Tuesday, September 14, 2010

The Questionnaire: Terry Jarrard-Dimond


The Questionnaire is meant to be a lighter version of a bio, a little more revealing in some respects and personal without all the facts bogging it down. I supply the questions and the respondents supply the answers. Either one or both of us supply the images.


Note: After my last post about spacing, the Blogger God came after me. This post has been a nightmare to control for spacing and type size. I apologize if it has a strange look here and there. It is not intentional and totally out of my control.



             Terry Jarrard-Dimond            



What is your favorite color?






Red! I feel an actual vibration from some shades of red.




Image caption: "Passion," hand-dyed cotton, machine pieced and quilted, 62"H x 71"W

What is your favorite word?

I have a friend who uses Magnificent a lot and that always tickles me. I think my word may be Wonderful! I've never thought of that before.






What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?

I love to be with creative people. I have been in workshops where I could feel the creativity in the air and knew I was working at a high level based on that extra energy.




What turns you off?

 I am turned off by people who are too aggressive or engage in what I call "big talk". This kind of behavior makes me want to get as far away from the person as possible.I




What profession other than artist would you most like to be?

If I were not an artist I'd love to be a musician. I don't have any musical talent but you can always dream. I think it would be an excellent experience to interact with someone else by playing music together.



 
 





Image caption: "Seek Shelter," hand-dyed cotton, machine pieced and quilted, 17"H x 17"

What is your favorite book or movie?

My favorite book is "The Queen Must Die" by William Longgood. The book reveals the secrets of bee culture and how it might be viewed if their culture was applied to people. Men.....you best hope that never happens.




Who is your favorite musician, musical group or style of music?

I have enjoyed jazz since I was a teenager. Recently I have been listening to some more experimental music but still related to jazz. Groups such as Praful, The Karminsky Experience and Tipsy. The world wide web has made is much easier to find groups like these.





Find more artists like The Karminsky Experience Inc. at Myspace Music



What do you most value in your friends?

Warmth and dependability. I love people who are involved in their own lives but still have room for others.



Name three artists whose work has influenced your own or whose work you most relate to.

Eva Hesse, Tom Dimond and Nancy Crow. I have always admired the exploration of concepts and materials by Eva Hesse and the bravery she showed by making the work. Tom Dimond is my husband and it has been very inspiring to watch him work with ideas he has pursued for many years. Nancy Crow inspired me to find my voice with fabric through her work and her example













Eva Hesse: Untitled (Seven Poles), Set of 7 pieces, resin and fibre-glass, polyethylene, aluminium wire, 272 x 240 cm. I enjoy the lumpiness of these forms, which for me refers to the physical movements she made when she wrapped the poles. I just saw this work in person as it is part of the permanent collection at the Musee National D'Art Moderne, Centre de Creation Industrielle in Paris.






Tom Dimond: "Yellow Circles," monoprint, 24" H x 20" W. This piece is in our personal collection and I hope it remains so. It is a monoprint Tom did at Blacksnake Press in Greenville, SC. It is quiet and serene and emits a soft glow. I look at it every day. My eyes go to it every time I enter the room where it hangs.





Constructions #58 © Nancy Crow. 100 percent cotton fabrics, hand dyed by Nancy Crow. Cut and machine-pieced improvisionally by Nancy Crow. Hand quilted by Marla Hattabaugh with pattern denoted by Nancy Crow.


I have always loved this piece by Nancy Crow as it is so deceptively complex. There are very subtle color shifts going on, especially in the lightest columns, which are a delight to discover. One additional reason I selected this piece is that I have not only seen it in person but assisted in hanging it at Nancy's barn a few years ago for a group of her students. Because there are so many pieces of fabric requiring many seams, the piece is very heavy.



Name an artist whose work you admire but which may be unlike yours.

I am currently enamored with the painting of Gerhard Richter. I love the thickness of his painted surfaces and the smeary colors. I can just feel the weight of the amount of paint he uses. Dye on fabric is very different.



A work by Gerhard Richter showing his "smeary" colors






A work by Terry inspired by Richter






Another Richter-inspired work






And yet another




What is your idea of earthly happiness?

Having my family with me. Being healthy. Having lots of time to work in my studio and not having to go grocery shopping.





More Work by Terry Jarrard-Dimond






"Forest Floor," constructed from hand-dyed cotton fabric, free cut, machine pieced and quilted, 78.25" x 78.25". This piece is currently included in the exhibition "Color Improvisations" in Stuttgart, Germany.




"Alone Together"




"She Came Undone," hand-dyed cotton, pieced and quilted, 49"H x 45"W








"Barn Dance," hand-dyed cotton, machine pieced and quilted, 85"H x 82"W






You can see more of Terry's work at www.terryjarrarddimond.com

and follow her blog at studio24-7.blogspot.com

(Note that Terry will be teaching classes this fall and spring. Get details about classes on her blog.)

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Am I Right or Am I Wrong? The Time & Space Conundrum

The crew at warp speed

So here's the deal, for the past couple of months I've been posting a weekly feature called The Questionnaire, based on the so-called Proust Questionnaire. It's a quasi-interview that lets me ask a few questions of artists and post images of work by their favorite artists as well as images by the artists themselves. It's been pretty popular and attracts a good readership.

Now here's the rub, I recently received an email from a reader who asked whether there wasn't something I could do to fix a problem that s/he noticed with these posts:
I've noticed that the Proust postings have huge spaces vertically, any idea why or how to fix? 


To which I replied:
I put them in on purpose so that you can look at the images by themselves without seeing another image - like looking at a show in a gallery with a lot of space on the walls.


But still s/he insisted:
visually i think the format with all that space is confusing and difficult to view




Now I put it to you - Am I Right or Am I Wrong? I hope you will give me your opinion and the reasons for it. Are the posts really more difficult to read? Do you get my idea about extra space making up for the missing text? And the extra space giving the impression of spaciousness in a roomy gallery for the work? I also hoped that the space between answers would add some time to let the answers sink in as you scrolled between them instead of all mushing together at once. But I'm willing to listen.


So that you can get a better idea of the difference, I am repeating below this week's questionnaire (featuring Lynette Haggard) in two modes: first, as it appeared this past Tuesday in all its spaciousness and secondly, without the extra space. (Note - Wouldn't you know it! Blogger is acting up today and the vertical space really is acting funny, but I'll do my best to make it look the way I want it to.)


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Version 1 - With Extra Space
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2010

The Questionnaire: Lynette Haggard

The Questionnaire is meant to be a lighter version of a bio, a little more revealing in some respects and personal without all the facts bogging it down. I supply the questions and the respondents supply the answers. Either one or both of us supply the images.




          L y n e t t e  H a g g a r d          



What is your favorite color?


Green 



What is your favorite word?

hmm, hoogie. It's my word for turmoil or freakout; borrowed from my friend Lisa O. 





Lynette in the studio



What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?

Music, poetry, yoga 




Louie and Ella, Lynette's dogs



What turns you off? 



Ass kissing, people who are dense 





What profession other than artist would you most like to be?

A dancer or a scientist. Oh maybe a writer. 





What is your favorite book or movie?

Pablo Neruda Five Decades: Poems 1925-1970. Pretty much anything Neruda. 

Pablo Neruda

Pablo Neruda (July 12, 1904 – September 23, 1973) was the pen name and, later, legal name of the Chilean writer and politician Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. He chose his pen name in honour of the famous Czech poet Jan Neruda.



One Hundred Love Sonnets: XVII
BY PABLO NERUDA


I don’t love you as if you were a rose of salt, topaz,
or arrow of carnations that propagate fire:
I love you as one loves certain obscure things,
secretly, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that doesn’t bloom but carries
the light of those flowers, hidden, within itself,
and thanks to your love the tight aroma that arose
from the earth lives dimly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where,
I love you directly without problems or pride:
I love you like this because I don’t know any other way to love,
except in this form in which I am not nor are you,
so close that your hand upon my chest is mine,
so close that your eyes close with my dreams.


TRANSLATED BY MARK EISNER




Who is your favorite musician, musical group or style of music?

Keith Jarrett, jazz piano and guitar, Latin, and classical 



What do you most value in your friends?

Honesty, energy, candor, warmth 



Name three artists whose work has influenced your own or whose

work you most relate to.


I want to mention 4: Cynthia Carlson, Marcia Meyers, Ted Larsen, Emily Mason 





Cynthia Carlson, "Schwangunks" 1976, 11" x 23" x 2", acrylic paint








Marcia Myers, "Frammento del Muro MMVIII-XVII, fresco on linen, 46" x 46" x 2"








Ted Larsen, "Joist", 2006, found metal construction, 26"h x 23"w








Ted Larsen, "Air Time", 2009, plywood, salvaged steel, rubber, 18"h x 50"w x 7.5"D










Emily Mason, "Greening", 2008, oil on canvas, 22"h x 20"w







Name an artist whose work you admire but which may be unlike yours.

Jane Piper— a lovely woman who inspired me while in college; was generous enough to give me her studio for a summer in center city Philadelphia. (Oh I wish I knew then what I do now...) 





Jane Piper, "Red at the Center", acrylic on canvas, 48"h x 60"w




What is your idea of earthly happiness? 



Going for a walk with my husband and our dogs at the beach or trail, and sharing a meal with good friends. 




Works by  L y n e t t e  H a g g a r d








Reveal, 2009, encaustic on panel, 30"h x 20"w













Blossom, 2010, encaustic and mixed media, 6"h x 14"w x 6"d













Rhythmo No. 3, 2010, encaustic on 3 panels, 16"h x 52" w













Rhythmo No. 1, 2010, encaustic on panel, 20" x 20"







See more of Lynette's work at lynettehaggard.com

and read her blog at lynettehaggard.blogspot.com (Lynette specializes in artist interviews)

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Version 2 - No Extra Space



TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2010


The Questionnaire: Lynette Haggard

The Questionnaire is meant to be a lighter version of a bio, a little more revealing in some respects and personal without all the facts bogging it down. I supply the questions and the respondents supply the answers. Either one or both of us supply the images.


          L y n e t t e  H a g g a r d          


What is your favorite color?
Green 

What is your favorite word?
hmm, hoogie. It's my word for turmoil or freakout; borrowed from my friend Lisa O. 



Lynette in the studio

What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
Music, poetry, yoga 



Louie and Ella, Lynette's dogs

What turns you off? 
Ass kissing, people who are dense 


What profession other than artist would you most like to be?
A dancer or a scientist. Oh maybe a writer. 


What is your favorite book or movie?
Pablo Neruda Five Decades: Poems 1925-1970. Pretty much anything Neruda. 



Pablo Neruda


Pablo Neruda (July 12, 1904 – September 23, 1973) was the pen name and, later, legal name of the Chilean writer and politician Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. He chose his pen name in honour of the famous Czech poet Jan Neruda.



One Hundred Love Sonnets: XVII
BY PABLO NERUDA

I don’t love you as if you were a rose of salt, topaz,
or arrow of carnations that propagate fire:
I love you as one loves certain obscure things,
secretly, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that doesn’t bloom but carries
the light of those flowers, hidden, within itself,
and thanks to your love the tight aroma that arose
from the earth lives dimly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where,
I love you directly without problems or pride:
I love you like this because I don’t know any other way to love,
except in this form in which I am not nor are you,
so close that your hand upon my chest is mine,
so close that your eyes close with my dreams.
TRANSLATED BY MARK EISNER


Who is your favorite musician, musical group or style of music?
Keith Jarrett, jazz piano and guitar, Latin, and classical 


What do you most value in your friends?
Honesty, energy, candor, warmth 


Name three artists whose work has influenced your own or whose
work you most relate to.

I want to mention 4: Cynthia Carlson, Marcia Meyers, Ted Larsen, Emily Mason 



Cynthia Carlson, "Schwangunks" 1976, 11" x 23" x 2", acrylic paint




Marcia Myers, "Frammento del Muro MMVIII-XVII, fresco on linen, 46" x 46" x 2"




Ted Larsen, "Joist", 2006, found metal construction, 26"h x 23"w




Ted Larsen, "Air Time", 2009, plywood, salvaged steel, rubber, 18"h x 50"w x 7.5"D




Emily Mason, "Greening", 2008, oil on canvas, 22"h x 20"w

Name an artist whose work you admire but which may be unlike yours.
Jane Piper— a lovely woman who inspired me while in college; was generous enough to give me her studio for a summer in center city Philadelphia. (Oh I wish I knew then what I do now...) 



Jane Piper, "Red at the Center", acrylic on canvas, 48"h x 60"w

What is your idea of earthly happiness? 
Going for a walk with my husband and our dogs at the beach or trail, and sharing a meal with good friends. 





Works by  L y n e t t e  H a g g a r d






Reveal, 2009, encaustic on panel, 30"h x 20"w





Blossom, 2010, encaustic and mixed media, 6"h x 14"w x 6"d




Rhythmo No. 3, 2010, encaustic on 3 panels, 16"h x 52" w




Rhythmo No. 1, 2010, encaustic on panel, 20" x 20"

See more of Lynette's work at lynettehaggard.com

and read her blog at lynettehaggard.blogspot.com (Lynette specializes in artist interviews)

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So there you have it, which one do you prefer? Please comment and let me know your opinion.
And thanks for reading - space or no space!