Cat Ciccolo: Thesis (Art) Work

More Installation Views

2009-08-11T13:06:00.000-07:00

Cleats Installed

2009-08-03T09:32:00.000-07:00

Laying Out

2009-08-03T06:13:00.001-07:00

Spaced or squished (and use more)...?

French Cleats & Magnets En Masse

2009-08-03T06:06:00.000-07:00

The Plan:
Nail cleat to wall, 2 thumb tacks into top section of cleat, 2 neodymium magnets (slight overkill, but entertaining!) to hold print up without making holes in the paper.

Frameless & Extended...?

2009-07-21T12:10:00.000-07:00

I put pins and a piece of wood on the back to extend the print out from the wall a little... perhaps done more easily with just long pins. I used the strip on the wall because it was there, but even 2 push-pins can (temporarily) hold this set-up.

The small shadow almost serves as a frame of sorts.

Chopping and Combining....?!

2009-07-21T11:48:00.001-07:00

Reminds me of an odd quilt - they don't flow together as well as I would like. Very happy I used the print "seconds". I need to try this again.

Final Postcard Design

2009-07-17T14:25:00.001-07:00

Coming soon to a mailbox near you.

14 Prints (as of now...)

2009-07-17T11:12:00.000-07:00

Still need to work on an order, and possibly print a few more.

2 rows of 7, 3 rows of 5...

More Ceiling Rotations & Combinations

2009-07-15T09:01:00.000-07:00

Ceiling a la Bike

2009-07-14T11:03:00.001-07:00

Latest Ceiling Works

2009-07-13T14:28:00.000-07:00

10 x 30" and 18 x 24" prints.
Source material (future woodblocks) are on the left.
These have a layered "ghost print" on top - I mixed a little blue in the black ink and printed the flipped image of each section.

Ceiling Composite Print

2009-07-10T15:13:00.000-07:00

For now, just on newsprint and one color... thinking about how to add in another layer.

Circle Cut-Out Test

2009-07-10T15:10:00.001-07:00

Postcard Design

2009-07-09T20:17:00.000-07:00

Bridge (8 x 16")

2009-07-08T16:19:00.001-07:00

My original photo (from the bridge by the ICA) and print.
I'm still debating on adding another block to the bottom to make it 3 total. This should hopefully help link it better to the circles below. I need to work out some color connections, too.

Circle Prints (roughly 8 x 18")

2009-07-06T10:32:00.000-07:00

Functional Diversions

2009-06-28T13:43:00.001-07:00

Taking a break from thesis work to assemble this recycled coffee table. I used Ikea pieces we already had (probably to be swapped out for "real wood" legs eventually) and a window from my parents' dining room. What a difference a drill can make! I got the idea after visiting several amazing artist studio lofts at Eclipse Mill. Thanks, Dawn!

Ironic that I had to drive all the way to North Adams to figure out what I wanted to do with one of the windows sitting for weeks in my car trunk.

Newsprint Scrap

2009-06-23T12:08:00.000-07:00

Just another scrap piece of paper used to help clean off the blocks, but for some reason I really liked this one.

Crab Prints

2009-06-23T11:50:00.000-07:00

A Sampling of Chandelier Prints (playing around with color)

2009-06-19T06:52:00.000-07:00

Cut & Ready to Print (5-color Reduction Block)

2009-06-07T10:57:00.001-07:00

My original photo from the North End pushcarts and the 12 x 12" block cut and waiting for access to a press and some ink

Cut & Ready To Print (4-Color Reduction Block)

2009-06-01T17:08:00.001-07:00

Open Studios Weekend 10-4 Sa, 12-4 Su

2009-05-02T11:38:00.000-07:00

Latest 16 x 20" Bike Prints

2009-04-29T19:40:00.000-07:00

Daido Moriyama

2009-04-26T17:03:00.000-07:00

I finally searched for more on this artist after seeing a great fishnet photo at the Photographic Figures exhibit. His website has a lot of images and even an ongoing diary of his work... I like him more already. The photographs are gritty and beautifully depressing, but also cropped, patterned and have lots of contrast. Moriyama's subject matter varies from face-less figures to environments - this one looks similar to the prints I just made. He shoots like a contemporary William Klein and Henri Cartier-Bresson - see the video.

How to Create a Beautiful Picture 3: Tiles of Aizuwakamatsu, 1987

Purple and Yellow (make... errr...)

2009-04-26T16:50:00.000-07:00

More on Color and Placement

2009-04-26T16:43:00.000-07:00

This time blue-ish and red.

Overlapping Prints

2009-04-26T16:34:00.001-07:00

Frustrated with the exactness of the jig... experimenting with more overlapping, colors, and ghost printing.

Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese: Rivals in Renaissance Venice

2009-04-24T14:40:00.000-07:00

Squishy flesh!
From the embroidered robes to creased tablecloths, the drapery and detail of the textiles had me almost hitting my nose on the canvas.
The idea of a painting rivalry that pushed for innovation is clearly evident and seemingly ideal.
http://www.mfa.org/venice

Tintoretto
Susannah and the Elders, (about 1555-56)

Framed Bike Flip

2009-04-24T12:05:00.001-07:00

Checking out what the recent print looks like in a white frame.
This will probably stay up for Open Studios next weekend (May 2-3).

I really liked the white-on-white look after seeing it here.

Not sure how the cheap frame would hold up for the thesis.
(I'm a tad afraid to hold it from just the wood sides.)

Yellow and Blue

2009-04-23T06:38:00.000-07:00

This color combo is on the edge of repulsive... it's growing on me.

I am getting better with the ink/pressure combo (on right). Having the right blanket for the press helps!

An interesting thing that bold translucency.

16 x 20" Faint Prints

2009-04-14T09:31:00.000-07:00

Not familiar with the large press in the studio, these prints aren't quite right.
These first trials are much too faint...
they certainly aren't as bold as the smaller ones I made on the proofing press.
I need to alter the pressure/ink amount.

Printmaking Studio Access!

2009-04-14T09:28:00.000-07:00

Monday: 9-1am, 6:30-10pm
Tuesday: 9am-10pm
Wednesday: 1-3pm, 5:15-10pm
Thursday: 1-10pm
Friday: 9-4pm
Saturday/Sunday: 12-6pm
(April 20: 12-6pm)

Designing/Building the Jig

2009-04-14T09:21:00.000-07:00

I found that just placing the blocks on the press made a bit of a gap between pieces.
Trying to design/make something to squeeze the blocks together
yet still be able to remove and move each woodcut around has been the latest challenge.
It needs to be thin enough to go through the press, yet have a screw secure it.
Sturdy enough to squeeze the wood tight, yet able to be moved to remove the blocks.

It's a monster (not a fun hike to campus), but it seems to work okay.

Larger Composite Plan

2009-03-21T18:28:00.000-07:00

This would need 20 x 32" paper... hmmm. Mitosis, anyone?

Possible 16x20" Prints

2009-03-21T17:43:00.000-07:00

Printing Long, Repeating Strips

2009-03-16T11:39:00.000-07:00

I would like this more if they reflected into each other as in earlier posts.
What if these were really long and hung down from ceiling to floor...? (Links back to the fabric design-like images I had printed earlier.)
Or... horizontally in layers of different colored stripes? These might look good following corners or bends in walls.
Either way, I would not be bound by the width of the press - just the length of paper.

More Improvisational (8 x 10") Woodcuts

2009-03-16T11:21:00.000-07:00

Improvisional Woodcuts

2009-03-16T11:18:00.000-07:00

Not liking this 16 x 20" print so much...
I like the overlapping, but I think it is almost too symmetrical - reminds me too much of butterfly wings. Ugh.
The blue does make for an interesting almost-border.
If I printed it again, I wouldn't have the 2 center images reflect.

The First of the Combined Prints

2009-03-16T10:55:00.000-07:00

Not existing in just Photoshop any longer!
This worked out pretty much how I had envisioned - 1 piece of paper, but with just 2 blocks this time.

I need to make a jig or find some way to squeeze in each block more - they're not completely lined up in the center.

Slightly black/brown bleed print onto 16 x 20" tan paper. Printing a ghost image underneath/on top would make it more interesting, too. This is big, but might look better really big.

Shellac Test/Composite Beginings

2009-03-15T17:38:00.000-07:00

Shellac, cut, soon to shellac again, and print.
The shellac is supposed to give a crisper line and make inking and clean-up easier.
8 x 10" test for larger composite image (16 x 20") print.
I plan to print this onto another block
in order to create the mirror image.
(I could use 4 separate blocks to display at the end, but... I'll see how this goes first.)

Larger Composite Image

2009-03-13T06:18:00.001-07:00

Modifying

2009-03-05T09:35:00.000-08:00

Liking this idea more without the white spacers between each image.

Brainstorming More Concept Ideas

2009-03-04T18:49:00.001-08:00

Or... I could do 1 very large image, but chop it up into 4 different vertical blocks.

These would make for nice reduction pieces...

Tiling Without the Clay

2009-03-04T18:16:00.000-08:00

Experimenting with Photoshop... much faster!

2009-03-04T17:51:00.001-08:00

Perhaps a tad too... "sciencey"?

Is there a way to print this without having to carve 2 separate blocks?

Certainly is an abstract reality.

I wonder if it would look better larger... seems a noisy mess this size.

Sheeler Inspired

2009-03-02T13:26:00.000-08:00

Taking advantage of the snowy day by making some more test prints. I tried doing transparency work (ala Charles Sheeler) but will wait to use oil-based ink... the water-based ink extender just made the print seem splotchy.

These have much more depth to them than the flat stripes. I used my 2 smaller bike blocks that were previously never printed.

Printing Test

2009-02-20T10:12:00.001-08:00

Printed the woodblock with water-soluble ink (a mix of black and brown to lighten it up a bit).

I like how they flow into each other - I may flip-flop pieces so that they all somehow connect once displayed.

Framed Stripe Woodcut (Round 2)

2009-02-20T10:05:00.001-08:00

Looks almost official.
(Not so hard to do next to shrink-wrap windows.)

Another Stripe Block

2009-02-20T09:48:00.000-08:00

I seem to keep making stripe patterns, possibly until I find one that I like - it's becoming quite compulsive.

This woodcut is (so far) the closest I have come.

The rectangle format is a welcomed change from the squares. This rectangle is a very manageable 12 x 16".

Square Size Comparison

2009-01-28T08:41:00.001-08:00

Temporarily switching from the 19 3/4" square to 5 1/2" square.

I may experiment with composition and design more in this size... perhaps to return to the larger size or just continue on with these.

Framed Stripe Woodcut

2009-01-28T08:16:00.001-08:00

Finally finished carving this one - woodcut rolled with water-soluble ink.
Placed in frame with birch "mat".
...do I like it though...?
It is large - 19 3/4" x 19 3/4"!

In the future, work smaller...?
1. able to create more/faster
2. more conducive to experimenting
3. will fit easier into the kiln
4. space to display more

Woodcut detail:

Opening Lines

2009-01-18T17:17:00.000-08:00

Went to this exhibition at the New Art Center right down the street in Newton.
I didn't realize Sol LeWitt made woodcuts!
There was also a black and white version of this work.

Wavy Lines (Color), Sol LeWitt

Tara Donovan

2009-01-03T17:45:00.001-08:00

Went to the ICA this week. Saw multiple new solutions to everyday objects. Lots of pattern/repetition. My favorites were the plastic and foam cup sculptures and mylar wall. I left certainly not as excited about this year's Foster Prize or Momentum pieces.

"Untitled (Styrofoam Cups)", 2003.

www.icaboston.org/exhibitions/exhibit/donovan/

Recent Book Finds

2009-01-03T16:38:00.000-08:00

Borrowed this one. Amazing, colorful, modern lino cuts.
Never have been so inspired by 1 book of prints before!

Another borrowed book... lots of interesting approaches.

Rescued from the bargain section... time to make more tiles!

Recycling the scraps of thesis past... for the present(s)

2008-12-29T13:12:00.000-08:00

'Tis the season for making homemade wrapping paper.
Wrapped with or printed directly onto grocery bags.

Contemplating Presentation

2008-12-17T13:58:00.000-08:00

Planning to work in a variety of media, I think it's important to start thinking about this stage... already. I want to confine myself to the square image to be sure that the variety will still be cohesive in the end.

Ultimately, I plan to have several pieces (each with different media) all based on the same original piece of artwork and all contained in the same size frame (19 3/4"), each with a birch "mat".

Starting to Carve the Stripes

2008-12-17T11:32:00.001-08:00

Using gouges to carve out the striped cloth image.

This time, I am trying to leave more contour lines
in-between what will be solid black stripes.

I'm hoping this will make for an interesting clay
slab or paper embossing or ...

Brainstorming Square Media/Approaches

2008-12-17T10:57:00.001-08:00

1. woodcut
2. clay (slab, cut-out, glaze, oxide)
3. emboss
4. metal
5. fabric
6. photography
7. digital manipulation
8. chin colle
9. animation projected onto wood
10. raised wood
11. silkscreen

Past Bike Woodcut Experiments

2008-12-17T10:45:00.001-08:00

Looking at Wadsworth's images reminded me of my work last summer.

I started these woodcuts with digital photos of bike shadows on stairs.
This was when my original idea to display just the wood, not the print began.

Now... to stripe or to bike???

This larger block also shows
much of the actual bikes
(lower left).

Edward Wadsworth

2008-12-17T09:12:00.000-08:00

Found out about this artist from the exhibition:
Rhythms of Modern Life British Prints 1914-1939 .
(See post below.)

Bold, realistic abstraction, black and white, detailed yet simplified shapes.

Rhythms of Modern Life British Prints 1914-1939

2008-12-17T05:28:00.000-08:00

"More than 100 lithographs, etchings, woodcuts and linocuts, ranging from geometric abstractions to forceful impressions of the first fully mechanized war, Jazz Age images of sporting events, speed trials and other contemporary diversions." (Rhythms of Motion)

These images are amazing!
http://www.metmuseum.org/special/rhythms_modern/images.asp

Clay Slab Cut-Out Test

2008-12-16T18:07:00.001-08:00

Working with an earlier, practice stripe woodcut.
The plan was to make a slab and cut-out areas so that a shadow or at least more dimension would be created.

To do differently/test in the future:
roll a thicker slab?
use paper clay instead?
cut-out less?
carve in addition to cut-out?

Currently waiting for it to come out of the kiln. I patched it with some paper clay. Hopefully it will stay together. Or, at least I can also use it as another future glazing experiment.

Käthe Kollwitz and Oswaldo Guayasamin

2008-12-16T16:20:00.000-08:00

More recently I have been looking at how similar these 2 very different artists are.
I like the black and white, strong contrast, graphic, realistic abstraction/exaggeration, abrupt shapes that each works show.

Katja Strunz

2008-12-13T06:49:00.000-08:00

"In her sculptural installations and works on paper, Katja Strunz transforms found and humble materials—scrap metal, wood, and old pages or photographs from books—into playful, fantastical, and somewhat mysterious landscapes. Her works posit an intuitive and abstract language as they imbue the gallery space with intimations of memory or past phenomenona, paradoxically communicating both delicacy and aggression. She meticulously places the various forms in her installations to create constellations whose parts seem to be in direct communication with one another."
(Life on Mars, 2008 Carnegie International Gallery Guide.)
Fall into Space, 2005

I like Strunz's relief wall sculptures and her use of shadows as part of the piece.

Early Clay Slab Experiments

2008-12-13T06:44:00.000-08:00

The first try at rolling my woodcut out as a slab.
Woodcut length = 36"
Kiln diameter = <36"!
Not sure I like the multi-colored mosaic look.

Magdalene Odundo

2008-12-13T05:10:00.000-08:00

"Magdalene Odundo was born in Nairobi and educated in Kenya, India, and England where she studied and taught at the Royal College of Art in London. She currently has a studio in Hampshire, UK and is Professor of Ceramics at University for the Creative Arts in Farnham. Odundo was recently honored with the African Art Award by the Detroit Art Institute and by her appointment as Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to the arts. Her hand built and coiled vessels with their lustrous burnished surfaces evoke associations with traditional African arts and contribute to the contemporary cross-cultural dialogue."
(Office for the Arts at Harvard, Ceramics Program, retrieved by email Thursday, October 23, 2008, 4:27 PM)
Untitled, 2003 blackened terracotta

I like how Odundo works with traditional coils to make abstract, seemingly perfect, simplified shapes.

Andy Warhol and Carnegie Mellon Museum of Art - Pittsburg, PA

2008-12-12T19:15:00.000-08:00

Visited Carnegie Mellon's art and natural history museums.
Then, saw the Warhol Museum - Andy Warhol's 7-story museum.

Stripe Image to 15 x 15 x 3/4" Birch

2008-12-12T19:11:00.000-08:00

Tracing the stripe image to the 15" square of wood.
I used the darkroom enlarger this time.
Some of the overly straight lines will be slightly modified.

Stripe B&W Photography

2008-12-12T19:02:00.000-08:00

My process from the beginning...
1. Choosing a high contrast stripe
2. Working in the darkroom
3. Prints in water-wash
4. Prints, contact sheets, and negatives
5. Piecing together prints to see "final" 15 x 15" image.

6. Later to transfer to the woodblock, carve, and experiment with different media.