::short cut::four bridges guide

this weekend is the tenth annual four bridges art festival. on my way to and fro i decided to take a short cut and walk between a chicken factory and the old southern furniture building. the answers aren't always as pleasant. regardless there i found some yellow, blue and green to savor in my short cut, and tried to ignore the lingering smell of gutted birds, the pieces of which had to be avoided along the walk. is it beautiful? only if you ignore the truth. or is the truth beautiful? at least not in this case, i seriously doubt it. and yet there is growth in decay. right? like mushrooms, the places they grow.

the day was good; if i may be a bit frank, in regard to the festival; it's interesting to see that so many of the artists are repeat artists, meaning each year there aren't as many new artists chosen to show in the festival. so out of the 160 artists chosen, there are many i've seen over and over again. there is something really wonderful about that; to see their individual artistic growth over the years. i truthfully do not mind, but it does leave me feeling a little disheartened. or maybe it's that i feel like i must do better at investigating, discovering the new artists. i'm also not at all interested in see clothing or jewelry. that's just me, i'm not at all saying it's not art or it's not worthy to be in the festival. clothing and jewelry even beautiful, and made by hand feels more commercial to me, more of a marketable item, than say a nice painting or a wonderful piece of pottery. so i skip over the clothing and jewelry artists and look for more depth in what the festival offers.

i found several things worth noting; and had the fine opportunity of being yesterday's afternoon tour guide for chattarati.com. it was exactly spontaneous. i chose the artists because of my familiarity with their work or because they were new to the show, or because i feel they might be otherwise overlooked. i also must say, it is important, vital to study art, ask questions, in order to become a better artist. so the opportunity that chattarati gave me, served a multitude of purposes. feel free to check out the video content and don't hesitate to let chattarati or ava know what you felt or thought about the work you saw.

and maybe, just maybe next year you'll see me on the other side; showing my work. we'll see.

I AM HERE::On The Fence

Proposal: I AM HERE::On The Fence

I have always wondered what it would be like to go back in time and be a young girl again. To see, and hear, and feel the things I experienced back then. I also think it would be interesting to be a young girl again, but experience what I see now, in the present. I have often wondered what it would have been like to grow up on the Southside, off of Main Street. To remember what the neighborhood was like. To have some idea of where this neighborhood came from in contrast to where it is that it's going.

My name is Cat Collier and I have lived in Chattanooga for 34 years - that is my entire life. For eight of those years I have called Southside my home, my neighborhood, my community. I am here because I believe in what Chattanooga has done and what it can do as a community. On a smaller scale, I love Main Street, I love being where I am and being a part of something bigger than myself. To have this opportunity, to share my "I AM HERE" Proposal with my neighborhood is an honor and a privilege. I have dreamed of one day sharing my art work with the neighborhood, seeing it on the side of a building or on a fence.

I have been working on a series of mixed media pieces comprised of trees. I call this body of work, "My Forest" and for three years I have focused on painting or growing "My Forest." The trees are often representational, abstract and imaginative - they are what I see in my my mind's eye. Likewise, I have always been intrigued by graffiti art and my trees are often inspired by the paintings an writings I see on the sides of buildings. The line and color of good graffiti is typically tight and bright. I see more than just writing on the wall. I see open and empty spaces, geometrical shapes and I incorporate those same ideas and elements into my own art work.

I completed "In The Depths-Blistering Trees" in 2009 and it immediately occurred to me that it could seamlessly represent Main Street. The original art work is the basis for a map of Main Street. The horizon line - the line running the length of the piece - represents Main Street. From Main Street there are eight primary cross streets - Riverfront Parkway, Broad Street, Market Street, Central Avenue, S. Holtzclaw Avenue, S. Orchard Knob Avenue, Willow Street, and Dodds Avenue. Branching out from these eight streets is a multitude of unique streets. Throughout these streets, there are a variety of important places - points on the map. Those places are represented by the bubbles that create the trees' foliage. In the bubbles, there are icons or symbols that serve as points off Main Street that are easily recognizable, historically relevant and foundational throughout the community. These bubbles overlap and intersect in the same way that we live, work and play in an eight street radius, along and off Main Street.

As children grow and learn about where they live, their surroundings shape who they become. Main Street has yet to see fully grown trees lining its sidewalks. Until that time, the map of Main Street serves as reminder of where we have been, where we are and where we want to be. It is both a tree lined street and a map. It is a means for understanding how we are all connected, how we grow, how we learn from one another, how what happens on one street, or branch, impacts other branches. Though simple, geometric and simply understood by children who will ask, "Where am I?" the map has a broader, deeper meaning of growth, connection and proximity. The map is a tool representing where are lives intersect. And it gives us all, as individuals, our own place as a part of the Southside.

The "I AM HERE" map of Main Street will be printed by National Print Group, located on S. Holtzclaw. Material used is 12 point vinyl, specifically for outdoor elements. The printed material will be cut, then installed in sections; attached to the fence with plastic cable ties at one foot increments. There will be no space of the fence left uncovered.

*Installation begins on Wednesday April 14, 2010 at 4pm. More pictures to come.

on letting go::splattered building trees II

it is not often after completing a piece of artwork that i must immediately say good-bye and deliver it to its future owner, its future audience. it is usually the case that i have time to let a finished work grow on me, it has time to speak, time to talk and give back meaning. after completing a commission for a client, there's no time for me to grow with the work and become comfortable with it. even within correspondence between the client and myself about the work, a small empty feeling begins to surface. i am thinking now, am mindful of the fact that i have never tried to put this feeling into words, it feels awkward and vague to me to even try. for those of you who have lived to produce work and immediately turn it over, you might better articulate these feelings. i think i can mostly express what this feeling is not. it is not fear or anxiety, it is not even a feeling of selfishness. it might feel like conceiving a child, birthing, then watching the child take her first steps, or sending her to school for the first time. the feeling is one of joyful anticipation, a nervous chatty giddiness. it feels uncontrollable and full. it feels hopeful and restless. and when the art work has been delivered, handed over and it is known that the piece has found it's place, there is space enough for peace there for me. even if for just a fleeting moment.

i know very little about how it is that i am to let go, if in fact there is even a process or method to it. it may after all be impossible to fully let go. there is a part of me, the artist, that never leaves the work, i am in it and it is in me. my work and i go on forever inseparable, right? it is something to have a piece of art, a product of my own hands, have it hang on my walls for many weeks and months. to have time to dissect the work, define and refine it in my mind, even if i have literally finished the work. a finished piece that remains in my possession has time to give back, it has time to teach me a little bit more. i see how it is for many artists who strive and thrive off of having a work, always in progress, so that in a work always incomplete, one is always free to rearrange, reorganize, rework the work. of the few pieces of artwork, that remain in my possession, there are just a couple that i'll never look at again, never attempt to figure out, work out or learn from. they could be added to the thrift store pile for all i care. if i had to go back and rework these pieces, even if i felt like i had to go back, i think i would go mad. but the idea of letting go of work too soon is a conversation i am sure i'll continue to have with myself. it might just be that the art itself has the answers. i feel like that might just be the case with ::splattered building trees II::, that it has had it's fill of me and is ready to give something to someone else. i know in the midst of creating this one work, that i have begun to experience a desire to move away from creating/painting trees. i've begun to feel like i may want to make something different. this feeling too, is one for another days thoughts and a new unmarked canvas. time is my friend in this regard. there is no rush to make something that is not there inside of me already.

i have started the year off strong, i think, if i may say so. the opportunities have been great and more than what i could have imagined. though i feel more than ever the direction and path is clear. i have another piece, a work in progress, that i have had to put on hold for many months and plan to complete it in the next week or so. i am looking at the months before me and considering all of the many options. a couple of weeks ago i was notified, that my proposal for the On The Fence design competition had been chosen, one of eight other artists or artist teams in an urban public art competition. i am working with my friend, graphic designer, on the finishing touches and will have the piece ready for the print company next week. my plan is to install the work on a length of chain link fence, two hundred feet. the work will hang for a year and is my contribution to my neighborhood. my hope is to share my proposal, my work in progress, and a photo documentation of the installation in just a couple of weeks. i have seriously-seriously dreamt of having my work in the large, in public, on a wall or fence, since i think i saw my first real graffiti. i am so excited! and have tried really hard to contain some of my enthusiasm, because i wanted a big reveal so to speak. but thats all besides the point really. i feel exceptionally honored to have been chosen as one of the artists.

i am also thinking about showing in the fall. there are, as i said a few options, of which i would love to participate in each, but time will tell. i also still have in mind, to share my list of 34 things i do before i turn 35. so there it is. a longwinded update. i hope, my friendly readers, that you have a great weekend. soak it up!

::splattered building trees II::commission::

whew! completely finished filling in this painting last night, calling it ::splattered building trees II::. it was too late to take any photos last night, waiting on the sunshine. all that i need to do is add a little more value into the foreground and around the trees so that these things become a tad more distinguishable. this piece has given me so many new ideas and i look forward to attacking something new very soon. i have maps and constellations on the brain. and am considering, really thinking about putting the trees to rest for a bit. i have a host of other things i'd like to share as soon as i turn over this piece to my client. so please feel free to continue to visit. have a great week and i'll be seeing you soon!

::aimless walk 010110::

on new years day, katie and i took one of those aimless photo walks around our neighborhood. it was in one of those rare spontaneous moments that we found ourselves outside on a frigid but bright day, the first day of the year. a day that seems so long ago, already. i can barely remember what we talked about and if it weren't for the photos, i would have already forgotten about the time itself. i remember now, thinking then that we better take pictures of things we liked a whole lot, because it wouldn't be long before the new would be replacing the old. so much in our city has changed since we were teenagers, it's often difficult to imagine our city without the nice new things it has now.

behind my apartment building is a european volvo mechanic shop. it's the kind of place that looks dirty, rusty, overgrown and slightly out of place. except for the front door, the bottlecap awning over the entry off the sidewalk, i don't think i would have paid it any closer attention. it is this very shape that i love, that i wish i could add to my own dream home (one day), that i wanted to make sure and capture, in just the right way. it just feels so perfect, along with the stucco textured building surface, it makes the corner for me.

aimless walks isn't a new idea, hulaseventy may have the practice down like a real master. i had to add it to my list of many things to do. more specifically, and yet to be revealed, i added aimless walks to my ::34 things i do before i turn 35:: list.

today just seemed to be the day to share a little bit of my first day of the year. i took many more photos on 010110, and hope to share them sooner, than later. i took a walk today, between my place and the convention center. the weather has yet to warm, but the sun was shining and it felt like maybe more aimless walks were actually going to be possible, its just been a terribly surprisingly cold winter. even though i've enjoyed aspects of it being so cold, i'm eagerly anticipating the warmer months. i admit it!