I hope you'll join me at Rockwood Studios for the epic Utah Arts Fest Studio Tour, Oct. 21-23! With more than 100 participating artists from St. George to Logan, this will be monumental!
Sign up for a free tour pass, and you'll have maps, directions, and artist information at your fingertips. When you visit a studio, record the artist's PIN, and you can win prizes for 25 visits and up.
Come to Rockwood Art Studios (1064 E. 2100 South, suite #20 in Salt Lake City, Sugarhouse), and you can collect at least five PINs! The entrance to the Studios is on the "Ozora Izakaya" restaurant side of the building. The Studio Tour runs Friday night 6 to 9 pm and Saturday and Sunday 10 am to 6 pm.
I am joining my dear friend and fantastic artist/teacher, Kindra Fehr in her studio. We'll have original art, framed and unframed, as well as a few prints and cards.
This is a great opportunity to ask how and why we do what we do - discover information about watercolor and oil, classes, and commissions.
We hope to see you there!
]]>I hope you visit me at the Rockwood Art Studios in Sugarhouse and shop some deals. Happy Autumn!
]]>I hope you visit me at the Rockwood Art Studios in Sugarhouse and shop some deals. Happy Autumn!
Sending blessing for the new year,
Candace
1 Unnahar, Noor. New Names for Lost Things. Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2021.
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Fish paints entirely from life, chasing the light around the canvas, painting each section of the work when the light on the item looks best. Because of this, the light in her paintings reflect time passing instead of representing a single moment. She gives form to energy. In Fish's words, "I see light as energy, and energy is always moving through us. I don't see things as being separated- I don't paint the objects, I paint one after the other. I paint through the painting."
Fish's process begins with creating her still lifes in her Vermont Studio. Props arranged chromatically fill the studio's bookshelves. She uses them to produce compositions that vibrate with energy and light, often filled with translucent or transparent objects surrounded by flowers, bright cloth patterns, and other brilliant hues objects.
Fish is widely recognized, and her work is in the collections of major museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Whitney Museum of American Art, The Art Institute of Chicago, and the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. Represented by the DC Moore Gallery of NY, enclosed is a link to the catalog of Janet Fish's 2017 retrospective exhibition at the DC Moore Gallery, Pinwheel and Poppies 1980-2008.
JANET FISH, Pinwheels & Poppies Paintings 1980–2008
DC Moore Gallery, September 7– 30, 2017
Copyright © DC Moore Gallery, 2017
DC Moore Gallery Catalog: Pinwheels & Poppies 1980-2008
I hope you'll explore this inspiring contemporary artist's work. Janet Fish's paintings always lighten my spirit, give me a color crush, and make me laugh. There is always something new to see when you view her paintings. And as a Hollins College grad who survived "the 1985 flood," I'm glad we saved those beautiful "Fishes" from the then art gallery in the basement of the Art Annex. Those paintings and their energy have inspired me for a lifetime!
References:
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the Utah Division of Arts and Museums to create “Breaking Barriers,” a curriculum for helping cultural organizations in Utah improve accessibility. As a retired Occupational Therapist, Art Access’ mission is naturally very near and dear to my heart.
This year over 200 Utah artists have created over 380 10"x11" panels. Once again this year, the event will be held online. Tickets for this popular event are now on sale for $25 per ticket. Registration closes May 20, 2021. Questions? Email 300plates@artaccessutah.org.
This year for one of my paintings for the event I‘ve had fun imagining a lively view from the ski lift. When searching for a title of this piece, my 13 year old ski racer exclaimed, “Tourist.” If you’re a skier from Utah, you will understand the sentiment. If not, please know we still love our visitors.
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Lovingkindness practice is a form of metta prayer: metta, a word from the Pali language that translates to benevolence, boundless friendliness, and goodwill. Metta uses recitation of silent phrases to open the heart and cultivate a friendly attitude. Typically the practice begins with reciting phrases to the self.
"May I feel safe.
May I be free from pain.
May I be well.
May my life unfold in peace and ease."
Following reciting these phrases to the self, enlarge the circle to include someone close to you, like a partner or dear friend. The words are recited again with the partner in mind. Next, expand the circle to include a co-worker or acquaintance and repeat the phrases. And finally, enlarge the sphere to encompass a stranger or difficult person.
Interestingly, Americans struggle to wish themselves wellness, peace, and ease, likely the result of our self determinate culture. To overcome this obstacle, imagine an treasured intimate sending you the well-wishes contained in the phrases. Do your best to visualize the person as they speak these words to you. It has the effect of opening your heart to a tender, open place, allowing you to connect with others more effectively.
To learn more about this practice, visit meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg on the web, where she guides you through lovingkindness practice and shares tons of resources to get you started. To see the paintings that are part of my lovingkindness practice meant for all of you, come back here on Friday at 4 pm MT. May you be at peace, and feel the love contained in my little love letter- paintings sent to all of you.
In March, I will participate in JKR Galley's group show, "All Shapes and Sizes." The show runs March 5th thru the 26th and is open from 12:30 pm to 6:30 pm these days. JKR Gallery is at 1675 N. Freedom Blvd. Bldg. 7B in Provo, Utah. The opening reception will be March 5th, 5 pm to 10 pm. Unfortunately, due to COVID, the reception will be done by time slot. Reach out to them to claim yours.
On March 13th, I will be at Ogden's Invitational Women's Show titled "Women: The Creative Edge." The reception runs from 5 to 8 pm at Ogden, Eccles Art Center at 2580 Jefferson Avenue in Ogden, Utah. The show runs from March 10th thru the 29th.
In April, my work will be in the JKR Gallery's group show, "Handscapes," in which landscapes will be painting on substrate no larger than the size of a human hand. When I get more info about the exact timing for this show's opening, I will share it with you here.
And finally, in May, I am once again participating in Art Access' 300 Plate Fundraiser. I will have two plates in the show. Part of the sale of these pieces will go to supporting artists of diverse bodies. Again, as we get closer, I will share the details of how you can participate here.
I hope this finds you healthy and full of hope. Thank you all for your continued support and encouragement.
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I've been thinking a lot about Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman's "The Hill We Climb" amidst the backdrop of civil unrest and conflicting social media versions of the events around the election. As Americans, we are most certainly in a struggle to create our version of democracy, an understanding that varies by race, creed, and culture:
.. "We are striving to forge a
union with purpose,
to compose a country
committed to all cultures,
colors, characters and
conditions of man.
And so we lift our gaze not
to what stands between us,
but what stands before us.
We close the divide because
we know, to put our future
first,
We must lay down our
differences aside.
We lay down our arms
so we can reach out our
arms
to one another..."
So how to do that? How to do that when family members insist the FBI fabricated the Capitol riot? How to do that when friends believe the COVID virus is a plot to control the masses? How to do that when a beloved political party has factions that insist the Presidential election was stolen by states breaking their state's constitutions? How do we, Americans, overcome the political hacks, spin doctors, and social media conspiracies?
Brené Brown, a social science researcher, studies shame and soft issues like trust. To walk together, as Amanda Gorman suggests, will require faith. But how to trust, have confidence in the other? Brown suggests we need eight traits to form trust: (BRAVING) Boundaries, Reliability, Accountability, Vault, Integrity, Nonjudgement, and Generosity.
1-BOUNDARIES: We will need to know ourselves, and when we are unsure, be vulnerable enough to ask clarifying questions of ourselves and others. We will need to stay curious.
2-RELIABILTY: We will need to do what we say and not overpromise.
3-ACCOUNTABILITY: We will need to own our mistakes and apologize.
4-VAULT: We will have to hold the other's vulnerabilities as sacred and not exploit them.
5-INTEGRITY: We will have to choose "courage over comfort," practicing our values, not just professing them.
6-NONJUDGMENTAL: We will have to be honest and courageous and ask for what we need and be willing to hear others' needs without judgment.
7-GENEROSITY: And finally, we will need to be generous in our interpretation of others' intentions, actions, and words. We will have to look for the other's better angels. And perhaps most challenging, this will not be done in a distant city by elected officials. Finding each other, reconnected our families, friends, and communities will have to be done by you and me. It will be a million one-on-one vulnerable conversations, that included those we would rather dismiss, disregard, or make into other by nicknaming them.
So be courageous and have intimate conversations with people with different points of view. It will take time to recreate a trust environment, but make the intention to reconnect and act within the principles of creating trust. Reach out to family members, community members, and friends and have the vulnerable discussions you’ve been avoiding. Be willing to go into the fire and listen with an open heart. Be loving to yourself, as you feel your defensiveness and fear arise. (Know that you were born worthy, there is no worth to prove or affirm, and no feeling is permanent. Use that knowledge to stabilize your emotional responses.) Let go of shame in what has come before and recommit to a new future. Look for common ground, our shared ideals. Look for the better angels.
We are all coming out of 2020 frightened, alienated, and craving connection. So much has dissolved. Now is the time to remake our relationships on a cornerstone of shared humanity and trust values (BRAVING). We need to look for each other's better angels, even though we are tired and frightened. As Amanda Gorman says, as we climb this hill, we must be the light.
"When day comes we step
out of the shade,
aflame and unafraid,
the new dawn blooms as we
free it.
For there is always light,
if only we are brave enough
to see it.
If only we're brave enough
to be it."
]]>In the scramble to manage our daily lives, many of us never give those who allow our safety a second thought. Mired in our circumstances and attachment to our American exceptionalism psyche, we avoid reflecting on how people with less access to resources are the sacrificial lambs to keep the economy moving forward, the more fortunate safe, and society "orderly" during this pandemic. In Iowa, an anonymous brown man risks his life at his meatpacking plant job to ensure your steak makes it to your plate during this pandemic. A woman at Amazon works long hours to make sure your holiday shopping gets to you, so you don't have to go into a store. Another man has begged for his life and lost at the hands of police and then had people outraged there was civil unrest in the wake of it. Some have struggled to feel safe from a devastating virus, others from economic collapse, some from over-policing, others from civil unrest. Some of us have been unable to be with ourselves and honestly see what we have and what we believe we need to be "safely" in the world. While our experience of 2020 has been our unique storms in our individual bottles, we have all shared the struggle to feel safe.
How does an artist step into the gap between what collectors want and and an artist needs? How to make art that will allow one to earn a living, provide inspiration, and encourage others to think about what they believe they know? What are my obligations as an artist? Can I live with myself if I chose safety over truth? I am most certainly butting up against ages-old questions.
I created "The Unattainables "collection during the pandemic period when people began hoarding toilet paper, and supply chains broke down. Initially humored and then horrified by the pandemic's evolution, I started painting items that became difficult to find during the pandemic. These paintings are oil painted on canvas panels and are between 8x10 and 6x 8 in size. They are a simple catalog of the items that went missing. I encourage you to see the paintings and think about what the collection is saying about us as a society. What are we chasing?
The second collection is titled, 'When We Were Birds." It is my gift to you, my tiny prayers for us, in a time when, as a country, we are deeply divided politically by rights, responsibilities, science, and conspiracy. This collection of tiny bird portraits is inspired by Terry Tempest Williams' quote about birds and our nature, "Once upon a time, when women were birds, there was the simple understanding that to sing at dawn and to sing at dusk was to heal the world through joy. The birds still remember what we have forgotten, that the world is meant to be celebrated." We need this reminder as we watch our country grapple with the pandemic, our politics, our civil rights, and our civil responsibilities. There is so much work to do. To do it effectively, we must become intimate with suffering. We must rest in compassion rather than empathy; we must remember our essential nature, "we are intertwined," and in that knowing can be joyful, like the birds. These paintings are meant to be gifts. Each comes with a small wooden easel and is oil on canvas between 2 x 2 and 4 x 4. These paintings will likely sell out, but you can commission me to paint your favorite birds, your own set of small prayers.
I want to wish each of you a safe and peaceful holiday season. I encourage each of you to be kind but truthful. Have hard conversations, show up emotionally, be courageous. We can do hard things. We can be joyful, even while we are sorrowful. Sending each of you many bows of gratitude.
Over the past couple of months, I have thought a lot about my voice, which inevitably led me to think about the purpose of art. When I did some internet searching, I found a gross overview of art’s purpose. For clarity the “goog” identified five types of art; ceremonial art, part of rituals or religious ceremonies; functional art, design used in everyday activities; persuasive art promoting ideas, narrative art illustrating stories, and artistic art, expressing emotion....but this feels like a deeply oversimplified view. All “artistic art” tells a story and in many ways promotes ideas. Art inherently helps us uncover hidden truths, sometimes about ourselves, at other times about our culture.
Edward Degas, of Impressionist fame, once said, “Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” Marcel Duchamp echoed those sentiments 50 years later saying, “What art is, in reality, is the missing link, not the links that exist. It’s not what you see that is art; art is the gap.” Picasso argued the reverse, “art is a lie that makes us realize the truth.”
American designer and writer James Baldwin also believed the purpose of art was to reveal the truth, “laid bare the questions that have been hidden by the answers.” It reminds me of that line from Rainer Maria Rilke, “Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.”
Where am I going with all of this? As a woman living in Utah, I am constantly challenged by sexual stereotypes and the culture of “nice.” The longer I am in the culture, the more I feel like a volcano: all my power, stuffed into my underground, creating a crucible. And then there’s all that “sitting and watching thoughts practice” and realizing, it’s my habit to rebel. There is most certainly a neural highway that leads there, well worn over 53 years. The more I feel like I am in a box, the greater my desire to shatter the expectation, to upend your world, to shout, “because you can’t limit me, define me... I will rise higher,” or something like that. It’s neither pretty nor nice, just a large <insert favorite curse here> in there.
How does this translate into art-making? The cultural expectation for female Utah artists is to create pretty florals, pretty pictures of Utah’s stunning landscapes, paint pictures of families, and sun-kissed children, to sell at local art markets, largely populated by female artists. (Don’t get me wrong, these are awesome for the vibrant art community in Utah, AND this needs to be said...) The unspoken expectation is we must uplift, inspire, support our families and communities. I agree. But here’s my rub: I want more than flowers and landscapes. I have raised five children, been married nearly 30 years, put my career on hold all that time, and I’m tired of holding my breath. I’ve done so much uplifting and inspiring- now I want to feel, think, examine. I want you to feel, think, examine. I want you to take a deep dive into the parts that are harder to consider. I want you to get comfortable with the unknown. I want you to feel. Not just for your community or your family, but for your heart, the stranger’s heart, the heart you don’t understand. I want you to see our interconnectedness with the land, the sky, your neighbor, the stranger.
Yes, like Van Gogh, I want to touch people with my art. I want you to know I feel deeply, tenderly feel. But I want my work to be less about me and more about us. I want to reveal questions, covered by answers. Like Francis Bacon, I want to deepen the mystery of life. Like Georgia O’keefe, make my “unknown, known,” and mostly I want to help you live everything, live your way to the answers in your soul.
In closing, thank you for taking this journey with me, as I wrestle with my questions and my rebellion. Thank you for being willing to hold my hand as I step into my unknown, rummaging around in the shadows to live my answers and find my artistic voice. May we inspire each other in all our interconnectedness and being. May we be brave, compassionate, and honest.
]]>Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness
you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho
lies dead by the side of the road.
You must see how this could be you,
how he too was someone
who journeyed through the night with plans
and the simple breath that kept him alive.
Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.
Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to gaze at bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
It is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you everywhere
like a shadow or a friend.”
As I woke this morning with a head full of allergy, I needed this poem by Naomi Shihab Nye. As I listened to the news this morning and learned that over 14 million, largely black and brown children have food insecurity due to the effects of COVID, I needed this poem. When I learned that more of California had burned than all the fires in California between 1932 and 1971, I needed this poem. When I watched a video of our deeply unaware privileged President tell people not to worry about a virus that has killed over 210k Americans since March, I needed this poem. This poem. This promise. This reminder. This reminder that kindness is in me.
Kindness. Kindness is in me. It’s nothing I’ve lost. I carry it. I carry it in me. I can share my garden. I can leave flowers for the neighbor. I can donate to “No Kid Hungry.” I can be a witnessing ear to my friend’s woes. I can say a kind word to a Facebook friend, with whom I don’t agree. I can feed a stray cat, pay for a stranger’s bus fare. I can vote. We are not surrounded by kindness, kindness is in us. It is our superpower.
I chose kindness. I chose to express my kindness, and so grateful it ties my shoes and sends me out into the day.
When I considered what I was going to paint for the show, I decided I’d do riffs off of a larger painting titled “Living Like Fish,” that showed at the recent Ogden Eccles Art Center’s Statewide Competition. The eight paintings featured in the Candy Club Collection Show, Like the “Living Like Fish” painting describe our experiences of living in quarantine. All of the paintings feature fish, most of them in either a pet store fish bag or a fishbowl.
The image featured above is titled, “Seeking Clarity.” The image is full of complex reflections and shadows, much like our experience as we wade through news reports, social media posts, and simple rumor. It is hard at times to see what is “true” and what is imagined, what is reflections of thoughts, and what is simply our hopes, bright lights just on the periphery of our vision.
The painting “Weathering the Storm” showcases a guppy family that includes a dad, pregnant mom, and six guppy babies. As a mom of a large family, having everyone home during quarantine was such an unexpected gift, but as homeschooling continued, the experience became a challenging one. This painting reflects that experience.
”Coming Up for Air,” is a 6 x 6 inch painting featuring a black goldfish breaking the water’s surface. During quarantine, I had such a visceral sensation that I was holding my breath, waiting for the virus to pass, waiting to feel safe. Summer arrived, quarantine eased, and I saw friends again, we came up for air. This piece explores the sensation of relief.
In the 10 x 10 inch painting titled, “Meeting Our Nature,” three bags of goldfish sit on a counter. Some fish seem to be just swimming indifferently, just being fish. One fish appears open-mouthed, looking straight at the viewer. It can be interpreted as yelling, but could also be viewed as gulping, or singing, as my daughter suggested. I posit what you conclude is largely a reflection of your feelings and subsequent thoughts, our thought habits reflected back to us.
The painting, “In It Together” is 6 x 6 inches and features two koi, one with his fin around the other. During this pandemic, we have had to buoy each other. This piece serves as a reminder to take care of each, to be for each other. Together we can solve whatever arises.
“Roommates” is 10 x 10 inches, featuring 2 fish sharing a pet store fish bag, swimming. When quarantine set-in during late March, my college-age daughter was marooned in Seattle with her fairly new roommates that she knew, but with whom she never expected to be spending every waking moment. This piece reflects on how we adjust when spending so much time together in such a confined space.
In the 10 x 10 inch painting, “Making Room” one large goldfish dominates the fish bag while the other fish accommodates him. As I mentioned earlier, many of my older children returned home with friends to our home, for weeks during the quarantine. It truly was what I affectionally call “Corona lemonade.” Never did I expect to have the opportunity to be together that closely for so long, after they left for college! It was a special time, I will forever cherish- though glad they were able to return to their jobs, apartments, and schools.
During the pandemic, so many of us have been separated by miles and policies. In the case of my husband’s family, the pandemic left one parent stranded alone in a skilled nursing facility, his wife unable to visit him due to the facility’s lockdown. Like them, so many of us have survived isolation thru Zoom. “Seeking Connection” is 6 x 6 inches and features two goldfish in separate bowls, pressing their “noses” together. Humans were made to be social and connected, we yearn to be together, this painting reflects on that yearning.
All eight small oil paintings in the show are framed in a floating raw maple frame. They are wired to hang, but could also sit nicely in a bookcase. Again, you can shop these paintings at https://katrinaberg.com/collections/candy-club-collective-show?page=6
]]>I have heard you! I’m not burning out. I’m still thrilled to be going into the studio 5 days a week, but I am noticing I feel fuzzy and dull. It takes me longer to make decisions on the “next move” in my painting. I suspect 6 months of modified quarantine has taken its toll. Until yesterday, I believed that being a full time artist meant painting full time, 40 hours a week: thirty years of longing needed to be expressed. I still feel that urgency, but I am realizing this is a marathon not a sprint.
Yesterday I took my first 2 mile walk, before heading to the studio. I can feel all kinds of shame coming up as I write this. “What she doesn’t daily exercise?” Let’s just say COVID has made me a stronger meditator, but not an avid exerciser. I’m hoping to change that by developing my artist practice to include a daily walk- 2 laps around the neighborhood loop, while listening to a podcast. Which brings me to what I discovered yesterday- Brene Brown’s “Unlocking Us” podcast’s interview of Sonya Renee Taylor!
“We will not go back to normal, normal never was. Our pre-corona existence was not normal, other than we normalized greed, inequity, exhaustion, depletion, extraction, disconnection, confusion, rage, hoarding, hate, and lack. We should not long to return my friends. We are being given the opportunity to stitch a new garment, one that fits all of humanity and nature.”
WOW! Just wow! Well if that doesn’t make you think hard about your longing to return to normal... consider what Sonya Taylor went on to say...
“Your body is not an apology.” Shame is betraying our own truth. In the words of Marianne Williamson, “An acorn does not have to say I intend to become an oak tree. Natural intelligence intends that every living thing become the highest form of itself and designs us accordingly.”
Sonya goes on to say, “Once we remove the obstruction that has us believe, we have to try to become, we will just become... exactly what it is we are suppose to be. And those obstructions are not just our obstructions, they are a world of obstructions that have been created, that are in between us and our inherent divinity, in between us and our innate “enough-ness...”
“Radical self- love is an internal journey that impacts our external reality. We have built a world, that is a reflection of our belief, that we are not enough. We have built an entire system that then externalizes our value. I will be good enough when I achieve ... I will be good enough if I have this job, that pays me this amount of money. I will be good enough if I can hold tight to my identity as white, or able bodied, or CIS, or all of these configurations of what I call the hierarchy of body, the world that we have assigned that there is some top, and my job as a human is to figure out how to scramble to the top...how to try to get there? What is also true in this system, is that there are some of us that will never get there. We have bodies that will never live at the top of that ladder. So what we spend our lives trying to do is figure out what can I do? Well, I can lose ten pounds here, I can effect my tone, so I sound more white, I can...there all these things I can do try to understand my place in the hierarchy.”
“Radical self-love invites us to divest from the ladder because the ladder is only real because we keep trying to climb it. When we stop trying to climb the ladder, then we have no more use for the ladder. When I don’t need the ladder to assess my sense of worthiness, of enoughness, of inherent divinity... when I don’t need that ladder because I understand it as my birthright, I understand it as how I arrived on the planet, I understand it as my own unique form of natural intelligence, then the ladder is of no use! The ladder is imaginary. The ladder is there to give me a thing that I was born with, so what do I need the ladder for? What do we need the ladder for, if we all understood, that we already came here with everything we need in order to be all that it is we were destined to be.”
Hearing her words, made me realize several things. My mandated 8 hours of daily painting, was another form of hustling for my worth (it’s a pattern for me): in order to be worthy, be enough, I must achieve X and Y. Hard work and being a great artist will make me enough. I AM ALREADY ENOUGH. Say it we me, WE ARE ENOUGH. Yes, do what you are called to do, work hard, but consider your intention. What is the subtext? Why are you doing what you’re doing? What are you bargaining for? Are you joyful or oppressed? These are the questions I’ll be asking myself this month.
I’m also going to continue my 2 mile walks... not because I’m hustling for my worth, but because it makes me feel clearer and more creative. It gives me time to digest new information that will improve my ability to be a better artist, better mom, friend and wife. You are my accountability plan. I’ve enabled comments, so you can leave me messages... What questions do you find helpful to keep you aware of your shame cycle? Share podcasts you find inspiring, share what keeps you feeling creative and growing into the full expression of you!
Remember: We are enough! Our bodies are not an apology!
]]>So what can you do to keep your sanity and find some connection? Here are some things, I’m doing:
1) Stop doom-scrolling. When I‘m anxious, I tend to look for things to distract me. Inevitably, I end up researching the latest COVID numbers in my county, surfing the latest political news- its like scrolling for the end of the world. Limiting my time on my phone, staying off social media and the news when I’m feeling fearful or angry, has significantly decreased my anxiety.
2) Set up Zooms and standing phone calls with friends. This might sound obvious, but continuing to reach out to my friends and family across the country using Zoom has helped me feel connected, and given me a place to vent-when my immediate family is feeling defensive or overwhelmed themselves. We’ve played games like “2 Truths and a Lie” and charades...my kids even figured out how to play Farkle with their sister in Seattle, using Zoom. Calls under 40 minutes are free. My renewed friendship depth with my girlfriends flung across the country has truly been “Corona-lemonade.”
3) Post what uplifts. These days, I largely stick to posts about children, pets, and art. I try to post things that are uplifting, things that I feel I need to see or read to feel positive. If I’m angry, I phone a friend or talk to my husband instead of raging on Facebook.
4) Talk kindly to the self. We are all suffering a bit from alert exhaustion. Constantly remembering to manage a mask, wash hands, disinfect surfaces, keep 6 feet apart- is E-X-A-U-S-T-I-N-G. When I catch me berating myself over which step I forgot to do, I acknowledge I‘m doing the best I can. We are living in unknowable times, and its okay to be tired. It’s okay to be overwhelmed. I try to talk to myself the way I would talk to a frightened child. Kind words change how I think about myself, and change how I relate to others. Thinking kind thoughts, creates kind feelings towards others, which ultimately leads me to act more pleasant toward others.
5) Meditate. I know yeah-yeah- you’ve heard it before... But really-just breathing in and out, feeling my breathe for just a minute lowers my anxiety and makes me kinder, kinder towards myself and others. If I get acutely overwhelmed, like when trapped in an environment where people are not socially distancing, I use 5-4-3-2-1... Name 5 things I see, 4 things I hear, 3 things I am touching, 2 things I smell, and one thing I taste. This really helps ground me in dynamic situations.
These ideas won’t eliminate the unknowingness of this Fall, (as I write this, our family is bracing for the possible return of our college freshman after just 2 weeks on a campus, with extensive testing)... but these suggestions can help you feel less anxious, and as a result help you act kinder towards others. I try to remind myself, we are all doing the best we can, even when I think we could all do better.
As we move forward into September, I hope you feel more connection, less anxiety... My COVID Fish series, reflecting on the experience of living in a pandemic, will be part of the virtual Candy Colored Collective Show and Sale in October. These 6 in. X 6 in. and 10 in. x 10 in. oil pieces will be priced $150 and $200, framed in raw maple frames, with shipping included. I am committed to keeping some of my original work accessible, I hope you’ll take this opportunity to snatch up a piece at this very reasonable price!
Stay well friends. Be kind to each other, and know I am holding you in my heart.
Many Bows to Each of You,
Candace
]]>In studio news, the Pop- Up was a great success. Because so many of you bought so many Lego Mini-Portraits, we raised $100 for the Utah Food Bank. There are a few left and if you visit the website and can’t find one you love, you can always commission one. In short, it was a great day, raising funds for the Utah food Bank and catching up with so many friends and fellow local artists!
In the coming month, there will be another opportunity to meet in person, masked and socially distanced. The Opening Reception for Ogden’s Eccles Art Center’s 46th State Competition is August 7, 5 to 8 pm. Come with your mask and let’s support Utah’s artists. Hopefully, there will be a piece or two of mine to see as well!
And then in October, I will have original work in a virtual show and sale with the Candy Colored Collective. Follow “#candycoloredcollective” on Instagram, to see the beautiful work as it is created by the talented artists included in this show.
In closing, as we march through the final month of summer, I encourage you to be inspired by the final public words of the late John Lewis, “Democracy is not a state. It is an act, and each generation must do its part to help build what we called the Beloved Community, a nation and world society at peace with itself...The vote is the most powerful nonviolent change agent you have in a democratic society. You must use it because it is not guaranteed. You can lose it.” Now is the time to register, verify polling locations, take November 3 off, so you are certain your power is felt. Then, reach out to all you know and love, and encourage them to exercise their power too, regardless of their political affiliation. These are the acts of being a good ancestor. These are the acts of defending democracy.
Many bows to each of you. Be well all.
Candace
]]>This will be my first pop-up shop. I will be accepting Venmo, PayPal, and contactless Square. I will not be accepting cash, due to COVID. I strongly encourage all to wear their masks. I know I will be wearing one to keep you safe and would hope you like my work enough, to keep me healthy so I can keep painting for you!
If you live a distance away, and have been waiting to buy a piece from "#100Day Project: The Watercolors" collection, I would buy it before July 11, as I will be selling the ones that remain at the Pop-Up. I will also have some large oil paintings, as well as some tiny watercolors featuring our lego figures from the "Toys on Safari 100 Day Project 2020," that appeared in the Quaranteeny Art Show, back in April.
Twenty-five percent of the sales of the Quaranteeny Art Show paintings will be donated to either the Utah Food Bank or Black Lives Matter, SLC. Customers will designate where their painting's donation goes.
For folks, who live in Utah, I do hope you'll stop by and say a socially distanced hello. I'd love to chat, answer your questions, talk about painting, or just catch-up. I'll even have free cookies, by 'Sweet Treats by AnnieClaire' for customers that buy art.
Bye for now, but I do hope to see you on July 11. Many bows to each of you. Stay healthy friends!
]]>In late March 2019, a lifelong friend suggested I join her on an art challenge entitled "#the100dayproject," one hundred consecutive days of creating. The rules of the project were 100 days of a publicly posted daily creative practice. In an online review of past projects, I found folks who had painted animals on tea bags, done a daily doodle, made a daily collage, created a daily quilting square, and painted a daily portrait. The projects were varied and inspiring- so much work developed in just 100 days. The possibilities were endless.
At the time, I had a weekly oil painting routine with a lovely group of women in Salt Lake City, but progress on paintings was slow. I wasn't painting enough. I was still unboxing myself after years of caregiving for two demented parents. I wanted to elevate my painting game, and 100 days of painting seemed an excellent way to create a lot of work in a relatively short time.
Ultimately I landed on the rules for my project: 100 watercolors, based on photos on my phone, each watercolor completed in a single day. Once the day concluded, there was no going back. No touch-ups, no do-overs. Unbeknownst to me, I had created a deeply challenging project that would convey a sense of place, a visual map of what inspired and comforted me, and an experience that would point to what was holding me back from a complete human expression.
So what did I learn in one hundred days? Over the arc of the project, I experienced much of the technical development I expected. I honed my sketching skills, developed my understanding of watercolor, and explored the use of color, but I also met my deeply personal narratives. I did not expect to meet my story.
During the project, as I worked to create new habits around daily painting, I still had the same family responsibilities- kids to get to school, meals to make, laundry to clean, and a garden to plant. Did I have enough time to do a painting a day? As the hundred days passed, I began to see the story I was creating around worth. Was I worthy of my time to paint? Wouldn't taking care of someone be more culturally acceptable? Was my desire worthy of taking time to paint at the expense of my other responsibilities? Was my artistic pursuit worthy of being seen? A pattern emerged. I realized I was constantly hustling for what the culture deemed "good," acceptable, and honorable. I had chased a sense of worth so thoroughly I had lost bits of myself. The chase had kept me from fully expressing what I had felt called to do for 40 years- to paint!
As the weeks passed and more people saw my work publicly posted, fear arose. I had another narrative brewing that told me I was making a fool of myself. I fought off thoughts that people were quietly rolling their eyes or smirking at my public display of "skill-less" paintings. The project transformed into a challenge to question my thoughts and then let them go. I reminded myself once the daily painting was created and posted, it was over; no rumination, no hindrance, no fear.
Ultimately, the project gave me a framework in which I became intimate with my patterns and stories. How was time spent? What if someone else did that chore? Why do I always insist on doing that house duty? Could I be more productive if I focus on creating before doing for others? What thought came up when I did that? Did all roads lead to validating my worth? What if I was born worthy?
The exercise of daily painting and publicly posting gave me a daily space in my day to question my beliefs and see what I created with my stories. I watched as my thoughts started my behavior. My behavior then reinforced my narrative, and my narrative created my reality. Change my thoughts, change my experience of reality. Ultimately, the most incredible thing I realized:
We create our reality: and we make our experiences of each other.
What if we all lightly held our narratives, loosely held "our truth?" What could we create? What fear could we relinquish? What relationship could we repair? What problem could we solve?
If you've read this far, consider doing your own 100-Day project. I promise if you complete one, you'll develop skills, but you might also meet something deeper, your nature- and wouldn't that be lovely?
You can visit and purchase work from "The 100 Day Project" on this site, under https://candacemclane.com/collections/the100dayproject-show.
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Pricing will still be done in our traditional way, with plate prices starting at $85 and increasing in $1 increments. There will also be a Silent Auction with the option to receive notices about plates you are bidding on.
]]>Monday, May 11, 2020
Online preview with prices available by 10:00 am
Pricing will still be done in our traditional way, with plate prices starting at $85 and increasing in $1 increments. There will also be a Silent Auction with the option to receive notices about plates you are bidding on.
Thursday, May 14, 2020
9:00 am Silent Auction begins
9:00 am Golden Wristband access to full auction begins
10:00 am $300 for 300 Sponsor access to full auction begins
12:00 noon Ticket holder and Participating Artist access to full auction begins
Friday, May 15, 2020
9:00 am Silent Auction ends and sales of all remaining plates become open to the public
Plate sales will be open to the public without registration necessary from Friday, May 15, 2020 until Friday, June 5, 2020.
Registration
Registration is required to participate between 9:00 am Thursday, May 14 and 9:00 am Friday, May 15. There are three options listed below and you can click here to register.
Golden Wristband - $1,000
- First access to buy plates at 9:00 am on Thursday, May 14
- No limit on how many plates you can buy
- Registration for 5 people to have access
- Recognition on Art Access web site and social media
$300 for 300 Sponsorship - $300
- Access to buy plates at 10:00 am on Thursday, May 14 (second group)
- No limit on how many plates you can buy
- Registration for 2 people to have access
- Recognition on Art Access web site and social media
Ticket - $25
- Access to buy plates at 12:00 noon on Thursday, May 14 (third group)
- No limit on how many plates you can buy
- Registration for 1 person to have access
Artists participating in 300 Plates will receive one (1) free ticket and one (1) half price ticket, just like always. Look for a separate email with the discount code to use when registering.
Pickup and Shipping
Plate pickup will happen Monday, June 8, 2020 from 10:00 am-2:00 pm at Art Access. In case you would rather not venture out to pick up your plates, there will also be an option to pay for shipping when you checkout online.
If you have any questions, email 300plates@accessart.org.
This is a fantastic opportunity to support Utah artists, no matter where you live! I hope you'll join us and see my other plate included in the fundraiser.
]]>I grew up in Richmond, Virginia, drawing cartoon and Sunday comic characters. In high school, I had a booming part time job, painting album covers on t-shirts and canvas bags. I entered college considering an art degree from Hollins University in Roanoke Virginia, but got slightly rerouted and graduated with bachelor degrees in both Studio Art and Biology.
After Hollins, on advise from many, I abandoned my budding art career and studied Occupational Therapy at Tufts University, in Boston. Following completion of my training, I moved to Philadelphia where I practiced for a decade. Along the way, I married my great guy. We welcomed 5 children, while my husband’s tech career, grew and grew.
In 2010, we moved to Utah, to be closer to a tech development hub, for my husband’s career. Little did we expect to fall head over heels in love with the vast vistas of southern Utah, the blue bird days of Utah’s ski country, or the verdant green of Heber Valley’s north fields. We made Heber Valley our home.
In 2011, we moved my aging parents to Utah. Shortly after their arrival, we realized the extent to which both where struggling with dementia; and so began a full year of caretaking of not just them, but also our 5 children.
In late 2012, the caregiving, and grief of slowly losing my aging parents, drove me back to painting. I started painting regularly with a group of women in Kindra Fehr’s studio in Salt Lake City. Painting began to carry me, creating a meditative space to rest my mind and surrender my fears.
In 2019, a friend encouraged me to try #the100dayproject, a global art challenge to create 100 days in a row, posting publicly the work created. In doing the project, I was quickly confronted by my thoughts and stories: stories about talent, time, relationship. I began to realize I’d been hustling for my worth for a lifetime. As I continued to meditate and paint, I realized I didn’t have to be afraid anymore, I was born worthy. I was worthy of having my fine art painting career. It was time to share my work in the world. To read more about this 100 day project, visit https://candacemclane.com/blogs/news/artist-statement.
Currently I enjoy living on a small farm in Heber Valley, Utah, where I am surrounded by goats, chickens, peacocks, bees, my studio dogs, Maggie and Nala, a sweet husband and many children, home in the wake of COVID19. I work daily in my studio on our back hill overlooking the Wasatch Back. My days are filled with art, virtual art shows, ideas, oils and watercolors. There are no bad days!
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