TERRANCE GRAVEN
  • Blog
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    • Lay Still
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    • Legs Painting
    • Silhouettes
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    • Mourning Pins
    • Delightful Way
    • Rx Tablets
  • FUTURE ART
    • Mourning Handkerchiefs
    • Willow Wallpaper
    • MercuroChrome Paintings
    • Hang Your Heart
    • Mini Eye Portraits
    • Gold Trocar
    • Mortality Staff
    • Black Substrate
    • Body Supports
    • Body Positioner
    • Hand Holder
    • A/V
    • Glass Body
    • Self-Portrait
    • Scrying Mirror
    • Hospital Gown
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Collage Day

5/22/2016

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Another creating  collages with our group.
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I created backgrounds today.
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Joe's packet of collage items.
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Ken's collage work
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Ken's second work.
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Airy's workspace.
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Airy and Aaron's collaborative collage.
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Artist meeting

5/17/2016

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Ch 2: Section 1-3, pg. 41-55
Read ahead pg. 55-64

Exercises:
​

Working Underneath
“Can you take a minute, switch gears, and again practice hushing and holding? Can you put this book down, quiet your noisy mind, and allow a vivacious idea in?”
I completed a sketch that incorporates intricate glassware, amber rubber tubing, and my mother’s and father’s hair. In the end, I did not care for the simplistic design, but perhaps I need to “hold” longer.
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Living a Tradition
“What might you have in common with other artists? What ideas have concerned them? If their art has interested you, so may their ideas. Try to name those ideas, checking for resonances.”
There are plenty of artists that I draw inspiration from, such as Matthew Barney, Odd Nerdrum, Paul McCarthy, and David Altmejd. They either have aesthetic or conceptual underpinnings that are similar to mine and I continually look to them for stimulation and reassurance.


Reconsidering Difficult Ideas
“Which ideas have you rejected in the past as too difficult to deal with? Can you name a few?
     Pick one. Grab it. Write about it a little, discuss it with yourself, think about it. What exactly is too difficult about it? Is it too ambitious? Too disturbing? Too self revealing? Too technically difficult?
    What, as you think about it now, are the good reasons for entertaining it? What are the good reasons for rejecting it? Make a list of the pros and cons.”

A semi-abstract body shape lies prone on the floor while tiny clear, egg-shaped objects float overhead. The floor-ridden mound has accumulated a crystalline mass of broken windshield glass, while the end is smothered in glistening medicinal ointments. Highly-decorated straight pins pierce a cluster of dead flies as they randomly emerge from these viscous salves.

I have avoid doing this project because of the high cost of all of the medicinal ointments and also afraid of how literal it may look. Is there a way to abstract part of it? Should I use a large quantity of gold tassels and ribbons? Should I incorporate used and disintegrated rubber gloves? I will revisit my notebook of personal symbols.
​Pros
  • ​It gives me great satisfaction to work directly with figurative art.
  • ​I love creating large works.
  • ​Because there is not a deadline, I will allow myself to experiment and play. I will be wild and imaginative.
Cons
  • I do not have a show for this piece, so once completed, it will only be photographed and put on my website.
  • ​I will have intense frustration in my struggle with literalness.
  • I will get depressed after creating it, because of a lack of venue.
And on balance? Perhaps I could create a smaller hand version or even a face? It would be more doable and give me the chance to try a few different things.

​
Goals for this week:
  1. Finish updating MDR project in website
  2. Research artists in folder

Goals for next week:
  1. Finish updating MDR project in website
  2. Research artists in folder
  3. Add symbols from library book to my Symbol Notebook
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Add crackle medium

5/11/2016

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Today I added crackle medium to one side of the headrest. Can't wait to see how it turns out.
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Art Group meeting

5/10/2016

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Today met with my artist friends to review Chapter 1. We all agreed that Eric Maisel's book is much more stimulating and intelligently written than The Artist Way.

​Exercises:


"How can I best nurture my wish to create?"
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I can nurture my wish to create by honoring my legitimate self, dedicating my time to my art practice, and sharpening my technique when I don’t feel inspiration. How will I practically do this? How will I honor my true self? How will I dedicate time to creativity, when I need to address finding dependable part time work to financially support myself?

First, I will continue to schedule time at my art studio on my calendar. I can ensure this commitment, because I responsibly adhere to the engagements on my calendar.

I also will continue to take care of my mental and physical health to support being inspired and energetic. This means sustaining an exercise program and augment it with weight training.
Concurrently, I will adhere to weekly mental therapy and my daily prescription program.
​

I commit to attending figure drawing sessions at least once a month, to sketch at least once a week, and to revisit my personal symbols notebook. As usual, these undertakings will be recorded in my artblog, which helps me keep focused and act as a reminder of how devoted I am to creativity.
Finally, I will contact BAVC to inquire about acquiring satisfying and steady part time work that will heal my worrisome mind. It will liberate nervous energy, leaving me with even more potency to create extraordinary artwork to share with the world and myself.

Goals for this week:
  1. Update MDR project in website - completed part of it
  2. Research artists in folder
  3. Apply crackle medium to headrest
  4. Finish box for casting medication pill
  5. Enter new AIR and grant information into spreadsheet - finished

Goals for next week:
  1. Finish updating MDR project in website
  2. Research artists in folder
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Collage

5/4/2016

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Today I created a collage that's different than I usually do. It was really satisfying.
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Art meeting

5/3/2016

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​Today I met with my artist friends to discuss the rest of Chapter 1.


​Fearless Creating

Ch 1: Section 13-15, pg. 34-39

Reading:
(Pg.39) I will do important, hard work. I will create, no matter what! 
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Exercise: Tameness and Wildness Together

Constructive wildness
Craving for Drama - I strive to make a striking and gut-wrenching experience...one that haunts people in their sleep.

Rebellion - I do not want to paint landscape paintings even though they may sell well. I want to create a fresh and difficult experience. "My goal is not to appease and comfort, but rather to agitate and illuminate places that are usually left unexplored."

Sheer energy - I use my fears, sadness, and anger to motivate me. I get excited by my own work.

Destructive wildness
Sheer energy - I get swept up in the energy to the point that I cannot stop to eat or sleep. My mind becomes unfocused and easily distracted.

OCD - I get caught up in perfection instead of allowing happy mistakes to happen. I become so focused that I ignore rich side projects. I will spend inordinate amounts of time on extremely small details that may not matter to the whole. For example, cutting tiny squares.

OCD - When I discover a new medium, I hoard on it, which creates boxes and boxes of clutter in my studio.

Constructive tameness
- I make “to do” lists and check items off as I go.
- I keep myself organized with summary sheets and inspiration binders.
- I create a blog that keeps track of my progress and reminds me that I spend a lot of my life creating.
- I honor an extremely low budget by having control. Instead of buying items, I construct them myself.

Destructive tameness
- I become so focused on my plan, I don’t allow myself to play and experiment freely.
- I’m overly modest, instead of celebrating my creativeness.
- I over-intellectualize my work to attempt to make it fit into the “art world”.
- I criticize my own work too harshly.

Wildness and tameness in dynamic balance
- When arriving at my studio, sit quietly for 2 minutes. Then review my “to do” list and begin.
- Take time before leaving for my studio, to pack a fulfilling lunch complete with healthy snacks.


Goals for this week:
  1. Peruse 3 Sculpture magazines - completed
  2. Do another test with crackle pastes - completed
  3. Research how to sharpen a knife with a curved blade - completed
  4. Cut out pieces for second version of armband - completed

Goals for next week:
  1. Update MDR project in website
  2. Research artists in folder
  3. Apply crackle medium to headrest
  4. Finish box for casting medication pill
  5. Enter new AIR and grant information into spreadsheet
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    Picture

    AUTHOR

    Terrance Graven is a San Francisco artist whose installations incorporate sculptural elements, performance art, costumes, sound pieces, and theatrical lighting.

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  • Blog
  • CURRENT ART
    • Lay Still
    • Inverted Torches
    • Breath Body
    • Vanitas Painting
    • Legs Painting
    • Silhouettes
    • Mourning Armbands
    • Mourning Pins
    • Delightful Way
    • Rx Tablets
  • FUTURE ART
    • Mourning Handkerchiefs
    • Willow Wallpaper
    • MercuroChrome Paintings
    • Hang Your Heart
    • Mini Eye Portraits
    • Gold Trocar
    • Mortality Staff
    • Black Substrate
    • Body Supports
    • Body Positioner
    • Hand Holder
    • A/V
    • Glass Body
    • Self-Portrait
    • Scrying Mirror
    • Hospital Gown
  • FINISHED ART
    • EXHIBITED
    • Transition
    • I Transition I
  • CONTACT