tonite ...

The Postgraduate Degree Exhibition at ECA is TONIGHT! I can't believe it is finally here.... Here's a small preview .... But if you are in the Edinburgh area please come!

quick update

I feel bad because I haven't kept up this blog as much lately, just so busy with my master's degree exhibition along with some travel and visitors (posts about this forthcoming!)

As part of the exhibition we have to keep blogs relating to our practice as artists. So if you are interested, please visit http://lindseyfyfe.blogspot.com/ to read 20 or so posts related to my paintings and drawings and the work and research I've done at the Edinburgh College of Art.

art studios.

I'm in a great studio right now. With fewer students on the course, we've been able to stretch out in a way that wasn't possible during the year. It's a cube, 4 big walls, huge windows - from which to keep tabs on the fickle weather patterns of edinburgh - tall ceilings, a giant table for my oils and paints, a clear table for my drawings, a kettle station, and three lovely girls to share the room with. It's a 5th floor walk up, so it keeps me fit!

I started thinking about studios past.

It's unfortunate that I don't have photos because my first studio was great. My parents helped me outfit our basement with everything. The centerpiece was this big metal gas tank that we painted to look like a Holstein. I spent plenty of time down there preparing my portfolio for undergrad, and making Christmas presents.

In undergrad I had a drawing studio and a painting studio, as our program was divided into different classes. The spaces were good, but working in 2 rooms created a rift in my drawings and paintings. The works were never able to relate to one another without me lugging canvases down the hallway.

Me and Janet Sorenson, Skidmore Painting studio 2005

Skidmore Drawing studio, 2004

I graduated and stayed living in Upstate New York with 2 artists. One sacrificed a bedroom and slept on the couch all year so that we could use the extra space as a painting studio. I loved the light, the hardwood floors, and the crown molding on this one. And also the view from the balcony onto what I think was voted "The Most Picturesque American Main Street" (shown below).

Our old doggie Petey hanging out amidst paintings

View from studio windows

Shortly after this I found myself painting outside of Asheville, North Carolina at a residency called Wildacres. I had an entire log cabin in the woods to myself, no phone line, internet or neighbors for a mile, and yes, it was as scary as it sounds. NPR and the excellent local bluegrass station kept me company as I painted the landscape. On the table they kept a journal of all the artists from years past. I read every entry.

Then there was Los Angeles. My apartment was absolutely tiny, but I managed to sleep, eat, draw and paint in the same room. The lovely California weather encouraged this because I could leave the door open most of the day, and eat meals out on the porch. My collages developed a lot during these years as they were not as obtrusive to make as large oil paintings.

Finally, the start of the year at ECA. I was in the same studio as now, but a different corner. Not bad, but I had clear view of the door. It was hard not to chat with every person who came in, or even if we didn't chat, just the acknowledgement could prove a distraction. Also there were only 2 walls so my poor paintings ended up in stacks.

I'm happy to say that I've consistently had some form of studio for going on ten years now.

patterns

Patterns and repetitions are everywhere in Edinburgh. In any city, but I'm used to Los Angeles, which is all knots and tangles and palm trees and street signs in many languages. Even with its wynds and closes and ups and downs, Edinburgh seems so visually organized in comparison.

The first curiosity I noticed upon moving to Edinburgh? All the little chimney flues lined up on the roofs. Is it that American flues are embedded internally, so we don't see them? Or does it mean a hearth in every room of the house? I don't actually know why there are so many. But I love them. I love how they define the city's horizon line, like little teeth, little cogs in a wheel pulled straight.

("Lang mey yer lum reek"!)

studio.

Here is the invitation to our degree exhibition scheduled to open August 20th from 6-8 @ Edinburgh College of Art. If you are in the area, I do hope to see you there. We have been working like madwomen up in our 5th floor walk-up studio.

After many dark, cold, slow months in the studio, I can't believe that the exhibition is now weeks around the corner. I've been working more productively and positively this summer than, maybe, all year.

In May, our group of MA/MFA students wrote a detailed letter of complaint to ECA. For many reasons, we were overwhelmingly disappointed in the course throughout the 2009-2010 academic year. I won't go into detail here, but rather dwell on the good news that, in response to our concern, our department has kicked into gear. A system of support, opacity and organization has been put into place this summer, in the form of structured group/individual tutorials and critiques, scheduled gallery tours and talks, regular email contact and a general sense that somebody is invested in our practice as graduate students.

This came as a big change from business as usual @ ECA during the past year. I can't help but believe that this greater sense of support from above has contributed to a more productive working period for me, maybe for all of us.

Here is a sneak preview of a new series of works in progress, done primarily in coloured pencil.

sunday sessions

Sunday afternoons, with the studio closed, afford the opportunity to participate in any number of music sessions throughout Edinburgh.

Dalriada, in Portobello, is particularly nice...

...what with it's high ceilings, sea views, and seamless merge between audience and performer...

...all held together by a ringleader who encourages the somewhat stage-frightened to just go ahead and do a song.

(I sang two)

birthday present

art, music and coffee = happy lindsey

Thanks to my dear friend and fellow music-maker Mike, for this wonderful birthday present, an Ozark mandolin. In his words, "It's small and blond, just like you". I've really enjoyed learning and playing the mandolin this year, supported by the incredible folk music scene in Scotland. Equipped with such a lovely new instrument, I've been much more inclined to practice. The chords I know now extend beyond G, C & D, which opens things up a little!