Wednesday, December 31, 2008

New Year's Eve

So here I am again, finally. I created this blog to display my art and give my loyal fans some pretties to look at. I even wanted to post several times a week. You all saw how long that lasted. What was I thinking? Well today is New Years Eve and the time for resolutions. I don't usually make resolutions because I rarely stick to them, but I am going to try them this year. And the one that is relevant to all of you is that I plan on posting once a week even if I do not have new pictures to post.

I am excited and nervous about this new year. I can see much potential for good but the worrier in me can see several dark shadows looming as well. Let's hope that 2009 will be at least as good as 2008.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Three Sisters

Three Sisters is a piece about my family. I have been blessed with with two wonderful adopted sisters, Elizabeth and Kim. My mom has an amazing heart for kids and has poured her love out to these two girls. For Mom's birthday I wanted to give her a unique piece of art to represent her three girls.

Kimmie is the pink bird because she is obsessed with the color pink. She is starting to flex her wings but is still staying close to home.

Ellie is the yellow bird because she is always so bright, cheerful, and sunny. She is stretching her wings out and starting to fly on her own.


Bee, me, is the blue bird because I love the color blue and I try to be a bluebird of happiness. I am soaring high and looking down at my sisters below.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Standing Bird

This was the first of the ceramic pieces that I started and the last one finished.

I woke up one morning from a dream and knew I had to make this form. Before the dream I did not know where I wanted to go in my work. I had been working on the surface design pieces for a while but felt like I needed to get back in to the media I love so much, ceramics. After the dream I started making several sketches and felt much more confident.

I started working on the piece soon after that. I slowly coil built the form, having to wait at points for the lower parts to harden so that I could build higher. Eventually the form came together and I was very happy with it.

The first day of my graduate ceramics class I brought the piece to the studio. I was feeling very proud of myself for knowing what I wanted to work on for the semester and for already having one piece started. After class I talked to Bede, my professor. Essentially he told me that my formalist style was out of fashion in the ceramic community. He told me that one style that was being held up by the ceramics community was to be "so f***ing sensitive." He told me to do what I wanted, but since I was thinking about applying for grad school the opinions of the ceramics community should be considered. So since I enjoy the work of the "so f***ing sensitive" artists that Bede was talking about, I thought I would lean away from my formalist tendencies and try something new. That is where the flat wall hanging birds came from.

Eventually I came back to Standing Bird and decided that it too had the right to be finished and try out for the Flights of Fancy. I used some of the techniques I had been working on with the flat birds like overglazes and decals. It ended up making it to the show, being one of the attention grabbers, and getting sold.

The formalist in me loves this piece and can't wait to see how it informs the new body of work.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Installation Shots


This is the postcard I sent out for the show. I did not have my favorite pieces done in time to put them on the postcard so I did this in photoshop. I love this paisley pattern. I have used it several times. It has wonderful details that are beyond what I could hand draw myself.

These are shots of two of the walls in the gallery. Adam took the pictures and I think he did a really great job, especially for a non-artist, computer geek.

I was so interested in the ceramic pieces when I was finishing the show that I was really surprised at how much attention these little 6x6in fabric canvases attracted. I had been thinking about leaving them out of the show but I am now very glad that I included them. They were fun to make and a great way to get back in to creating after my creativity slump.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Flights of Fancy

Well I decided to start a blog and here it is. It seems like the thing to do for young artists, so I thought I would give it a try. I have a website too that will be seeing some major changes soon. www.beesimmons.co.nr That is my husband's project and I think that this blog will be simple enough that it can be mine.

I took down my first solo exhibition entitled Flights of Fancy this afternoon. My work was shown in the Craft Studio Gallery in Memorial Union on the University of Missouri Columbia campus. The show ran from October 13th through the 25th. We had the closing reception last night and I think it was a success if I do say so myself. I sold over half the pieces so that made me very excited. The sales were to friends and family but it still felt great to know that they appreciated my work enough to want to put it in their homes. I will upload more pictures as they get edited.