Art Competitions

Posted on May 6, 2014 by lksukany

One of the responsibilities I take on as an artist is competing.

Why do artist compete in art competitions? What, you mean besides the eternal glory! Many artists compete to win the prize, the glory, and recognition by an official art community. To get discovered. To be published. To slowly turn into a career artist. To make their artist CV more professional. To feed their personal needs for affirmation as an artist. To be a part of the art community. To experience the heights of glory and the lows of despair. I compete for most of these reasons as well. I have been a competing artist for 15 years.

What is the last competition you won? I was chosen for publication and exhibition in the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR) Equinox April 2013 for “Large Canvas Figure Study.” However, I did not win Best in Show.

How does it feel to win? Winning is like a group hug! At first, it is great. I feel proud of myself, that I am accepted as an artist in that particular community. I feel like my art is really good, of course it won! This feeling dwindles with time. Other thoughts start to creep in, like, “the competition must have not been too great, that’s why I won” or “ya, I won, but it was only this small competition” and so on. By the end, I just put it on my CV and until I win the next competition, it was my little victory.

Winning is like a group hug!

What is the last competition you lost? I participated in the Arkansas Arts Center “Face Off: A Portraiture Competition” 2014. I didn’t even make it past the first round. However, I did make it in the Sunday newspaper Arkansas Democrat Gazette!

How does it feel to lose? I would love to say that I am a gracious loser and that I say things like , “There were so many talented artists competing, so I’m just thankful I got to be a part of this whole thing.” Instead of this ideal response, I sulk and leave and cry about how I’m a loser.

What was the last competition you entered? My most recent competition experience was the Individual Fellowship with the Arkansas Arts Council. I initially knew I would enter this competition because the prize is eternal glory in Arkansas and $4,000. I thought I would work on a series of gouache paintings to meet the requirements of “works on paper.”

Then I started thinking about how I didn’t win this competition the previous year. I had competed with my thesis work, and if my thesis work didn’t win, why would I expect some little gouache paintings to win.

I got really discouraged and psyched myself out – not finishing any of the paintings I wanted to create – with this competition in mind. I just kept procrastinating and working on other things first. Eventually, the deadline was approaching the week of, and I just took the whole thing off of my to-do list. I decided I didn’t want to be stressed out and I didn’t want to deal with any more failures, etc. This was my attitude until the deadline day.

On the deadline day, I was feeling great – like God-inspired hope and joy. I thought, I can do this!

This is how I felt on the inside – the day I entered the competition.

The thing is, I am an artist, so I have hundreds of pieces to pick from as well as already photographed and documented work on my hand dandy flash drive. All I had to do was put it together in a package for this competition.

I put all of my materials in this envelope and decorated it!

So, I made a quick to-do list of everything I would need to do to enter this competition by lunch, and then I walked it over on my lunch break.

It felt really good to enter the Individual Fellowship competition rather than accepting defeat!

Artists Studio Series: Mariel

Posted on May 2, 2014 by lksukany

Mariel Garcia’s Studio

Mariel is a professional in North Little Rock who works mainly with fabric and sewing creations. She is an avid animal lover and volunteers with Raptor Rehab of Central Arkansas. Some of her work is currently for purchase at Gallery 26 in Kavanaugh.

Mariel talks about her studio below.

“I live in a small efficiency and work all around that space but felt like I wanted to have a dedicated area where I could call it my ‘craft home’. My loft area was becoming just an area for storage since I have to make the best use of my space. Instead of buying a table, I decided to use my creativity and see how I could keep both the storage and create that desired crafting space. I stacked up the storage containers and added a nice lace blanket to make a table.”

“I hung my threads on this cute pear shelf above my sewing machine for easy access.”

“I love how the natural light seeps through how I don’t have to worry about cleaning up if I’m in the middle of a big project. The good thing about my sewing machine is that I can take it downstairs if I wish. Everything is versatile.”

“Since this used to be my sleeping area before I bought my big mattress, I also feel a calm connection. It’s amazing how a little reorganizing can bring life to new ideas and create such a wonderful nook.”

Creativity Inspirations:
“Music and nature are big inspirations when beginning any project. Listening to music helps calm the mind so that I can easily tap into creative ideas and embark on new journeys.”

Other inspirations:
“Seeing other artists at work through craft meet-ups, blogs, Pinterest, and ideas from local hobby stores. I always think ‘If I can do it, I should try it.'”

“Creativity and imagination go hand in hand. It means innovating when there is a lack of materials thus making use of resources by being cost effective and helping our environment.”

Art Night for Projects

Posted on April 24, 2014 by lksukany

The Art Night for April 2014 met and I am thinking this group needs a name – like Crunch and Create, Munch and Make, or Snack and Scheme. The night serves dinner and then space and time to work on a creative project.

M made chicken and vegetable fried rice and then baked chocolate chip cookies.

Mariel was the first arrival and continued her puppet making project for the Man and Bear musical puppet show by the Damsels in Distress.

J brought a Darth Vader coat rack that she wanted to touch up paint.

M.M. brought her beautiful beads and worked on a bracelet.

K and A came together, sat together, and worked on their projects together! K worked on a felt billfold, and A worked on sewing an image for her trading card group.

I worked on printing cards to send to Lucy Luton in England. I was one of the first three to email her for a contest, and she sent me some of her cards – so I wanted to send her some of my cards.

More pictures of the night!

Art Studio Series: Emily

Posted on April 17, 2014 by lksukany

Emily Wood is an artist in Arkansas. I know her from the Master of Arts painting program at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. She teaches at the Arkansas Arts Center, and is highly involved in the Arkansas artist community.

Her website is www.emilywoodart.com

Emily Wood’s Art Studio – Emily talks about her studio below.

“My studio is in the sun room at my house– it has tile floors and windows on 3 sides.”

“Besides being a little small and a mess, I love it! The lighting is great and I can open the windows when the weather is nice. This is also my dog, Turk’s ‘room’, so I am always picking dog hair out of my paintings!”

Art Studio Series: Kelsey

Posted on April 10, 2014 by lksukany

Kelsey McCall is a student in the painting progam at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. She works in her studio, which is a room in her home.

Kelsey McCall’s Art Studio – Kelsey talks about her studio below.

“I primarily do realistic figurative painting in oil. I’m working on a series of Rockwellesque paintings right now (one of which is on my easel).”

“My studio is a mess. Every once in a while I get overwhelmed with it and I try to clean and organize it all to perfection. But when I’m working I tend to create clutter and chaos around me so the cleanliness doesn’t last long.”