Yes, I do artwork!

Buy Gas, 9" x 12", Mixed Media with Stitching
More info here

Smoke Cigarettes, 8" x 10", Mixed Media with Stitching
More info here

Pay Taxes, 8" x 10", Mixed Media with Stitching
More info here


I finally got moved into my studio and I can actually work in it now. Amazing! Actually it makes me really happy--I've never had this much space before. I get so much more work done with things organized and not cluttered!

These three collages are all in shadowboxes, the fuzzy parts are from contact paper stuck to the actual glass of the frame. I like the 3-D effect, but of course like everything it looks much better in person.

Some of the components of these works are years old, like the text---I really needed to get this out of my system and it was very cleansing. Off to a new era. If you are interested in these works they are for sale here.

Contemporary Curating

As I am studying curating and planning on opening The Eclipse Gallery in June, I've come across some really interesting attitudes about what it means to be a curator. As an artist and a curator I am put in a unique position--some may feel this is a conflict of interest or even that I am a stereotypical frustrated artist-turned curator. As with everything in the art world, there are many misconceptions, stereotypes, and outright lies (see my article Art World Norms Have to Change). Curating has become like everything in art--too entrenched and dependent on labels. It needs to end. You would think that artists and people that are involved in art would be more open minded.

If you are interested in this subject I would recommend buying the current issue of Art Lies. You can read one of the articles here.

My standpoint on curating is similar to the thinking of Julieta Aranda, who states: "Sometimes I wonder if there is really a need to keep roles so strictly separated or if curating is an entrenched practice merely because of tradition. I would be very curious to know what you consider the difference between artist-curated shows and curator-curated shows. In my case, I think more and more about the possibility of an extremely flexible approach in which it would be possible to articulate polysemic positions that can be either artworks or exhibitions. Somehow the idea of exploring the intersecting space between both practices seems more interesting to me than it is to delineate the boundaries of each. A good example is Obrist's DO IT exhibitions, which I find incredibly successful as artworks."


And what about curators that are trained in both curating and art? And vice versa? Does this make this person's curating less valid or their art less valid? Maybe some people are complicated enough to do both equally well? And as far as curating as art--there have been worse concepts deemed art, so why not? Visit The Eclipse Gallery blog for more on this.

Curators that inspire me:

Hans Ulrich Obrist

Harald Szeemann (the link is an interview by Obrist!)

Jens Hoffmann

Okwui Enwezor

Ydessa Hendeles

iCopyright: Great Resource for Artists

I came across iCopyright the other day, and I have to say I LOVE this service! It's free, easy to sign up and use, has great features, and is very professional. If you are an artist, a musician, a writer, or performance artist, I would highly recommend checking it out and signing up. Basically, you create an interactive copyright tag that you can use on print or web media.

This is what my entry looks like:

Copyright 2008 Sarah Elizabeth Condon
For permissions: sarahelizabeth.iCopyright.com

Click on the links to see what my profile looks like and such.

Zine Review: Bermuda Pataloons

This highly interactive and fascinating zine is "affordable property" as the artist puts it, and I agree. Not only is it affordable, but it is one of the best zines I've ever had the pleasure of gazing upon. I LOVE this zine. And I love the price.

The artist, Evah Fan, does some other amazing work which can be seen by clicking here.

And speaking of zines, I just made another one called The Last Day of Summer, which you can see by clicking here.

Thanks for looking and clicking!

Please Take My Survey

Everybody likes taking a survey, right? Well, maybe not, but I would really like you to take mine! I am trying to officially decide the name of my new art & design gallery, and I would love your input.

Click here to help me out, and I would very much appreciate it! It could be your good deed for the day. Just think of how warm and fuzzy you will feel afterwards!

At any rate, Thank you!

Surreal Collage Mini Story

I love cutting up words/phrases and making surrealist stories. I've been doing this with newspapers, books, and magazines since I was a kid. Here is a little book I did last night when I had insomnia. The mount is paper that I handmade from onion skins and filler pulp. I am going to bind this with wire.

The books I sampled from were:

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand (my fave book ever)

Animal Farm by George Orwell

An old children's science book

The Wandering Uterus Zine

I'm working on Volume Two of my zine. This is such a great outlet for all of the writing and photography I do, among other things... In this next issue there will be lots of words (and still a lot of images). Also I put some Mail Art in this issue.

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

This is a poem written by a high school senior in Alton, IL, two weeks before he committed suicide:

He drew...the things inside that needed saying.
Beautiful pictures he kept under his pillow.
When he started school he brought them...
To have along like a friend.
It was funny about school, he sat at a square brown desk
Like all the other square brown desks..and his room
Wasa square brown room like all the other rooms, tight
And close and stiff.
He hated to hold the pencil and chalk, his arms stiff
His feet flat on the floor, stiff, the teacher watching
And watching. She told him to wear a tie like
All the other boys, he said he didn't like them.
She said it didn't matter what he liked. After that the class drew.
He drew all yellow. It was the way he felt about
Morning. The teacher came and smiled, “What's this?
Why don't you draw something like Ken's drawing?”
After that his mother bought him a tie, and he always
Drew airplanes and rocketships like everyone else.
He was square inside and brown and his hands were stiff.
The things inside that needed saying didn't need it
Anymore, they had stopped pushing...crushed, stiff
Like everything else.

(source: The Underground History of American Education by John Taylor Gotto, Oxford, New York p. xxvii)

It's almost done, I just need to go get some brightly colored paper for the cover and start hand-binding them. Let me know if you're interested. I accept comparable art or zine trades or else $5.

Printmaking Techniques

I've been trying out some new printmaking techniques--my favorite has to be the wood block. I'm starting a HUGE woodblock print today. But here's what I've been experimenting with...

Tomorrow's Mutant, about 8" x 10", Woodblock

David's War, about 8" x 10", Copper Etching

I posted State One of this a few weeks ago. This is based off a photograph of my best friend's husband who served with the Marines in Iraq.

Race to Grow Up, about 8" x 10", Solarplate

For this I drew with Micron on frosted Mylar which I then burned onto the Solarplate.


I'm excited to get started on my huge woodblock (I'm talking 4 x 8 FEET), which I've already named Ecorche Croc...so I'll leave it up to your imagination.

I'm also working on some crazy embroidery that I'll be entering into a Fiberarts magazine contest. I almost done with one already so I'll post that soon. It's based off the Tomorrow's Mutant woodblock and uses lots of non-traditional materials. Yay!

Owls on Onion Skin Paper

Okay, so I have two friends (they don't know each other) who both really like owls. (Which just made me realize that I've actually never seen an owl out in the wild--damn!) Anyway...Alexandra has them all over her house (not real ones of course) and Karissa just made a huge felted owl that's amazing. Since I just made some paper out of onion skins, which Alexandra donated some skins for, I thought I would thank her by doing this little drawing for her on the paper I made. I'll consider it Mail art since she lives far away from me and I'll be sending it to her :)

It's okay to do cute things once in a while, right? Why not.

Also I apologize for the picture quality but my scanner is not cooperating with me tonight, so the pic is from my very crappy camera. When my scanner starts cooperating I will be posting some more Mail art that I received :)

What I've been up to, other than going insane...

Some older work of mine I like to look at once in a while: Storm Two
8" x 10" Monotype

I know I haven't been posting much of my art lately, but I've been really busy/crazy lately. I think it's a combination of stress and the weather (I live in northern Wisconsin)--I really, really need sunny warmer weather!

But I'm working on a copperplate etching that is almost done and I've been making my own paper out of onions and thistles, and binding some books. Onions and thistles you say? Yes, you can make paper yourself out of almost any plant matter--I would recommend the cheap but awesome book The Art of Papermaking.

Also I've been doing a bunch of jewelry and redecorating my kid's bedrooms. Plus nobody is sending me any Mail art right now--I must be in a slump! I owe a few people Mail art back so I'll be doing that asap, along with some magnets, and then I'm sure I'll get a bunch of Mail art back again. Maybe I should start posting the Mail art I create and send to people?

I'm also adding more artists onto The Emergence Project website. And of course I have about 10,000 other things on my plate as well...

So what gets me through the day? What inspires me?

Well I just bought a Steve Keene painting--and you should too!

I'm reading Microstories!

I'm making lampshades!

Reading blogs like Sweet Sassafras!

Generating Fairy Tales!

Money Oragami!

Rearranging poetry at the Detrave Hangout!

I've been Booch Mooching!

And for all those crappy records you find at garage sales...new life!

Now that I gave you a bunch of links to use up a bunch of your time, try not to neglect what you are currently doing, like I am right now. Hey, everybody needs a break--you might as well be doing something cool with your time! Like blogging...

I'll Leave you with a Collograph

This is from a grid series of monoprint collographs I just finished.

Mountain Grid, 1/1, 11" x 15", Collograph

I'm going on vacation for a week so I won't be posting until I get back. I did, however, just send out a whole ton of Mail Art so check your mailbox! I've been making lots and lots of magnets! If you would like a Mail Art magnet, e-mail me at sarah@theemergenceproject.com and I will send you one! All you have to do is send me some mail art back, not necessarily a magnet.

Have a great week!

Dying Tulips

I had this pretty little display of some tulips my mother sent me for Valentine's Day on my stair ledge, and I can't bear to throw them out. Even as they are dying I find them so beautiful.

The white weird thing wrapped around the bottoms of the vases are styrofoam peanuts that I strung together. I really hate wasting things and I try to recycle all the packaging from just about everything I buy. I like to use a lot of recycled and found objects in my artwork.

Jewelry Escapades

My future husband and I love making jewelry, and I have so much of it we decided maybe we should start selling it. So I set up an Etsy shop. Just so everybody knows to check it out once in a while. There's only one thing on it now, but that's all I've had time to post...

Work In Neville Museum Show

I just wanted to share my joy about being accepted into the NEW Art Show for the Neville Museum in Green Bay, WI. If you're in the area, please come see it. March 8-April 20

Sketch for Etching

This is a preliminary sketch for a copper etching I'm doing titled David's War. The scene is inspired by a photograph of my friend in Iraq who served in the US Marines. I'm trying to show the tension that exists in the personal experience of a soldier--something that gets overlooked or ignored often.

Any feedback would be appreciated as I can still make changes. Thanks!

Another Embroidered Tarot Card: the Hanged Man

Tarot: Hanged Man

Thread, Embroidery Floss, Paper, Ink, & Contact Paper

about 8" x 11"

More of My Work

Tarot: Sun

Thread, Embroidery Floss, Paper, Ink, & Contact Paper

about 8" x 11"

New Work: The Ladders to the Tree's Roots

The Ladders to the Tree's Roots, 9" x 18.5", Gouache, Charcoal, & Marker on Board

The 1st Oil Painting I Ever Painted (I Was 15)

Fish, Oil on Canvas, 8" x 20"

This won the Curator's Choice award at the Youth Art Show at the Rockford Museum (Illinois)

Fish has always been my favorite so I thought I would post it--this is where my life started.

Dylan's Forest

2' x 3', Oil on Canvas