WORK IN PROGRESS

 

People often ask where art comes from—where artists get their ideas, and how they transmute them into drawings, paintings, sculptures, whatever. Welcome to my Work in Progress blog, where I will share with you where I am right now in my creative process, what’s gestating, where it “comes from,” what I hope to manifest.

 

For me these days, my artwork arises from real-world stuff—facts and figures, images, books I read, PR and ad campaigns that catch my eye, lectures and podcasts, what I see in my NYC neighborhood, in my yard in East Hampton, and on the long walks I take in both places. I’m a sponge for all that interests me, and everything is potential fodder for art.

 

So I guess it all starts with just being aware: paying attention to what’s going on around me, listening to what other people say, watching what they do.

 

For example, right now I am processing oodles of information I picked up at a Harvard symposium on Climate Change that I attended in January. I’ve been working on sea-level rise since Katrina/Sandy, and I was struck by a map presented by Julie Wormser of the Boston Harbor Association. Basically, like NYC, huge swaths (30%) of Boston were built on manmade landfill. Because the builders accounted for high tides but not rising sea levels (it was 1775, way before such things were possible!), a third of today’s Boston is on flood plains—meaning one perfect storm and it goes under. So very possibly, the city could revert to pre-1775 size, The overlay maps suggest an obvious way for me to play with this disturbing news graphically. Maybe starting with a collage, then a beach towel or bucket.

 

Closer to home, I read in The East Hampton Star that an astonishing number (more than 200) common species will probably be extinct on Long Island within our lifetimes. I’m picturing wallpaper (our “surroundings”) with fade-out silhouettes of the fish, animals, birds and bugs disappearing.

 

The transition from idea to visualization to actual creation is full of mystery and surprise. I’m never totally in control of what emerges, but without that first impetus, there would be no art.

 

I’ll share the new projects with you as soon as they take form!

 

Curious to see some past creations? See Artwork here. And feedback/inspirations/conversations always welcome!