In honor of Women’s History Month… Thinking about Expectations

What else was there beyond the alley, beyond the neighborhood?

What else was there to be?

I was not taught to ask.

I was not taught to wonder.

I was not taught to dream.

I was taught to soldier on, to be good, and —apparently — not to expect too much

And so, asking, wondering, dreaming, and taking steps to follow my own path came to me late in life. But, hurray! I made it.

I volunteer in a first grade classroom twice a week, and I look with wonder at each little child in my class. They are shining gems, little treasures of possibilities. I don’t know what kinds of homes or families they go home to each day. I can easily imagine the obstacles, hardships and inequities each of them will face as they grow. For each of them my hope is wider expectations, the ability to look, hope and dream beyond whatever smallness may define where they are now.

A few years ago I created “Small Expectations.” I’ll just go ahead and admit that it’s one of my favorite works. I created the image of the two girls in the center, dressed in their go-to-Sunday-School dresses, from a family photo of myself and my sister.  

Behind the girls, I have created a background suggesting their diminished expectations. The words from a mid-twentieth century etiquette book fill the fabric behind them. The symbols of birds indicate the innocence of the girls. The alphabet border and ABC blocks give the work a feel of simplicity and elementary school lessons. Yet, these real and implied life instructions were serious business.

For you, little girls… GREAT expectations!

(Small Expectations is 33” x 24”, mounted on a birch panel and framed from the back so the work appears to float 2” from the wall. It is available, on my website HERE.)

In 1987, Congress declared March as National Women's History Month in perpetuity. A special Presidential Proclamation is issued every year which honors the extraordinary achievements of American women. President Jimmy Carter's Message to the nation designated March 2-8, 1980 as National Women's History Week.

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— Bobbi

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A window into art (and the heart of the artmaker)

Again I am thinking about windows.

This is not new for me. I have been incorporating windows into my compositions for awhile now. They are connected to my thoughts about home and my thoughts about one’s journey. (Which starts at home. And ends up wherever it ends up. Probably a new home.)

A discarded door by the side of the road a few doors down in my neighborhood caught my eye. It has inspired me to think how to incorporate it into a new work. I shot a few reference photos. I like the way the light is reflected in the panes and I like the way the light and shadows make patterns on the door portion. This is very emotionally compelling to me. A door should be an entry. But it’s been discarded. Is the portal closed? Is there still a way into meaning?

Two works in progress in my studio have windows too.

The work in progress show above (photographed on my worktable) is a dream and memory piece. I have inserted water and abstract pattern into the window panes. The strong windowpane pattern invites one to look through. But what’s there is unexpected.

This one is not as far along. I am thinking about developing it into an entry for a Florida SAQA juried show in June, “Perspectives.” It’s more compelling visually than emotionally to me – so far. The strong sense of light on the windows conveys warmth. These windows were also discarded. An invitation to look inside, but set aside from that purpose.

I just completed a large art quilt with a window at its center. “Look Through to the Memory.” (2019 – 42” x 42”) I worked to make the window a source of the invitation to enter the story. The character (the little girl) is connected to the window, and the dream-like contents of the panes connect visually to the dream-like environment beyond the window..

(Above: detail, girl sitting on the window frame. You can see the whole work – “Look Through to the Memory” and get more information about the completed piece on my website, HERE.) 

The work below, “Sometimes You Can’t See In” includes multiple windows. It was inspired by photos I took of an abandoned house on Hwy 301 in Central Florida. The boarded shut windows, obviously, prevent one from looking inside. That made me think about windows in homes generally. Can we see through them to the lives inside? Might the life within be obscured by the façade? How can you enter and find out what’s really there?

I’m so pleased that “Sometimes You Can’t See In” has been accepted into the 62nd National Multi-Media Juried Art Exhibit at the Maria C. Howard Arts Center in Rocky Mount, NC. It will exhibit there May 3 – August.

(You can see the whole work and get more information about the completed piece on my website, HERE.)

My purpose in working with window images is
to offer an invitation to the viewer.
Look inside. Try to see through.
My thoughts and my heart as an artist
are in these works. Look. Look again.

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I always enjoy questions and comments. Thanks for reading!

Bobbi
bobbibaughart@gmail.com

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A Little Video... Art Quilt "Becoming One with the Night" step-by-step

I recently put together a little video about the making of this art quilt.

I believe that people appreciate a piece of artwork more when they know what goes into its creation. So, I have tried to address both the inspiration and the step-by-step process.

I remembered one particular part of making this quilt as I reviewed the images:

The underlying structure of squares in tension with the overpainted trees.

I remember that after I had printed and collaged all the individual squares, as I was laying them out in various patterns to finalize the composition, I almost didn’t go any further. I loved the squares. The colors were delicate and the patterns were interesting. I just wanted to look at them.

But, at that stage the piece did not accomplish the emotional goal I had for it. There was no reason for a character to enter the scene if it was just pretty squares. So I proceeded to the overpainting and the final composition.

Now, however, I know they are under there. It is one of the interesting aspects of creating textile works in sections. Even when the sections are not an obvious part of the final design, they are an underlying structure. They are in communication with, sometimes in tension with, whatever layers are on top. All of this adds depth and interest to the work, even when the viewer is not—at first—aware of their presence.

I enjoyed sharing this work in person with visitors during my recent studio tour. I hope you enjoy watching the video.

(The video should show below automatically.

If not, you can find it on You tube, here: )

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Making Connections... Does it Matter?

In the first grade class where I volunteer, the teacher lavishes praise on students who make a connection. If the kids are reading about a figure from history in a non-fiction text, for example, and one points out a similarity to a fiction story they’ve read, that’s a good sign of putting ides together.

This evening I’m thinking about some different recent connections.

Over the weekend, I opened my studio to DeLand’s Annual “Off the Beaten Path” Art Studio Tour. What a great weekend. The two days were filled with conversations, and visitors having the chance to get a behind-the-scenes view of my artwork. Touching a stack of printed yardage and seeing a brayer and a bottle of matte medium are everyday occurrences for me. But, for the visitor, they are a way in to an understanding what textile collage is all about.

At my worktable during the studio tour, surrounded by some of my favorite image-making stencils.. (Thanks for photo Ken Naigus)

When I first started showing my artwork locally, I was nervous about displaying and hoping to sell my work to people I knew. I thought they or I would be embarrassed, and that it was better to sell to strangers. Not true!

The lessons I had learned during my career in the printing business, working primarily with customers in my local community, held true with presenting my art as well. People like to do business with people they know. Learning that was important. If you are an artist: find opportunities to introduce yourself to patrons. If you are an enjoyer-of-art or a patron: don’t be afraid to ask questions and to learn more about an artist and her work. It will help you enjoy the artwork more. (And the artist will be thrilled!)

During the tour, several of my visitors were members of SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) and my local Surface Design Group, Arts. Etc. During those visits, we got to talk tech a bit. Being in a community of like-minded artmakers is essential! I enjoy the diverse methods and creative paths I’ve discovered from companionship with other artists. Some of my art buddies are my best encouragers.

I enjoyed the visit from SAQA member Pamela Burns during the studio tour. (Thanks for the photo))

During the tour, the laundry room was converted into an art gallery when I set up my display panels. “Becoming One With The Night” greeted visitors into the laundry room gallery.

Finally, I am learning that connections with people far away work too. I always enjoy the questions and comments I get from my blog and from website visitors.  And, just today, I was featured in this article in TextileArtist.Org.  I was honored when they asked me to do the interview, and pleased with the presentation they put together. Already I’ve had some nice e-mail correspondence with some of their readers.

Let’s connect! I hope you’ll find time to put your feet up and have a leisurely read. (Or even just enjoy the many pictures.) Here’s the article:
 http://www.textileartist.org/bobbi-baugh-an-expert-in-hand-printing-fabrics-for-mixed-media-collage-design

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Rain-soaked sculpture… and 3 art tips we learned

Today is studio Monday. I’m working on a new large collage of transparent colors

But yesterday was a day for sculpture and learning.

Two things impressed me Sunday morning. First: Eleven people were motivated to show up in rainy weather to walk around downtown DeLand to learn about our public sculptures. (I was the tour guide. But I will give more credit to the motivation of the after-tour brunch that was planned.)

Second: that we actually have a well-established and interesting public sculpture program in DeLand, Florida to visit — a tribute to our City government’s support, an active museum committee and lots of volunteers and supporters.

As we walked from sculpture to sculpture, I hoped to fill the rainy adventure with a few art take-aways. When you walk up to a sculpture, or any artwork, and it doesn’t immediately resonate or speak to you, how do you respond? I believe people sometimes feel intimidated by viewing work in a Museum. If it’s there you figure it must have some value. But what if you don’t get it – or don’t like it?  Out on a sidewalk art feels more accessible.

So, at each step, our group talked through a 3-step process.

Step 1: Just react with your gut. Some works are an immediate “Yes! I love this!” Some are works are a “Hmmmm, I’m just not getting anything from this.” And some are a “No. I have an immediate negative reaction to this work.” Any of those initial gut responses is acceptable and permissible.

One of the sculptures in downtown DeLand: “Continuacion” by Jiminez Deredia. Its massive form is evident next to a City worker during the installation.

Step 2: Try naming the elements. Elements of design are found in varying degrees in all artwork. Color. Line. Shape. Volume. Positive-and-negative space. Values. Direction. Rhythm. Pattern.  Working your way through an artwork, looking for these things and identifying them, is a way to become more involved with the work beyond the initial response.

A few times on our walk there were some “Aha” moments. “Look at that line, how it goes up on a curve. I wonder why the artist did that?” Asking the questions and wondering about the answers can help a work start to make more sense.

Step 3: Find out what you can from the artist’s statement or other resources. Even the title of a work can add insight. Knowing that an artist was once a biology teacher, for example, might explain a work’s relationship with nature. Descriptions of materials and methods help too. Imagine the experience of carving marble. Or imagine the process of welding steel pieces. All this background information can deepen the understanding of a work.

On our tour we had a few “Hmmm I’m not sure” reactions go up to a “Yes!” after reacting more with the work. (We didn’t get much change on the “No” reaction.)  All OK. I enjoy living in a City where our downtown allows the chance to interact with art.

Now it’s back to the studio for me.

This is Bobbi with another sculpture from downtown DeLand: Three Point One” by Alex Mendez. This photo was taken on a nice sunny evening during the opening event, when the work had just been installed.

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Original. Or not.

An exhibit of works by Robert Indiana has left me thinking about originality. What’s original? What’s not?

Indiana is best-known for his iconic LOVE sculpture and graphic design, which was featured on a US postage stamp. The exhibit I visited in the Tampa Museum of Art featured his 3-D assemblages, largely wood plus found metal and machine parts. It’s part of his body of work I had not experienced before.

Throughout the exhibit, there were “identical”sculptures side-by-side. (Like the steer skulls shown above, which were full size and mounted atop a large wooden tree-like column.) The teaching materials explained that he created cast bronze duplicates of some of his sculptural assemblages then painted them to match the original. Seeing the two side-by-side was fascinating.  Technically fascinating. Artistically intriguing.

The whole idea of a cast bronze is the opportunity to have more than one of a work created. But, I generally think of sculpture of that type as something created for the purpose of being replicated, created originally as clay or stone and then molded and cast in hot metal. Indiana’s replicated assemblages were far more complex.

Artists who create two-dimensional work for sale, I believe, struggle with decisions about creating reproductions. Of course, it’s just flat-out unethical to pass off a reproduction (generally a digital print) as an original work. But, if the artist clearly marks the reproduction as such, and the collector knows what he is purchasing, all OK?

I surely can’t fault any artist who creates reproductions as a way to mix price points and to create a sellable range of artwork. Artists have to make a living. But, I do think every artist has to think the issue through. Cranking out too many reproductions can diminish the value of the original image.

One of the things I enjoy about creating my textile collaged works and art quilts is that I do not feel tempted to reproduce them as giclees. A flat canvas, even one reproduced well, would be clearly completely different from the original. Seeing the layers, textures and stitches is part of the experience. So, I only create and only sell one-of-a-kind-works.

My struggles and decisions about originality are more internal. Am I creating a work that is authentic? Am I expressing thought or emotional content that is born from my own unique life experience?

Those are the things that reproduction technology can’t duplicate. It’s what makes art: art.

Here’s a detail of “Sometimes You Can’t See In,” a collaged art quilt from 2018. It incorporates my own photos hand-transferred to fabric: a kind of reproduction. My hope is that I have incorporated them into a work that is unique and personally expressive.

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Work in Progress… Surface Design to get the fabric talking

I’m in the middle of a new art quilt that will be 40” x 40”. I’ve printed all of the parts and have begun the composition.

I’ve been working this one in sections, quilting as I go.  These sections will function as background, intended to be part of the emotional storytelling. So, I want to get an overall harmony, while still creating splashes of interest that warrant taking a second look, and maybe a sense of surprise.

It’s about “talking to each other,” or that’s how it feels a I create. The pieces don’t have to match, they just have to talk to one another across the whole composition.

Stitching across the patterns: This block has five pieces, and each one is a pretty strong color pattern. The surface stitching here has a unifying effect. The strong diagonal lines criss-cross the different blocks, giving them a texture that’s in common.

Theme and variation:  I relief-printed this squiggly line pattern on two different fabrics.  They are not right next to each in the quilt. But I like the harmony created by their same-but-different appearance.

Stitch and spatter: This block of three also has very strong patterns and I used two ways to bring them into relationship with each other. The stitched pattern is again long connecting lines, but this time in long arcs. I also spatter painted the sections after stitching, creating another unifying element.

Some of my favorite spattering supplies.

(Confession: I just love to spatter. I take the fabrics to the cement area outside my studio, lay them down on the ground, grab my favorite little spatter-producing brush and go for it. I am generally barefoot, and often wear the spatter pattern on my toes and feet for a few days.)

I love the spontaneous and unpredicted things that happen as part of printing and painting fabric. It’s  where the delight and surprise happen. For the overall piece - I am a planner and a sketcher. I definitely have a finished composition in mind when I begin. These small parts will work together to accomplish the quilt’s concept — I hope.  Or they may introduce something new I hadn’t planned.

Thanks for reading. I always welcome questions and comments.

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Four lessons from art masters: Windows

I am beginning a new series of art quilts and I am thinking about windows, working out compositions in my sketchbook.

I discovered the appeal of windows as I created my “Home” series in 2018. Almost all of the works incorporated a shape of a house. But, as the series developed, I also became increasingly interested in the windows.

A window invites one to look inside.

A window may reveal, or it may obscure the interior.

I like the rhythm of panes in windows.

So, as I am looking ahead, I want to draw on what I am discovering about windows, and see if I can take it further or explore in some new ways.

To get my thoughts rolling, I’ve been studying windows that I’ve discovered in the works of master artists to see what I can learn.  Here are four I’ve noted in my sketchbook.

Windows as Depth– This is “Spring Fed” (painted in 1967) by Andrew Wyeth. (1917-2009) The subject matter is sparse and the colors are muted. The first place my eyes go is the darkness of the water and the trough. Then that vertical black shadow in the water leads up to the vertical center of the window. Once at the window, I look through to the next room, and then through the smaller window and out beyond the wall to the animals in the yard. The window is the way into the journey beyond the foreground.

Window as Composition - This is “The Open Window” (painted in 1917) by cubist painter Juan Gris (1887-1927). I enjoy the distorted perspectives of cubism and the interest in seeing a thing in more than one way at one time. In this work, the window is a strong unifying element. It is holding together all the different shapes and objects.  Both the still life objects inside and the natural elements outside are contained by the window frame. The shape of the window is the strongest and the simplest element in the composition. (Yet, there is still the opportunity for playful mixing up of space. See how the clouds/sky come in through the window onto the shutter?)

Windows as storytelling device - This is “Night Window” (1928) by Edward Hopper. (1882-1967) (One of my favorite artists.) The windows are interior frames, revealing or suggesting a story within. The overall painting is dark, but inside the windows is light. The windows reveal the breeze, with the single curtain blowing through the window. And, of course, there’s the very intriguing backside of a woman revealed.

Windows as balance – This is “Cottage Interior with Woodburning Stove and Geraniums on the Windowsill” by Andrew Wyeth. Wyeth’s seemingly simple depictions of interiors sometimes just take my breath away. This one has a very strong emotional pull to me. The only character is the woman, but she is all the way over on the edge of the picture frame and partially hidden. Balancing her, all the way over on the other side of the image, the light-filled window is a contrast. I find myself going back and forth between them: left to the woman, right to the sunny window, then back over to the woman. They balance one another and provide a dynamic quality to this very quiet, immobile interior scene.

For me, the process of developing an idea may proceed on a different route for each concept. I like the windows element in my work. I’m hoping a combination of looking at others’ works and sketching out my own ideas will lead to a body of work that accomplishes what I envision. Stay tuned. I’ll keep working on this idea and write as I go.

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Water Magic

I’ve been thinking about water, and about incorporating more water images into a new body of work.

Over the holidays, I took a photo-shooting walk in a beautiful preserve near my home to capture images. My goal was a group of shots for transfer to fabric.

I was amazed, first, at the richness of imagery available in just the smallest bodies of water. Almost puddles, small ditches beside the walking path held wonderful surprises – colors, reflections, a sense of depth.

In one spot, the water had a current. What a difference! I am still amazed when I look at these pictures. They look like molten glass, or like I have applied some PhotoShop effect to the image. This is just the delightful, amazing look of water in motion.

These leaves are photographed through about 6 inches of clear water

And I was surprised by the number of pictures I shot that will not work for my intended purpose at all. When I stood directly over the water, looking straight through it to grasses and leaves at the bottom of the ditch, the water was so clear that in the photo it became invisible. These are interesting natural textures, but they do not look like water.

(It seems to me the lesson here is about more than just photography. About the process of looking through. Seeing beyond. Allowing a barrier to disappear as we see what is behind it.)

When images of water are captured with some motion and bit of angle, they are – to me – just magical. They make me want to stop, to see in, to wonder about what is going on below the surface. Water in movement is a wonderful thought-provoking addition to works where I want to urge the viewer to look more deeply.

(Here are some detail shots of works I have created previously that incorporate water images.)

“Once She Could” art quilt. Water detail. The whole quilt can be seen on my web site HERE

“And All that’s Gone Before” art quilt.. Water detail. The whole quilt can be seen on my web site HERE

“Sometimes You Can’t See In” art quilt. Water detail. The whole quilt can be seen on my web site HERE.

“Where it is Strangely Like Home” art quilt. Water detail. The whole quilt can be seen HERE

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Two Unanswered Questions

The rhythm of printmaking by hand lends itself to contemplation. Once I am in printing mode, I find that I am both working with my hands and going elsewhere inside.

December 23 was a printmaking morning for me, and also a day of thinking. Thirty two years ago on that day my daughter was born. How has that passage of time and the accumulation of experience and memory occurred?

I do not write this in the sense of, “Wow! Time sure does fly!”  That, of course, is something we all experience.

I am wondering about the mechanism of memory and time. Are there specific cells in my brain which hold specific pictures and sounds? As all of our body cells are dying and recreating constantly, how, then, do we retain those memories? Where are they?

Thirty two years ago my daughter was a wonderful new being — warm, squirming, fascinating, and, as I realized I actually knew nothing about babies, a little terrifying. Today she is a warm and wonderful young woman. Such transformation, such experiences.

Exactly how all this occurs is my first unanswered question. (Admittedly, a large and vague question. The stuff of science.)

What to do with it is the second. (The stuff of art)

I take my artmaking seriously. I believe I am doing my best, most interesting  and most meaningful work when it digs at least a little below surface and aesthetic considerations and touches meanings or memory and experience. Each of us, when we create, is bringing to the work all that we are, all that we know, and all that we don’t know.

Can my work be both visually compelling and thought-provoking?

Can I create work that touches memory and experience in another person?

Does the work need representational subject matter to do that? Can abstract forms and colors communicate as well?

The unfolding and continuing of this second question is what keeps me interested.

Below: A few works that felt, as I created them,
drawn from inner experience.

“Find Something Real to Remember” (DETAIL) On my web site, HERE

“Where You Have Long Since Forgotten” On my web site HERE

“Neither Up Nor Down” on my web site HERE

“Flight of the Magical Lawnchair” On my web site HERE

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It’s the Little Things – Some Studio Printing Tips

I had a great morning session of hand printmaking this morning. I realized as I looked at the completed images how the rhythm of printing and having a successful session depend on some  little things. These become like familiar friends. As I set up I get in printing mode

Acrylics on my worktable: I set out the colors I plan to use for the prints. I love these quart jars of acrylic paints with the nice wide, easy-access lids. Several years ago an artist  friend told me about Nova Color paints from California. I have been using them since, and they are also my primary source for matte medium and gel medium. (I buy these by the gallon.)  I limit my palette of colors kept on-hand and mix all my printing colors from these basics.

My favorite mixing palette: I tape down a sheet of white paper to the worktable and tape a sheet of waxed paper over that. I mix on the waxed paper. It’s economical and disposable. (And I can also monotype print from the colors on the palette at the end of a session!)

Printing plate: I print by hand from a soft gelatin plate. The plate I am using currently is in a commercial size cookie sheet about 18” x 22”. I mix my own, and use a recipe with glycerin so it does not have to be refrigerated. I have been using this one nearly a year. I also have a commercial gelatin plate I use when I want to have two going at once. Each has its own quirks, and you have to experiment with amount of liquid needed and amount of pressure.

Materials: Generally, I print on muslin, sheer polyester fabric (shown) and rice paper. The more delicate printing materials (the polyester and the rice paper) pick up more nuance and delicate image from the plate. The muslin will print with a more opaque appearance.

Hands on! I use my hands to press stencils and relief materials on the plate and then press my printing surface into the paint. Yes, my hands get pretty messy. But I’ve tried gloves and just don’t like working that way.

Here are a few of the images I created this morning. I’ll be incorporating these into a new art quilt.

While I incorporate monotype printed pieces into all of my large textile collages and art quilts, I’ve also been creating some smaller paper-mounted monotype collage pieces this year. A sample is below, and you can see them on my website HERE    

“Beyond the Thunder” 16 x 20 Framed Collage 2018

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Thanks for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.

—Bobbi

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ART. NOT ART. Does it matter?

I had a wonderful opportunity to be the presenter this weekend for a SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) group in Melbourne, Florida. We spent time thinking through the difference between — 1. ART, and 2. NOT ART. Is there a difference, and does it matter?

This is an image from a cave painting at Lascaux, France, which may have been created as early as 20,000  BC.  This is ART. No question. And not because it evidences a lot of technical mastery or sophisticated materials. It is art because it has a specific expressive, communicative intent. This MEANS something. When I read descriptions of how hard it was to get down into the caves, how small the space, and I imagine a prehistoric person intentionally doing so for whatever ritualistic purpose this represented, I am in awe. It may have been considered magic. Or it may have been a rite of passage. But these were not created lightly or haphazardly. They have a meaning.

Sample decorative accessories from a major merchandiser.

These images represent mass-produced decorating accessories shoppers can find almost anywhere. They are NOT ART. That does not necessarily mean they are ugly, or that one might not enjoy using them for decor in a home. But even the original illustration that was done in order to manufacture these did not hold personal meaning in any way like the paintings on the cave wall. This is graphic design on-assignment.

I spent many years in my professional career working in commercial printing. I have created graphic design on-assignment. I have been involved in its production. It is not an evil or demeaning endeavor. But it is also not art.

In our time together this weekend, the group of textile artists gathered worked to think through the importance of original intent. And the process of developing a voice that is singular. And what techniques we can use to get beyond the creative traps that make us produce work that’s less than what we had hoped to create. We discussed the importance of all that happens before a specific work is even started.

We concluded that there is ART. There is NOT ART. They are not the same. And it matters which you are creating.

“Something Else Will Grow There” Textile Collage 2018 bobbibaughstudio.com

When I create my own artwork, it is my hope that I’ve done enough up-front work to make the piece meaningful. I want to have worked through what it is I am trying to communicate, and then use the studio time and the techniques at my disposal to accomplish the vision.

When a collector brings a work into a home, it is my hope that there is enough that’s interesting, personal and layered to provide new things to discover for a long time. For me, that’s the fulfillment of the time, thought and emotion that I put into my work.

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Life Unseen – Life Unexpected

I did some studio cleaning last week. And so I rediscovered a newspaper clipping I had saved in 2011.

It has re-appeared in my creative life at just the right time.

I remember being captivated by this little science snippet

“It will illustrate once again that somehow life finds a way to survive in the strangest and harshest places.” True for microbes. True for human beings. True for hopes and dreams.

When I first started creating textile pieces, I focused on natural scenes and images. What was most interesting to me was the concept of life beneath – life unseen – the mystery of what there is beyond the visible.

For the past year, as I have focused on works about home and memory, what interests me is much the same. What one sees from the outside is not all there is. Inner life is rich, textured, vibrant, layered, full of mystery.  It’s my hope that the works have spoken both to the reality of facades and the reality of resilience.

I have just begun the process of thinking through some new works. I am filling pages in my sketchbook. I am interested in images of water, and juxtaposing them with non-organic patterns and abstract shapes. It’s another way to get at the idea of there being more that’s real than what we see.

I have begun some transfers onto fabric of enlarged text from this news clip, to incorporate into the new pieces. Even if it becomes obscured , I will know it’s there.  “Scientists keep finding germs in places where they don’t expect.” We find life even where it does not seem it should be able to survive.

“Living Deeply” explores the unseen world beneath the surface. On my web site HERE

“Sometimes You Can’t See In,” (DETAIL) suggesting life that is hidden within the home. On my web site HERE.

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The old neighborhood... (and the CHAIR - Part II)

Looking through my studio files today I found myself looking at this work. This is where life started for me and it’s the place of my earliest memories: a neighborhood of row houses in Baltimore. My family lived there from the time I was born till I entered second grade.

For those who have not lived in row house cities — Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston or others throughout the country — the neighborhood may need some explanation. It is not a tenement or slum. It is not a fancy affluent neighborhood of Brownstones or Townhouses. It’s just a family neighborhood. Each block has six to eight houses with no space between them, and then there will be one “end house” that has a side yard and a little bigger back yard. All the houses have street parking out front, no garage, and a small fenced back yard with a gate leading to the alley. The alley is where kids ride bikes and play ball.

As I worked to capture memories of home in my artmaking this past year, recreating the feeling of a row house neighborhood in fabric seemed like a good fit. I had printed a number of fabric pieces with lively colors and patterns, and they spoke to me of the varied lives and stories inside each home. I also created photo transfers of actual windows onto muslin, and I liked the mix of the photographic reality with the printed fabric. I added the suggestion of leaves and trees.

Like the neighborhood itself – the whole work is one large unified structure. But it’s made of all kinds of pieces. Lots of lives. Lots of stories

“Every One Has A Different Story” - Art Quilt - more information on my web site here:

bobbibaughstudio.com/home-is-what-you-remember-gallery/every-one-has-a-different-story

THE CHAIR – Part II

I’ve done a little more on my chair project to be auctioned at an event in January. (Chair creations by local artists will be a fundraiser for public arts projects here in DeLand.) Today I started some structural fixes. The seat had been cracked and glued back together. Extra reinforcement seems like a good idea. So I’ve sanded the bottom, cut a piece of plywood to fit the bottom, and will glue and screw it in place. I will probably cover all this with felt.  Next: Beginning the fabric printing of the upholstery.

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Working from the Outside in (Plus THE CHAIR – Part I)

Recently I decided to create some collaged works in a slightly new size: up from 16 x 20 to a 20 x 24 piece. It involved ordering some cut mats for a finished presentation.

I had the ideas, but just couldn’t get the wheels turning till I received the mats and saw the actual size. Then the ideas clicked.

It was seeing the frame. It was placing the concept in its picture plane.

I’m not sure if I’m sharing this as a handy tip or as a confession. Maybe it’s just a thinking-through of how ideas and compositions go together.

Arranging images in the composition

I don’t seem to come up with an image or an idea in isolation. When I start sketching or planning, it’s always the primary image or concept in context. As I sketch I work the object in the space, determining whether the overall composition should be vertical or horizontal, and how the image fits in that space. In addition to the focal object, what else will be in the composition? How will those parts interact? What’s the pattern of lights and darks?

As I looked back through my sketchbook, I saw that I always work out ideas by beginning with the perimeter. Or if I sketch the object first, I get a perimeter around it pretty quickly, to give it a place to belong.

I know that when I feel like I get it “right,” composition and concept are partners that reinforce each other. When I don’t work out the use of space as part of depicting the focal image, the piece will be lacking.

“Remember It In Pieces” is the finished work shown in progress above. It’s on my web site, HERE

And now for THE CHAIR…

This should be fun. I’m participating in a fundraiser sponsored by the City of DeLand: artists decorate chairs and they will be auctioned. Proceeds will fund public art projects in the City. The event is in January. I need to have this done in a few weeks. So, here’s the official “Before” picture. I want to use fabric. So far that’s about all I know for sure. Stay tuned.

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Speaking of Mary Poppins…

Thinking about my art talk tomorrow at Arts on Douglas Gallery, I remembered today the movie “Saving Mr. Banks,” a wonderful on-screen portrayal of P.L. Travers, the author of the Mary Poppins books. It is providing a vision.

In the screen version, one of the opening scenes shows Travers as a girl, a close-up shot of her lying in a field of grass constructing a tiny house out of twigs and grass. She was making a little home. The unfolding of the plot revealed how much she needed a make-believe home, because her real home life was so full of hurt and sadness.

Emma Stone portrays P.L. Travers as an adult during the transformation of her Mary Poppins books into Disney’s well-know musical movie version. It was a heart-wrenching journey for Travers, as her story became everything she did not want it to be. In one poignant scene, she leaves a stressful meeting and retreats to a place outdoors, sits on the grass, and begins to construct a tiny home. A refuge. I was sobbing and sniffling!

The Mary Poppins stories are not autobiographical. But their essence was informed by the author’s life. She took what she had experienced and translated it into her art: children’s stories. A few details were specific. An Aunt who came to visit and take care of her family was a non-nonsense umbrella-carrying woman. Mary Poppins? But, for the most part, the author’s works are a combination of dreams, memories, emotions and her artist’s craft to create a new reality.

This has been my experience in creating the series “Home is What You Remember.” It’s about home. And my experience of home, with an intentional memory of a child’s way of looking at things, has informed the images and the process. While not strictly autobiographical, it reveals realities I know to be true:

Outside and Inside do not always match.

It may or may not be possible to know what’s inside by looking from without.

Homes can be fragile.

Things change.

People experience home in time: as experiences unfold, and later in memory.

We carry our homes inside us.

The lives of the people in homes are varied, colorful, richly textured.

And, in all of this, I hope to use my artmaking methods and abilities to create realities that are interesting, pleasing to look at and discover, and offer new discoveries over time.

All the works in the series “Home is What You Remember” are on my web site, HERE.

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Peeking inside the neighbors' walls – imagining their stories and secrets

Can I peek into the inner stories of a household, and at the same time create images that form something pleasing and interesting to look at?

I hope so. That’s been my focus for a year, creating the series, “Home is What You Remember.” The story is the heart. But, in order to learn the story, there has to be a work that’s interesting and compelling.

I was looking again today at the work depicting a row house neighborhood inhabited by birds: “The Stories Contained Within.” I like the juxtaposition of simple houses with complex stories.

From a distance, this work has bold colors, interesting shapes, a child-like simplicity. From mid-range, you might start to be interested in the textures and patterns and might begin to notice the various surface design techniques. In this work, I mixed using direct painting, stencils, monotype printing and relief printing.

Close-up, the stories begin to pose questions.

I am interested in exploring visual methods to show the relationships between characters and their personal stories. I think about this subject a lot, and I want to keep developing imagery and symbols that dig into the concept. For this work, I chose birds and jars.

The birds and the jars are related to each other differently in each home. In one, a bird is inside a jar. In several, the bird is outside the jar. The birds are not shaped or positioned the same. We inhabit stories and secrets in different ways. And yet, all of this complexity takes place in a simplified neighborhood suggesting connected row houses, all the same from the outside.

Stepping back to provide more clues about the homes and their dwellers, I used an oblique baseline for the houses, and repeated it in the pieced shape in the purple sky. Things are askew.

When a patron invites a piece of work into their home, they plan to  “live” with it for a long time. I believe that unique elements and an authentic story can make every viewing a new experience. Peeking in from close up or from across the room, I hope the images compel a second look.

More information about “The Stories Contained Within”
is available on my web site HERE

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A Journey into Memory. Then Waffles. And an Exhibition.

This evening I’ll be standing in a beautiful gallery with my artwork filling the walls, watching visitors and patrons and engaging in conversation abut the work. It’s what artists work for, and it represents a year of creating this particular body of work.  So we started the day with waffles. Blueberry. And bacon.

I am thinking of the many stages in the process. I loved the side-of-the-road inspiration in rural South Carolina where I stopped, stood in the quiet of pines and looked into the heart of a small abandoned house. Its insides were filled with vines and saplings. The roof was gone. The door was rusted and peeling. It provided a strong inspiration for me for the body of work about HOME. I took photos. Those photos are actually transferred into the fabric that I used in several works.

I am thinking of the memories of my own childhood homes, and what it took to look deliberately at those memories and to make sense of the stories. Every artist draws on their own story, and I have drawn deeply from my own. But, I am not a fiction writer nor am I creating an autobiography. I have worked to translate personal story into interesting and thought-provoking images that will speak to patrons with all kinds of backgrounds. When a piece of my art is invited into someone’s home, I hope for it to provide new meaning and something new to see for a long time.

Art Quilt Every One Has a Different Story (Detail) inspired by my childhood row house home

I am thinking about all the logistics and practical aspects of creating a body of work. I started twelve months ago with a schedule and a series of sketches. I have addressed storage, transportation and shipping issues, and all the hands-on work of creating the pieces.

Now it’s there, on the walls. The waffles are gone, but I still have an invitation to offer. Please visit Arts on Douglas Gallery in New Smyrna Beach to view “HOME is What You Remember.” If you are not in Central Florida, I hope you will enjoy a visit to the gallery of these works on my web site, HERE.

Some in-the-works and sneak peeks below. I’m ready.

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Grasping hands with the future of the world

Have you stood before a thing so small, so inconsequential, so everyday as to be un-noticed, and grasped all at once that you were staring at the most important thing in the world?

The miniature kitchen play area filled me with memories. And the building blocks.  And the neat stack of sleeping mats for nap time. The smell of crayons and bread crusts.

In a preschool class everything is scaled to a size for three and four year-olds. Standing there as the visitor, I felt (quite unusually for me) tall. I quickly was more in place to be down on a blue child-sized chair with the children.

One of several guest artists in a program coordinated by our local museum, last week I completed my schedule of visits to HeadStart classes. While I was there I shared a piece of my own artwork for children to see and touch, and I led a little hands-on exercise of stencil painting butterflies on a cloth banner for the children to display in their classroom.

As I sat on my child-size chair, down at their level, holding little hand after little hand to guide the paint roller, I could not think of anything going on in the whole world at that moment more important than the experiences those children were having in class that day.

I began by asking each child what color they wanted to paint. “Red, or yellow, or blue?” It’s a big decision. They made their decisions seriously.

Each day, these little minds are absorbing, processing, understanding, gaining skills, negotiating the world around them. Loving and educating children is the single most important thing we grownups do to determine how tomorrow will turn out.

To the teachers who are there every day – singing “The wheels on the bus,” teaching colors, reading stories, holding during sad times, correcting and leading… I wish to shout “THANK YOU” from the rooftops. As one very very small part of the process —just a guest visit — I could not have been more honored.

Sweet little children held out their hand to grasp mine and a paint roller for a few short minutes. That’s as good – and as important – as anything can be.

(Left) Our butterfly banner - created by the children in the classroom with foam rollers, tempera paint and cotton kitchen towel. (Right) I discovered the importance of being organized. These plastic boxes served as roller trays for the paint and were easily packed up to take to the next class. Well worth the $1 each they cost!

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News from the Front Lines – my weekend at an outdoor Art Festival

I’m home — at last! — this evening after two days meeting with interested art customers at an outdoor Festival in Winter Springs. I try to exhibit in Festivals at least a few times a year for the benefit of meeting people face-to-face, seeing how people react to new works, learning from other artists, and challenging myself with deadlines.

First the bad news: foot traffic was a little light at this show, and my sales were not strong. And, alas, no award ribbon. And I got a bit of a sunburn.

Here’s my booth set-up at Winter Springs Art Festival. I was showing a number of new works for the first time.

But, now for the good news: talking with people about my work is invaluable to me. It’s the best way to understand what questions people have and what interests them. And, as I take time to explain the meaning of the works and the techniques used to create the works, my own understanding of the process deepens. When I am in the studio working, I am immersed in the art. It takes on context and fulfills the whole purpose of creating it when I share it face to face with real people.

 And some funny and unusual things happen at festivals. I had my palm read by a funny old man. I saw a couple with a stroller walking their pet parrot (in a cage in the stroller.) And I was interviewed and filmed by a bearded realtor wearing a kilt — a first for me!

My interview with James Evans the Kilted Realtor

I had great camaraderie with the artists in booths near mine. The informal networking with artists is one of the best things that happens at Festivals.

Finally, I learned again how hard artists work who exhibit at street Festivals regularly. The weekend involves setting up a tent and a display, being “onstage” for two full 8-hour days, breaking down the exhibit and packing up at the end of the weekend, and then a drive home – just to unpack it all again. So, when you have the chance to attend an outdoor Festival, be kind and appreciative to artists who are exhibiting: they work HARD!

Now that I’m back in the studio I look forward to creating new work. I’ll show it to you and talk about it soon.

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