ambient comic made with bubbles: part II

There are parts of the mylar frosting I've rubbed away to reveal a shiny surface.The little circle window on the bottom right hand page above for example. 

Erin Curry
unnamed comic book made within 24 working hours on translucent mylar with ink, graphite, whiteout tape, tape, and bubbles
14" x 11"
2012


part I

ambient comic made with bubbles: part I

As the story took shape, I kept thinking about thoughts diving beneath the surface.

Looking . . .
perhaps for just the right word or a vague memory that accompanied it. 

Erin Curry
unnamed comic book made within 24 working hours on translucent mylar with ink, graphite, whiteout tape, tape, and bubbles
14" x 11"
2012

A very sincere thank you to The Sequential Artist's Workshop for the space and use of equipment, Tom Hart for looking carefully, and Eric Taylor whose excitement encouraged me to finish.   

ambient comic made with bubbles: intro

Erin Curry
unnamed comic book made within 24 working hours on translucent mylar with ink, graphite, whiteout tape, tape, nontext and bubbles
14" x 11"
2012

This comic was begun on a truncated 24 hour comic day in October at The Sequential Artists’ Workshop in Gainesville, FL and finished two months later in December. The number of pages was fixed and the marks layered until they started to suggest a sense of fitting in place and then were worked on until they did. Needs a title. Suggestions? 

I'll add the rest of it a bit at a time.  

A special thanks to Ed Valiant who just happened to have the teeniest bottle of bubbles and gave them to me when I started making happy noises at them.

part I

part II

sequential

studio arrangement. "floating trace" in five panels. polaroid and  abstract symmetry

Erin Curry. floating trace. 3.5" x 18". gesso and graphite on mylar.  made with drawing spindle. 

This little work was the unexpected product of early this year when I took a course at the Sequential Artists' Workshop(SAW), a small school which recently opened here in Makerville (Gainesville, FL). Sequential Art refers to comix, cartoons, as well as the extended works of graphic novels. It's a form that has enjoyed growing public recognition of the dedicated artists who have been showing the rest of the world comix is more than the Sunday funnies or superheroes. (It seems France is way ahead of the States in this matter, so I acknowledge I'm speaking from a clearly American perspective.) SAW began taking full time students in the fall for an MFA-like one-year-long program, but also offers classes and short term workshops to the general public. I was lucky enough to take one of the first introductory courses back in February with Tom Hart who I'll ramble at length about some other time because he's remarkable for a whole host of reasons. For now, I'll just say he's a person with a wonderful sense of curiosity, an artist with great dedication to his work, and an exceptional teacher who I continue to learn from.

If you've been visiting here awhile, you know my work is usually materials and process-oriented, occasionally sculptural, often abstract, and sometimes deals with seriality. The idea of narrative only enters my work as a kind iconography. For instance, handspun thread is my shorthand to refer to the idea of story while denying a specific narrative. Though before taking the class, my knowledge of comics was superficial at best, the idea of trying to learn more about sequential art seemed like a compelling, if unlikely, way forward. Besides, if something as unusual as a comix school opens up just blocks from home and two blocks from the studio, I'll take it on faith that something of value will be found there. I'm pleased to have been right.

Truth be told, I was a rather lazy student and produced very little of note in the six-session class itself. During the class, I slowly realized I was still resisting narrative even though usually the point of comics is storytelling. Tom, recognizing this, introduced to me one of my now favorite artists, Warren Craghead III, who in turn introduced me to Abstract Comics which led me down a very deep rabbit hole I'm thrilled to be exploring. 

Probably the best way to get a feel for Abstract Comics is to find a copy of Andrei Molotiu's Abstract Comics: The Anthology or poke around the abstract comix blog a bit, but the general sense is that abstract comics is non-narrative, sequentially read artwork. Abstract comics uses the specific forms of storytelling  present in comics, without needing the story to have clarity which is the perfect place for me to start playing. 

Meanwhile, the tools of comics I was introduced to during the class have slowly been emerging in my regular work and I'm enjoying visiting the school now and then to learn from the amazing artists who are associated with it. 

Though I'd like to think I'll take time in the next few weeks to expand more on some of the things I've been learning, I'm worried I won't, so here's a link fest to stuff.

_______

SAW is preparing for two workshops this spring. John Porcellino and Ron Rege are both teaching. Last time, there were students from Chicago, New York, and Australia so don't think it's just local folks participating. 

As the school is still very new, they are running a fundraiser for 2013. There are lovely thank you prints to be had for donating. I can whole-heartedly  say supporting the school is worthwhile. 

Oh and I haven't mentioned it, but Leela Corman, Tom's wife had an amazing book published this year. Unterzakn is about two girls who grow up in New York's Lower Eastside around 1910. The images are beautiful, the story rich, and the lessons Ether and Fanya learn hauntingly important even today.

Tom has a heartrending project he's working on now. For those of us who have lost someone who anchored us to this world, he's touching on something we know in our bones and doing it with all the care and mastery of an artist who knows his craft. 

And as far as interesting abstract comics, Warren Craghead has a project which is an wonderful example of a web-specific form - a maps little spell. 

And if you are still here, this is a great panel from the Small Press Expo "Perverse Comics Form: Challenging Comics Conventions." I've listened to it at least twice, so it's worth sitting through the poor sound quality. Perhaps the best synopsis of the reason for the panel is Chris Ware is quoted as saying, "the difference between comics and fine art is in fine art is if you look at the work and you don’t get you are stupid whereas in comics if you don’t get it the artist is stupid." It's said as a way to broadly generalize two methods of creating and relating to the viewer/public, but it does seem to get at why the space being explored by the artists on the panel is so intriguing. 

cloudblot sketches

 for kites imagined, but not yet made

collected in early 2012

part II here

Surveying the Landscape

This fall has been a great deal of experimentation and making, though it seems a bit fractured to me at the moment though I'm attempting to trust that the path will seem much clearer the further I get from it. 

One of the works made in the last few months marks my first foray into traditional Japanese kitemaking with some improvisation and modification. This work was made for the Codified II show, a show of art made in response to the field of genetics. This piece focuses on concerns surrounding the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster and is shown with some really lovely work at the UF Genetics Complex until January 22nd. 

The statement that accompanies the piece explains further:

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster of Japan in March of 2011 had a staggering impact on the air, land, and people of the area. In the weeks after the initial impact the world beyond staggered with it. Today, drones are sent to areas too toxic for humans to visit in order measure radiation levels and mutations of flora and fauna of the the area are monitored. One such bioindicator is the pale blue grass butterfly (Zizeeria maha) which has been studied for over a decade and was considered a bioindicator candidate for environmental shifts even before the disaster. A study* published August of 2012 indicated the younger generations of this species are showing increased mutations of eyes, antennae, legs, as well as wings formations and patterns. One of the specimens is depicted on a Japanese cultural icon, an Edo style kite. The multitude of lines that tether the kite to land fittingly references the matrix of capillary tubes in capillary electrophorosis analysis, a process used in sequencing DNA. The white painting of the malformed butterfly is best seen as a dark shadow when flown in the sky as the sun illuminates it from behind. As with the image, the long term effects of radiation can be seen best when scientific study shines a light to examine it.

*Hiyama, A. et al. The biological impacts of the Fukushima nuclear accident on the pale grass blue butterfly. Sci. Rep. 2, 570 (2012).
Here's an article from BBC newshttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19245818. 

There are more process shots to be found here. 

Acknowledgements:
A special thank you to the UF School of Art + Art Historyand the UF Genetics Institute for funding the creation of the work. To Tom Hart at SAW for the use of the light table. To Ohye Makoto, dean jordan, Melanie Walker, and the helpful tweeter at Hiromi Paper, Inc. for technical advice and encouragement. To Tommy Akin, string wrangler. Not to forget the multitude of kiters and kite resources including, but not limited to, Mikio Toki's edo site and Drachen Foundation. I'm so grateful to generosity of the community around me. When faced with such an awful event, it's you all who make me hopeful that we can figure out how to protect each other better

moving drawings

Captured awhile ago and briefly wondered if galleries and show would find receiving videos of barely moving drawings over-the-top. Maybe someday I'll make that move. 

Been working steadily, but haven't made the time to post here much.

If you are curious, I'm using Instagram to casually post things here and there. 
Find me at instagram.com/erincurry. Most recently I've been working on a white painting on white gampi and exploring more translucent drawings. 

my words fly up

my words fly up
artist book
paper, wax, ink, whiteout tape, mylar and string
2012

silkling screen

received

Just as the reception began Saturday, the afternoon thunderclouds opened up.

Guests braved it anyway. They ate blue foods, drank blue tart drinks, remarked with thought, and a few  even danced with the airy panels on the right much to my joy.

I left full of gratitude, ideas, and maybe a bit of blue cheese.

In related news, I've begun a newsletter for show announcements, new work, and special projects.

Here's an example:

http://eepurl.com/n_Z9v

If you'd like to subscribe click below:

http://eepurl.com/fHLFo