detox

the baby-factor has added a material component to my studio migration - trying to detoxify. Found a few links for non-toxic painting online:
http://www.baughnormanoils.com/solvent_free_oil_painting.htm
http://helenesart.blogspot.com/2008/03/water-soluble-paint-and-squirrel.html

Things to try:
* winsor and newton water-soluble paints
* watercolor crayons on big paper
* gouache for printmaking

Currently using and liking
* water soluble plate oils by daniel smith for woodblock
*** a little "stickier" than the normal oils - had to add a lot of water on the plate to keep it fluid during print session.
*** matte colors are quite nice
*** limited palette (lots of earth colors + basics) but they are all gorgeous.

Modification of practice for oil-based existing supplies

* soysolv for oil cleanup in printmaking
* safflower oil for gamblin oil cleanup, followed by soap
* linseed + stand-oil as a medium (apparently this may be easier to clean up with safflower than
Teaching drawing class has excited my enthusiasm for line - so perhaps this will enter more of my practice.

General Safety for All Work

* PROBLEM earth pigments seem safe, and the spunky colors can be toxic if eaten / absorbed through skin. If I find the comprehensive list, will link it here.
* SOLUTIONWear non-latex, nitrile gloves
* no eating while working
* wash up thoroughly after work.

MFA - First & Second Year Show

I'll be wheeling a few new paintings out of the studio for our first year MFA show.
Show opens May 8.
Press Release for Reading by You

When:
May 9, 7-9pm - First Year MFA show opens. Artists will be there (including myself)
May 30th 7-9 pm - Official Opening (first year and second year MFA shows)

Where:
Pence Gallery
Davis, CA

collage-o-rama

heads, eyeballs, skin, hair... super mega composite of the 6 first year mfa-ers. our first collaborative effort.

Lunch

Violent winds have mellowed outside. Studio is so porous that "inside" is a generous term. Cold permeates the corrugated metal wall. I walk past covered painting stacks, and hop on the wall ledge to force a pane open to allow in modest gusts. The fabric window cover is thrown to the ceiling. Shadows flail exposing cool bright outside. A play of white's personalities -- cool blue, warm yellow, murky brown. Each reveals somethign about each other. A captivating diversion until the sun descends and rats enter along exposed metal ceiling beams and window gaps. They wait for the relative darkness of my departure to interrupt the floor dust with delicate paw tracks.

Fluorescents loll at chain end. The view of sun is as much as I can take, in my post-review state. I've had to sit near the Kleenex box on the amtrak so days in a row. Studio is grim. The brownie, tea, and Mediterranean sandwich discovery just two blocks from school is a needed one. Sweet, savory, without too much external warmth.

dinge

Studio is colored by a varied palette of whites. Texture is provided by rats, ceramic dust, neglect. High ceiling and outside light are promising, but years of dinge and nightly droppings, undermine any sole claim to the space.

MFA Decision 2007 - UC Davis-bound

uc davis,
originally uploaded by robin kibby.

After adding 1000s of miles onto the Prius touring academic art facilities, I opted to stick closer to home to paint at UC Davis.

I am excited about my choice, but was attached to the other fictional futures as well. I am adjusting to their loss, filling their void with green hill, countryside, clean white walls, and a sea of bicycles.

It's hard to be objective about the decision. Each school was wonderful. Lots of strangers were generous with their opinions and their time. I peeked into studios, galleries, offices, and classrooms. I tried to come up with some matrix to compare studios vs. teachers vs. surrounding city vs. price.

In the end, it all seems a game of chance. A good game, since each school offers an improvement over my current tiny studio and semi-isolated work environment. So, here's to a couple years of prioritizing painting, and a victorious return to the metropolis with a trunk full of artworks to share. If all goes well, I may regain my bicycling legs as well.

Green vs. Green

artwalk 07 - from the Brewery roof,
originally uploaded by robin kibby.

This weekend's visit south left me hungry for the northern quiet - cool green space, crumbling cement and clean light. Bri and I visited central LA for the ArtWalk (neat!) and the campus at Long Beach to poke noses into some class critiques and bug more professors. After working in the studio for so many years, its hard to conjure up what school instruction means. It would've been easier to accept the mystery, if there was only one choice. But, now I am trying to figure out what to weigh, and how to weigh it. Davis's program is colored by the dappled light on cement from trees everywhere, and the generous studio space. The south is getting brighter. Reflected light off cement? the water? Its a blur of brilliant green lawn, classrooms filled with easels, and sound bytes from teachers. Facts are simmering, emotions scattered. It is hard to imagine leaving this landscape and the idiosyncratic culture of the Bay even for a couple years.

North vs. South - new MFa contender, UC Davis

Inbetween taxes, selling the Honda, and design work (dubbed "clicky clicky" for my time tethered to the mouse), I got an email titled CONGRATULATIONS. The use of all-caps seemed perfect for news from UC Davis to switch me from the Wait List status to the Yes List for their MFA program.
A week's mulling of Long Beach versus Laguna, left me leaning towards the private school, LCAD. I have a better grasp of LCAD's teaching style and like some of the teachers work a a lot. But my waffling is now distracted by the lure of the local... Davis is just a train ride away in a bikeable, beautiful town. It's hard to find out what the tone of the department is from the info online, since I can find the only report of student work is a write-up from 2004 MFA show involving piles of dirt and shovels. Very curious how much support there is for normal 2-d folks or if there a real new-genres bent.

An oddity of state school visual art departments is their lack of MFA show images online. All the Davis grad image links are dead. Lesson learned from grad school apps so far, is to visit the schools in-person. Very hard to get a feeling for it online.

The neighborhood is already planning a going-away party, so i'd hate to interrupt a chance for snacks and festivities. This time next week, I will have made my choice of where to paint in the Fall. eep!

where to hang my blank canvases - mfa 07

brewery art complex,
originally uploaded by robin kibby.

I can stop stalking my mailbox for academic letterhead and favorable replies. The final results are in from my MFA apps. I made it into exactly half of my schools (2.5 yesses, .5= wait list). The greatest shock is that I'll be migrating south. I've grown up in Northern Californian (have the palid complexion to prove it) so the southern part of my state remains a mystery.
The Prius was loaded up again for another road trip of visits.
School candidates are Laguna College of Art and Design, and Cal State Long Beach. In many ways the programs are opposites - LCAD, a small private school focused on representational & figurative art, and CSU Long Beach, a supersized art department with lots of interdisciplinary possibilities and facilities.
Considering how different the programs are, I thought my decision would be easy. However, they both seem good in different ways.
I took as many pictures as I could to aid with my meditation.
The Brewery pix are from the location where LCAD hosts their classes in LA, and the gallery shots are some spots where LCAD teachers are showing or grads have their shows.
LA MFA and Gallery Visit Pix
Lots of sunshine and good art all around. I am just beginning to wrap my mind around what it will mean to leave the East Bay for three years. and what it could be like to paint intensely over that span.
Our house is already filling with bubble wrap and tape as we start to clean house for the move.

Slides Begone!

Last one!,
originally uploaded by robin kibby.

Backpack loaded with 19 slides in a tray, $45 of transcripts , and an optimistic essay on my future art, I boarded a southbound BART train. San Francisco State University is my final MFA application for 2007. My enthusiasm for their program made me wait till the last minute. Very Kib-Style. Left the house at 1pm, application needed to be in at 4 pm. I tried to drum up the normal nervous agitation, but with 3 hours at my disposal, I could only enjoy the ride. Out of Berkeley, the BART train rises up above street level, and our neighborhoods turn into a sea of grey trapezoids topped with "the Dish" and pipes edged with tar. I ride backwards past the highway I normally take to the studio. The train descends into a tunnel under the Bay. It picks up some speed screeching over the tracks. SF passes underground. The suits get off the train at Embarcardero, normal folks exit in the Mission. We rise back up to street level.Homes back right up to the tracks so close that it looks like they've been sliced in half to make way for the train. We stop and I am on the lookout for the free shuttle to SFSU. I wait in line with folks who appeared to be a median age of 23.
We board the bus. I ask the lady next to me for help with the bus stop I should get out at. When I mention Art Department, the lady in front turns around
"So which department are you applying to?" she asks, smiling. Perhaps she's in the program now.
"Painting" I answer.
"Oh Painting" she smiles again, "You must be amazing then."
"You don't have to be amazing to apply. Anyone can apply." I respond.
"You're right. These days, they'll let *anyone* apply," her tone soured, implying that the contents of my backpack could erode the integrity of contemporary art as we know it.
"Well, anyone can apply" I clarify "You just have to be amazing to get in."
"I hope you applied to some private schools as well," she said turning back around to face forward.
The lady next to me smiled "this is the stop, you'll want to go left." I thank her and head off to relieve myself of my final burden.

the reason to always zip up

the reason...,
originally uploaded by robin kibby.

Thinking that all my MFA apps had to make it in the mail today, I hustled up to Kinkos/Fedex to drop off paperwork well before the West Coast cut off. My normal impulse is to walk, but I recently discovered that places that I think of as "3 minutes away" are 15.
So, if Kinko's is 5 minutes away by foot in my mind, that would equal about 40 minutes round trip in the real world. Stress and driving don't mix, so I opt for my trusty folding bike.
A feature of this tiny bike is that the bag hooks on the front stem, and its easy to tote paperwork, personal stuff, and bike locks. It's is so convenient, that I stopped zipping up all the compartments for easy access.
Unfortunately, my slick system doesn't fare so well on unmaintained city streets. Faced with an impressive pothole impact,my Zire 71 (dubbed "beedu" for its pleasant melodic alarm) launched into the air, just enough to fall under my rear tire. Farewell passwords and contacts and FedEx account info. Back to the house for hardcopy.
Lesson of the day - always zip the bike bag.