Artist Statement....Oey Vey!

Hi all and welcome to another installment of my rants, raves and delish dishes!! Above is a large steaming pot of one my favorite things to eat, Calabasitas. It's a pot of shear love!! It's Italian zucchini, corn (canned or frozen), canned tomatoes (with jalapenos or plain), and cheese, lots and lots of cheese...extra sharp cheddar, munster, jack, asadero or all the above!!! It's just cheesielicious!! I also add some spices, garlic and onion power, a bit of Cajun seasoning (if you have Anne's recipe, I urge you to use it!!), and Mexican oregano (regular oregano is fine too, but Mexican has a richer flavour). You can make it as a side or a meal...I've used it for both. Just steam the zucchini then once it's semi-soft, (not mushy), add all the above ingredients and allow cheese to melt. That's it, that simple and so good.

Alright, now that I've exorcised the spirit of "Julia" (I wonder if she ever made Mexican food??), it's time for my rant. I've been asked to create an artist statement and bio for a gallery. The bio is no prob, but the artist's statement, Oey Vey!! If you were to ask any of my studiomates about Georgina and artist statements back when I was in school, you'd get the eye rolling action followed by a huge guffaw!! You see, as an art student I attended many shows, both professional and student shows, and read my fair share of artist's statements. Oh Lord, most of them were a verbal pile of doo-doo!! I thought, do these people really think this way when they're creating? So I'm really stumped for what I need to put down on paper or in this case, an email with an attached document...sigh!

I texted a good friend of mine, who graduated with me and moved on to get her masters in sculpture, making her now an assoc. prof at the university's art department. She called me back and said she couldn't text because she was laughing too hard to punch in her reply. She recalls all those comments I made when reading out those statements. I would take the brochure provided by the artist, back to the studio where work resumed into the late evenings. So for a comedic break, I would read out the statements to my fellow studio dudes and dudettes in the same fashion of a Shakespearean soliloquy!! I was an English and American Lit. minor, so I had lots of practice!! LOL Many of these statements made for a good laugh and began dialogs among us about art and our purpose in that world. Yea, whatever!!

Many of these statements have words like, "conceptual, organic, metamorphosis," and my personal favorite, "genesis!" I have a "genesis" every day, it's called waking up!! So I'm just stumped for words as to how to sound "artsy" and yet maintain my identity. I asked myself, "Myself, what do you think while in the throws of creativity?" I observed this yesterday while measuring where to drill holes into my wooden boxes (later on that project) and then taking the drill for said holes, however, I sounded more like Yosemite Sam after I pierced myself with a drill bit!! Oh well, so much for that experiment!!

While listening to my CD's, the voice of Paul Simon began to waft through my studio (do voices waft or is that scents??). It hit me, like Paul, I'm "still crazy after all these years"....and proud of it!! It was as if my decision to play that Paul Simon CD was more divine intervention than personal intent. I'm working on my statement now, with the "crazy" thing being my main theme. I don't know what direction it will take, if any. I might be like one of my favorite ceramists, Michael Corney, a professor of ceramics at UNM (University of New Mexico in Albuquerque) where his statement is a big question mark, except I'll use the exclamation point instead!

ARTIST STATEMENT BY GEORGINA CECILIA DIAZ:

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These are pics of my latest projects since before Christmas. Two of them are little metal frames made in Mexico. I grew up seeing them on the walls of old missions and homes and loved the colours and designs. I ordered a few little ornaments last year and decided to start doing something with them. I'm a doll artist, that's never going to change, but I do enjoy going outside of my perimeter now and then and here are the results of my wandering.



Metal frame with a small painting of "Virgen de Guadalupe," enclosed in a small glass frame.
















Metal heart with a satin ribbon and gold milagro in the centre.



















Dollar store metal frame with a small painted canvas of "Virgen de Guadalupe."
















These are available for sale if anyone is interested, just email me at barrobabe54@yahoo.com.

Well, I'm off to begin my day in the studio. With all these football play-offs, I doubt if my hubby or son will come up for air today until I take my boy back home to his father this evening. So my bloggy buds, have a great week and keep creating and don't forget to try my warm-up-the-soul Calabasita recipe, especially those of you who are chin deep in snow...yea, it's going to be in the mid-60's here today!! Peace out.