Monday, September 8, 2008

The Pulse: Medium Well 3

Welcome to the third edition of The Pulse: an artist survey. This collaborative project aims to introduce you to new artists, help you get to know familiar faces even more, and allow you access into the creative hearts and minds of a very talented crew of individuals. For links to the sites of the participating artists, please click here.


Today's question: If you could work in one medium or format that you haven't yet tried, tell us what it would be and why. The following is the third of four posts to answer this question.


Lisa Hoffman I’d get up on a scaffolding and paint the broad side of a barn. I love seeing Big, Brave work from other artists. Maybe I’ve worked in a smallish format for too long. I just wanna go Big, Bigger, Biggest.

Harry Bell Although I've been interested in it for years, I've never used collage as a complete medium. One of my early heroes was Max Ernst who always maintained that he never knew what he was going to produce when he started to work. I'd love to learn to really embrace that uncertainty. But if I had to choose something more radical, then it would be electronic music, mashups, ambient, sound collage, that kind of thing.

Mary Buek I have tried just about everything at least once. I would like to learn more about jewelry making utilizing random found objects. I would also love to learn about print-making. Two things that fascinate me, but I don't think I would ever really try, are pottery (love the sensuousness of that clay and shaping with the wheel) and working with glass.

Jen Bradford Did a little printmaking in school, and would love to get a small press at some point and get back to intaglio, woodblock, monotypes - processes that don't require me to set up chemical baths which make me nervous. Unfortunately I am one of those people who thinks everything is liable to explode or catch fire at any moment, so I have tended to do faux-processes, like using wax medium versus real encaustic. It would probably be great if I did a residency somewhere and used their equipment, so I could just relax about that angle and experiment.

not mass produced plastic encrusted with diamonds

Gwen Buchanan Probably printmaking, or glass fusing.. Life isn't long enough.. I want to try them all.. I find all art forms and methods relate to each other.. and the way they interpret in each field inspires me.

Fran Meneley I would like to try my hand at abstract painting. I’d like to take a chance and work bigger and this is something I have never tried. It scares me a little. It’s so unknown. I want to always challenge myself and see where I can go in finding my own voice.

Sarah Fishburn Gosh, it's difficult to narrow down. Plus, I've actually worked a little in many mediums. Okay, fine. Not sure what this is called, but I like the idea of embedding photographic images and my collage/paintings in altered acrylic. . . is there a name for that? Can someone please show me how to do it???

Gillian McMurry I have tried every medium and format that I want to - so far. Over time new ones come to the fore and I try the ones I want. I never deny myself the desire to try new arts and crafts. Due to circumstances I have been denied or, in some cases, denied myself a variety of things but my art is one place I will not compromise. It does not hurt anyone (except for myself when I am let loose with a heat gun - I accidentally burned myself again this week) nor interfere with anyone else. It's all mine!

Roxanne Stout If I could learn about and work in another medium in would be encaustic painting. The layering sounds and looks amazing and somehow mysterious to me. I would also love to learn how to put my rusty pieces of metal into my art more often and in different ways. I have done some of this, but want to do more.

Sarah Whitmire I’ve worked in beeswax quite a lot but someday I’d love to invest in a professional Encaustic set and try my hand at that.

Cynthia Gaub For many years I have wanted to create art in the medium of Stained Glass. My glass window collage series was aiming to have the transparency and feeling of stained glass. Many of the pieces look wonderful with light shinning behind them. I like the compartmentalized look of stained glass and have even tried to translate that idea into fabric.

Deryn Mentock I've dabbled in a lot of different mediums; stained glass, pottery, painting, sewing...lots of others. One thing I'd like to try that I've never even dabbled in is lampwork bead making. I love glass work and the colors in lampwork beads are gorgeous. The process, using the torch and glass rods, just looks like fun!

Vivian Bonder I would love to work with silver, the banging of the hammer and shaping of the metal simply appeal to me.

Lelainia Lloyd I would love to become more adept at painting, or at least at incorporating paint into my work. I've dabbled around the edges of it, taken a few classes, but I know I have tons more to learn. Working with paint makes me feel free and happy. I love moving it around on the on canvass, mixing the colours and playing with the layers. I can completely lose track of time when I am experimenting with paint.

Leslie Marsh I would love to learn more about working with encaustics. The layered, multi-textured surfaces that so many capture are very appealing to me.
Paul Sears I'd love to learn more about painting or drawing. I've really never had the hand/eye coordination. Even my penmanship is bad!

Patty Szymkowicz Painting with oils or watercolors is something I have wanted to try. As I am a seat of the pants artist, with no formal training, I guess I would be curious what I might tap into….

Kelly Parker I would like to work on very large canvases (at least 30” by 40” or larger) to create oil paintings that are bright colorful landscapes that would envelope the viewer and make them feel as though they were standing in that particular landscape.

Maralena Howard Encaustic is very interesting. I really like the rich coated way the finished pieces look. Right now I do some faux encaustics with acrylics rather than the wax… but I so admire the actual art of encaustic.

Lisa Dalke Probably building something large from wood...why?...I think it would feel good in my hands & arms

Kate Strickland A format or medium that I haven’t tried yet? Technically this is cheating, because I did try it once in art school briefly, but something that I’ve been yearning to do lately is raising and planishing metal. In my limited experience with silver one of the things I love doing is hammering it (the other is melting it with a torch!). I find this to be very satisfying and somewhat therapeutic. And, considering that everything I make seems to end up as a nest or some kind of a vessel, learning how to do bowl shapes in metal makes sense to me.

Jen Worden I'd love to be able to weld. I want to create large pieces - garden pieces - that can withstand the elements with some of the large rusty detritus from our farm's old junk piles. Some day...

Sue Pieper Fabric! Even though my mother does professional seamstress work, & my paternal grandmother made her living as a seamstress, the genes from both sides seemed to skip right past me! I love everything about fabric & fiber arts, but still I'm "fabric impaired" and how to use it totally eludes me. Maybe in my next life----

3 comments:

Chris said...

Wow, Sarah F. I don't know what that is, but it sounds mighty.

Fran M., I always feel like, if I have a real desire to try a new technique or approach, it's not a yearning that's going to go away soon, and it's probably something we're ready for in our process. So, go for abstraction!

Unknown said...

I'd love to see EVERYONE give these ideas a shot!!

Anonymous said...

looks like fabric and encaustic is the go!