of my attention.

Working in the studio most of this week. I may not be in there much next week, as I need to do a bunch of end-of-year housekeeping like deleting/organizing photos and other files on my computers. I’ll usually go into the second week of January doing this as I don’t like trying to get everything done in the week before New Year’s Eve. I’d like to try and get it all done prior to January 1st, but I’m not going to go nuts trying to meet an artificial deadline, just like I don’t like making New Year’s resolutions. I like setting goals but leaving room for deviations, if needed. I feel like too many people get themselves psyched out about resolutions and beat themselves up if they don’t meet deadlines.

For myself, I know that I need to focus more on my discipline with several things in my life. Making sure that I keep myself focused over time. I have a tendency, like a lot of us, to get a little wayward with maintaining goals when life throws us curveballs. A big component is staying as present as possible. It’s so easy to do when I’m painting because in my head, I’m right there in the space of the painting, feeling my way around and trying to make it all come together in it’s own way. I’m in the “flow”. So many things are coming together at one time, physically, mentally and even spiritually with a painting. In everyday life, it’s easy for all of us to lose sight of maintaining that inner focus on being present; we’re trying to get from point a to point b, making sure that so many things in our lives (and those around us) are running as smoothly as possible and just trying to stay sane in a world with catastrophic events and people who are hellbent on making all of our lives more difficult.

I’m looking forward to making sure that not only am I being more present in my own life in the new year, but that my presence and actions create a positive difference for others, as well.

Thanks for reading.

TM