Are you curious about critique groups?

A page from my recent in-progress book, running figures that needed faces.

Years ago when I mentioned critique groups to a friend she said “oh, no! I’m not interested in brutal criticism.” But that’s not what I’m talking about. In the groups I have been in people make suggestions, give feedback and say what they like. They don't attack. A critique is a way to hear what other people see in your work. After working on something for weeks or months, I can’t see it clearly any more. I often come to dislike whatever it is and I only see the flaws. If my critique group likes something I don’t, I reconsider. If they think something isn’t right, I also reconsider. I don’t feel bound to go with their ideas but many of their suggestions are useful. 

Here are some examples of suggestions and benefits: 

1. Don observes that most of my stuff is wonky (in a good way). I loved that and try to get that to happen now. I'm actually not sure I do, but it's a goal.

2. I have a few silhouettes in my most recent book. One has a face, the others do not. Linda (instagram) says “put a face on it.” I try it with tracing paper and think it’s a great idea. So I add faces. 

3. Rae (Etsy) says I have a sense of humor in my books. I think I do, but don't expect others to get it. So I’m delighted.

4. Karen (Instagram) likes my "borders - not borders." These kinds of comments are helpful. I feel a lot of doubt about many things. And thinking of them as bordering on borders is helpfu. I can break more rules, even if they are rules I made for myself.

5. I was writing layers of text on book pages - several sentences on top of each other. L. suggested I blow them up and use them as collage material. I tried this but it didn't work. They look too fuzzy to me.

6. There have also been practical suggestions, sealing drawings with shellac is one I loved.

7. I am fascinated by the creative process. Not the art mumbo-jumbo about Post Modern blah-blah, but how people think, what they struggle with and what comes easily. I get to see this in the group.

8. The meetings are a mini-deadline for me. I want to have some kind of progress to show so I put in a little extra effort when I can. We also have good conversations about creativity and life in general. At the end of our meetings I feel inspired.

There are lots more examples, these just spring to mind.

Sometimes people have suggestions that don’t work out, or that don’t appeal to me. They understand if I don’t take their advice. They may not take my advice, I understand that too. I do the same thing with Jim. We offer each other advice about our projects but it’s fine to ignore it. I also get feedback from a few friends. These trusted eyes are very helpful. It’s important to me that the people I show my work-in-progress know me and know more or less where I want to go with the project. They are people I know and like and trust to be thoughtful in their comments. I like their projects and how they think. If I'm going to open myself up for criticism, some kind of connection is important to me. It's very hard to find that. Covid ruined some of my good feedback. Hopefully that will eventually not be an issue.

Do you have a good source of critique and feedback? Does it work for you?

On the blog notifications - I made a mistake. Apparently if you were signed up for notifications before Blogger changed their widgets, you will still be notified. I didn't read the email from Blogger very carefully. Some of you are getting two notifications. Feel free to tell me to stop emailing you at judithDOTzDOThoffmanATgmailDOTcom. 

Art That Was Never Finished

Arguably the very best video ever posted by The Art Assignment. Extremely interesting and moving. They have disallowed posting on Facebook, so I won't put it there.

Be safe everyone, take care of yourselves and your family.

Looking back to look forward

Work in progress - A Child's Introduction to the Wonders of Space - title page
by Judith Hoffman 2020

Hilke Kurzke did two blog posts last month about her art life, her goals and where she feels successful. They are here and here. I think it’s a good look at what life is like for an artist. Hilke's website is here, she blogs about her message in a bottle activities here, and she sells book making supplies.

In this post I have in part responded to her blog, and in part I am just setting these things out for myself. At the end of this post, after the art categories and goals, I included my personal goals for those of you who are curious. I actually don’t usually make New Years resolutions. For me they are a path to feeling discouraged. So I’m not regarding these as resolutions, just some things I want to think about. I will try to nudge myself in this direction. This is also a good way to get clear on my priorities.

Hilke says “Being self-employed and self-taught, the lack of a pat on the shoulder by a boss or teacher can be a problem . . . while it is often easy to see where we fail, it can be harder to know where, maybe despite short-comings, we still are doing well.” I think this is true for me. There are times when I have felt I was struggling and not making progress, but looking back I was making slow progress and could have felt good about it. Of course other times I struggled into a corner and had to turn around and start over.

To define success for herself, Hilke thinks about the times when she felt successful. This is a personal part of what we do. Two artists might have very different ideas of success.

Work in progress - Judith Hoffman 2020

The times when I feel most successful are when I make a particularly quirky book or object. The moment when it’s done and I look at it on my work table can be so great - I’ve never told anyone, it seems embarrassing somehow, but sometimes I sit back and laugh. It’s a personal pat on the back. So yes, I want more of that success. There is another way I feel successful: sometimes when I finish a book I am sick of looking at it. Maybe I struggled with some problem, or it isn’t what I envisioned when I started. But months later when I take it out of the box, I see it’s good qualities. It is redeemed and I love it. More than anything, I want to feel successful and be proud of myself and my work in either way. Which means finish more books in 2020. The way to have good work is to make a lot of it. Some will be successful and some will not. I should try to not get so bogged down in small details. (I know I will, but I can nudge myself away from that.)

Other times I felt successful were when I was included in books about the book arts or in shows or in a public collection. I guess sales in themselves aren't that important to me anymore. But they can be very gratifying.

Work in progress - Judith Hoffman 2020

My art related categories and goals:

More time in the studio - I do have some spare time that could be shifted into studio time. But I don’t want to give up all my spare time. I think there are quality of life issues, and other things, like hobbies, that I want to pursue. Mostly gardening and knitting. These both give me a lot of pleasure. And a little physical reading. I listen to a lot of audible books, but reading a book on paper is a different experience. And some time to draw, which should be an art category, but fits nicely into my evening down time.

Make one-of-a-kind books - I made three last year, I’d like to make four or five this year. Although the last one is not quite finished. I need to get busy on that.

Make some multiples - Last year I wanted to enter some shows, but when I looked at the insurance requirements I couldn’t. I would have had to send a one-of-a-kind book that took me months to make off into the world with either no insurance or I would have had to insure it myself. I might do that in the future, but having multiples would take away that angst. Right now I have one book that I think would make good multiples. I need to make progress on that.

Dreaming Made Easy - free book on my website
by Judith Hoffman

Make some freebies - This is just for fun. I love having a few free things on my website. I love the playfulness of them. They do end up taking a lot of time so maybe one or two this year is a good goal.

Recognition in the book arts world - This probably means being in a few shows. To do this I need some very nice multiples, or some lower priced books. Or I need to find a show where sales are not essential. Multiples would be spin-offs from my one-of-a-kind books. Probably this would mean scanning the books, printing them and assembling them. Still a lot of work and new problems to solve. To have lower priced books I would need to make them quickly and they should be less complex. I’m not sure I can do that. I see most of my less complex work as a failure. The details are who I am, what my books are. So make a multiple and look for show opportunities where I don’t have to sell.

Part of me objects to finding value in recognition from other people. I don't want to be working in my studio thinking "will this get into a show?" But being in a show means people see my book, and maybe respond in some way to the content. It makes me very happy to just make things, and I would do it even if no one ever saw them. But having someone respond to the content is very satisfying.

Post to my blog - I love other people’s blogs. I'm not a fan of social media, although I do use it some. So I should be contributing to the blog arena, right? Besides it is a good record for me. And I do sometimes get some really good feedback. It’s good when people like the books, of course. But also good in the sense that someone will see something I missed. I find seeing things through other people’s eyes can be very helpful or can lead me to new trains of thought. I’d like to post weekly but even every other week is good. I posted 17 times last year, so a goal of 24 seems reasonable.

Work in progress - Judith Hoffman 2020

Personal things I would like to improve:

Cook more - I have a lot of food sensitivities and need to prepare all my own food.
Be less compulsive - I spent weeks of art time just on the text and paper for the last page/dedication for "A Child’s Introduction to the Wonders of Space." I tried multiple ways of presenting the text - handwritten or printed, and struggled over the wording. Writing does not come easily for me. I used to make sure my emails were well written - grammatically correct (mostly) and properly spelled. I would write one, read it over, correct, read it again. I realized I spent a lot of time on them and decided to not be so fussy. I’m better at just whipping them out, maybe I can be a little more spontaneous in other areas. Okay, maybe not in the wording area, maybe not even in the decision between handwritten and printed. But somewhere, somehow I will try to be less compulsive.
Do Yoga - even once a week is better than never. I walk 5 or six days a week for 45 to 60 minutes, don’t really want to spend more time on exercise. But I am getting stiff in places. My favorite yoga routine is 45 minutes, I should start cutting that in half, so half on Tuesday, half on Thursday.
Meditate - I used to and have fallen out of the habit. This could follow the yoga and would be painless. Maybe it could build?
House projects - do these belong on this list? We all have them. They are endless and they torment me.

Thank you Hilke for your blog posts - they made me ask myself a lot of questions and I think my priorities are more visible to me now.

Collage and Bricolage by Aldywth

I only discovered Aldwyth in 2012. I am so glad I did. She does large and small collages, and bricolage, which I would call assemblage (is there a difference?). I find her collages especially inspiring. She uses ordinary materials to create little worlds I would love to visit. Or in the case of the larger collages, the worlds are vast.

Above: Postcard collage by Aldwyth. She made a series of postcards from two boxes of National Geographics. They were mailed to friends with the instruction to send them back with any mark they wanted to add.

Above: Moon 3 in small collages. Eyes and hands appear frequently in her collages.

Above: "Return to the Blue Peninsula"

Return to the Blue Peninsula open.

Aldwyth's large collages are spectacular, but I can't reproduce them here. They would be too small and not interesting. Unfortunately her website isn't much better, you can enlarge them by running a magnifying window over them, but the magnified image is blurry. My monitor is pretty big, maybe the magnified images would look better on a smaller monitor. If you like what you see, check out the book "Aldwyth: Work V./Work N. Collage and Assemblage 1991-2009."

Elizabeth Layton draws herself

Another artist I hugely admire is Elizabeth Layton. I like the looseness of her drawing style, her compositions are often great. And I love the personal nature of her content. She started late, almost accidentally. And drawing turned out to be the cure for her manic depression. Some of her drawings are very serious, others are playful and funny. There is a book of her drawings on Amazon: The Life and Art of Elizabeth (Grandma) Layton. The text with each image below is her words.

Garden of Eden - November 1977 "Women have had the blame all through the ages for everything. You know that's not right. Now a woman would not listen to a snake, she'd run, wouldn't she? This is Adam, he's got a Band-Aid where his rib came out. This was my first E.R.A. picture. I was just objecting to being blamed for all of the sin of the world." Elizabeth Layton

CINDERELLA - July 30, 1982 “Fairy tales end. “Cinderella and her prince get married and live happily ever after.’ Not necessarily so. He sits there, glued to the television set. She pouts, feeling neglected. She consoles herself with chocolates, romance novels, and the thought that she is a pretty little thing whose tiny pink foot slips easily into the treasured glass slipper.”

Intensive Care Room - January, 1978 "This is the room where my son died. They had all these tubes... you know, terrible. There was always blood coming down. I couldn't draw the face, so I put the pillow there. They gave him four gallons of blood. I had always given blood and I couldn't wait till I could go again and give for somebody else. They wouldn't take me because I was taking medicine for high blood pressure. I felt so helpless." Elizabeth Layton

Eileen McGarvey

I'm going to do a few posts about people whose drawings I admire. These people inspire me to try to get more interesting content in my drawings. When I was studying drawing at San Jose State, I loved it, but eventually got disenchanted because drawing reality wasn't that compelling and I didn't seem to have a talent for coming up with more interesting content. I still struggle with that.

Eileen McGarvey, e-mcgarvey on Instagram, is doing wonderful intuitive drawings. Although she has art training, and lots of art skills, her drawings have an outsider vibe that I love. I have her permission to put a few of her Instagram photos here, each image will enlarge. Some of these seem more finished than others. But sometimes the less finished art is more compelling. I think she works longer on the ones that resonate the most with her. Perhaps she does a lot of trials that don't pan out? I'll have to ask her. Still all the images resonate with me. I think she is taping into something universal. I removed all other people's comments for privacy reasons.

"image from a guided meditation during an amazing video call from Barb Kobe's Transformative Healing Doll class." This one grabs me in a wonderful way. This is the unfinished version, the finished one has blue around the figure, making the figure and text bubbles stand out. I love them both.

"Riding the bus with tachycardia, butterfly dreams and a kiss from a fish." I love the composition in this one.

"Calm" Yes, it is calm, very comforting to look at.

"Talk to the mitochondria" I love the clasped hands. At least that's how I see it.

"Who's driving this thing?!? intuitive drawing" Life often feels like this - the bad baby seems to be in charge. We're in trouble now.

Before the post - I want to add this note about my last post about Procreate and buying brushes online.
Added to previous post 12-10-18: I recently had my credit card hacked somewhere on line. I hesitate to recommend small online businesses anymore. (In my previous post I suggested a place to buy more brushes for Procreate. I'm not implicating them in anyway, I have no idea where my credit card was hacked.) I imagine large businesses like Dick Black are safe, but smaller sites may have trouble keeping up with security measures. I have started only shopping where I can use a large, recognized method of payment. Many places will accept PayPal or an equivalent. Our bank caught the fake charge immediately, so we were not affected. Except for having to go to every web site where I have recurring charges and change my credit card. Not my idea of a fun afternoon.

Now, how about some entertainment? Here are some drawing videos:
Thomas Fluharty draws Chuck Close - very nice loose style. Fun to watch

Also check out Alphonso Dunn. He has a ton of drawing videos on YouTube. He is clear and very detailed in his explanations.
In this video he talks about drawing what you see versus drawing what you know.

Catching up - more Inktober

I have been drawing every day, just not keeping up with posting here. I'm trying to make drawing the top priority, instead of getting lost looking at other people's drawings.

October 7. This one was from a photo on Sktchy which was a mirrored image. Interesting challenge because I find exact symmetry hard. Most of the images are from photos on Sktchy. Not that there aren't a lot of interesting photos on the internet, but it is a nice place to go where you know people want you to draw from their photos.

October 8. I like the evil look in his eye, and the label seems to add a lot.

October 9. If you are looking at the dates you can see I am working ahead some days, falling behind on others.

October 10. Another where the stamps seem to add a lot to the image. This was a photo of a man with a plastic bird head. Other people interpreted him in a more realistic way, which is very effective. However this was a really quick solution. I am really enjoying this envelope sketch book and plan to make more.

October 11. I thought this profile would be an easy one, instead I spent a lot of time with the pencil sketch, trying to get all the relationships sort of accurate. Then I drew the basic shapes with a sepia Pitt pen in my left hand (I am left-handed) and a sanguine Pitt pen in my right. I finished the details with the sepia pen. I would like to get more sanguine in there.

October 12. I had brushed some hi-flow acrylic across this page, and used the mouth atomizer to add the spots. Then I drew on it. Maybe the grey acrylic is too strong. Or the image needs more contrast. Oddly enough this one inspired someone on Sktchy to make an envelope journal, so I was very pleased.

October 13. Looking thru my sktchy inspiration photos I noticed this guy's mouth was very much like the chicken's so I tried blending the two images. Not too successful in the beak area, but I like this one better than the next.

There are two for October 13 - they were done one after the other. I'm not showing you all my fails, but this one has something I like, something I don't like. This seems too polished to me, or maybe too cartoony? Something is wrong. I did the last two in the same evening, pretty quickly once I had the basic idea.

October 14. A friend sent me a link to Christophe Brunnquell on Instagram. I drew this inspired by his collage, especially the mouth.

I'm almost halfway thru the month. Pretty impressed with myself. I have regained my enthusiasm, am enjoying the quick sketches. After two weeks of doodling around I want to look more at content. Just reproducing an image isn't that interesting long term for me. Of course content is much harder to do. It's time to start on it! If you have any remarks about the drawings, or life in general, I'd love to hear them. I am always trying to improve in some areas - hatching, content, composition, finding inspiration. I am always open to thoughts.

I hope you are getting some drawings in this month, or writing or whatever creative thing you want in your life. For me it's always hard to find time, motivation and to break away from the pull of every day life. And, for me at least - I am so hooked by the news. One terrible thing after another. I am trying to not look at the news so often. It's probably better for my mental health.

Some free stuff

23 Sandy (Laura Russell) just posted a free book you can print and make yourself.

I also wanted to pass on several free downloads from Marc Taro Holmes - these are drawing and watercolor tips. The one called Tea, Milk, Honey is a small one sheet book with watercolor tips.

In the vein of free downloads, I have a free pattern for paper spectacles on my website. There are two versions - one has a few collage elements, another has just a map of Mars and some stars.

And there is a little one sheet book called Dreaming Made Easy you can download and assemble.

Dreaming Made Easy was in an online show Marc Snyder did of free downloadable books.

I love the idea of sending books out into the world this way!

New metalworking book - Heat, Color, Set and Fire

Photos of Spectacles for a Fish Goddess and You are the star of my heart are included in Heat, Color, Set and Fire by Mary Hettmansperger, published by Lark Crafts. pp 12 & 51. This looks like a great book - It made me think maybe I should make some jewelry - at least I am inspired to try several of the techniques.

Starry Night

"The Starry Night over the Rhone" 1888, Vincent Van Gogh, 28.5 x 36.25. From a show of nocturnal Van Gogh paintings at the New York Museum of Modern Art.

"The sight of the stars always makes me dream. Why should the spots of light in the firmament be less accessible to us than the black spots on the map of France? Just as we take the train to go to Tarascon, we take death to go to a star." Vincent Van Gogh. The year after writing this, at age 37, he committed suicide.


"Street in Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer," 1888, Vincent Van Gogh, from an earlier MoMA show.

For years I didn't like Van Gogh's paintings, except for his ultra-famous "The Starry Night." With sunflower images on coffee mugs and shower curtains, it all seemed trivial to me. I couldn't see the content. Recently, I read a book on drawing, with a great chapter on mark-making. A Van Gogh drawing was one of the examples. Suddenly, I came to see a raw energy that speaks so clearly to me. Then I realized it's all there in the paintings. Isn't it delightful to make these discoveries?

When I look at someone's art, I assume it expresses their personality. Would I want to invite that person for dinner? Do I admire their technique, but have no desire to spend more time with them? Or am I too put off to hang around and get to know them?

Looking at Van Gogh's paintings and drawings, I would love to have dinner with him. I imagine him to be a very direct person, perhaps difficult because he's so outspoken, but honest and frank. Maybe he doesn't have a lot of refined social skills, but that might not matter. We could talk about the stars, fairy tales and what makes art meaningful. When I can put those shower curtains out of my head, I really love his drawings and paintings.

Check out the drawing above. ("Street in Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer," 1888) You can see the movement of his hand, you can see where he has diluted the ink, where the pen is running out, but he rushes on to finish. The scribbly lines of smoke seem to indicate a hint of a breeze. I wish I could draw like that.

Zine Energy

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Years ago I had a neighbor who made these occasionally, and passed them out to anyone who wanted one. Another neighbor, a childhood friend of his, said that he was "shell shocked" in WWII. Unfortunately she intercepted them when she could because they embarrassed her. Of course I found them so wonderful. I blacked out all family names.


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James Castle

James Castle in his work shed, around 1950. From James Castle: His Life and Art by Tom Trusky. The book contains 172 pages and 100 color and black and white photographs and illustrations. Tom Trusky spent 10 years researching James's life and piecing together a story that is both touching and interesting.

James Castle was born in Garden Valley Idaho, in 1899 or 1900, depending on who you ask. He was labeled as deaf and mute, but is now thought to have been autistic. When he was sent to a school for deaf children, he refused to do his chores or learn a trade. He was sent home as "uneducable." James avoided chores at home, too, disappearing daily to spend his time drawing and making books and other objects. He whittled sticks into pens and made ink with saliva and soot. For paper he used old calendars, junk mail and random bits of paper including labels from cans and empty matchboxes.


These are facsimile James Castle books from the Idaho Center for the Book. They are listed under "previous publications" on the web site. To enlarge the photo above, click on it. For me the interesting thing about these facsimile books is that they are bound in the same way James Castle bound them. One even has a combination of yellow and tan string.


Above is a construction by James Castle from Tom Trusky's article in Raw Vision. Unfortunately they didn't include all the photos in the online version of this article. If you're a fan of Castle's work, this issue might be worth seeking out.

What is it about these books and constructions that are so compelling? Even as reproductions they feel so personal. The imagery, the scribbled lines of "text," the letters that appear to be invented, the codes, all speak of one person's idiosyncratic view of the world. There is humor and sadness there. The humor is in the way he uses the photo album format, or the book format, for his own ends. The sadness is in his self portraits, one shows him with no arms or art supplies, after being kicked out of school.

I like to imagine James hiding away, completely absorbed in making these things. I wonder what he thought about, what he wanted to say. In some ways we can see through his eyes, but we can never see into his mind. He died in 1977. For me, he is alive and talking to me through his books.

In September there will be a James Castle show at the Greg Kucera Gallery in Seattle, WA . Tom Trusky will be giving a slide lecture/presentation titled "James Castle: His Life & Art" Saturday, September 8th at 1pm. He will also be signing copies of his Castle biography. At the bottom of the James Castle page on the Kucera site there is an interesting article from the April 26 - May 2, 2000 issue of the Village Voice.

You might also enjoy this James Castle photo set on Flickr.
And here are two books I have enjoyed about people with Asperger's syndrome:
Up High in the Trees: A Novel, Kiara Brinkman
Born On A Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant, autobiography, by Daniel Tammet

The Zero Sum Art Project

Most art seems very mysterious. You don't really know how people arrive at their prices, what their materials and techniques are, or where their ideas come from. "Mixed media" or "found objects" isn't really information to my detail-oriented Teutonic mind. Marc Snyder's Zero Sum Art Project isn't like most art. In his ZSAP blog, Marc says "One thing I'm striving for is to make the whole studio process, along with my attempts to follow this set of rules that I invented for myself, as visible to the viewer as possible." This includes lists of his expenses, the materials purchased for the project and even some hints at his creative process.

His rules:
*Artwork can be made only with free/found materials or materials purchased with proceeds from the sale of Zero Sum artworks.

*Zero Sum artwork will be sold on eBay, with the opening bid based solely on the costs of the materials and the auction fees related to the artwork being sold.

*If the artwork sells for a greater amount than the opening bid, any "profit" must go directly back in to the Zero Sum studio.

*If the Zero Sum Art Project is in the red with a balance of negative $5.00 for longer than 2 weeks, the studio collapses and the project is over.

The first artwork was made with free materials: "Heart of Georgia Technical Institute pencil and Radisson Hotel pen on Anti-Defamation League notepad paper." The opening ebay price was $1.77, exactly the cost of the listing. It sold for $22.72.

Zero sum #12 is up for auction on ebay until April 15.

I find this all fascinating. So much that normally remains hidden is revealed for the viewer's scrutiny. Reading over Marc's list of materials, I wonder what he used white spray paint for? Most artists start out by learning techniques, in school, from books or from friends. Over time they probably accumulate a store of invented or adapted processes. What do other people do in the privacy of their studios? Is there an "art secret" that I need to know, to make better work myself? Can I find it in Marc's list of materials?

And no, he's not paying me to say this, he's not my brother-in-law. It's a coincidence that I have mentioned Marc in two recent blog entries.

Wayne Martin Belger's Amazing Pinhole Cameras

Deer Camera, Wayne Martin Belger, Steel, brass, bone and antlers, 24 x 5.

Varnish Gallery has a show of the most incredible pinhole cameras made by Wayne Martin Belger. They are also showing the photos taken with the cameras. There is an article about the show in the San Francisco Chronicle. And check out his web page, Boy of Blue. You can see more cameras, and 360 degree views.

A metaphor for life

Above: Passport, 2005 by Teresa Eaton, mixed media on canvas: acrylic, handmade paper, hand-sculpted polymer clay face, copper leaf, wood, fabric, thread, found objects. 12" x 12" x 2.5"

When I first met Teresa Eaton, I liked her immediately. She is, of course, a nice person. She is also straightforward and very real. And she is very open about her struggle with breast cancer. Here's a quote from the KPFA Crafts and Music Fair site:

"Teresa Eaton gives new life to things that are dying…a metaphor for her life."

"When diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer five years ago, the Santa Clara artist decided to make a radical change in her work. Today, she’s making large, mixed-media collages created from worked and reworked paper, items collected from nature and recyclable items. “I credit the excitement for starting this work for bringing me back to the living,” comments Eaton."

Teresa is very sensitive to her materials. Objects are arranged according to some internal pattern that conveys a sense of order coming out of chaos. Looking at her work, I feel every part has a secret and important message encoded in it.

I admire Teresa so much because she is open about her experiences. She is a tremendous inspiration to me, and to many other people. I think big life events can wrench out of artists a big change in their work. Or some new connection with a desire to create. It's as if, facing death and looking at it square on, we need to make life. It's precious, it's fragile and it's incredibly beautiful.

I am very sad to say that Teresa's breast cancer is back, she is undergoing more chemotherapy right now. I'm thinking good thoughts for her, she is a lovely person. The world is full of beautiful things she has created.

Here are some links to her work:

KPFA Crafts and Music Fair
The Human Artefacts Exhibition (scroll down to see an image that enlarges when clicked)
8th International Collage Exhibition & Exchange

Deborah Barrett at the Palo Alto Art Center

We went to see the Deborah Barrett show at the Palo Alto Art Center. As I was getting ready to go, I thought “is this worth the time?” I have seen Deborah Barrett’s work at the Art Center many times. And I do admire it very much. But this time, I thought, “there will be no surprises, should I stay home and make art?” Boy, was I surprised! Deborah’s collage techniques are varied and fascinating. She incorporates old fabrics by sewing bits to the paper. Sometimes a square of old paper defines the area that a head fills. I thought I would see more of the same. There were certainly lots of wonderful collages. But there were also some figures of women, little heads made of dryer lint, fabric and plaster and a mouse paper doll that she made when she was a child. Her work has changed a lot over a period of ten years, and yet it always has the same small scale, personal element that appeals to me. I want to climb into the frame and look around some more. I want to get into her head and watch her work in her studio.

My favorite collage is “Man and woman pointing at mouse.” (1995) The woman looks fairly womanly, but the man’s body is made of an old rectangle of frayed fabric, so he is very hairy. His nose is very mousey. And his arm that points at the mouse ends not in human fingers, but in little claws. The mouse on the other hand looks like he has stolen a lot from the appearance of the man.

The mouse paper doll is wonderful. Squeaky has ears bigger than his head. And a pair of ear muffs to keep them warm. Mice occur in many of Deborah’s more “mature” works, too. In fact many of the people in her collages have mouse features, and the mice look very human.

There are many lessons here for beginning artists. The things you love as a child are the essence of who you are. And they are a field of ideas for future work. Deborah Barrett says "I make something that has no other purpose in the world except to comfort me."