up to our necks - family ties

In preparation for our group studio show, opening on Friday, Sept 4th at the Morning Times Gallery in Raleigh, I have been disassembling neckties, printing on the white interliners, and reassembling them as if turned inside out. Not surprisingly I have discovered that the 40 year-old silk ties from my partner's grandfather have the loveliest innards of all - a three piece construction with felt and cotton, instead of today's polyester blends. These softer liners are more receptive to the etching ink (Charbonnel) I am using. The printmaking matrix is the down-and-dirty polymer lithography plate, imaged with a copy machine. Anyway, I am having tons of fun!

There is a dark side to this work - as every family has its tragedies, misfortunes, secrets; every person has her own scars or misgivings about familial events and relationships. I have been circling this subject for almost two years and hope to get somewhere with it this fall. If I do, it will be thanks to friends Theresa Brown, Stacey Kirby, Michelle Seaman, Yolanda McGill, Janet Cooper and Matt DeCamp, who opened their photo albums and generously shared stories and archives with me. Printing on paper, pillowcases, handkerchiefs, placemats and ties, I am seeking to graft their families together with my own and to make an artful bridge between the specific and universal.

Of course the subject of gender is very tangibly close to the surface here. The necktie as a 2,000 year-old phallic symbol has been explored at length by Willie J Spat. Another post I found relates that the black tie, for which Mormon missionaries are so known, bears more and more of an image dilemma for Latter Day Saints, now that lawyers and government officials are among the few still regularly wearing ties at work. These neckties - which I have flayed open, pulled apart and branded with the personal, the familial, the inelegant or inscrutable, feel like the tip of an iceberg when I start to wonder about what they could afford in terms of exploring lesbian culture and gender identity vis-a-vis the family tree.

Hope to see you at the Morning Times exhibition, on view through September, even if it's just to enjoy a few moments in this great downtown hangout with a coffee bar and swell baristas below.

Go Blam!

enigmatica - a rotation!

My friend Bettina shared these with me - an image from the collection of the NC MoA and an Edo period ukiyo-e print (group), distant relatives in an intense conversation about Japanese culture. Wow! Read here about the artist, Iona Rozeal Brown. Thanks, Bettina!

Follow the sleuths (Stacey Kirby, Michelle Seaman) ... to John and Cara Dancy-Jones'
Open Studio:
Sat, August 22nd, 10 am - 6 pm
The Paper Plant
528 N Person Street
(across from the Krispy Kreme)
919/618-8883

This will be a wonderful opportunity to learn something new and celebrate community in a fascinating environment where life and art, homemade goodies and handmade treasures, past and present are intimately mingled and abundant!

Thought for the Day ... for Paige!

If the dull substance of my flesh were thought,
Injurious distance should not stop my way;
For then despite of space I would be brought,
From limits far remote, where thou dost stay.
No matter then although my foot did stand
Upon the farthest earth removed from thee;
For nimble thought can jump both sea and land
As soon as think the place where he would be.
But, ah, thought kills me that I am not thought,
To leap large lengths of miles when thou art gone,
But that, so much of earth and water wrought,
I must attend time's leisure with my moan,
Receiving nought by elements so slow,
But heavy tears, badges of either's woe.

Sonnet 44, William Shakespeare

(This is also handwritten on the image with a sideways foot, posted 7/18)

from two series: a square of wood = hours of fun

woodblock techniques

Let's hear it for process! If you want to try your patience, learn (any?) Japanese technique. Moku hanga will drive you nutty, or maybe you have to already be that way. (For an example of how absorbing/demanding this medium can be, look up David Bull.) And it can be expensive because good tools, hard wood (for holding detail), and the right paper make big - enormous - differences. But the results sometimes make it all worthwhile. (I have yet to experience that, after 2 workshops and 8 or 9 attempts, with several blocks each; but I am still trying!) Just look at the work of Hokusai or Hiroshige for inspiration, and remind yourself that this technique was developed as a group project, in feudal Japan, during the heyday of the Edo Period. There are also lots of folks today doing exciting things - McClain's is a good place to start.

Here are (unfortunately blurry shots of) a block and test print from along the path to my final decisions for "Walt's Iris", above (a 10-block print, edition of 3, 2005). Aesthetically not a milestone, but a success in terms of registration.

The main point of this post is to show water based (as opposed to oil-based) woodblock printing. The ink dyes the fibers of the paper instead of adhering to the surface. Soon I'll post some examples of the oil-based process, more commonly taught and practiced in the West.





Below, soft shina blocks with transfers, ready to cut. These were for a small print (image to come) made last December, and based on a painting by Milton Avery. I made a short edition of this, to do something fun for the holiday season. It wasn't that much fun in the end (for I cried). I may revisit it, adding a block and using stiffer paper.

samples of my lithography (polymer plate), often together with relief (woodblock)

images copyright Jen Coon

oasis drawing

oasis within oasis

The Bain Project Tea - Looking Back

I'd like to share some images of the tea hut installation, located at the loading dock to the right of the Bain building's main entrance, and also comment on its evolution (thanks to all whose photographs are included!) These include pictures of the main event for this space, a traditional Japanese tea ceremony given on opening day by Triangle Chanoyu of Durham.

The tea was guided by Nancy Hamilton, whose knowledge and enthusiasm for both tea and collaboration helped me to realize the reciprocity between the ideas of tea and oasis, and to recognize that the tradition of tea is an embrace of the rustic, transitory, wild (unvarnished, worn, lonely, beautiful) character of life that is so evident at Bain! The "way of tea" embodies gratitude, contemplation, and wonder - which is exactly what I feel at the foot of Bain and all it represents.

Some background on the process: The location for the tea hut was chosen before spring, for its condition, setting, accessibility, and openness -- it is a natural urban oasis. By April, though, tree foliage, poison ivy and carpenter bees had intruded (on top of the mud and trash that had been accumulating for years). Many hours and bruises later, the space would accommodate backstage (several assistants, equipment, tables) and centerstage (four guests, lead host, assistant host, MC) and be visually accessible to the audience.

I then did my best to turn the space (which happened to conform to tea hut norms in some of it dimensions and especially the exposed beams that define it) into a spare, zen-like sanctuary with the addition of vines, a reed curtain, bamboo, burlap, paper and wood. As I moved in and out of the building (exploring, discussing other installations, practicing tank-music) I was constantly on the lookout for objects (the brown tsukubai, or wash water basin, was Nancy's catch from the third floor) that were needed for the ceremony, or suited to the occasion. In the picture above, see the rectangular, dark brown divider between the tea preparation area and the audience - this is a rusted (rusted-through in the center) sheet of metal that we found on site (in the tea hut) and which local blacksmith Luke House, at Antfarm, kindly gave a pair of L-shaped feet, for standing upright.

The recessed green doors (through which chemicals once entered Bain) were designated as the alcove - this is the place in a tea hut to orient and focus one's thoughts on the beauty of the moment. A Japanese scroll was made for the occasion and hung from the doors, and a rough-cut bamboo vase, into which I had carved a hole in the shape of a droplet, held a small flower.

Afterward, in the absence of Triangle Chanoyu's beautiful presence (in their kimonos no less!) and our combined array of traditional and improvised props, I set up some allusions to what had been there and taken place - mostly as a comfort to myself, but also in reference to the name that Triangle Chanoyu had given the tea hut, "Shadow of Water."

Over the following days, the oasis within oasis (a little tree and root mass which I had protected and enshrined during the clearing process) drew visitors toward the back, and the mulberry trees overhead provided a treat for those who couldn't resist. The wind - which had distracted and ultimately amused the tea givers as they moved through their well-rehearsed choreography - died down significantly in the days after the event, and I hope you can sense the wonderful peace that filled the space.

floculator with cut vines

tsukubai - eye

sunlit tea hut

page one

To begin blogging about my art activity, I must thank the artists and other collaborators who journeyed with me as the Bain Project dominated our lives and imaginations, September '08-May '09! I learned so much about you, myself, installation, Bain, ... and the role of patience and sheer will in the creative process. Whew! I look forward to future related adventures.

John Dancy-Jones deserves a special nod for his encouragement. One only has to look at his Raleigh Rambles blog to taste the infectious excitement he brings to all his interests. Thanks for your posts and documentation, John!

Let me single out John's photo of the oasis room which draws attention to the words written in chalk on the wall behind the pitcher. These words come from a list of goods traded in Palmyra, the ancient Syrian ruin. As mentioned in our interview on The State of Things, I wanted the oasis room to evoke, in its minimalistic way, great cities in the desert which, because of their strategic location near water and between major trade routes, were longstanding seats of power.

Water in this sense represents prolonged and robust cultural exchange which in turn promotes diversity, achievement, intellectual and aesthetic richness. I think some of our other work at Bain (the tank music, or 'ball room', for example) prompted these kinds of thoughts -- what extraordinary transformations the presence of water makes possible.

I'll soon be posting more images and notes on work including prints, works on paper, and work in progress. You'll also see my studio (beloved Blam!), learn about printmaking techniques, and hopefully find something to inspire you.

Thanks for visiting my cyber-atelier, and please let me hear from you!

Jen Coon

oasis room pitcher