Marie - Contemporary Collage
𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘦
Original collage on paper
𝟿 𝘹 𝟷𝟸
SOLD
Working series - A new body of work using found imagery of women averting their gaze.
Creating Collage Artwork
I've been creating collages like crazy lately. They've taken a definite neon turn if you've been watching my IG stories. In the evenings you can find me watching Peaky Blinders with my husband and cutting up old books on the couch.
A few collage pieces will be available in person for Fort Worth's Spring Gallery Night on March 28th.
Leggy Pot Gets a Ponytail Palm
My handmade leggy pot finally got a ponytail palm inhabitant. Y’all, ceramics are fun 🌱
When Apple wanted to use my Photograph
February 8, 2015 - The marketing team for Apple contacted me asking about this photograph. I was still in the habit of posting my images to the Flickr community and that’s how they found this photo. They were just started their Shot on an iPhone campaign and they were considering my photo for a building size image.
They wanted to know how I created it. Was it with my iPhone? Yep. What apps had I used to edit it? VSCO Did I use any external lenses. Nope. I sent over the raw and edited files, signed a vow of silence contract and waited.
Then I waited some more.
Can you imagine my eyeball on a building!?!
In the end, they didn’t choose the photo for the campaign. I wasn’t given any feedback as to why. So I was definitely a little bummed, but I hadn’t told anyone so I didn’t have to break the news to family and friends. Life moved on and I continued to create photographs and put them out there. This is a reminder that you never know who is watching. Keep doing you… always.
Friday Introductions
I've been seeing Friday Introductions for a while now on Instagram. I've wanted to join in, but y'all... there's so much to share. So I've decided to narrow it down this first time around.
1) HELLO - I'm HOLLY 👋On any given day, I cycle through being an Artist, Adjunct Professor, Advocate, Mother to Caleigh, and Wife to Eric. But who likes labels anyway? Trust me... we're all way more than we can list in our bi-line.
2) MY FUEL - The green Fiestaware mug in my photo was a wedding present some 19 years ago. I love all of my mismatched Fiestaware. What do I love more than dishes? Coffee - Tea - Coffee. In that order and on repeat throughout the day: all black and all very strong. No exceptions.
3) LAST DECADE+ - I started writing a blog for my daughter back in 2007 when she was born with gastroschisis, and I loved the creative outlet and the new community that came with it. The internet and blogs were just taking off. We loved each other's kids. Then the children began to pass away one by one, and the pain was so very close that it physically ached me to log in. The internet exploded, and the small community that understood the intimate details of our life felt way too big for our family and our growing daughter's privacy. I decided to unpublish the blog, and I've been all the happier for it. 2019 was the end of an era where I made lasting connections that I will forever hold close to my heart. If you met us through Caleigh's blog, head over to Instagram and say hi 💚
4) MY ART - The creative energy and communications about my role as a mother flow through my art now. It had to go somewhere, am I right? My mediums are photographic, sculptural, video, and mixed media based. Some themes throughout my work are the repetitive aspects of female labor and the act of time. Counting time is essential to my practice and to being Caleigh's mother. Time is short, especially with my brand of motherhood 💚
That's it! My first #fridayintroduction post of 2020. Much love to you for following along!
Insta
My Hake Brush
Tools of the cyanotype trade. Love a good Hake brush. I'm getting ready to experiment with cyanotype photographic chemicals on the surface of ceramic pieces. With all the trials and experimenting happening lately, 2020 may be my year of trying something new.
Insta
Wrapping up 52 Weeks - Contemporary Sculptural Art
It's been over a year since finishing up my series 52 Weeks. Over the last month, I have been re-working a few of the pieces and recreating #46 that I accidentally sat down (dropped) way back in May. The series is complete and stored in my studio. I'd love to show these pieces again someday soon. Time will tell. Reach out if you’d like to show this work (wink, wink).
With this last firing, I experimented with making smaller versions that can be wall-mounted. I'm pleased with these little ones, but they're still a work in process.
See and read more about 52 Weeks in my portfolio.
Leggy Plant Pot to the Rescue
Fresh and still warm. I busted this leggy creature right out of the kiln this morning. It was an excellent kiln firing yesterday. Maybe this needs a set of googly eyes to bring out its features? Fun little projects like this really boost my day and keep me going. It’s not always about the big profound conceptual art. It just can’t be serious all the time. I think a beautiful air plant or cattail will be great for this funny planter.
Washing a Cyanotype
Washing and always cleaning something with the Cyanotype process. This video shows me using hydrogen peroxide during the wash cycle of fixing a Cyanotype.
Experiments with Cyanotype
This is the result of a wet cyanotype on Thai mulberry paper. It hadn’t been fixed (washed) yet, but I just love this in-between stage. This one didn’t quite turn out as expected after the wash process. It totally ripped under the pressure of the wash. So it goes… Let the experiments continue!
'A Collective Takeover' at The Fort Worth Community Arts Center
Join The Fort Worth Art Collective for the Collective Takeover in “Family Reunion II” See my piece “Ardent” before it eventually turns fades to black at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center
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‘Ardent’
20x32
Ephemeral Cyanotype & Elemental Formula
Learn something new Saturday
Late to the game (Hello 2017) but I knew that I wanted to learn how to create a cinemagraph in photoshop. Maybe it’ll come into my art work, maybe not. Always fun to learn new things.
RED Exhibition at the Arlington Museum of Art
"Peccadillo" my most recent work created for the curated RED Show at the Arlington Museum of Art.
RED is a conceptual exhibit from the the Fort Worth Art Collective using the color red in solidarity with those living with HIV/AIDS and is coinciding with the Keith Haring exhibit: Against All Odds from August 1-September 22.
Mixing Cyanotype Chemicals - Part One
Behind the scenes, while I prep Cyanotype chemicals. I feel like a mad scientist every time I start mixing this magical powder! This is Potassium Ferricyanide, one of the ingredients that make up the alternative process of cyanotype image-making.
I have new works in progress with my favorite light-sensitive material and I can't wait to share!
Photography Quote by Diane Arbus
This quote....ahhh! I love it so much that it lives forever in my thesis document. Photographs don't give away all the secrets and why should they? 1/1000 of a second freezes time and closes off the senses. Let's vow to all keep secrets in our art.
Amazon Prime Day - Marketing Hype or the Real Deal?
This time last year I was wrapping up my series Fundamentally Prime. This body of work ran from July 11, 2017 to July 11, 2018. One full year of documenting each and every box and bag that landed on my doorstep.
Amazon Prime Day to Amazon Prime Day.
212 deliveries and packages to be exact.
I use Amazon Prime for many things but the items I purchase mostly revolve around my daughter and her medical needs. Although I use Amazon to make our lives easier when it comes to her supplies; I was also using it for frivolous purchases to pass the time. These binge shopping sprees happened mostly late at night right before laying my head down. I would see something that I just HAD to have. Am I right!?!?
I learned SO much with this project. Here are 3 takeaways…
Amazon Prime Day feels like (and is) a marketing ploy by a HUGE company. I didn’t find ‘deals’ on the golden prime days. It’s simply a way to get customers on the platform and having them drooling for more. The PR push for Prime Day was the initial inspiration for my series Fundamentally Prime. The hype was huge and I realized that I was falling into it.
Amazon has cheaper prices especially with free shipping…. sometimes. You have to be a research shopper and not a convenience shopper. Not leaving your house has its price.
My consumption throughout the project and the year since has dropped dramatically. I kept a running spreadsheet with every item, cost, and date during the year-long duration. Seeing a running total, and documenting every package that entered my home helped me think about each item that I was bringing into my space. I think that if we have to think about what we are buying, truly think about it; we wouldn’t consume as much as we do.
In the end my patterns have changed with online shopping and I’m thankful for that. I’m living a more minimalist experience as an American woman, mother and artist. I pay attention to what is grabbing my attention.
You can see the entire body of work, Fundamentally Prime, here.
Making Art in the Tiny Cracks of Time You Have
When I started to create art after my daughter was born, I didn’t have the luxury of time on my hands. Flash forward to 2019 and I hadn’t made a body of work in over nine years. There was portrait work, crochet, and project for my daughter here and there, but really time was one of my excuses. Mine and my daughter’s health was another big factor.
Learning to use the bits of time that I had whether I felt good, awake or ready was one of the real reasons I was able to create again. I’m glad that I kept showing up and I’m glad that I figured out a way to fill those tiny moments with something that is important to my mental health.
Julia Cameron said it best “Our days are chopped into segments, and if we are to be creative, we must learn to use the limited time we have.”
HOMEMADE LAUNDRY DETERGENT FOR SENSITIVE SKIN
Hi, my name is Holly and I have crazy sensitive skin.
I can only wear certain types of make-up and I can barely wash my face with anything. Trust me it's über cool.
My husband has even more sensitive skin than I do. Years before our daughter was born we figured out that he was reacting to perfumes in our Tide laundry detergent. We switched to All Free and Clear at that point and things seemed fine. He would have frequent flare-ups, but we would blame them on the environment at large. He even had some trusty steroid foam to calm things down.
Flash forward to our ever so sweet daughter and you've got some of the most sensitive skin around. She definitely is a combo of her parents. Her allergic reactions and sensitivities are on her medical file, and weekly I have to list them at whatever appointment we might be at.
Like me, we can only use a few products on her skin. So when she was a baby, and having skin problems, we switched from All Free and Clear to Seventh Generation Free and Clear. I thought it really worked well, but I got tired of spending $20 a bottle on it.
I've been making my own house cleaners for almost 15 years now. Every now and then I will buy a Seventh Generation product, but it doesn't happen often. Basically, our house is cleaned with baking soda, vinegar, and hydrogen peroxide. Our laundry soap was the final hold out. So I started searching through Pinterest. I wanted a laundry soap that didn't have Borax in it. I've read conflicting information about it so why chance it?
I found a blog called Delightful Creations where the author gives some great tips on making your own homemade laundry soap without Borax. Her recipe calls for baking soda, washing soda and castile soap.
I've used castile soap in the liquid form to make some of my more elaborate homemade house cleaners, but I had never used the bars before. There are several organic scents to choose from. I always come back to the peppermint and almond. It smells so clean.
I originally made a small batch to test it out. I am beyond thrilled with how this has turned out. We just thought our clothes were getting clean before. So when I noticed that I was barely having to pre-treat stains I got all kinds of giddy. I do still use Ecover Stain Remover. I've used it for years, I love it and I probably won't stop using it, but now I am needing much less of it. The dried and finished laundry is so much cleaner than it used to be. The word crisp keeps coming to mind.
I found my soap bars at Whole Foods, on sale for $3.49 each. The large bag of baking soda comes from Costco. It's about $7.00 and there is plenty left over. We buy a bag or two of it each month anyway. The washing soda was about $3 and I needed 3 boxes for this recipe. So for around roughly $30 we will have laundry soap for 3-6 months depending on how much we use in each load and how big the loads are. I have my 1/8 cup in the tub, and I usually put two of those in for good measure.
I'm pretty excited about the fresh and crisp potential here. Happy washing!
UPDATE: 7/11/19 — I still make this formula! This blog post was moved and adapted for my new website. Original was posted on 9/8/13 at madeofgray.com
UPDATE: 10/5/15 -- I still make this formula every 3-4 months for our family and I love it! Check out the comments for more ideas and suggestions when making your own laundry detergent for sensitive skin.
PRO TIP: If you have a food processor, definitely use it for grating the castile soap into teeny tiny crumbs!
My exact measurements for a 3 month supply:
16 cups baking soda (1 - 13.5 lb bag is plenty for this recipe)
12 cups washing soda (This is a little less than three boxes)
8 cups of grated castile soap (1 bar of soap makes 2 cups)
Creating Work After Grad School
My studio practice this summer has been fast and furious coming off of grad school. The pace of that dense critique setting was bonkers, but it was my groove for the last 3 years. I'm wondering when I will give myself time to breathe?
July is here... the deadlines of August are approaching, and the pull of adjunct life will start.
Time is frail and always has been for my little family. Counting down to deadlines, the next thing, milestones, surgeries, spending as much time as possible with C, organizing and of course creating. Maybe the limits of time are real, but maybe they're all in my head.
My First Saggar Pottery Firing - Raku Kiln
The saggar process speaks to my love of the unknown when it comes to art-making. Reminiscent of the surprises found in Holga photography, Saggar pottery is full of colorful wonderment.
This past weekend I was able to participate in a Saggar ceramic firing at Windstorm Studio. The saggar process speaks to my love of the unknown when it comes to art-making. Reminiscent of the surprises found in Holga photography, Saggar pottery is full of colorful wonderment.
A thin coating of Ferric Chloride on bisque ware… throw in some organic material, copper wire, steel wool and a heavy dose of salt and you’ve got the recipe. Wrap your ingredients in foil and fire away. The whole firing took around 20 minutes.
What I was left with was a combination of beautiful reds, pinks, greens and browns.
All that was left to do was a quick wash and a light sanding. Beautiful. I can’t wait to try this process with my sculptural works. It’s SO satisfying. Many many thanks to Windstorm Studio for having me over!