_________________________________________

collections of works

2011-04-25T12:23:00.000-07:00

Spent a long portion of this rainy day trying to clean up this mess, www.abigailcarr.com.
( Some some someday it will actually have recent works )

2011-04-25T10:28:00.000-07:00

Passion For Place, Musketaquid's Earth Month Exhibit is up at the Emerson Umbrella Gallery in Concord (open daily). I don't have a piece in the show this year, but I helped hang the show with the great Musketaquid artists. The Earth Day celebration is Saturday, April 30, starting with a River Ceremony where floating chorus singers give song to the floating artworks that are ritualistically set free into the river. Then the parade: some very old puppets, giant puppets, walk, hop, fly, sway, through Concord center (Musketaquid being a native term for the town "where the water runs through the grasses"), finally grouping at the Umbrella for a festival of song, dance, food, art, crafts and sponsorship.

If you're interesting in getting involved, making a puppet or a float:
Puppet and Parade Workshops • 1–5 pm Sundays, March 20 and 27, and April 3 and 10, Emerson Umbrella
Earth Float Workshops • 1–4 pm Saturday, April 9 and Saturday, April 23, Emerson Umbrella

2011-04-25T10:03:00.001-07:00

this house was built with trees from this plot of land, just sayin.

Missing: Ai Wei Wei

2011-04-20T06:52:00.000-07:00

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/a/ai_weiwei/index.html

http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/04/11/ai-weiwei-tate-protest.html

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/ai-wei-wei/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/china-human-rights-crackdown-interactive

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=163478807041517

Has me more passionate about freedom of speech, less taking for granted.

A Big Project

2011-02-23T11:49:00.000-08:00

I'm planning my wedding. It is using up a lot of my psychic energy, it is okay. It will be my biggest installation , my best performance , my most important ritual. There will be lots of colors, earth and paper and cloth and film. He does not know everything that I think but he allows me to live happily in my world , and is there to hold me like a baby when I am a baby. His emerald greens and me as brown dog make a perfect tree. I'm going to pay someone to take his green and my brown , correlating colors, eyes as rocks, colored healing crystals , bend them around our eachothers fingers, to have and to hold.

me trying to have a job

2011-02-23T10:07:00.000-08:00

i've had a taste of honey
i do not think that i can settle for life without what i had when i learned about art for four years and lived in it, sat in the mud of it and let it dry , crackling skin, mud to dry dust in lighter colors.

i'm trying to do this. sitting in an office park, conference room, conscious of my facial expression, how my hair is falling, it doesn't look right, I'm not allowed to wear these shoes here, i don't care about what they're talking about, everything is clean and organized, i want to be.... pulsing faster
can't help wondering if something is wrong with me ....or if i'm lucky, that i want to be eating snow!
, digging through snow, kicking it up, until I can feel the ground, the burn of ice on skin,
all i know at the moment is that i want to be making medicine from rain , wine from dirt
feeling colors pulsing patterns
adhesive on shards, gotta get it back together, to make it into something it's supposed to be, i know it wants to be something,
touching, eating soaking in, soul, spirit, the stuff of earth, stuff of the gut
stacking bricks, glazing papers
it swirls around my head when I'm not allowed to be doing it.
the weight of paint, the kinetic energy in it. i want to be rubbing it in, chemicals on wood, tree, fur and bark, covering it in dusty pigment gone liquid. and then smoothing it all out, feeling the relief.
once you decide you're going to do it, it's out of your conscious hands
i've made a baby and i love it more then anything i'll ever be able to love.

Little House in the Big Woods

2011-01-30T13:34:00.000-08:00

This was my FAVORITE book as a girl. I think I have flashbacks because I can't distinguish fiction from reality.

2010-11-05T19:29:00.000-07:00

printing out ideas, definitions, secrets,, then folding, wrapping, hiding, presenting as present.

I was remembering...

2010-10-31T12:24:00.000-07:00

He had a table in his front sitting room, he had had it made,,, thick glass over trays of bags of pigment, the hottest pinks of india, and all the other colors that make that pink look its best.

We would hold one up for him to look at, the heaviest drawings I'd ever touched, real existing paper and paint. "What should I call it?" he would ask us, ,,we never answered, just waited to hear what he would come up with.

Something about love. he would say, it's about the things moving, being said, between the figures. Mother and child, "Mama and bebe" he would name it, remnants of French, love in many languages.

Image from laliberteprints.com.

on making things

2010-10-31T11:23:00.000-07:00

there are carpenters working on my house. i'm jealous of their process,,, they devise a plan, collect materials, and work their way through it until completion, seemingly knowing exactly how to do everything they need to do. i wish i knew what i was supposed to be doing,,, knew how to get myself to do things the right way or at all.

Personality shapes

2010-10-31T11:17:00.000-07:00

have you seen the foster prize nominations at the ICA (thanks for paying for this show louis vuitton)? here is my vote: Matthew Rich. Great shapes there.

on making art

2010-10-31T11:15:00.000-07:00

i guess this is how it's always going to be, quite difficult, always kinetic , always almost in the present.

October 15,cold fingers

2010-10-15T15:20:00.001-07:00

I am a neglectful mother to this blog, but at least I feel bad. I have a pretty good excuse this time: my laptop officially passed away a few weeks ago. Luckily David is good at sharing, or I would be computer-less.
Updates:
-I got to work at Tufts University art gallery for a few weeks towards the end of summer, assisting in preparatory work. These are the shows we prepared for.
-I now work at a bank as a Teller, in downtown Concord, Mass.
-I think I am finally passing at painting mice,, I want to be good at it. It takes a lot of strictness, and accuracy. Good lessons for me.
-We unpacked the room above our garage and found belongings of my grandparents, and traces of their former presence. It is really exciting to me.
-It is fall now, the best and most dramatic of the seasons.
-I've begun making cards,, greeting cards. For sale exclusively at The Grapevine in Harvard. All handmade/all different. It's a fun craft, to have simple guidelines,, I move quickly and make them like crazy once I start.Very relaxing. I'll also be making wine bottle tags, like luggage tags. Hopefully the holiday season will help me make a living.
-We are planning a little trip, visiting new york, to tour the many vineyards,, and go hiking. :)
I have trouble talking about only art when it is part of life. Everything has changed dramatically since last year// We're really secluded out here in the woods, but it isn't a bad thing. Everything has slowed down for me, things don't seem as pressing/ I feel like I can move at my own pace finally. Especially in terms of creating, naturally, 9 months is a valid amount of time to bring something about.that is when I'll make a painting by.

I started dreaming about painting, again. Right before I wake up I can see them, feel them being made, and feel excited and pressured to help them come about. (fyi, i do not dream in visuals, hardly ever.) It happens every once in awhile, and I know it is time to make (things come into existence) again.

I want to charge my camera, and share some work I've been doing, but again, I'm moving a lot slower these days, I'll get to it. :D

2010-09-17T17:08:00.000-07:00

Calm town Heavy eyes Real butter Stick wreaths Cold mornings
Rosae Soft voices Sweaters Lamps Stick fences Barking

"Life is Color!"

2010-08-28T07:30:00.000-07:00

I recently watched this beautiful Iranian movie, that I am completely in love with, Gabbeh, by Mohsen Makhmalbaf.
An old couple argue about cleaning their rug, their gabbeh, and underfoot, underwater a young woman appears magically embodying the Gabbeh. She is upset about her inability to marry her lover. I am content with being unclear about how the story unfolds. Each scene, all piled together, is what I enjoy. from the script:

Allahdad’s daughter: (stops washing things.) If I marry you, how violent would you go when you get cross with me?

Uncle: I won’t get violent. When and if I’m sore at you, I get depressed and recite poems.

Allahdad’s daughter: What sort of poems?

Uncle: (Puts his hand in hand out of the water, drops dripping from it.) I’ll recite:

I am the thirsty one, you are the running water.

I am fatigued, you are full of strength and energy.

I am aged, old and emaciated,

You are a flourishing branch on a tree.

Allahdad’s daughter: I accept to marry you, because I liked your poem.

I love that there is no clear distinction between past and present, or memory and reality, like in a dream. The colors and sounds are what make the movie: somewhere inbetween abstraction and reality (my favorite place) , the language and rhythmic visuals are like a visual song. There are strange occurrences that you can take as they are, accept them as a strange translation or just an abstraction, like the way in which her lovers voice is a distant howling wolf, and this is her explination, (rough translation):"Why does his voice sound like a howling wolf?"
"It's just a secret between he and I."

from the script:

(A small girl shakes a bell hanging from the neck of a goat. The pupils rush out of the tent. Now the uncle is standing before the blackboard, facing the class.) Uncle: What’s this colour?

(He stretches his right hand out of the frame. Insert of tulips. His hand enters the frame.)

Children’s voice: Red.

(The uncle’s hand grabs as though the red flowers in the tulip prairie. Cut to the blackboard. A bunch of red flowers is in his hand.)

Uncle: The redness of the tulips. Now, what’s this colour?

Children’s voice: Yellow.

(Insert. His hand grabs as though the yellow flowers in the prairie. Cut to the blackboard. A bunch of yellow flowers is in his hand.)

Uncle: The yellowness of the wheat farm. And what’s this colour? (Stretches his arm towards the blue sky.)

Children’s voice: Blue.

(His hand. Blue to the wrist, returns to the frame of the blackboard.)

Uncle: The blueness of the clear sky of God.

(Puts his hand down and out of the frame. Insert. A blue sea with his hand in foreground pointing at it.)

Uncle: What’s this colour?

Children’s voice: Blue.

(His hand, drops dripping from it, returns to the frame of the blackboard.)

Uncle: The serene blue of the seas. Now, tell me what this colour is.

(Stretches his arm towards the sun.)

Children’s voice: Yellow.

Uncle: the yellowness of the shining sun. The yellowness of the sun and the blueness of the water turn into the exquisite greenness of the grass.

(Puts his yellow and blue hands above his head. Cut to a green prairi, with his hand entering the frame.)

Children’s voice: Green.

(Back to the frame of the blackboard. There is some green grass in his hand.)

Uncle: Exquisite green. (Puts his yellow hand, with the bunch of red flowers in it, above his head. Cut to sunset.) The yellowness and the redness of the sun are orange at the sunrise and sunset.

(images from Google images)

Memory Flllags at BEST MINDS

2010-08-07T12:48:00.000-07:00

Memory Flags, as installed at BEST MINDS show in Beverly::

Look closely and you will see 7 flags along the line where the barn meets the ground.

The flags consisted of linen, papers, sea glass, strings, stems, sparklers, matches, and a pencil drawing of grass on newsprint that David and I made. They commemorating young warm-weather-times.
commemorate |kəˈmeməˌrāte verb [ trans. ]
• recall and show respect for (someone or something) in a ceremony
• serve as a memorial to
• mark (a significant event)
• celebrate

According to this definition, that is really what all of my pieces, not just the flags, are meant to do, their purpose. The flag made it literal. This summer we ceremoniously bought and hung our first American flag:

Close up pictures of the flags will be posted once the flags find their way back to me.

Here are some lyrics from a pop song that I like: She grew up on the side of the road, where church bells ring and strong love grows. She grew up good, she grew up slow, like American honey. Steady as a preacher, free as a weed. Couldn't wait to get going, but wasn't quite ready to leave. So innocent, pure and sweet, American honey. There's a wild, wild whisper blowing in the wind calling out my name like a long lost friend. Oh I miss those days as the years go by, nothing's sweeter than summer time and American honey. Get caught in the race of this crazy life- trying to be everything can make you lose your mind. I just wanna go back in time to American honey. Gone for so long now,
I gotta get back to her somehow
To American honey

More photos from BEST MINDS::

Event

2010-07-29T10:40:00.000-07:00

I will be participating in an art show/event: BEST MINDS
organized by the lovely Sara Santarsiero.
Place: Residence of 22 Prospect St. #2, Beverly, Mass. 01915

Time: Sunday August first, five thirty. "In honor of youth, summer, art, and American poet, Allen Ginsberg."

Time: Sunday August first, five thirty.
"In honor of youth, summer, art, and American poet, Allen Ginsberg."

always aworkin

2010-07-11T10:25:00.000-07:00

Here is a preview of a work in progress, made for a special little lady in my life.

What do you call a work made specifically for someone, a present or a portrait?

I am branching away from what I am used to for a few different design projects, practical needs, and even paid jobs:
Cards that I made:and these banners were the extent of the decorating I was able to get done in time for the party:

I also just starting painting miniatures for a company called Wee Forest Folk, who hire local artists. I am loving it!! This week I took home an egg carton full of mice to practice painting. It takes a lot of time, patience, and strain on the eyes to paint so small... and keep my shaky hands still. But it's painfully cute to watch the little things come to life and look up at me as I give them eyes and little pink noses! aaaaawwwww!
Alongside these ventures, I am also working on some merchandising projects and signage for The Grapevine, a beer and wine store in Harvard, Mass., that David works for.

Home sweet home:
Seats for two. :)

2010-06-17T10:58:00.000-07:00

I've been up to no good. A week in Mexico, Musketaquid Earth Day festival, graduations, moving to Carlisle, buying a truck, and our housewarming/engagement party. I cleaned my car, took all day. I hadn't even noticed that summer started,,, when do I get to go to the beach?

I'll be posting new art projects next week.

"Prayers for the earth" flag project.

2010-04-01T12:42:00.000-07:00

-Climbing out of a depressing well -ready for and returning to

what makes sense -drawing spirit out of dirt and skin.

www.abigailcarr.com

2010-03-01T17:10:00.000-08:00

Let me redirect you to other website to look at new setup and new works :)

----------

"So Thankful For This Brand New Day"

January 2010

Cut paper, tissue paper, string, wood scrap, metal wire, pen, on paper.

19" x 12 1/2"

Feeling Proud of Myself for a Second

2010-03-01T17:02:00.000-08:00

:) :) :) I am the Program Facilitator for the Arts and Environment Festival at Musketaquid's Earth Day Celebration!

Musketaquid=

How to Work on things.

2010-02-19T11:26:00.000-08:00

"The word 'spell' can easily be replaced by: Moon ceremonies [...] vibration, energy, the elements, and an appeal to the subconscious mind. [...] I can feel myself moving into a mystical environment [...] you must realize you are creating an enchanted area in which to work [...] You are raising energy.

It took her all day Saturday to gather up the items she needed, and on Sunday afternoon, she performed her spell. Before she knew it, the weekend was over."

January, , , thinking ahead to try to make it through winter.

2010-01-10T11:34:00.000-08:00

HOME
January 2010. 19" x 12 1/2."
Cut paper and cut paper from
snowflake leftovers, pencil and
pen, wood cylinder, string, thread,
wire, yarn, cardboard box.

The Best Year inside my head and in front of my head

2010-01-01T09:05:00.001-08:00

Some notes on my year in art:

The shrines that I was able to show in my Thesis Show at Montserrat in the spring were the result of years of battling and scraping at the guts of this idea- something still hard to form into objects but hardest to put into words;. Fun and relieving to put into objects but most satisfying to translate into words, the voice in our heads.

Art, religion, science. Science and religion, a vague and quivering translation into body and mind, art being somewhere in the middle.

I want to dislike science because it wants an answer, whereas art and religion (easiest word to use but I mean spiritual investigation, sometimes I mean actual religions) finds only more questions. Or maybe some religions think they are finding answers. But then I learned through living, and hearing about sun spots obsessively, that science actually does that the most and/or the best... it is not finding answers, it's just finding stuff to think about. Which is what art does.

David got this book for Christmas and I started reading it and was delighted. It is about "artists who anticipated the discoveries of neuroscience." Technology will actually, and will not actually, save us. It is essentially about phenomenology--it helped me think about new ways to explain phenomenology--- from the prelude: "Scientists describe our brain in terms of its physical details; they say we are nothing but a loom of electrical cells and synaptic spaces. What science forgets is that this isn't how we experience the world. (We feel like the ghost, not like the machine.) It is ironic but true: the one reality science cannot reduce is the only reality we will ever know. This is why we need art. [...] The moral of this book is that we are made of art and science. We are such stuff as dreams are made on, but we are also just stuff. [...] Science is seen through the optic of art, and art is interpreted in the light of science. The experiement and the poem complete eachother. The mind is made whole."
I am also reading Our Lady of the Forest by David Guterson which is !!!! coo coo cuckoo, which I once found in the trash but is unfortunately, not that copy.

After I did my Thesis Show I felt like I needed to build something up again, it was the conclusion to the end of four years. I started a website, with the focus being the project One Art per One Day. Small works only, daily, was the assignment. Sometimes I had to post pieces I didn't like. I had no control over who was looking at the work. Sometimes I did it with no meaning, just to get it done. Sometimes it was part of other projects but I pretended it wasn't. I often hated doing it, like doing the dishes before eating dessert. Sometimes I cheated and did a bunch at a time. But I did it because it was the assignment. I learned about cameras and photoshop enough to get it done. I stopped doing it on an arbitrary day, I suddenly knew i was finished with it, that any more would suddenly be inappropriate, even though it was annoying and I had wanted to stop plenty of times, one day I knew it was over. Maybe someday it will happen again. But now I have time for Now and time for New projects.

Reflections: One Art per One Day was performing an assignment but also the pieces of work exist. Only one person ever bought any of them ): So that one piece exists on its own. However the rest are a group, you cannot look at just one piece because they are chronologically listed and in a series on a website (the real objects live in a drawer, in archival envelopes, having only ever been seen by me). Like a day, out of a year, it cannot be removed from the year. Or can it in memory? Perhaps you like one piece more than the others? And the rest will fade away... Certain days stick out for me. David and I are trying to give more worth to the other days, making sure we know when it is a good day or trying to make sure we give it a real chance.

(By the way, my website abigailcarr.com will soon/eventually become a full website with pictures of everything and not just that project, remember it.)

Over the summer I also made four boards and called them (talked to them) as Fauna and Flora charts. Among other things, they are how maybe an alien would try to understand human, but they are actually how a human tried to understand human, also fauna and flora and all things not alive. Someday when they're less embarrassed I will post them all.

I also spent a lot of time trying to create textures of fur, skin, and bark. This has never stopped being interesting or important to me.

Also this year I learned about baby Jesus at Christmas time. having never had a religion at all I am so intrigued by it..i love the concept of belief, belief in ritual, buildings that are symbols of beliefs and places to congregate and have communities build on good will. Conceptually I love religion. I went with David's family to a Live Nativity (actors outside, snow, a long walk near the woods, fires next to tents, the word Bethlehem, sheep, singing angels in the trees, a baby in a barn, calm and wide-eyed, a beautiful new mother, a donkey, gold.). I felt like it was real, the real thing, happening before my eyes, or like when you read a book, it doesn't matter if it's real or not, you let it become real. It was either way, a Real new mother, a new child. Also being so involved, physically and emotionally in something around you, letting it absorb you/your attention, letting it change the way you think or open your eyes to something new, something art tries to do. This will no doubt affect my artistic investigation- what a beautiful story!

i hope if you look at or think about my work you will think about these things i have thought about, if only because i told you about them.

2010 Art: More body. More objects/less familiar objects. Photo and video, as documentation and as itself. All things combined, no one medium or one idea is satisfying---overwhelm. Do something with the things you've been thinking about, dwelling on, set them free, open the shades. Try harder and reach out to other things for inspiration, reach out to other living things for support.

Physically I made a bunch of things, I want to show them.

Maybe the next post will actually have pictures of art. <as if that is the important part.

It is hard to separate art from the rest of life;;;a lot of other stuff happened too this year, but this is supposed to be an art blog!!

Hello student loans and the rest of my life.

Goodnight 2009.

Good morning 2010.

LAst Week

2009-11-28T09:32:00.001-08:00

I am thankful for the artist community at Montserrat that always renews my adrenaline when it comes to art and making. After visiting last week I am revitalized; distance creates a guiding light. Hannah's opening is on Wednesday!

Also,

My grandma turned 84 on Thanksgiving :)

Late November

2009-11-22T08:24:00.001-08:00

rotting + birth

Amaryllis Bulb, November 22, 2009,

pencil and charcoal on paper, 8 1/2" x 6 1/4"

(its home)

About art: sensation |senˈsā sh ən|noun1 a physical feeling or perception resulting from something that happens to or comes into contact with the body

sensate |ˈsenˌsāt|adjective able to perceive with the senses

representation |ˌrepriˌzenˈtā sh ən; -zən-|noun (in some theories of perception) a mental state or concept regarded as corresponding to a thing perceived.

This is based on a particular instance, bulb in palm. This drawing is documentation, but so is the picture above. It is not important, it is just a thing to do. Making something is more important.

creator |krēˈātər|noun a person or thing that brings something into existence.

It is neither not new or original. It is made as part of a process.

process 1 |ˈpräˌses; ˈpräsəs; ˈprō-|noun1 a series of actions or steps taken in order to achieve a particular end• a natural or involuntary series of changes

About presents: What is better then potential life.

Leaves'''Death Dance

2009-11-01T08:54:00.000-08:00

Morning October 31: It was nice to zoom through the leaves as they enjoyed their Death Dance.

Evening October 31: Raking. Baby dressed as a puppy!! Pumpkin pie.

Morning November 1: Trying to walk away a sore throat.

David's Pumpkin and Wheatgrass babies.

Tree Series: #2, 2009, 19" x 12 1/2"

First fallen leaf of the season, cut paper,

pencil, oil wash, wood cylinders, oil paint.

2009-10-30T10:25:00.000-07:00

ABIGAILCARR.COM is UP-TO-DATE!!

Wed

2009-10-12T05:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Meaghan's wedding! She was my neighbor growing up and like a sister to me, I'm so happy for her and Charles and their new lives together. And what a treat for me, a windy sunday in the autumn mountains of new hampshire, a day dedicated to love, and getting to spend time with family, everything was sooooo beautiful. I just love love!! And autumn.

My favorite part was when she danced with her father and they played "I Loved Her First," which makes me cry like a baby whenever I hear it anyways.

My mom says girls are supposed to bring home wedding cake and sleep with it under their pillow and dream of the one they will marry, has anyone ever heard of this!?

Congradulations Meaghan and Charles LaMachia!

Sunny Rain morning

2009-10-07T08:56:00.000-07:00

I was standing at the table looking out at gentle rain and pouring orange juice into a floral glass. The rain suddenly doubled in density, as if I had asked it to. The downpour was a beautiful song as I cooked french toast in the dark and ate it with the window open, shivering. It looked like it should have been a photograph in the book, A Year of Mornings 3191 Miles Apart, which I found and read in Jabberwocky last weekend. The rain is louder, harsher in the city, because it has nowhere soft to land, which I think explains the people as well.
and I do not want to go to work today.It is much cozier in my home today. I will show you,

Here is the first finished piece from a new series simply titled Trees. The trees are quilts, body parts, furs, paint, rain, pencil, and bark, collectively. This is how trees, or people, are composed, over time.

Trees Series: #1, 2009, 19"x 12 1/2"

Acrylic, pencil, basla wood, wax, cut paper, wood plank, stick, and string on paper.

Welcoming Teas and Sweaters Season

2009-09-15T06:52:00.000-07:00

I

2009-09-14T17:03:00.000-07:00

"Fauna Chart I" 2009. 24 ¼” x 24” Mixed media on wood panel.

abigailcarr.com

2009-09-10T09:23:00.000-07:00

After a busy start to September, the website is finally up-to-date+++ :)

Practice

2009-09-05T10:45:00.000-07:00

(new work in progress)

Deep earth processes move at their own pace. Surface features change faster. Natural forces and human activity intersect with creative and destructive effects on the landscape and on the soul. What do you see? What does it feel like? The spiritually sublime or the terminally terrible? Is a new landscape art emerging that engages the morphing landscape, our place in it, and our mixed emotions about it? This exhibit intends to explore how the contemporary changing landscape is experienced and envisioned by contemporary artists of all mediums, including landscape architects. 3D and installation work is encouraged

Statement:

Over the course of art history, in landscapes and still-lives, artists have tried to capture an image or sensation of the natural world, that at the same time showed the artist’s, the human’s, sublime appreciation for that that is fleeting. Now more than ever, we are becoming aware of the changes that are occurring on Earth, with the unspeakable thoughts of its terminal ending. The human consciousness is nervous, caught red-handed in the way we have been treating our planet. As an artist responding to the events of my time and place, I cannot help but make work that alludes to environmentalism and human’s interaction with the changing natural world and the pressing guilt from an angry and overheating planet. My work is a positive reaction to the present disconnect from nature, what has half-jokingly been termed “nature-deficit disorder.” By juxtaposing found materials, both human-made and of the natural world, with traditional fine art media like drawing and painting, my work is constantly and purposefully self-aware of it’s hand-made qualities. This focus on materials and mark-making symbolizes, to me, a basic and timeless human reaction, an acting out on materials to deal with the anxieties of being stuck in time and physicality. The work is like an innocent and instinctive questioning of the similarities and differences between the natural and human-made, a chance in time to reflect on what we have, both in the high advancements of the industrial and technological fields and the raw natural world, knowing that soon one or both of these could be lost.

And in other news:

We had two more babies!

Nature Deficit-Disorder.

2009-09-02T10:54:00.000-07:00

When looking at my work or listening to me talk about it, people have often mentioned that maybe I should try outdoor nature installations.... I've been thinking a lot about where the work needs to be and how it functions on a white wall. If one of the aims of the work is to evoke feelings or visions of a human living more instinctually, in the natural world, and reacting to the way it feels...then putting it in a natural landscape would be making it literal, removing the likelihood of imagination and personal associations. A huge part of the work to me is understanding the human-made quality of it, almost letting the piece stand in for a human, a personification of what it feels like to be removed from nature. This body of work stemmed out of, amongst other things, the struggle I've always felt between the dualities of indoor/outdoor and city/country, and the tension between the always fluxing luxury of one and longing for the other. The pieces to me suggest this always awkward tension and anxiety that makes itself comfortable in people.

"The Last Child In The Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder," by Richard Louv.

The view out to my tree fort from my cramped and cluttered studio.

My mind is rumbling and feels ready to explode with the performance work I am planning for the future... without fully being able to articulate my plans yet, I will end with this: Kunstler, in The City In Mind, describes the impossible feat of having the best of both worlds, as in nature in the city ("parks, squares, planting strips with street trees, gardens, even windowboxes"), and these attempts he considers "'nature' in cartoon form." Though these cartoon versions of nature are one of the few things that bring me visual joy in my new home city, I do agree that they're painfully inadequate to REAL nature, which is impossible to infuse into an urban landscape. "We crave the sight, sound, and smell of water, sunlight, a glimpse of stars, the feel of weather. We need desperately to be connected to the greater organism of our biosphere to remind us who and what we are." I am excited about an art and social movement that is both a reaction to our times and a dedication to the future starting now.

What do you think? Please tell me your thoughts.

Thank You Ted Kennedy

2009-08-29T18:56:00.000-07:00

Here are some of my pictures from Ted Kennedy's wake on Thursday.

Massachusetts citizens gathered to show support for the Kennedy family motorcade as it paraded from Hyannisport to Boston.

The hearse.

Mayor Menino rang the bell 47 times in honor of Ted Kennedy's 47 years in the Senate.

Widow Vickie and Kennedy grandchildren came out to shake hands and thank people for coming.

Giant flag hanging inside JFK library where wake was held.

Family Reunion;Flag,Hay,Water,Balloon

2009-08-26T10:00:00.000-07:00

Flag, coyboy, corn field, woods shack, picnic benches,

shoeless kids, egg-toss, water pump, dogs, hay, balloons.

Family Reunion pictures from last week... more to come.

---

Hay. 2009. Acrylic and watercolor on cut board. 4 1/2" x 5 1/2"

Hay II. 2009. Pencil and watercolor on paper. 4 3/4" x 6 1/2"

Transition Tomatoes

2009-08-09T09:19:00.000-07:00

These drawings are in honor of David and I's newfound interest in the Transition Movement, a constructive way to prepare for the end of oil and our extremely complicated dependency.

"Transition Tomatoes I and II"

August 2009. Pencil on paper. 6 3/4" x 4 1/2" each.

And these are our baby tomatoes, our first step in re-learning how to live.

To learn more: transitiontowns.org, kunstler.com

Kennebunkport

2009-08-07T08:38:00.000-07:00

Last night I got home from a four day vacation in Kennebunkport, Maine, with David's family.

Fish foods, sunshine, salty hair, mini-golf, I love Maine.

Perfect weather, perfect every day.

David posing for a picture in front of George Bush's house! Secret Service were watching.

While I was gone I neglected my website's One Per Day, it will be updated soon with drawings of Sand Dollarzzz.

Studio

2009-07-25T11:22:00.000-07:00

I'm stuck hanging around in my humid tree house today, feeling sick. ):

Looking back at the last thing I made before I graduated, reminding myself of what I was working on before I moved and lost my mind. I want to be in a hotel where all of my piles of junk won't be. Anyway: (close up of bottom right)

I like how this came together- combining painting, drawing, and sewn on 2and3 dimensional materials, yet seemingly cohesive. I wanted the added materials to serve the same function as drawing...kindof make the viewer forget which is which...as if somebody simply draws sticks on the earth to make them exist...blueprints for Earth.

I have a new series in mind, a new look, yet continuing with these ideas--it will focus on texture, combined with it's opposite-illustration.

Reflecting

2009-07-23T09:00:00.000-07:00

So the website has been running for almost a week and it has already taught me a lot. 1) Size constraints drive me crazy. 2) I realized I crave making big paintings/drawings more than anything else. 3) The small works I'm making daily are quick and simple but are serving as a way to jot ideas down and practice them a little to use for more elaborate pieces in the future, and I am okay with that. 4) I am really bad at using cameras and haven't figured out a way to take the pictures with appropriate lighting. 5) It is hard to fit making art into my day before or after work but it is satisfying when you do it anyway. 6) I will also use the website for a new portfolio of works once they exist. 7) I like doing things very slowly and thinking things through ("TAKE IT SLOW") and not being a student allows me that freedom:) 8) I'm always nervous.

WWW.abigailcarr.COM

Giant Waving Cat from 2007

2009-07-23T08:54:00.000-07:00

After spending his whole life in a closet or on a porch, this giant waving cat finally found a home and it is in my home! He is running but stuck in paint at the same time.

Day Tripping/Wall Hanging

2009-07-20T17:11:00.001-07:00

Today David and I went on an adventure to Gloucester in search of the sound of waves. We had vvv good fish-food at Captain Carlos, watched a bridge open up for a boat, slept in some sand and sun, and brought home some growlers from Cape Anne Brewery. It was so nice to get away from the city..

...

Back in the studio, this is happening (not sure yet if it is it's own thing or piece of a painting):

Tangle of pink strings and three tied on acorns, on cardboard cylinder. 6" round.

It reminds me of spring or fall but not summer which is strange because I usually cycle with the seasons in every way. I like how delicate it is, how it combines craft and natural materials and that it somehow can act on its own as a handmade shrine...with so few elements. Simple is good.

2009-07-11T16:21:00.000-07:00

It is time! I am happy to announce the arrival of my website, WWW.abigailcarr.COM. It is housing my new project One Art Per One Day.

In my transition from no longer being a focused full-time student, allowing art-making to take a journalistic role is a real relationship that I think it can assume in relation to my daily living. I will have to continuously salvage something.. I'm not used to such a pre-planned process, but it is like an assignment for myself, to pay enough attention to be able to respond or reflect to things that occur or exist, specific or broad. My seminar work had the desire to learn the phenomenological response to materials and juxtapositions, what the allusions were, and what became memorable about viewing (a tactile urge? a landscape? feelings?). It was focusing conceptually on WHAT and WHY what was being made was being made and now I want to add another focus on the idea of WHERE. Focusing on place relates directly to ideas I was exploring in seminar about the spirit of a place, the power and weaknesses of the natural world, and being aware of the man-made versus the natural world, the way it looks and the way it effects humans, other creatures and the rest of the natural world. Focusing on the specific place I inhabit will also track my anxieties of attempting to start a new life in a new city and all of the changes I'm adapting to. The project will also have drawings that are silly and just for fun. This process will reveal surprises along the way, like the way a dairy is not just daily entries but once finished becomes a novel, a unique book.

The format for the works is small, all under 10"x10," providing another rule for myself, and the works are also for sale. I hope the progress of the works becomes interesting, with changing seasons and mind confusions. Anyway, check it out :) but then check it out a few days later to see something new!

TALL SHIPS 2009!! Charlestown Navy Yard, How to Draw Ships

2009-07-10T12:02:00.000-07:00

What a wonderful sight! So many lines. I went on these ships when I was six. They didn't parade in this year, but they did stop at the docks right here in the Navy Yard for a few days. My cousin Sam is working on one of the ships too!

My little boat drawing.

I will draw more boats because of how fun all of the lines are :)

New NeEWEWEW

2009-06-30T09:14:00.000-07:00

Finally an update! I have finally graduated (!!!) and am slowly adjusting to life without school. Thank you to friends and family that came to my graduation, I had so much fun! So long friends and house-sharers in Beverly!! <3

I moved to Charlestown with David and am getting used to riding buses and going to market. Our back porch makes the whole apartment feel like a tree house- the bird tree is always singing. Our little home here is coming along, slowly but surely. My mind is always centered on buying rugs and organizing furniture these days.

I have an office size studio, unfortunately serving as a guest bedroom as well--but I am determined to organize! until my stuff and I fit in there... Once we do it will be perfect for thinking and making space.

I am in the process of looking, applying, and interviewing for full-time jobs... it is as depressing as it is exciting. I want to be able to take care of myself 100% :)

Summer doesn't seem like its usual self.... it's not hot, I haven't gone to the beach, I haven't gone camping... Soon soon soon things will drop back into place and I will feel like myself again. Lots of change at once is tough.

If you noticed: I had to change my blog design. It needed a fresh and clean look to go with my new and simple life and mind. Also it will match my new website better. Trying to create Visual Identity!! Not so easy.////

Future:

-Get studio in working order.

-In the next week or so I will launch my new website which I am calling One Art per One Day. It will keep me on my feet having to make and post daily, and will also allow people who want to own a piece the option of purchasing.

-Also add a portfolio.

-A mailing list to keep people informed on my work and the websites and any other happenings that happen. Please leave a message or email with your contact info if you would like to be added!! :)

-Collaborations. Again, let me know! Reuniting in time and space with Ely, my other, and making things.

-And most importantly, exploring new home! and sharing pictures and stories.

Visit

2009-06-24T20:27:00.000-07:00

Visit Salt of the Earth.

2009-04-27T11:54:00.000-07:00

JENNY HOLZER is our commencement speaker!

Montserrat College of Art Graduation Ceremony will take place on Friday May 22, 2009 at 10 am with reception and celebration following :)

EDIT::: Annette Lemieux will be speaking instead!

A.L.L.S.T.A.R.!!!!!!

2009-04-24T17:21:00.000-07:00

WE did it! A.L.L.S.T.A.R. reception was a success:

caroline with me standing on ely

davie, one of my installations, me

sneaking foods

val reuniting with her hair

hannah reuniting with her tooth

sara reuniting with her hair

marriage pose with the wildflowers maggie picked for me

maggie watching tim's video

maggie and i playing in lindsey's installation

nervous creatures

sara and i with our work, great show lady!

Thanks to everyone who came from near and far<3

A.L.L.S.T.AAHHHH.R.

2009-04-24T13:12:00.001-07:00

A.L.L.S.T.A.R. installed:

Rich Dolan

Laura Tejeda Abigail Carr

Alexandra Adrian

Sarah Whitling Tim Zercie Lindsey Parker

In the Studio

2009-04-21T07:26:00.000-07:00

install ideas

River Gallery Opening!

2009-04-12T09:31:00.000-07:00

Fun photos from the River Gallery Opening which included the work of Thorpe Feidt, Hannah Clien, Christina Roginski and I!

Me standing with my paintings.

Installation view of my pieces.

My work + thumbs up!

Hannah giggling with her paintings.

Some of Hannah's pieces.

Silly posing.

David and Holly loved the opening :)

And so did Valerie. (not a real bird!)

Hannah and her mommy.

David and I being awkward in front of my work.

What a fun time! :)

Thorpe Feidt: The Alchemist's Altar

2009-04-07T14:51:00.000-07:00

Thorpe Feidt: The Alchemist's Altar

This show has past, but I wanted to post a few of my favorite pictures
of Thorpe's work (installation shots that I took) from his solo show at the
301 Gallery. It was a lot of fun helping him
prepare the canvases for this show and getting to watch
him working in his studio. I love and admire his paintings and
his enthusiasm! Enjoy:

The Secret Commonwealth (A+B) to Robert Kirk: The Ambiguities 292 + 293

acrylic on canvas, both 84"x52"

1995 & 2008

The Looking Glass of Mars: The Ambiguities 142, to Sir Isaac Newton,
acrylic on canvas, 54"x77"
1986 & 2001

The Golden Age, to AE: The Ambiguities 148,
acrylic on canvas, 66"x77"
2008

Artrageous!23

2009-03-23T13:14:00.001-07:00

Hi-
My work will be featured in this years Artrageous!23 Art Auction! The auction is May 9th at 5:30 pm at 75 Sylvan Street in Danvers, MA. Proceeds support Montserrat College of Art student scholarships.

check out the website!

Creek, oil and pencil on paper, 11" x 10"

April Show at River Gallery

2009-03-23T13:05:00.000-07:00

My work is being exhibited at River Gallery in Ipswich! Show opens on Thursday April 2 at 11am, with a celebratory
reception on Saturday April 4 from 2 to 5 pm.

ALLSTAR POSTCARD

2009-03-21T16:16:00.001-07:00

SENIOR THESIS SHOW!:

ALLSTaR

Group Show:
Alexandra Adrian
Lindsey Parker
Laura Tejeda
Sarah Whitling
Tim Zercie
Abigail Carr
Richard Dolan

Check out our blog!!