Alyssa Nicole Talks Art

[cryaotic]

Visit Original Link

So Spoon helped me setup my new audio equipment.

That escalated.

[alyssanicoledykgraaf]

teeears ahahaha

[alyssanicoletalksart]

Upcoming work for the Thesis show!

Guys, I'm gonna be busting so much stuff out. Not stressed at all...

Ha. Funny joke.

[alyssanicoletalksart]

I dabble in tacky chalk art. Hey, the tackier, the more my bosses ooh and ahh. I know how to impress, obvi.

[alyssanicoledykgraaf]

Yuh-huh.

[alyssanicoletalksart]

Hey folks!

So I've literally tried to upload this blog post like three times over the past week, but my wifi connection in the legacies is absolute shit, so it hasn't gone through. ANYWAY.

Above pieces, middle left titled "After Party YARF" and middle right titled "If I Have One More Panic Attack I'm Moving To This Island With My Boyfriend" both came from a kind of weird place for me. I feel like a total hypocrite lately, because I sort of bashed the "tortured artist" at the beginning of the semester, saying I wanted to make art because it made me happy and as a result, I was going to make art that came from a happy place in my life. That was sort of the intention of the Over The Couch idea to begin with. It gave me a vessel to create judgement-free art, regardless of whether or not I was exploring a particularly deep concept. However, as most of my pieces appear sort of shallow or playful from a glance, reading the title will usually prompt the viewer to look deeper into the piece and realize that, yeah, I'm going back on my word and turning to my work as a safe haven of sorts. The works I have produced recently have all been from a place of anxiety, panic attacks, and overall blatant terror as I fear what my future holds after graduation.

I'm coming down from that a little now. I had to give up a really great job opportunity because I just had far too much on my plate, my grades were slipping, and things that were really important to me were getting cast aside because I was simply spread too thin. I'm feeling significantly better now, and I'm ready to start exploring new things. The last image in this photoset is a preview of my next series of pieces, which I am still experimenting with to work out a few kinks (for one thing, how the hell do you photograph milk without a reflection? Robin? Help a girl out?). Anyway, I'm excited to see where this new path takes me, and I feel incredibly lucky to find out with such a talented group of artists who have my back and are so adept in such a broad variety of ways. Cheers to new(ish) beginnings.

[alyssanicoletalksart]

Open Studio post.

Collection title: Over The Couch.

Artist statement: I was told a while ago that my art could be classified as "over the couch" work, or in other words, simple and somewhat kitschy. I was a little insulted at first, but I've come to realize it's the work that I enjoy creating the most. So I'm embracing it. I've done the work for you, I've placed the pieces over a physical couch as I take ownership of this style of art I am currently exploring. For me, art is about the process and experimenting with new mixtures of mediums, getting around the idea of working inside a predetermined box of style and materials.  I'm also learning to experiment in the realm of concept, relating work back to personal experiences that I believe the audience can relate to and stories that the viewer can place themselves in mentally.  This brand new mindset has allowed me to make work in a variety of medium, a variety of style, and, put simply, have a damn good time.

Titles (pieces numbered in captions)

1. My Teenage Years (Or My Desperate Obsession With Finding Love)

2-5 The Feeling Of Inadequacy Brought On By Holding A Pen and Not Knowing What To Draw (Nos. 1-4)

6. A Visual Timeline of My Grieving Process, Which Was Never Really A Process

7. There's Plenty Of Fish In The Sea and You'll Die Trying To Please All Of Them

The only thing I really have to say about my open studio is that I am not happy with how pieces six and seven are displayed. I will have to work out those kinks for the future.

But I had a lot of fun! And I'm having fun writing the gallery reviews as well.

See y'all on Wednesday! Stay fuky!

[alyssanicoletalksart]

Sketchbook post.

This is just so you guys can see what I'm up to when I don't care what my art looks like and I'm scatterbrained and need to get ideas down before I forget them.

I am spread so thin right now. It's taking everything I have to keep my grades up and keep everyone in my life happy, even if it means sacrificing my own sanity at times. It's Sunday night and I'm running off two hours of sleep since I woke up on Friday morning. All I've had to eat today is a salad. I didn't study for my History of Graphic Design exam nearly as much as I wanted to, but old friends wanted to catch up, and my open studio needed to be finished. and I had math homework to do and sleep to try and catch up on (it didn't work) and I had to open at Starbucks...I'm complaining on my blog. I'm doing it. Because right now, all this stress and high anxiety is really contributing to my artwork.

The things in my sketchbook are what they are because I need something in my life that is sort of monotonous and mindless. I bought some colored ink at Blik and I like to draw lines (because no one can call lines THEIR thing...I'm still not over that). So I've adapted this formless abstract blob making and outlining thing, and I've found it actually helps me concentrate in class and it calms me down a lot. When I've been working on a Thesis piece for too long, I can get out my sketchbook and make some ink blobs and wait for them to dry and it acts as a therapy of sorts for me.

Along with the weirdo evolving line islands I've been making, my sketchbook aids in planning and because it feels kind of like a diary to me, I feel like I've been able to come up with more personal pieces with a larger message within the confines of its pages. The names of most of my pieces have become secrets I feel like I'm revealing, even the ones that still only live in my sketchbook.

In short: sketchbooks are important. End of. 

[alyssanicoledykgraaf]

Hey all!

A little late with the update again, I’m sorry! My life is absolutely nuts right now. I’m losing it a little.

So this was the piece for the week, as you guys know, titled “There’s Plenty Of Fish In the Sea and You’ll Die Trying To Please All Of Them.” It was a lot of fun to make, and after showing it to my boss, I have exciting news:

The (hopefully first, as I want to do more) place outside of linfield that I will be displaying my art is at the West Linn Starbucks!! That is such amazing exposure, I’m so stoked. Especially after what John Brodie said about his art being displayed at Stumptown. He said it was some of the best exposure he’s ever gotten, because literally thousands of people saw it. It’s the same for my store. We’re an incredibly busy Starbucks, so the amount of people wandering through and seeing my work will add up quick!!

As far as what I got out of crit this week goes, I sort of have bad news. I’m a little disappointed by critique lately. I find myself spending upwards of 12 hours on each of my pieces, and then while most students get a 30/50 minute crit, I only get around 15 minutes. I guess I shouldn’t complain, it sort of means in doing something right. Or maybe I’m doing something horribly wrong. I’m not sure, a lot of the input I get isn’t constructive. It’s just commentary. I don’t think we need to be spending an hour on each person, though. There comes to be a point where the advice is very repetitive and unnecessary. Saying too much can get confusing. Idk. That’s where I stand.

Next week I’ll be working with an idea similar to my wall piece, and I’m excited to get started.

See you guys on Wednesday!

&

[alyssanicoletalksart]

1 of a series of 25. Ink and watercolor on watercolor paper.

[alyssanicoletalksart]

Hey folks!

Been AWOL, I'm sorry. I have so much on my plate this semester and I'll admit, I'm dropping the ball a little. I'm nervous that everything is going to pile up and I'm just going to, like...fail. And then not graduate. BUT I won't let that happen! Onward!

As y'all know, I've decided to create a collection of work titled "Over The Couch." It will consist of seemingly concept-free work made simply to be aesthetic. And initially, that was my plan for the work in this collection. I was hoping that making a space for myself in which I was free to create whatever I felt like creating or which I felt inclined to make, free of pre-decided concept, would bring back that excited feeling I had a year or two ago in relation to my work. 

And it did. It really did. However, I've tapped into a new area of concept for myself, deciding that the things I want to discuss in my work are personal rather than political. I just want people to see my work and read my titles and be like, "oh, wow, I definitely see where she's coming from and I know exactly how she feels."

One thing I'll be doing with this collection is using titles that are very specific and really don't leave much to the imagination. They'll tell you what the work is supposed to be about, but not how. That's the puzzle I've left unsolved for the viewer.

This was last week's piece, titled "My Teenage Years (Or My Desperate Obsession With Finding Love)":

Before framing

After framing and installed

detail 1

detail 2

detail 3

I decided to further drive the point of this whole "Over The Couch" thing home by placing a physical couch in my studio and presenting my work over it. I then created an environment meant to mimic a living room:

(the wall piece is a concept I will investigate further in future pieces)

And I don't want to give away too much regarding my piece for tomorrow, but here's a little sneak preview:

I'll post the finished piece and the title tomorrow after I present it and get it critiqued. There are a few things I'm unsure of with this piece (do I paint it? How do I mount it to the wall?), so I'm looking forward to getting lots of feedback!

&

[alyssanicoledykgraaf]

About time I posted on this thing, huh?

Although I have been unable to share my art with you so far this semester, I can assure you I have A LOT going on in the ol’ brain, art-wise. I’m going to leave my most recent concept a secret for now, so that I can achieve the full effect I’m looking for on Wednesday. But here’s a hint: it’s sassy, it involves kitschy art, and there will be many couches in our future.

I’ve come to realize that what appeals to me most in art is playing with different mediums and seeing how they interact with each other. So I’ll be doing a lot of that. I’m also learning to accept that a collection or body of work does not necessarily mean a group of work with nearly identical formulas. I just need to be brave and take risks and trust myself. If I’m making a collection with a true to myself theme within the pieces, they will be cohesive without being repetitive.

I’m so excited to see what this semester holds. And while I don’t expect that to last long (because, let’s face it, critiques are constructive and often brutal and I am sort of a sissy in that realm), I’m looking forward to standing behind my art and making things I personally love and could live with seeing over my couch every morning. ;)

[alyssanicoletalksart]

Gugvember

Artist Statement:

"We need to dumb it down.  We're giving away too much.  We need to make everyone think we have no idea what we're doing."

I'm finding myself straying further and further from my thesis work and coming back to Guggle more and more. I can't say I'm mad. Clearly in the world of Studio Art I am supposed to be participating in Guggle.

I came into capstone under the pretense that I would be able to create graphic works. And I can. Obviously, it's what I've been doing for the entire semester. However, I see that as a career path, and the graphic work I wish to create is sort of unrelated to anything studio-based. Because of this, I've been struggling to come up with a body of work I am both proud of and excited to create. I've been enjoying designing my posters. Sort of. I've gotten really positive feedback on them and I'm happy with how they've turned out. But it feels sort of irrelevant, because when I graduate I want to create client-driven works, and I can't necessarily pursue that route in the capstone program.

And that's fine. I get it. It took me a while, but I get it.

After having a sort of heated discussion with the capstone group last week, I had a complete moment of clarity. Brian and Ron said something about Portfolio and Thesis being for us to create what we love. If we're not having fun, what the hell are we doing?

I am having fun. In fact, I'm having more fun with my art this semester than I ever have. I am taking incredible risks and pushing myself further than I ever have. I'm collaborating and trying new mediums. Problem is, I'm doing this work outside of Thesis. It has nothing to do with my current body of work.

Guggle is something I have become incredibly passionate about. The idea of creating not only a movement, but a movement with a message I have been trying so hard to deliver during my time as a Linfield art major but never seemed able to on my own, is something I could never turn my back on. The art is, in my opinion, incredible. I've never in my life done performance until this semester, and now I find myself thinking that every piece I create needs to be a performance, or what's the point? What's the point of experiencing art that's not present? Guggle is about the present. It's about erasing the boundries between concept and aesthetic and shoving that all aside to create what you are happiest creating, regardless of pre-set rules or regulations about conceptual art. This piece has no concept? We only created a six foot tall cigarette box? Well the concept is Guggle. So.

So I'm taking an independent study with Brian next year to fulfill my need to create client-driven graphic work, and do Guggle for thesis. Yep.

#guggle

[alyssanicoletalksart]

Sorry about the lack of posts. I am going through some annoying and sort of difficult stuff right now, which isn't really an excuse. But it also is. So.

New(ish) posters. 

The first person is Cara, my sister's best friend from the age of...what, four maybe? I don't know her super well, but she's been around my entire life and I've always been very intrigued by her. Her quote refers to the time she and my (older) sister tried to baptize a cat because she was mad that she wasn't religious, and wanted to be. I'm not happy with how it looks right now. I think it's the type face. I might mess with the integrity of it and change it up quite a bit before class next week.

The second is Larsson's, which I am obviously having the most trouble with. I was relatively happy with how his previous poster looked, but the photo was too different from the rest, and because I retook the photo I felt like I needed to change the whole poster. I'd modeled the text around his face, so the composition wouldn't have really made sense anymore. Plus, I spelled peanut wrong because I'm clearly in the first grade. Plus plus, I like this "American Horror Story"-esque type face more for his personality.

Another thing I'm working on as of tonight that I'm excited about:

These are purely aesthetic pieces that I am making because they're fun and I like how they look. I've always loved drawing hair, but not faces. And I was getting sick of drawing the backs of peoples' heads, so here's my solution. They're going to be a little side project collection that I am working on solely for myself, to enjoy what I'm doing outside of a computer screen as well. Sort of like Holly's little "shovel bugs." Just like a buffer between pieces.

Interviewing two more people before next week, hopefully. Have a lot of work ahead of me.

Later days!

[alyssanicoletalksart]

I finally had time to work on some new stuff! 

Well, sort of. I didn't have time but I worked on it anyway. This is by far the craziest week I have had this semester. So many web pages to code and exams to study for and classes to register for and petition against. It's okay though, I'm feeling good!

Above current edit of most recent Thesis piece features fellow guggler Doug Sundman. Obviously it is still in the very early stages. I've got to draw the spirit animal on there somehow and my conversation with Suzanne Opton last week pointed out a few flaws that I still need to work out. One of them was the cohesion of my photos; I'm trying to make them more renaissance-y with the whole horizon line in the background thing. This photo is much more cohesive with Bennett's and Kate's pieces. I'm retaking Larsson's photo this weekend to get the same desired effect. And expect some line work added to the backgrounds soon. I'm also interviewing my fifth model this weekend (hopefully) who is...A FEMALE. what. I know. I'm trying to get outside of my immediate group of friends after Doug (I was going to interview Taryn) and this woman is more of an acquaintance who I have always been very fascinated by. I'm really looking forward to sitting down and talking with her.

Doug's interview was very insightful. He and I don't tend to be as serious with each other so it was very interesting to hear him talk about himself. He's a very interesting man. And the photo shoot was a lot of fun; the sun was a factor and he was practically crying in this image because I made him look directly into it. For art. You know.

Recent sketchbook work (still just a lot of lists and stuff, plus you can see some coding in there. CS is slowly taking over my life):

(On the right: a portrait drawn, first of me but then turned into Benjamin Franklin, by Larsson's little brother Jesse)

Don't forget to check out guggle's new website: tinyurl.com/thegugglemovement

and follow us on Instagram!

[alyssanicoletalksart]

#GUGGLEORDIE

Brand new piece in the #guggle collection. We (Kate, Doug, Lionel and I...also known as K8, &, Duggle and Lienull) present to you:

#GUGGLEORDIE

A six foot tall custom cigarette box.

(I'll document it a little better once we move it outside and post those pictures as well).

This piece was a response to the figurative sculpture provocation, which was supposed to represent the figure and stand at least 6 feet tall. Ours probably comes in at about 6'4" with the lid.

The idea is that we have made something which represents the figure abstractly; let's call it a metaphor. It's a box that is usually filled with "killing things" (to quote John Green), but we have turned it into a coffin of sorts. Our coffin houses the figure. In other words, the thing which holds the things that kill is now holding that which it has already killed. It houses the figure while it does its killing. We like to think we've turned ourselves into the cigarettes, as when the piece is presented it is meant to be stood and smoked in.

Progress images:

I think our collaborations are some of the most innovative, imaginative, boundary-pushing, content-filled and confusing pieces I have ever been involved in. I always come out of the projects feeling incredibly proud; this group of artists, who have now become very close friends of mine, make me think in ways I never have and are bettering me as an artist on a daily basis. I am so grateful that this wonderful little institution brought us together. 

[alyssanicoletalksart]

As you can see, most of my recent sketchbook work has been random lists and notes and not really much illustration type work. I think that's alright. I've been dealing with my creative energy differently these days; my new posse has me expressing things outwardly rather than in my sketchbook. We do an incredible amount of just discussing. We bounce ideas off of each other until something great happens As Doug put it today, we all have so many ideas and we shoot so many back and forth that we're bound to come up with the best thing we possibly can. We're just all on the same page and I've never really experienced that with any other group of artists. I can't even describe how it feels, it's exciting and terrifying. Our ideas seem too big even for us but we always manage to pull it off.

Anyway, another way I have been "sketching" lately is by writing poetry again. I did a lot of that back in high school and hadn't done much of it in a while. I forgot how therapeutic it can be. Most of them are about nothing but some bits and pieces are significant to what's happening in my life, and I feel like I can really tap into that emotion through these poems.

Overall, I feel really sedate and really ambitious at the same time right now. Working with this chill, flexible group of people has me seeing art differently. I'm looking forward to seeing what else we can do.

#smuggleguggle

[alyssanicoletalksart]

Progress! Will add background information shortly!

Edit: Alright! So critique last night during Thesis was incredibly helpful. I've been making my pieces too cohesive, so it was fun to mix it up and try to make them cohesive without being carbon copies formula-wise. I use transparencies and spirit animals to give each piece the same look or feel, and then adjust them each to match the individual's personality more precisely.

I think I am still the most satisfied with Bennett's (the last one), but I'm also pretty happy with Larsson's (the first). Each is and will remain a work in progress until all of them have been completed. I have another model/interview session (possibly two) lined up for next week. Unfortunately, however, I will not be able to include them in the midterm open studio visits.

I'm working out how to print them large without paying a thousand dollars, seeing as these are all rough drafts.

ALSO! Working on another awesome collab piece with my homies, Doug, Lionel, and Kate from the selfie project. It's going VERY well, we are all very pleased. I think I like collabing with them more than I like creating things on my own, which is rare. We all work together so well. It's been an awesome experience. 

Hoping to upload so sketchbook work later tonight! Catch ya on da flip.

#queenbees #bossdogs #gugglehard