Above the Noise

Lately I have had passionate conversations at art events about feeding the hungry.  My work as a volunteer with a food bank has re-kindled my passion for the cause.

After working in a mission based ministry in North Carolina I understand the spiritual drive to feed the hungry and serve the poor.  By serving “the least of these” we are serving the Most High God.  By ignoring the poor and hungry we ignore Him.

Homelessness, hunger, and generational poverty are pervasive in the Pacific Northwest.  My artwork doesn't communicate anything about this.  What's up with that?

"Migrant Mother", 1936, Dorthea Lange; Collection of the Library of Congress

I’ve been working with geometry, algebra and trigonometry for several years.  It makes sense after 24 years in the cabinet making field.  

But there is a more excellent understanding.

The hexagons, hyperbolic paraboloids and octahedrons that have captivated my attention since 2013 are technical works with clean finishes.  Geometry is an idealized imagery that alludes to higher realities.  

These artworks refer to the peace of God.

Consider Elijah’s experience of the whirlwind, the earthquake and the fire.  Despite the tumult he found that the Lord was not in them.  It was the still small voice that was the Lords.  (1^st Kings 19:11-12)  

The disruption, chaos, and turmoil didn't contain the Lord.

We are moved emotionally by what we see and become swept up in our circumstance, our society.  Then we express ourselves out of the abundance of our heart:  anxious, angry, afraid.... 

Our circumstances can blind us to the ever present, all knowing, all powerful God.  We are reminded that those things which are seen are temporary and that the unseen things are eternal. (2nd Corinthians 4:15-18)

"Single Red", 2017, ©  James Thatcher

Clean lines, concise edges, and sequenced colors are an expression of faith and not the world’s noise.

Pine study based on the work of Scandinavian architect, Soren Korsgaard; © 2017

  

I’m keeping on.

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The Decision and the End of Artist's Block"

"Pi", 8" x 10", Acrylic & gesso, chalk & pencil on primed mat board;  ©  2015
Prints available--message me for details.

“Artist’s Block” is rooted in fear.  Fear of mistakes.  Fear of messing up.  Fear of failure.  All of these will impede beginning.  Beginning is the end of Artist’s Block.

Indecision is the result of this fear.  Making “The Decision” is the key.  The idea is to create something to respond to.  The Decision is probably going to be wrong anyway but it will prompt a reaction.  

"Hyperbolic Paraboloid Sketch", 8" x 10", Gesso, chalk & pencil on primed mat board;  ©  2015
Prints Available--Message me for details.  Collection Steve Nyland

Responding is the key to unlocking creativity.  It doesn't even matter if the idea and execution are awful.  But get the ball rolling and believe that you have what it takes to figure it out.  It’s easier to work with something than to work with nothing.

It’s like editing.  You can’t edit what isn’t there.  Your artwork is in motion as long as you can determine a problem and consider a solution.  Problem solving is creative.  Trust your instincts.  Don’t quit until it works.

"Tree of Life, 6 Points", 8" x 10", Acrylic & Gesso, chalk & pencil on primed mat board; ©  2015
Backed, shrink wrapped and shipped anywhere in the lower 48 for $65.

I run into this hesitation in my studio these days with each new piece.  When I was in the midst of a focus project I knew what the next step was at the end of the day and what to do when I got back into the studio.

"Black Transformation Hexagon", 72" x 72", Gesso white wash on roofing felt; ©  2015
Unframed, rolled and shipped anywhere in the lower 48 for $400

Free range artwork is a whole different process in the wake of the focus project.  Each piece requires fresh inspiration, new insight and solutions.  OUCH! 

I am currently reworking last year’s abstract drawings with mathematics.  Each piece relates to different equations, parabolas or geometry--eventually. 

"Sweetgrass Drawing", Gesso & chalk on primed mat board;  ©  2014
Prints available--message me for details.

I continually say, “Make a decision.  It doesn’t matter if it works right now.  It will work.”  Each painting has required response after response to those initial decisions.  Each painting resolves itself into a fine and unusual artwork—WINNING!

"Parabola Oops", Acrylic & gesso, chalk & pencil on primed mat board;  ©  2015
Backed, shrink wrapped and shipped anywhere in the lower 48 for $65.

If you are avoiding your studio I want to encourage you. Make a decision on that painting that has you stuck.  If it’s the empty canvas (or page) that has you stuck then just slam it.  Make something to paint out and see what that looks like.  Then paint it out again.  And then paint that out.  What colors have evolved?  What textures? 

"Sweetgrass Parabola", 8" x 10", Acrylic & gesso, chalk & pencil on primed mat board; ©  2015
Backed, shrink wrapped and shipped anywhere in the lower 48 for $65.

Work with what emerges.  Let it tell you what’s happening, what it is and where it’s going.  All you need to do is push it and follow it.  Do it.  Make it.  It’s only art, right?

Have faith--it’s more fun than fear.  You will not fail if you do not quit. Let me know how it works out for you.

"Hypar Quad w/Circles", 8" x 10", Acrylic & gesso, chalk & pencil on primed mat board; ©  2015  
Backed, shrink wrapped and shipped anywhere in the lower 48 for $65.

http://jtnwdc.wix.com/jamesthatcherarts

The Tree of Life

I was working smaller to crank out ideas for large scale grid paintings.  As this study was nearly finished I noticed a shape lurking in the axes of all those squares:

An ideation sequence from 2012 ended in this shape (see “Finding the BrokenObelisk”) and it was exciting to see again. To have it reappear naturally was a pleasant surprise. 

Suddenly I knew the direction.  It was as if the grid was the way to get to this hexagon shape.  Fine with me!  I dropped the grid and went full tilt, working that hexagon shape.

A hexagon is a six-sided figure with six angles and six vertices.  We all think of the honeycomb but a hexagon is not necessarily equilateral—the sides don’t all have to be the same length.  

 

I didn’t labor over this but it came to be more important as time went on.


I was rolling with this image, not worrying about anything except what the next idea was:  boom, boom, boom went the artwork!

*******************

The holidays were upon us and my wife and I went away for a week or so.  No art production, just vacation, visiting, watching football—a great break.  We come home and instead of jumping back into art production I took a day to reorganize.

Then I decided that I needed to do a little research about hexagons, look into their symbolism.  Without the Christmas break I would have forged on with my head down and brow furrowed, painting away...

It was time to hit the search engine.  Things got interesting quickly.

First, some general connotations:  communication, interfacing, union (consider honeycombs and bee society), and balance.  Then GOLD:  The elongated hexagon that I’ve been working with was a variation of  “The Tree of Life.”

As a Christian, this floored me!  I was steamrolling with this image; producing it over and over again in various forms, like the guy in “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”.  Then finding out its meaning…!  

This studio experience is good example of God’s “still small voice.”  (Check out 1^st Kings 19:11-12)  You are motivated, you know it’s right, you aren’t struggling with it, you’re producing.  And you’re clueless!  That’s one of the best parts!  Then you find out what you’re doing, and THAT’S the best part!

Go boldly forward.  If the creative urge is that strong then do yourself the favor of following it.  In fact, push it!  Believe that it will become clear in due time, that what you are doing is meaningful; even if you don’t understand it now.

Greater forces are at work.

http://jtnwdc.wix.com/jamesthatcherarts

The Stillness Project

When I read the phrase, “Receive my Peace” in Susan Young’s daily devotional Jesus Calling I knew I had the bones of a nice inspirational image for the Facebook.

In the throes of my new grid based artworks, the idea had morphed into arrays of individual panels.  I’d just completed a couple dozen small white boxes.  Moving the piles around had gotten interesting as I began stacking them artfully.  I’d taken 62 photos as each box added to the stack made for a new arrangement.

There would be plenty to choose from to illustrate the “Receive My Peace” concept.

Surprisingly, this was not the case.  Looking with the guiding principle of “Peace” I found these images—every one of them—very busy.  

This was disturbing.  I thought that these little white boxes were undeniably quiet works.  No.

For a guy who uses “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks,” (Matthew 12:34) in his artist’s statement, I had some thinking to do.

Cube Drawing,  Graphite and Acrylic on Prepared Paper  1993  ©   James Thatcher

What was peace and how is it expressed?

Layout Template for "Discovering the Broken Obelisk" , Artist's Book, The Art Library, Brooklyn, NY

The concept of “stillness” came forward:  the square is a practical expression of equilibrium and balance because it is equal on all sides.  It can be an effective symbol of stillness.  

Surface quality was something to consider as well.  Is my signature heavy texture indicative of peace?  Not so much…

Then, in a conversation with a friend about “The Stillness Project” the idea of the color of peace came up.  What is the color of peace?  

Yves Klein regarding the color "Blue"     photo credit Harry Shunk

Perhaps it’s not one color but a range with peaceful application? 

This is the path I am choosing at the moment.  

Peace is alert with conscious choices occurring.  It isn’t sleep, right?  It’s a state of being.  Going back to the original idea, we are to “Receive His Peace”.  Being in the world, but not of the world; it is a gift from The Prince of Peace which we either accept or reject.  

Continually.

http://jtnwdc.wix.com/jamesthatcherarts

A Moment in the Studio

Recently, I had a moment in the studio that made me stop everything! 

You know how you’ll have your agenda set, your process well directed, all systems GO—me too!  Letting the process take over has allowed paintings to emerge without preconceived notions.  Ah, to be so free….

But this time the picture jolted together before me and I was stunned.  Let me explain:

I’d killed my current painting a couple of times already.  I had a strong bed of texture laid down:  hay and cattails (bulrushes) embedded in a pool of dried latex paint.  Typically I use the lines from the textural underpainting to direct the subject matter, but it just wasn’t working out this time.

So I’d painted over the whole uptight mess—twice now.  I’d gotten a beautiful effect during paint-over #1 by applying a dark wash of watery paint over my texture.  I decided to do that again. 

All was going as according to plan.   The dark wash had gathered into all the pockets of that voluptuous surface and I was forging ahead with a new course of action.

"Sweetgrass Drawing  23/30", 8" x 10", Pastel and Gesso on Prepared Board

I decided that this time I would use the above drawing as a model for the painting.  My plan was to use my data projector to shoot the drawing onto the canvas and simply paint it in.  However I couldn’t get the distance in my studio to enlarge the drawing enough—C’MON MAN!

I couldn’t seem to get a break with this painting!  The next day I decided that I could use the grid formula to increase the scale of the drawing and transfer it to the painting.   A piece of cake, old school but imminently doable….

This decision proved to be the game changer.

I measured out a 12” array over the surface and drew the lines in with charcoal.  The panel was laid on saw horses and as I finished the grid I set it up to begin the transfer process.

GASP. 

I saw it in an instant—a nano-instant. 

The grid broke up this epic field of texture into bite sized portions.  It isolated sections so that they became a group of individual pieces rather than an incomprehensible whole.  The visually overwhelming (who knew?) had become manageable.

In a rush of realization I set down the charcoal and stepped away from the painting.  Oh my goodness, what have I done!?

It was actually interesting!  The different pieces compared so well to each other…my eye was bouncing from one section to the next, over and across—I had to sit down.  I’d been knocked from Abstract Expressionism into Minimalism in one aesthetic hammer blow.

 

And I haven't gone back...

In just a few days I’ve completed 3 other highly textured grid paintings using different colored washes for the background.  I’ve filled in the squares with fabulous colors (say goodbye to the latex neutrals!).  

I’ve left sections empty on some paintings.  I’ve left a group of 4 large panels void of any further markings after gorgeous blue green washes.  I’ve built 18 small square surfaces for a grid installation painting which are now heaped with hay and bulrushes and drying in the barn.

The current studio view

And the struggle, the noodling and the exertion, effort and strain of composing the “brilliant and breathtaking” is gone.  I’d had the nagging feeling that this work with the hay  didn't need to go much further, but I just hadn't found the way yet. 

Now it’s full steam ahead.

If you have frustration or nagging feelings with your creations, Listen To That.  Where are they coming from?  What do they mean?  They were telling me that what I was doing wasn't what I needed; that  I was pushing past my own artwork.

Blow it out—figure it out—talk it out—work it out.  Be bold, be alert, and look for your moment.  Expect it.  Grab it.  Run with it!

http://jtnwdc.wix.com/jamesthatcherarts

Idea Generation Drawings--Getting ReStarted

This series is geared towards artists who want to get re-started in the studio after a long break.

Also referred to as “Ideations”, the Idea Generation Drawing is all about producing ideas quickly.  Each drawing builds upon the last.  It’s a fast way to discover and explore ideas.  One day you may find that your sheets are finished works in themselves.

Take a sheet of 18”x24” drawing paper and divide it into 16 equal sections.  In art school we were told to fold the sheet in half, then again, again and again—16 quick equal sections.  Now get your kitchen timer and set it for 5 minutes.  Yes, 5 minutes.

GO!  At this pace you have less than 20 seconds to fill each section.  I encourage you to finish your first sheets in under 5 minutes.  

Why?  We are most interested in getting restarted through this series of posts.  It is extremely important to see yourself produce a full sheet of drawings, regardless of what you think about the level of finish or quality.  In fact, do not think at all about quality or finish with this work.  Our interest lies in the flow of ideas, their encouragement and their direction.

Do a second sheet of idea generation drawings.  Make sure you follow the time limit and get all the spaces filled.  It may not be easy for you, but again, we are approaching this exercise as a re-starting technique.  Don’t spend any energy fighting it, use all of your energy making yourself produce quickly, right now.

Do you need to do a third?  Go ahead then.

Page one of drawings for sculpture, 2014 (Technically, thumbnail sketches)

Be conscious of where your ideas are going.  Have you discovered an idea that interests you?  If so, do your next idea generation drawing based on exploring that one idea.  See where it goes.  16 versions of an idea borders on an in-depth exploration, which can only yield well founded results.  Not only are you starting again in the studio, but you are building quality into your new artworks by exploring ideas this way.

Page two, drawings for sculpture

Do not give up—you will not fail if you do not quit.  Do you see any marks that are compelling, independent of an “idea”?  Maybe that’s the idea to pursue…be flexible at this point.  You are casting a lot of seeds out there and something is going to take root.

This is the equivalent of a “Free Writing” exercise for writers.  Getting the creative juices flowing is the main point, but you WILL hit an idea that is very interesting using this technique.  Look for that one tiny drawing with the je ne sais qua worth pursuing as a work in its own right. 

How about taking a photo of it and projecting it to scale it up?

There are multiple benefits to this exercise.  You’ll unearth ideas, explore and develop them; you’ll find surprise sections that stand on their own as images, you’ll develop diptychs or triptychs, even book sequences; not to mention how this process enables working in a series.  This is a fruitful approach as a general studio practice as well as for beginning new artworks.

Page three.

I fully encourage you to engage with this exercise.  Do you have a friend who might join you?  Sometimes it is easier to see how the process works when you look at someone else’s efforts.

Idea generation drawing is a valuable skill to acquire and serves well in the lifelong pursuit of art.  You can go through dozens of ideas quickly, arriving at images which are already proven worthy of pursuit.  It will increase your chances for success and a lot of new artwork.

Go get ‘em!

One of three sculptures based on above drawings, James Thatcher  ©  2014

http://jtnwdc.wix.com/jamesthatcherarts

YES! The Artist Speaks

From a reception for local donors to The New Vision Heron Mural:

I’d like to begin with one word, because that is how this project and everything associated with it began.  It’s a small word, but a beautiful and powerful word:  YES! 

When we say “Yes” individually, doors open and change begins.  Being in agreement with an idea, a statement, or proposal means that it goes forward with our blessing. 

When Lee Whaley said, “Yes, I will pursue having the heron mural redone”, the idea went forward in strength; blessed with her skill and experience.  And look where we are! 

When I said, “Yes, I will do the mural”, it opened up 3 years of experience:  From research and design to committee approval, online crowd source fundraising, and fabrication;  Then press coverage as well as getting to write my own guest blog article.  It meant mounting an accompanying exhibit, not to mention reconnecting with my past…everything made possible by one word. 

It’s one word, but it has needed many voices. 

When we collectively say, “Yes”, WE create opportunity.  WE empower those who are asking to make something happen—WE are in agreement with the happening of an idea, and are instrumental in its formation, it’s becoming a reality. 

“Yes” extends our world.  It expands our reality.  It creates possibility.  It unleashes the power to get results.  It represents a decision, a course of action, and a responsibility.  

The responsibility to honor those who agree to support, because now your sound judgment goes on display—the responsibility to verify your support AS SOUND JUDGEMENT.  

Thank you for your support.  Thank you for your affirmation.  Thank you for YOUR vision. 

When you drive by your mural think about this.  Think “YES” for your town, your downtown, and for what might present itself next.  Now you’ve got some experience with the power of your support.  It’s the power of your choice, your voice, your vote. 

You gave me an opportunity by saying “Yes”, and now we stand together with a new vision-- in a new vision.  Thank you for your confidence…it has been a soul changing experience.

Here's the video of the presentation.

Additionally, here's a link to a guest blog post I was invited to write for Artsy Shark about public speaking for artists:

http://www.artsyshark.com/2014/07/22/public-speaking-for-artists/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+artsyshark%2FNCiC+%28ArtsySharkFeed%29

http://jtnwdc.wix.com/jamesthatcherarts

Extenuating Circumstances and Life.

I once had an 8 year long break between artworks.  I've also had stretches of sporadic art production, grinding out stuff as I've been able to cram it into spare time, doing maybe a dozen measly, incoherent pieces in a year; year after year. 
 
But that really is life...we're not art making machines, we're people; and we make art.  Sometimes there are more important things than doing our artwork.  We are multi-faceted beings, and our artwork is only one facet.  Our other aspects must develop.


It had been 8 freakin' years...my first wife had died of breast cancer.  I was sitting on the sofa maybe a month after she'd passed.  Watching "Roseanne"...


I said to myself, "If I were an artist I'd be upstairs (in my wife's dormant studio) making artwork."  I turned off the television, went upstairs and got to work. 


We return to our art with a deeper experience to draw from; a greater awareness of love, of responsibility, and commitment; and making a more excellent product.
 
Have a little faith, gird up your loins, and believe.  Do you feel that life is crowding art right out?  This is going in a dynamic and profound direction for you.  You will do great and powerful things.  It will work.  You will not fail if you do not quit.  Having responsibilities is not quitting, it is being admirably strong.


You are admirable.  You are strong.  It will show.