Forward, slowly
January was a whirlwind both for my personal life and studio practice, which I am sure is true for everyone as of late. I finally began the first series of canvases, which will be on view at the Kleefeld Contemporary Museum next spring. It took longer than expected to set up the capture station, but it is running smoothly (thanks to my spouse and Principal Engineer, Grant Zizzo), and I have already completed thirteen sessions on the National Geographic September 2010 canvas. Updates on each session can be found on The Scheherazade Project IG.
Timelapse sample of September 2010, sessions 1-3.
Initially, I wanted to complete one canvas per month this year, and theoretically, my arithmetic says it is possible. But as we all know, life catches us off guard and we have to adapt constantly. I am only one third of the way done with this first canvas, which is frustrating, but we have done a lot of necessary setup that will payoff in the long run.
With an 8-month-old baby and a four-year-old, I find myself squeezing in sessions for two hours at a time either during naptimes or in the late evening while everyone is asleep. Being a caretaker is incredibly humbling, especially when wrestling one’s ego. I came across a quote from Grace Gulley that resonated: “Invisible labor doesn’t just exhaust you. It reorganizes who you are.” My life is no longer just mine, but also my son’s and my daughter’s, even my spouse’s (who has a disability). The majority of my time is spent caring, or preparing to care, or thinking about caring, which leaves slim margins for my work and my practice. But when I am in studio with carved-out time to make art, it is certainly a Godsend.
Grant has been working hard on configuring a database and building the preliminary OCR model that will detect all of the text on the magazine page scans. You can check out his notes via another blog post here.
The unexpected 9/11 anniversary article.
Playing with timelapse content capturing me while I’m working on the canvas.
Fiscal Sponsorship + Call for Donors
In a previous post, I mentioned that we were approved for fiscal sponsorship by Fractured Atlas (!!). We now have our donation link set up, and patrons can either do a one-time donation or a reoccurring monthly donation. We are hoping to raise $2,300/month for the foreseeable future. Your support directly contributes to our operating expenses, including studio rent, utility fees and material costs.
Every bit helps us. We are actively pursing grants and other funding opportunities, and your donation will help float us while we await responses and payouts.
More next month!
With love,
Aneesa