Our Story

Our Story -  (Acrylic and pencil on canvas, found objects on panel) 2016, 60x48”

While in Mexico last January I began working on canvas for the first time. A friend had given me a large piece of canvas and I wanted to make something that I could begin there and then bring back to Tennessee to finish. I tore three pieces from the large canvas, sealed them with gesso, stapled them to the table and began drawing with pencil on them.

On a walk the previous week I found a street that had concrete puzzle pieces for the roadbed and there was a pile of discarded pieces from which I took two that fit together. To me they were male/female, yin and yang and a symbol of how things fit together (or don’t) in life. I traced the puzzle pieces all over the canvases in different configurations and off I went. Once I had the overall patterns from the puzzle pieces for a background, I began freely drawing images on the canvases. 

Then, with acrylics, I spent a couple of weeks staining and painting them. I rolled them up and carried them back to Tennessee. Once back in my studio I glued the canvases to birch panels and continued to paint using thicker acrylic paint. The canvases are smaller than the panels so there is a border of exposed wood around the canvas edge. I then carried the image from the canvas out to the wood border to integrate the canvas with the panel. This is very exciting for me as the initial pencil drawing and original stains are visible in the completed work. Also I was able to draw with pencil at any time during the process. This is very different and somewhat liberating from the carved and thickly textured paintings I have been making for years. I really enjoy the freedom that this process gives me although I will continue to do the carved paintings.

The painting “Our Story” is about our collective immigrant stories but also about my family history in particular. We found a census from 1900 in Boston that has my great grandfather’s family listed. He came first to the U.S. in 1890 from Russian Galicia and the rest of his family came later. My great grandfather is classified as a “coat tailor” and his five children “in school.” I projected the census list onto the top left of the painting and “Coat Tailor” in the middle. I then collaged a small coat, which was on a little puppet that I had in the studio, under the words “coat tailor.” In this way I brought my great grandfather and his story to life over a hundred years later. In light of the current immigration crisis in Europe, I feel it is important for Americans to be sympathetic as the vast majority of us are immigrants here. This story is Our Story.

Andrew Saftel June 2016

A Constant Moving Forward

"Obstacle", 21x93x10" carved walnut, maple and cherry, oil paint, varnish- 2014

The life of an artist is a roller coaster with unpredictable peaks and valleys. The last couple of years for me have been challenging—not in terms of making work but as relates to the burden of the marketplace.

I love making and working with my hands to produce things that are my response to what I experience and discover in the world I inhabit. I can do this night and day. It is a practice. It never gets easier but continually changes and evolves like a living breathing thing.

The great challenge in all of this is to separate the making from the selling, and to never repeat oneself. All of what I have done before has to be eliminated from what I will now do.

The market tends to want what has already been done and proven but I have always been one
who goes against what I am told to do.

To keep vital as a person and an artist I keep moving into new territory. I love to work on sculptures when inventing new work as the act of working with my hands in this way releases my brain, allowing new thoughts and images to arise.

Ceramic sculpture is what I started with in high school. I rarely sell sculpture so making it allows me a certain level of freedom. I get a form or image in my mind, do drawings, make parts, and then assemble them until the image becomes a three-dimensional reality.

"Fruit Boat", 78x82x11",carved cherry, maple and poplar, bronze, acrylic, colored pencil, varnish,
2014

It is a constant moving forward towards the finished piece. I love this process and will spend countless hours obsessively working away, allowing my brain a rest that painting does not give me. I sometimes paint for days and then cover it all up and start again. Painting is a constant thought process for me as far as creating forms, images, color combinations and surface treatments.

Throughout my career I have taken breaks from painting and turned to sculpture as way to continue
working through ideas, many of which cannot be expressed in two dimensions. I have been working on two sculptures for the last six weeks that have been a joy and make me happy to be engaged with.

I once again have the feeling of being an eight-year old boy heading up to the baseball field with my glove and ball on a spring Saturday morning; a feeling I constantly strive towards in the studio.

These are transportation images, a car on a road and a boat on a bronze dock.

The long, stretched out car is made of cherry, as is the road it is on. (photo above)

Supporting the Jaago Foundation School

In October of 2010, my colleague and fellow artist Whitney Baker and I were invited to Bangladesh to spend the month through a U.S. Embassy Visual Arts Initiative project titled "Janmasthaan/Native Land."

During my time in Bangladesh, I held art workshops with some leading Bangladeshi artists as well as students and community members. The workshops were centered around exploring the concept of where we all come from, what we have in common and our connection to the land. We also dug deep into the topic of how art can bring up issues about these things.

After working with artists and university students, we were invited to visit the Jaago School to work with children on an art project. I learned of the Jaago Foundation School from Garrett Wilkerson, a U.S. Embassy cultural affairs officer. I was looking for a worthwhile cause to support and Garrett suggested the Jaago as one to explore. After I inquired, I learned the school was interested in having me come and do an art workshop.

The workshop would culminate in assisting the children in painting a large mural at the school. From the moment I arrived at the school, after seeing the harsh reality of life in the streets of the neighborhood, I was overwhelmed by the joy and pride that the children expressed. My first impression was that the school was an oasis for the children in the midst of a life of struggle and extremely limited opportunities.

The school was very organized, with rules of conduct and behavior and a nurturing environment in which the students thrived. The staff, made up of a diverse group of young volunteers, was very courteous, professional and warmly caring. After a brief tour of the building, which was neat and clean, we entered a rear courtyard that had been transformed (with very little notice) in to an outdoor classroom/ studio, complete with awning and carpet for our workshop.

I was almost moved to tears when the one hundred children, dressed in clean uniforms, well –fed and with art supplies in hand, marched in, in orderly rows and took their places with us. Korvi Rackshand appeared and led the students through greetings and songs. I was particularly moved when they sang, "We shall overcome" in English and Bangla. After several songs, which they sang in a heartfelt manner, Korvi and the volunteers directed the students, aged from about 6-12, to assemble around the perimeter of the carpet for instructions. They were very well behaved and obedient. It seemed to me that they were well aware of the fact that being in the school was a tremendous opportunity for them.

With the help of an interpreter we introduced the idea of Native Land and asked them to begin drawings using their own supplies and some we had brought. As they quietly began drawing, Whitney and I painted a fifty foot long land and seascape line image on the white wall with small brushes. The idea was to do the outline and then use images that the children drew to populate the landscape. They all continued to concentrate and create images, calmly going in to their imaginations and pulling out everything from country scenes with trees, animals and people to scenes of the city where they live.

The art that they made was tremendous and every student’s was different. As some of the drawings neared completion we began to make selections of the images for the mural and asked the student to accompany us and hold up the drawing while we copied it larger to the mural in outline form. They then painted their name below the image. As we painted their images on the wall the mural began to take shape and to tell a story that became a mixture of fact and fantasy.

The students became very excited and all began milling around and pressing their drawings on us to copy, which was to be expected. We tried to get a little of each students work onto the mural. This whole process seemed to transport them to a world of ideas, images, colors and stories. After the line images were drawn the students were organized in to groups of ten or so and patiently waited in line to eventually be overseen by a volunteer while they painted colors with the oil –based enamel paint onto the wall. They loved the act of painting and were respectful of each other as they took turns.

When things got a little hectic Korvi would simply speak up with instructions and they would settle down. The volunteers were so helpful and supportive of the activity and so happy to see the kids so happy. The smiles and proud looks on their faces were unforgettable. In the end, the volunteers, as well as some of the students, had paint-covered hands. As the mural neared completion, the paint began to run out and the students calmed down, we were given a rousing “Thank You” from the students who then broke up into circles, each led by a volunteer. They recited the alphabet in English, went through numbers and sang songs. I sat in one of the circles and drew pictures of images that the kids called out and then they would spell the word describing the image in English.

After two hours or so of this magical time the students filed out in line as they had come in and the mural was nearly complete. I hope that the students are filled with pride when they see the mural and it reminds them of our time together. In one morning at the Jaago school I learned that faith in humanity and the effect that education can have on a local population is tremendous. I saw for myself the difference between the barefoot, tattered and hungry kids on the street and the students at the school.

Something as simple as a building, a uniform, a bite to eat, a little health care and some loving and caring teachers, can transform the lives of thousands, contribute to positive change and, in the long run, turn the tides in Bangladesh . Each and every student in the Jaago school will absolutely have a better life with a chance for advancement than those outside it’s doors, especially after learning English. What Korvi and his volunteers have and will continue to do at the Jaago school(s), with, so far, minimal funding, is more than a miracle for so many children.

The beautiful, magical and tragic country of Bangladesh needs a lot of help and this school is a beginning. I am now back at home in the U.S. and in retrospect, the morning at the Jaago School is one of the most remarkable experiences that I had in Bangladesh and, for that matter, in my life. Rafu, one of the students, did a drawing that was included in the American Center’s final exhibit at the Dhaka Art Center and I will never forget his face when he saw it framed and hanging at the opening.

I encourage anyone who can to support the school and/or sponsor a student and I hope to return to paint a bigger mural on the next Jaago school wall. For just $20/month, you can invest into the life of a child. I am thankful to Lauren Lovelace and the American Center of the U.S. embassy for making this experience possible and to Korvi Rackshand for seeing a need and finding a way to fulfill it.

[text & photos originally published at http://jaago.com.bd/volunteer-at-jaago/feedback/127-a-visit-to-jaago-foundation-school]

How to Make a Living as an Artist

Recently, I read an article in the Washington Post about professional artists working in the United States. As a full-time artist myself, this gave me something to think about and I wanted to share some of my thoughts here on the blog.

Except for the blue chip artists at the top (who also started at the bottom), making a living as a full time artist over a long period of time is incredibly difficult in many ways. Keeping the work relevant, fresh, honest and true for decades is the main challenge that professional artists face. And this doesn't even begin to address the issue of making money as a full-time artist.

It takes an odd combination of business skills and personality traits to develop and maintain relationships with galleries while also building a market and following for the work. The right attitude is sometimes difficult to maintain. The "art world" can be brutal in terms of its fickle way of treating artists, which is also a challenge.

Finding a balance between working in the studio, other life interests and staying connected to the world as well as people is important and different for every artist. It takes a deep commitment to the work, discipline and a constant curiosity about the world around us to maintain a consistent studio practice over many years.

 This is a serious endeavor. Art is work...that's why it is called an artwork. For all artists there are times when interest in the work wanes and one must continue working. There is really very little support for artists in this country except for the commercial marketplace. Because of this, making a living as an artist for an entire career is extremely difficult. That is why the percentages in the article are so low.

I feel incredibly fortunate to have been able to continue to make a living working in my studio. It is a hard won dream come true that could not happen without a few things. First are the galleries that I have worked with. Carol Stein at Cumberland Gallery in Nashville has believed in my work, exhibited and sold it for twenty five years.

Then there are the collectors who have supported my work over the years. I appreciate them immensely. There have been a handful who have continued to build significant holdings of my work, for which I am very thankful. These are relationships that are very special and an integral part of continuing to work in the studio and support myself.

Life as a professional artist has a certain ebb and flow. I would never want to discourage anyone who is considering pursuing the artist's life...but it's important to know going in what to expect.

I'd like to close with a quote from Steven Pressfield, author of The War of Art.

 

"Creative work is a gift to the world and every being in it. Don't cheat us of our contribution. Give us what you've got."