just wondering

this is my paint bucket.

i really like the inside of it.

is that wierd?

quotables

"i was born in 1928. same year as mickey mouse, but he made out better - straight to hollywood, straight to the cosmetic department. i did not approve of his buying into all that crap and letting his soul get despoiled."

"it's hard to be happy. some people have the gift of pulling themselves up and out and saying there is more to life than just tragedy. and then there are those who can't, and i'm one of them. do you believe it when people say they're happy?"

~maurice sendak in an interview with mariana cook in 2009.

true confessions

i know as an artist i'm supposed to be enthralled with birds, with their symbolism of spirituality and freedom and all that jazz, but i really REALLY do not like them. at. all.

the little reveal

because the big reveal isn't ready yet. behold my 2x6' studio in our storage/laundry/art room. turns out i'm really loving working from home...and i really can't beat the 30 second commute.

speaking of work, here's my latest woodblock print - my first in 2 years. what. i had to read hunger games about six thousand times before i could get anything done. i'm not sure if i like where this print is going, but i'm excited to be printing again!

it's difficult to achieve my style without an etching press, so i'm wingin it here. it will probably look very different once i proof it.

surprise!

we're in the huffington post!

AND

i'm going to be a guest artist at the workhouse!

we building 4 artists have been working hard on the "have a heart" project, creating interactive and food-centric artworks in a variety of media.

and you can help! just bring non-perishable or canned goods to fill our kitchen on or before the

second saturday reception.

(feb 11, 6-9pm, workhouse building 4)

all items will be donated to the local food pantry, food for others.

l-r: joan yi, mary gallagher stout, lynn goldstein, john gascot, and annie gedicks working on a collaborative project for have a heart.

can't make it to the reception? donate here. all proceeds will be used to purchase items for food for others.

thank you!

thanks to all who came to my last featured artist show at the workhouse! you are the best.

stay tuned for details on a home studio open house...

in a month or so...

the last one...

please join me for second saturday at the workhouse arts center!

after 3 and a half years, this will be my last show with the workhouse. please come help me say goodbye, and enjoy some great art and light hors d'oeuvres, while you're at it.

saturday, january 14 from 6-9pm

studio 406

workhouse arts center

9601 ox rd

lorton, virginia

the tale of two engagements

it was the best of times. it was the worst of times. it was really just stressful times involving some art show preparation, some substitute planning, a road trip, a lecture, a demonstration, a van ride, some really gorgeous picassos and one really great boyfriend who drove, carted my stuff around for me and generally kept yours truly cool and collected, if not completely calm. (how's that for a sentence that never ends?)

okay okay, i'll get to the good part. monday morning after most of said activity had gone swimmingly, thank you very much, i was frantically trying to finish up some last-minute framing for a show opening later that night. things were not going well. i texted ben and voila, he turned up at my studio with a rose. thinking he had decided to be late for work in order to cheer me up, i gave him a big hug and blathered on about my woes. i have a question for you, he said rather seriously. what, i said, not very kindly, steeling myself for the worst. next thing i knew, he was on one knee with a ring - this ring - in his hand.

he cut right to the chase, "will you marry me?" a much better question than anticipated. i said yes immediately. we hugged. we kissed. we kissed some more. when he finally got it through my thick skull that he wasn't going to work, we finished framing my works and delivered them to the gallery. *perfect* proposal.

(after seeing this picture, i decided to give up my lifelong dream of hand modeling)

over our celebratory lunch at mcdonald's (he wanted to get sushi at our spot near my studio, but there wasn't time) he mentioned that he hoped i wouldn't be let down when i discovered his original plan. there was a powerpoint. and tshirts. the strike force might be disappointed, he said.

(he's too sexy for that shirt)

wait. wait wait wait. tshirts? powerpoint? STRIKE FORCE?! i had to know. he wouldn't tell me everything, but we agreed to go through with the original plan the following evening. we managed to keep it a secret from the entire force except for two, who gamely haven't told us exactly what dorks we really are.

so after work, we took a walk down to "our spot" on the tidal basin, near the roosevelt memorial. it was a beautiful day, a bit blustery, but the cherry blossoms were still out and i got to wear my raincoat and hat. he borrowed back the ring. as we approached one of the benches, there was some red velvet draped over it. hmmm, what is that? ben wondered aloud. why don't you see what's underneath it? i picked up the fabric to reveal a rose (the same one from the day before, which i'd left at his house).

then he was on his knee again and this time there was a speech. a good one. and i said yes again. more hugging and kissing. and staring at the tidal basin. then we walked out as the strike force converged. sadly, we hadn't been able to find any water guns with which to attack them, so we settled for giving them the truth (that we'd been engaged for more than 24 hours) instead of a surprise soaking. i mean, they did do a rather good job keeping the park ranger and other people away from our spot. except for that one jogger. they took it like professionals.

(he can by my chicken tikka masala any day. mmm-m!)

ben then took me to the restaurant of my choosing for a celebratory dinner. so with the sky as my limit, of course i chose the hole-in-the-wall indian buffet and loved me some chicken tikka masala. mmm-m.

*special thanks to strike force alpha

the peanut gallery speaks

it's my turn to post again! over here, where we in the peanut gallery speak without you rude people saying, no comments from the peanut gallery.

enjoy :)

why i like modern art, part ii

"every artist has an attic" this is the title of a screenprint by retired ttu professor of printmaking lynwood kreneck. sadly, i couldn't find an image. it's a very clever print, showing partial and complete artworks by famous artists throughout time strewn about an attic; the influences in the neatly jumbled mind of an artist. the following are a few images stashed in my attic:

paul klee's "die zwitscher maschine" (the twittering machine) (1922) found here

paul klee's "hermitage" (1918), here (a "site that is impossible to navigate properly." good luck.)

kandinsky here




cy twombly images found here and here (notice the second is for sale...you have $1,338,351 lying around to buy me a christmas present, right? i've been a very good girl.)




per kirkeby's prints, both "untitled" from 2003 found here. also for sale. {ahem}

and last, but DEFINITELY not least, a woman...who's still alive! i know right? behold: "tumbleweed," by karen kunc (1997):

the woodblocks for this beauty were on display in the printmaking lab at wake because my professor, david faber, helped to print the image during a workshop. i drooled over them every classperiod. someday i'd like to meet her.

i was going to tell you why i liked each of them, but for each one i started writing, the color! the line! the immediacy of the mark-making! delicious! and so, well, there ya go. but even more, i like them because they go beyond what you see to address deeper ideas (remember how artists think?) klee, for instance, manages to merge the monstrous with the playful, addressing industry's horrors and atrocities with childlike honesty and sincerety. twombly's works use line, texture and color (or lack of) very poetically and are often references or responses to literary sources. per kirkeby's abstractions are reminiscent of the danish landscape he grew up around and, likewise, kunc's abstracted landscapes are "interpretation and contemplation on larger issues of the eternal life struggle, of endurance and vulnerability, growth and destruction." (source) and of course, i'd be remiss if i didn't mention my former professor, terry morrow (who defies all links). he helped shape the artist i am today.

why i like modern art, part i*

i'd like to start this discussion with some insights of my own, but for now, since there are projects and tests waiting for my red pen and it's already after 10, i must do what i've forbidden my students to do - paste in a really long quote with a few of my own thoughts. ben showed me this excerpt from kurt vonnegut jr's breakfast of champions. i'm not really sure what the novel is about at all, but in it, a town buys a piece of modern art for $50,000 from a minimalist painter. it's described thus:

The original was twenty feet wide and sixteen feet high. The field was Hawaiian Avacado, a green wall paint manufactured by the O'Hare Paint and varnish Company in Hellertown, Pennsylvania.** The vertical stripe [a thin stripe a few inches from the left of edge of the panel] was day-glo orange reflecting tape. This was the most expensive piece of art, not counting buildings and tombstones, and not counting the statue of Abraham Lincoln in front of the old...high school. ...

Midland City was outraged. So was I.

***

I did not expect Rabo Karabekian to rescue me. I had created him, and he was in my opinion a vain and weak and trashy man, no artist at all. ...

Listen:

"What kind of a man would turn his daughter into an outboard motor?" he said to Bonnie MacMahon.

Bonnie MacMahon blew up. This was the first time she had blown up since she had come to work in the cocktail lounge. ... "Oh yeah?" she said. "Oh yeah?"

...

"You don't think much of Mary Alice Miller?" she said. "Well, we don't think much of your painting. I've seen better pictures done by a five-year-old."***

Karabeckian slid off his barstool so he could face all those enemies standing up. ... "Listen--" ...

"The painting did not exist until I made it," Karabeckian went on. "Now that it does exist, nothing would make me happier than to have it reproduced again and again, and vastly improved upon, by all the five-year-olds in town. I would love for your children to find pleasantly and playfully what it took me many angry years to find.

"I now give you my word of honor," he went on, "that the picture your city owns shows everything about life which truly matters, with nothing left out. It is a picture of the awareness of every animal. It is the immaterial core of every animal - the 'I am' to which all messages are sent. It is all that is alive in any of us - in a mouse, in a deer, in a cocktail waitress. It is unwavering and pure, no matter what preposterous adventure may befall us. A sacred picture of Saint Anthony alone is one vertical, unwavering band of light. If a cockroach were near him, or a cocktail waitress, the picture would show two such bands of light. Our awareness is all that is alive and maybe sacred in any of us. Everything else about us is dead machinery.

"I have just heard from this cocktail waitress here, this vertical band of light, a story about her husband and an idiot who was about the be executed at Shepherdstown. Very well - let a five-year-old paint a sacred interpretation of that encounter. Let that five-year-old strip away the idiocy, the bars, the waiting electric chair, the uniform of the guard, the gun of the guard, the bones and meat of the guard. What is that perfect picture which any five-year-old can paint? Two unwavering bands of light."

even taking into account that vonnegut is probably making fun of minimalism and the idea of reducing life to vertical bands of light, i still think this is a beautiful defense of artists who work nonobjectively. and it describes perfectly why i love it: because it strips away everything that is unneeded and presents to you thoughts in pure form. because {most} artists actually think about what they're doing. because art is a process. because it's visual poetry.

maybe someday i'll speak more poetically or at least coherently about this. and perhaps post some of my own work that a five-year-old could do better than. maybe.

*this could be part i of many or part i of i.

**hellertown, consequently, is right outside of allentown, the man's (formerly known as the boy) hometown.

***if i had a dollar for every time i heard this argument, i'd be a very very rich woman.

you're invited

personal altared tectonics

(i spelled it that way on purpose)

new artworks

by ann elizabeth gedicks

(that's me)

august 11 - sept 5, 2010

opening reception saturday august 14, 2010 7-9pm

(you should come)

workhouse arts center

building 4

9601 ox rd

lorton, va

since you asked...

...the closing walk and talk went really well.

lots of people came.

i said some stuff.

the good days are still winning.

if you missed the opening...

come to the closing!

i will be speaking briefly, along with the other artists. hope i see you there!

Abstract Realities
May 14 - June 13
Closing Reception and Artists Talk: June 13, 5-7pm

Curated by Trudi Van Dyke
Apprentice Curator: Pam Rogers

Featuring work by Allen Levy, Ann Elizabeth Gedicks, Zoé Hathaway, Cherie M. Redlinger, Felisa Federman and Damian Yanessa

6 contemporary artists in a variety of media explore reality with abstract presentations.

District of Columbia Arts Center - 2438 18th Street NW - Washington DC 20009

to all my friends:

now i know who you are.

i kid.

thanks for coming!

i think i had more people show up than any of the other artists (because, yes, this is a popularity contest).

thank you for walking in the rain (10 blocks if you rode with genius me) and battling traffic and searching for non-existent parking and your well-wishes and asking great questions and being interested and showing up and liking (or at least pretending to like) my art.

you made the show great.

see you in june at the closing!

what i learned at school this year

this post alternately titled "i give up"

1. avoid use of bathrooms if at all possible. if not possible, use in the morning. the bathrooms are always less disgusting in the morning.

2. ABSOLUTELY NO LATE WORK actually means come up with such a sad story that your professor will be the biggest jerk on the planet for not showing a little leniency.

3. it doesn't matter how many times you say it, write it, staple it to their foreheads, they will still do it wrong. or forget and not do it at all. then, see no. 2.

4. art students are just as judgmental and closed-minded as everyone else.

5. never let them know you carry extra pens.

6. the request to write complete sentences will solicit a response akin to that of commanding someone to bathe in acid.

7. the responses to any questions i pose the class will likely be, "the details" or "the colors" (in incomplete sentences).

allow me to illustrate:

Q: How do the differences in these two artworks reflect the cultures from which they came?

A: the details?

A: the colors?

8. nobody cares about grades until the last 2 weeks of the semester.

9. attendance in class is (apparently) optional. if one absolutely must attend class, be sure to bring cell phone to occupy oneself.

10. it is always the professor's fault.

remember how i'm an artist?

Abstract Realities
May 14 - June 13
Opening Reception: May 14, 7-9pm
Artists Talk: June 13, 5pm

Curated by Trudi Van Dyke
Apprentice Curator: Pam Rogers

Featuring work by Allen Levy, Ann Elizabeth Gedicks, Zoé Hathaway, Cherie M. Redlinger, Felisa Federman and Damian Yanessa

6 contemporary artists in a variety of media explore reality with abstract presentations.

District of Columbia Arts Center - 2438 18th Street NW - Washington DC 20009

please oh please come.

yes, you. come.

pretty please.

note to self

its not a very good idea to keep your drink next to your paintbrush water.

a litta art show

i only have a few pictures of the may workhouse show because once jared left, i didn't bother bribing anyone else to play photographer. 

annie, may cause devastation in populated areas, lauren

ashley, annie, skin buckled, straight spine bowed, aaron, nancy

lovely flowers, annie, aaron, nancy

new work! no space left to remember

no space left to remember (detail)

new work! 

on the walls inside her head

now you know

the color's kind of off in this image (a little green) but i don wanna fix it right now.

on the walls inside her head (detail)

on the walls inside her head (detail)

i had more new work, but it sold already. and i think the images are on my external hard drive and i don' wanna fin' 'em

so. now you can contemplate the meaning of the universe, or at least what's going on inside her head.

a quickie

no, not that kind! i may have a bug bite on my neck that resembles a hickey, but i'm not that kind of girl. really, people!

so. these are a few of my favorite things - today, anyway - in list form. cause that's always a favorite.

excellent songs with lovely bideos that make me cry with their beauty created by very talented artists

funny/sweet stories. ab, remember when you and lizzy went to alaska? this is kind of like that, but neither cold nor imaginary. what tipped off the authorities? "what struck us was that the little ones were completely on their own and that they had a lot of swimming gear with them"

excellent songs that make that booty shake (i just can't help it)

spontaneous friends that do silly things with you. and record them for the world to laugh at. stay tuned for stories and footage.

love you all
and miss you far-aways.

ps. this just in! (thanks, ashley) why i need to go hiking/snowboarding/snowshoeing/running outdoors/and my new excuse for my lack of self control regarding sugar (and everything else).