back to blogging

I have been incognito from the blogosphere for a small stint, but am now back. A lot has happened over the past year and although I did not get to physically create as much artwork as I would have liked I did get to advocate and reexamine my current perceptions of myself as an artist, an arts administrator and an arts advocate.

I thought photography was behind me, but it always seems to sneak back up on me when I least expect it. I have gone from creating series in a dark room, due to not having access to a darkroom, (Side note: This would be a great project to create a free community dark room) to capturing the world in a casual photographic manner. In the past year from the time I jumped out of the blogosphere, I took 2,060 non-curated photographs (See highlights below). Amidst all of the happenings of life, one of the interesting series that developed has to do with the idea of dreaming and sleep. I have visited it in the past and it has surfaced itself through layered photographic drawings and time sequences, but below it arose to the surface in a much more deliberate manner.

One of my favorite highlights of this past year was Arts Advocacy Day that trailed the Texans for the Arts Convention in Austin. Two sessions that were stood out were Cookie Ruiz, Executive Director of the Ballet Austin’s talk about board development and Maureen M. Patton, Executive Director, of the Galveston Grand Opera House discussing dealing with disaster preparedness after Hurricane Ike.

Detail: Outdoor installation at Mexi-Arte Museum in Austin, TX

Another interesting item that has developed is that I began working towards a Masters of Art in Arts Administration at Goucher College. I will say only this, beyond the phenomenal staff and great grouping of classmates within the first two-week residency a slew of nonprofit “myths” were debunked and historical relevance of our national nonprofit community was brought to light. Catch me offline sometime and I will divulge some great trade secrets and stories!

Goucher Silent Auction and Graduate Student Benefit

5 x 7

Arthouse: Everyday I'm Hustlin' Exhibition Detail 2010

I made the quest to Austin for the Arthouse 5x7 where over 1,000 artworks were exhibited. Since Arthouse is currently working on their building the exhibition took place at 301 Brazos Street. The burnt yellow walls were designed as columns to allow works to be displayed on all four sides. In the second image above you can see both of my works Everyday I'm Hustlin' I & II on opposite sides of the wall. I will post a detailed view of these pieces shortly, also see artwork concept in previous post Everyday.

everyday

Jay-z ft. Rick Ross - Everyday I'm Hustlin' Remix

I was invited to participate in the Arthouse 5 x 7 and the pieces created for the exhibition spurred from a conversation about individual interpretation and the influence of music. Everyday I'm Hustin' I & II are based on rap songs with a Dirty South flair that examine the contradictions between masculine and feminine ideals. The song is deep, raspy and arduous while the work is light and sweet. Even though the song has moments of hype the story being told has a universal truth and like folklore the words are being adapted into everyday life. Those ideas have been merged in these pieces through there medium and in the choice of using a working object.

Land Art Shenanigans

Detail of the material for the upcoming Sampler: Land Art Project

So this weekend, I blew all of my lunch money and picked up the supplies for my land art project. With bulk silicone and adhesive I hit my mini patio and got my primary pieces set. This evening I ran through some configurations apparently increasing the scale from thread to rope does not necessarily immediately translate the structure, cohesiveness or vocabulary of my current (regular size) embroidery style. It was actually quite grounding that my first large-scale embroidery project read like learning to embroider in a new material. Ironically I will be cracking out my protractor, ruler, level and redeveloping a style appropriate to this scale.

Hopefully this coming weekend, if it does not rain, I will be hitting the streets sampling the pieces in various locations throughout the city.

FEB - MAR

I have started to notice a pattern in my embroidery. It seems that the only down time I have to work on projects is between locations. My passenger seat has turned into a pretty good pincushion and my mobile embroidery kit rocks. On a great note I finished two pieces this week and kick-started my land art project.

J sampling audio tracks, 2010

After an Evening of brainstorming at La Botanica I worked out the espacio-audio technical difficulties. I was approaching the reception issue in the wrong manner and in this case seriously boxed in by my own personal conceptions of the space. I am jumping back on the audio curation track and if you have anything that you would like considered just email an audio sample to icsbenavides@gmail.com.

thx

thx 1:30/ 2:30, Textile, 3" x 3", 2010 csb

Recently I was given an artwork by an acquaintance. It was an extremely nice video work that I in no way thought would have been gifted. So as a thank you to this person I created an embroidery with the comment thx. It was created with a multicolored yellow strand that reminds me of old friendship bracelets & the 80’s. While stitching through this piece it came to mind that there are several people that I would like to gift a thx. I have selected 15 individuals that I will be gifting these to and have an additional 15 that are open to anyone that would like one. I will be disbursing this out into the world on a pay-it-forward type of system and ask that anyone who receives one send in a photograph with the work or gesture that they will be gifting out. If you are interested please contact me via email at icsbenavides@gmail.com

Over the holiday I will be working on my land art project. I am not sure how all of the technical aspects are going to work out as I have the smallest patio known to man, but I will be ordering supplies and surveying land for my first proposed site this weekend!

seat = pincushion

I am one of the many commuters that drive into work every morning. I cruise about an hour of traffic at 15 mph from South East Houston into town. On this particular day traffic was not only ridiculously slow, but also at a complete standstill. (Note: there was no danger in taking these pictures, as I was not moving) What better to do than work on some embroidery while stuck in traffic? Interestingly my passenger seat worked out well as a pincushion. I am still sewing away at my embroidery sign in sheet and with the noticeable time lapse you'd think I was working on a Jeanne-Claude & Christo piece, but unfortunately it is just a slow process. I have started working on a new piece for exhibition in February. I haven't worked out a title yet, but it is coming along.

NEW WORK: Mediocre

DETAIL: Mediocre deinstalled, Textile & faux wood, 3" x 3", 2009 csb

I got into an interesting conversation w/ my husband over dinner that sparked this work. Cast into our discussion was a trivial story about complacency to which he noted, “If mediocrity is your ceiling then what is your floor.” It stuck with me & in thinking about a work for the Art Swap it just seemed right. Faux wood grain detailing, strawberry pink thread, an almost comical, extremely kitsch self-reflective comment. Some of the things that draw me to embroidery are its almost too sweet appearance, the level of detail and its ability to surprise.

Stop in to see the work OPENING, TH 10/1 6-8 pm

Historic Eldorado Ballroom (lower level)

2316 Elgin, Houston, TX 77004

While working on this I was listening to Pearl Jam: The Fixer, Old Dirty Bastard: Shimmy Shimmy Ya, New Edition: If This Isn't Love, Sound: Driving at night and Sound: Almost muted background noise.

sew-delicious: Embroidery Sign-In Sheet

In a moment of clarity, genius & no concern for time I decided that it would be a fantastic idea to create an embroidery sign in sheet. Although I am happy with its current aesthetic state, I have been working for 1 "solid" month and am barely scratching the surface of this project. On a positive note, my pace has definitely increased from 3 letters an hour to about 10. I am on a mission to get through the bulk of part I (the existing emails) by the proposed January espacio-audio exhibition The Contagious Properties of Sound. It has been an interesting study of typography and is extremely telling of the individuals that signed in. I have also begun to develop stylized shortcuts.

While working this evening I am listening to Dashboard by Modest Mouse, Cornbread by Anthony Hamilton and Golden Brown by The Stranglers.

DETAIL: embroidery sign-in sheet @gmail a, b & c

new website

I have been working diligently on my embroidery sign in sheet. It is looking good, but I am going to have to slam through a few redbulls to pick up my current pace of 4 letters an hour. This evening I have also kicked-up a new website for espacio-audio... give it a look www.espacioaudio.weebly.com