Another year has come and gone and the current Art Lotto show is still up at Larkin Arts through the end of August! Brandy and Denise really outdid themselves this year by bringing the event to Larkin and throwing one hell of a private party for the artists and sponsors, complete with beer and grilled cheese. I didn’t even make it to the public opening because I stupidly scheduled my own show the same night, but I’m sure it was just as awesome as the private opening.
At Luck of the Draw night, I pulled the name of Tahany Garrison, who I have had the privilege of getting to know through working at the Frame Factory, because of course even though I “stopped working there” over 5 years ago, I have yet to have a year pass without receiving a W-2. Tahany chops and builds the frames at the shop and is multi-talented like anyone that works there has to be.
I seem to have forgotten how annoying it is to paint on reflective surfaces after a year lapse from last year’s piece, and decided to move from glass to plexiglass this year. I liked the effect I had gotten last year, but I thought it would be really interesting to have a similar look but with layers that would give the piece dimension off the wall. So I started with six 8×10 sheets of plexiglass and created the portrait by applying acrylic on the different sheets. It’s one of those pieces that looks better the farther away you are when you look at it. I was pretty pleased with the result, and Tahany told me she used to work with plexiglass a lot during school, so that was a nice addition to the theme.
Detail shot early on in the process…
Side view of the layers once assembled…
Finished piece!
Tahany
8″ x 10″ | acrylic on plexi, metal |sold
My name was pulled by Mary Yoder, who was several years behind me at EMU back in the day. We found out we had a few things in common – we both have an art education degree (she is actually using hers), and we are both in the process of buying land and thinking about house plans for the future. Mary’s portrait of me was done in oil, and she incorporated some of my house plan drawings into the background. Cool stuff!
Go check out the show before it comes down if you haven’t already – there’s a lot of talent showcased in a small space!