Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Tucson Museum of Art's Arizona Biennial '09 & Ich Bin Ein Artist

Yesterday, I sent out the first invitations and postcards to the upcoming Tucson Museum of Art's Arizona Biennial '09 and this got me to thinking about validation, confidence, hard work and the power of other artists' support through blogging. Because of your visits here, I have grown, experimented, and learned so much. Thank you, everyone. I am very grateful. I wish you could all attend the event and exhibit. Here is a link to some pre-buzz on the show and to Mat Bevel's page. Also, here is a link to another artist, Monica Aissa Martinez, in the show. Most of all, I hope that you will read the following and appropriate the message for yourselves. I recently received permission to share a mail art piece that I made for my son, Ell, last September 2008. Yes, I know. The sentence, "Ich bin ein Artist", is grammatically incorrect. However, I found this jewel in the New York Times Magazine in an article featuring a young artist. In this mailart (I painted a watercolor image of a ceramic fox that he made years ago and used copies of his inked stamps of an Icelandic flag and a dragon along the bottom), I wanted to let him know that we often don't see ourselves as others do. We are so much harder on ourselves than we need to be. Certainly, we are far more critical than our friends are. Why not treat ourselves as kindly as we treat our dearest friends? The words: In everyone else's eyes, you are always more creative than you think. When you make something with your hands, you have a process & a dialogue with yourself. First, an amorphous blob dares you to begin. Pulling the clay, asking yourself Questions: How do I make a fox? How large should it be? What are its proportions. Your hands work. The body is the foundation. The legs come next, one by one, Supporting the whole. The head and tail are developed last like the punctuation in a lovely paragraph. There is an observer present who says, "You're tired and this doesn't look like a fox. Quit now. This is not good--not at all like a picture, not at all like I imagined, not at all like... An allegory, an analogy, your life begins too, as an amorphous form, slowly developed thru a lifetime of questions--never turning out exactly as planned. Yet, the energy and movement that is the artwork of your life is more than you can see from the middle. Page two: Blurry from here, but clear on the outside...You can see there is a code, a secret message Back page: Albert Einstein said, "In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity." ....Be true to yourself, think about quieting the 'censor' and seek an honest, loving image of yourself. "A discovery is said to be an accident meeting a prepared mind." Albert Szent-Gyorgyi Here's a link to my new website. Thank you, Mr. Artyfice!

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oooh, I visited your website. I was awestruck by how powerful your landscapes looked together as a whole body of work. Beautiful!

Did you write the big text on the exhibition's invite card? It strikes me as so endearingly funny. Direct and funny. I like it. Congratulations on the show!

Melinda said...

Hi Silvina,
Thank you for visiting the website and for your generous comment. I think I'm still floating. I hope to get more artwork on the website soon.

Edgar and I were discussing what kind of postcard to send out and I said I was a bit shy about sending one at all. Then, I said exactly what the invitation says and Edgar turned it into what you see. We laughed too!

Thank you, thank you!

Barbara Muir said...

Wow, Wow, Wow!

Congratulations. I just want to fly right down. What a lovely entry and a kind message. Okay I'm going back to the childrens' faces I'm painting and thinking in this sweet way.

You are great. A great artist, a great mother, a great friend.

xoxoxoxBarbara

Melinda said...

Thank you, Barbara! How I wish you could fly down for the reception!

Your work is an inspiration and I appreciate your kind words.

Thank you! Virtual hug.

kathrynlaw said...

Melinda, you give us all such a gift with your inspiring thoughts and your tireless, uncompromising art quest. Congratulations on this very well-deserved acceptance, and thank you for sharing this beautiful writing. Your son is one lucky guy.

Karen said...

So much in this post!
First, congratulations on the biennial, that is a fantastic accomplishment.

I love the website-- easy to navigate, clear, concise (I especially love the bio!), shows the paintings so well.

And, the mail art is so beautiful, like a treasure. I'm sure it meant so much to your son, but I'm so glad you shared it with us too, because it's message resonates really loudly.

Linny D. Vine said...

Melinda, all your creations are so full of artfulness and heartfullness! Your website displays your work (and play) beautifully! CONGRATULATIONS to you on the show!!!

Deb Schmit said...

Congratulations Melinda!

Jeffrey J. Boron said...

Congratulations Melinda...you go girl =;-))

Wish I could attend but...

Jeffrey

Melinda said...

Thank you, Kathryn. We do so struggle with many of the same negatives and I want to be one voice among many that tries to offset them.

Yes, sometimes I think, gee, I wish I had a mom like me... Ha.

Melinda said...

Hi Karen,
Thank you for visiting the website! It continues to be under construction and I hope to get everything working soon. The webmaster, Mr. Artyfice, has done an excellent job!

Thank you, too, for your generous comment. With practice we artists can have a more positive internal dialog...at least, I'm working to rehearse the advice that I wrote to my son. It's true, it was one of his favorites.

Melinda said...

Wow, Linny! Thank you for your kind words. I'll keep going as you and the art blogosphere continually inspire and challenge me!

Your work is so whimsical and good!

Melinda said...

Hi Deb! Nice to hear from you. Thank you, thank you!

Melinda said...

Hi Jeffrey,
I'm with you! I DO wish you could attend. Best not even think about it right now...Heat, heat, heat!

We'll all be melting as we walk from our cars to the exhibit, even at night.

Thank you!!

Art Fan Ako said...

Congratulations for the show! You pulled it together! That charming invitation note would sure get my attention and into the museum... and not get disappointed! Happy 4th from Los Angeles.

Elliot said...

that's one of my favorites of your mail art...

Anonymous said...

Melinda- If I saw that postcard in my mailbox or taped to a street sign, I'd run, RUN, to see your exhibit.
Creativity comes in so many forms and what you've expressed there is that you stand out. It's artful, and humorous. The success of the best commercials or ads is based on how it sets the product/service/person in a memorable way.
I just loved it.
I'm still laughing.

There's so much in this post, I don't know what else I can add that hasn't been said by everyone of your followers here.

Creative to the core.