Katherine Chwazik : In The Works - KATHERINE CHWAZIK

KATHERINE CHWAZIK

Reflections on 2016

12/29/2016

As December runs out, it is hard to believe how long a year is, and I find myself thinking "that was only a few months ago?!"

I had a blast making new work and custom framing several pieces for the show at Albany Center Gallery in July, and I can't wait to see the gallery's new home in 2017.

I started teaching in a new district. While I have made less work than usual in the past few months, the time I've spent on lessons for my students has led to great connections with amazing students and I take pride in their hard-earned artwork just as much as my own.

Here's to some exciting plans for 2017 - stay tuned!

Images here are of framed Big Blue, with reflections caught across the glass.

BUILT Auction and Event

11/17/2016

Happy Small Business Saturday! A few weeks ago I had the chance to be part of a fantastic event of local artists.

I had my work in a museum! Albany Historic Foundation holds an annual event called BUILT, an auction and benefit, which takes place at the NYS Museum in downtown Albany. All of the work focuses on local and regional architecture and since that's my main focus, its a great fit.

One of my other favorites was a piece by Ginnie Farrell. It was labeled "acrylic paint and linoleum block print on glass" and very difficult to get a photo of, and I have no idea how she put together all the layers! I would love to see her process in action.

Build (right, at top) sold, but Big Blue (right, at bottom) is still available - nicely framed in plexiglass and waiting for a new home.

It was fun to see to see the museum lit up at night with so many colors! Such a unique event and a fantastic way to see a part of the museum and building in a totally new way.

Process: Behind the Images

8/8/2016

Many of my favorite artists utilize the process and the materials used, rather than focus solely on a finished product and illusion. What I love about process-based artwork is the way the product reflects openly how it was made.

A detail of Dencity, 2015.

Eva Hesse. Contingent. 1969. Cheesecloth, latex, fibreglass. Courtesy The Estate of Eva Hesse, Galerie Hauser & Wirth, Zurich.

Eva Hesse stands out as a major figure in the post-minimalist shift towards a handmade approach, and her work is very open about the materials used.

My work is about the process as well as the product. My ideas come from local and regional architecture, but construction is also woven through much of my work as it is inherently found in architecture.

Detail of Dencity, 2015.

Building can be a structure or an act; both noun and verb apply.

Lately I’ve been wondering how much to display and include of the process in the final piece. Do I leave only small hints at how they are made or let unfinished elements and layers show more than they do? At right, a detail of Chasm reveals wood supports, cut linen, and a shape of plexiglass held on by aged screws.

My hybrid relief sculpture/wall pieces usually hint at their underlying structure, but as much as I love the details from the etchings… can you believe the back?
Both left and below are details from the back of Inlet.

I’m drawn to the mess of materials and the visible process, but wondering how to include more process without detracting from the architectural imagery. To the studio!

Exciting - Show this Summer!

6/12/2016

I'm thrilled to announce that this summer I'll be showing with Tara Fracalossi at the Albany Center Gallery in a show titled Compound Fragments.
The opening is July 15th and I hope you'll join us! Her work can be found here, and the gallery's site has information, directions, and a fantastic write-up.

How to Stay Sane as an Artist and Art Teacher: Part 2

5/22/2016

Whew!

This week’s way to stay sane as an artist and art teacher comes at a busy, busy time with 5 weeks to go in the school year here. Everyone is feeling frazzled and short on time. In my first entry I shared my tips on using a sketchbook to stay organized and keep track of notes and ideas. This week’s tip is another one that keeps me feeling creative, productive, and refreshed as an artist and teacher . . .

Keep holy the studio time.

Review: Alex Da Corte at MASS MoCA

4/26/2016

I’m taking a short break from my “How to Stay Sane as an Artist and Art Teacher” series to review an art exhibition on display at MASS MoCA now through January 2017: Alex Da Corte’s Free Roses.
For those who haven’t been, MASS MoCA is an art center composed of a building complex that used to be an old textile mill. They bring contemporary and thought provoking, yet accessible artists to work with the architecture and massive spaces instead of simply filling a traditional gallery setting.

Prior to Da Corte’s exhibition, I saw Richard Nonas in Building Nine, a mammoth, football-field-sized space. In any Chelsea gallery I’d have called the minimal wood and metal studies serene, but in the grand hall of the old textile mill they were overwhelmed and disappointing. Even the long arch of sloping, weathered railroad ties was dwarfed.

I opened the door to Alex Da Corte’s Free Roses, stepped in, and was swallowed whole. Plush, vibrant purple carpet falls underfoot and climbs up the walls, and varying electric glows emanate from every room with mesmerizing sounds and music.

At first the exhibit seems too much to process in its variety, from large collages, neon smiling and frowning sculptures, to video of bread being stacked. The next room holds a rotating, acid-red snake made of fake nails and gems gleaming in the darkness. Everyday items are made giant, or pulled apart into odd fragments that take on new roles. Motorized components bring life to sculptures as a pair of plastic swans swim endlessly on neon-pink lit liquid, and a droning mechanical bat circles pedestals of found object sculptures.

3 Ways to stay sane as an Artist & Art Teacher: Part 1

4/17/2016

Today let's talk about that work-life balance, or in the case of an artist and art teacher, that work-work-life balance. Fourth quarter craziness? Check. Struggle to make art work while juggling the business and marketing ends? Yup.

All Hail the Sketchbook.

As a teacher, post-it notes are my best friend for keeping track of all the small things to do; as an artist, a sketchbook can be a really under-appreciated tool for sanity as well.

I rarely make fully developed drawings in sketchbook, but I take it everywhere and collect ideas. Notes on colors, lighting effects, quick sketches of buildings and architectural details, and other bits and pieces happen much more often than whole ideas.

I seem to accumulate sketchbooks like dust bunnies, but have found that my go-to, artist-on-the-go sketchbook is a greeting card-sized, soft bound, unruled book with a band to hold the cover. It fits anywhere but is still big enough for little drawings. Spiral bound books tear up everything, and hard bound journals tend to come apart at the spine.

I hope this helps! Over the next few weeks I'll be sharing more tips to make that balance and time management a little easier without drastic lifestyle changes. Stay tuned for tips 2 and 3, and sign up for my monthly newsletter to keep in touch!

April Snow Day = Studio Day!

4/4/2016

The Capital Region woke up to something a little like this... And with the snow still coming down a school delay turned into a snow day! An unexpected surprise in April, but a great chance to spend some time in the studio.

On white/gray days like this a pile of paint chips can really help with ideas - I definitely found myself pulled towards some subdued, wintery tones today.

If you missed April's email newsletter, sign up at the right for May's and hear about the inspiration behind my current favorite work in progress!

In Progress, Mixed media on wood, 16" x 20"

So many ideas... In Progress 3/17/16

3/17/2016

Busy week here and looking forward to some time this weekend to make work. Above are a few mid-thought sculpture experiments - I love the idea of making a dozen or so of these in cardboard and then in other materials as part of an installation. The little house-like block in the front is an extra from a series that I started a while back and hope to add to once I can replicate the blocks, maybe with a router bit...

At right is a small wood piece that I've been back and forth on for a while - is it done? I'm not sure that it's done but I'm a bit in love with the wood grain and afraid to cover it mistakenly! Good thing I have a 16" x 20" panel ready to start; now I need to decide which of the 87 ideas bouncing around to use it for.

Early March Thoughts

3/5/2016

Wow this was a busy week with not much actual painting going on, but lots of other artsy things! Yesterday I chaperoned the high school art trip to New York City and had some amazing experiences with our students at the Guggenheim and the Whitney's new location. Now I'm refining my proposal for the Breathing Lights Project, an ambitious light/architectural/art installation project about the Capital Region's struggle with vacancy and its social and economic effects.

Lastly, after setting this painting aside for a few days, it has really grown on me and it feels done. This one had several incarnations from still life to memory/space painting, to screen print experiment, and finally worked out with transparent layers of painting. I could get lost in the texture of the layers! The tough part was naming this one; for now I'll call it Bridge.