Theodolite

The culminating event here in New York was a gallery opening held in Manhattan April 8th. Four artists gathered, worked, critiqued for nine months and prepared for the show Theodolite.

theodolite |θēˈädəˌlīt|
    noun    a surveying instrument with a rotating telescope     for measuring horizontal and vertical angles.         We felt like this instrument symbolized an invitation to look through the lens of each artist. The properties of this devise also touch on each of our works through its ties to viewing, angles, mapping, and drafting.      Artists:  Rachel Belgard - Typography & Mixed Media (more) Tegan Brozyna - Maps, Oil Bar, Mixed Media (more) Stephen Monkemeier - Mixed Media (more) Rebecca A Peters - Photography (more)
Artist Statement:The production phase of my work began in the fall when I first set a pencil to translucentgraph paper. My objective was to create my own typeface entitled Belgard. After drawing thealphabet by hand I began to learn a new software (Fontlab), where tangible type becomesdigital. Through this training, my eyes were able to distinguish subtle intricacies of type asprojected light through technology.
Illuminated type offers a different experience of language through its instant and seamlessqualities. Though it looks and feels different from printed text, it still refers to the sametraditions and letterforms of classic typography, holding fast to the handcrafted and organicnature of our Latin alphabet. 
Shift - The vintage letterpress case (California Job Case) reads as a typographical map. Every letterhas its traditional and respective place. The letter spaces marked out in red glass are: S-h-i-f-t. This symbolizes the cultural shift from the old traditions of letterpress typography to thenew: Type as projected light.
Cyanotype Series -The cyanotype is an early form of photography that was introduced in 1842; it is created bymixing the two iron compounds, Ferric Ammonium Citrate and Potassium Ferricyanide. Aprint is made by exposing a wash of the solution to UV light on watercolor paper. I exposedvarious samples of Belgard in the sun using the traditional cyanotype process. Each printreflects on different typographical forms and traditions. 

California job case with the characters, S, h, i, f, t cut out and replaced with red glass. The box is lit from behind with LEDs. SOLD

Series of Cyanotypes displaying font Belgard
(Prints, 22x30)

Theodolite Opening

The Experience: Looking back I am unable to completely relay just how remarkable the opening was. Over night ourwork that was once tucked and turned over in the corners of our studio spaces was now displayed asa collective show, mounted, and aligned in the magical nil context of the gallery. They hung therebringing life to the gallery canvas and although different they related wonderfully to each other. 
The greatest joy was was gathering and sharing with my friends from afar and the different communitieshere in NY that have poured their love into my life. It felt like I was finally able to share my love andgive back to them in the way that I most relate with this world - through making. The second greatestjoy was being able to get excited about typography and watch others marvel and get excited with me. 
I felt like I succeeded at making a body of artwork that spoke into its viewer. The creations didn't stopwith themselves or myself - but allowed for a reflective conception by the viewer which is somethinggreater than art and artist. The works were purposely made and didn't become deities or commoditiesthat contributed to the consumeristic nature of some art today. 
What Next: {Collect / Reflect & Keep Making}I have my ticket and am taking the train across the country at the end of May! This summer I will befreelancing, living in Newberg and plan on continuing to build onto the font that I have made this yearby finishing its italic form. There are already four more type cases that await me in Portland and plan onmaking more light boxes and cyanotype prints. I'm excited to see where this design life and growingbody of artwork will go. 
Thank you to all who have loved and supported me through my journeys here! My life and makingwouldn't be the same with out you. More updates soon!

Painting in the Park

The fall here as been more colorful than I could have imagined. Though the earthy sent of pine is still missed, the colors of their deciduous relatives seem to be making up for their absence. Every other weekend is about the time when the urge to paint outweighs everything else. There is no other option other than to find a spot and release colorful interpretation all over an unexpected page.  

This painting is significant to me because it was the day I fell in love with this city. The previous weeks of working with The New Cruelty offered a break from the city, but still gave me the experience of living in New York. Coming back to the city I was surprised to find that I missed it, and how all the colors and noises seemed new and even refreshing. It was the day of the Marathon and 1,000's of people lined the street, cheering on the 1000's of runners. The color of the trees were reflected in the people crowding every walkway imaginable. Music, Smells and the Chilled fall air gripped my senses as Felix and I painted this scene in Central Park.

This painting began with an old class assignment in mind. I was taken back to a small coffee shop in Newberg where Gary Buhler's Water color class were doing impressionist style paintings for the day. It was nice to mimic value shapes with daubs of autumnal color. Later that night it was still lacking texture and some sort of vibrancy - (also due to the fact that I had painted it on the wrong side of the paper) to fix this conundrum and fill the desire to keep doing art I added colored pencil.

As the air starts to grow cold I will think of Monet's winter scenes, or perhaps I will move to the Underground. 

Glass Poppies

My mother often talks about my Grandfather and his ability to do just about anything. In his pursuit to fix a stained glass lamp for my grandmother he picked up a love for the art and spent a lot of time with my mother in their garage scoring, tapping and foiling away. One of the sweetest parts of this project was working with all of his old tools. Having never met him, it was like I was getting to know a part of his character through the creative process of this piece.

I had taken a stained glass class before with my mother and sister back in my first few years of high school, but never attempted anything this intense. The complicated process of this art seemed to rear its head at every stage. First came the design. Sketches of sunburnt turned into a meticulous line drawing on a few pieces of graph paper. Many drafts of the design had to be done due to the fact that you can't cut a curve into a piece of glass over a certain degree or it shatters.

The next step was to cut the pattern into pieces. In total the design contained 65 pieces, the smallest being the size of my pinky fingernail. (At this point I learned that I was indeed insane). Our garage soon became a stained glass studio where my mom and I would spend hours together a few nights a week.

The paper pattern then had to be placed onto the corresponding glass, traced, cut and then ground. We quickly came to understand that different kinds of glass called for different score and tap techniques. Score, tap, SNAP... bummer. Every step seemed to be done while holding our breath. Every piece had to fit together, and a little extra glass here, and there made a big difference to the whole piece.

It seemed surreal when all the pieces were cut out. You still had very little idea what the end product was going to look like with light shining though it. It was now time to foil, then solder, then led, then the patina, and then finish!

Altogether it took three months to complete. The truly magical moment for me was seeing it with light through it for the first time. Hope you enjoy!

Waterfall Study

It was Meghan's birthday and I was desperately trying to think of what to make her. Images of Scotland and Ireland flooded my memory. The times we share together were priceless! One of our most treasured adventures was when we found a secret water fall after traversing an unmarked stream bed for nearly an hour. We made our way around the ravine over mossy rocks and bluebell covered walls to gaze upon this two teared wonder. With our luck it was a sunny day and we skinny dipped in Skye's cold spring water.

This painting is twice the size as my last studies. I decided I wanted to challenge myself and do minimal pencil marks and no defining ink lines to boost contrast. This meant that every brush stroke counted. The water is a lot darker in the photo but I wanted to just capture it's reflective and icy qualities. I also didn't want to muddy over any fun water marks. The best part of this piece was working with new paints! I had been using the same small tubes steadily for the last three years but they were from high school. One of my new favorites is Olive Green. 

Berry Day

Yesterday was perfect to go picking. Low clouds swept over the valley as veils of rain came and went. We drove into the heart of the valley almost to Newberg where we could look out and see the sweet green horizon and rolling hills. The sun-blushed berries were easy to spot in their green leaved dresses. In an hour my mother, sister and I had picked 30 pounds of berries. Today we are going to make jam and have a sweet lunch together! I can't wait!

This piece was a ten minute study with pen in the field. I tried to keep the pen light this time, because I felt like on the mountain piece (see post below) that I had gotten carried away and made it a close to finished piece before I added color. I also added gauche and colored pencil to this one but did a little more layering with them. 

Mountains

The mountains of Alaska completely captivated me. Their tall never ending peaks faded off into the clouds. Though the skies' blanket hung low most of the trip the very last day as we were flying out it lifted and spots of sun shined down onto the giants emerald meadowed feet and the glacial crowned heads.
The only time I had to sketch was ten minutes before we boarded our
plane looking out the airport windows over the tarmac to the valley's hem.

This piece was the first one I used gauche and colored pencil with watercolor. The technique seems to render a more opaque style, which in this case I like.

Rose City

The first pretty day of the summer and it is off to the heart of the city to be and to paint. The city was buzzing with fans of the world cup as US played England, Saturday Market was thriving with live musicians and melding sounds, colors and smells.
On our way up the hill we stopped by the Square where flowers and people mingled together but apart. The sun seems to put a unique glow on the wet city and its inhabitants, joy was in the air.  After one more hot Max ride and a bus ride to the wee peak of Washington Park Karina and I got off at the Rose Garden.  The flowers were in perfect form. We found it ironic that we sat next to a white hedge called "Little Artists." The sun began to take it's toll and the evening needed to be concluded with a great meal.

Above: Line drawing 3 min study. Painted later with a complimentary color pallet.

Left: Rose, light pencil, painted and added pen for contrast.

May Term

"What are you going to do this summer?" asked my professor Mark Terry. 

"I'm taking Pottery Classes at my community college!" I answered in excitement. I had always wanted to take Mark's pottery but never had time in my schedule, so I thought I'd do it now that the time was available.

"You're doing what!?" He was shocked. "You wouldn't! How about you join my May term class, then you can go make hay where you wish." I laughed and accepted with great thanks.

It was only a day into the three weeks of 3 hours a day and a weekend of wood firing for me to fall in love with pottery. The amount learned was incredible. These are the first few pieces that came out of the kiln.

Family Art Night

Last night I had the honor of teaching my Cousin, his wife and my Mother watercolor. We began with a blind contour line drawing of some fruit with sharpie on a large piece of sketch paper to warm up. After this we practice finding value shapes, labeling our values in numerical steps. After a quick demonstration of different kinds of brush techniques and tips we began to paint! As you can see Mona their cat was very curious about the whole ordeal.

After they were dry we took pen and outlined our significant value shapes to provide some contrast. We had an absolute blast! Next time we shall practice seeing colors where there is perceived to be few.

Above is a quick 30 second wash study of an apple I did to show as an example of how watercolors can inter act and melt together. 

This piece was the longer duration painting I did between helping my family. I used more of a dry brush to this one and added salt to show how it displaces the pigment and absorbs the water leaving fun texture behind. 

Jazzed Up

Every Wednesday night in our Figure Drawing class at Fox we would tune into a radio show called DivaVille with host Christa on KMHD 89.1. Well it just so happened that they were throwing a big party on the tenth at Tony Starlights. The house was packed and everyone was in vintage uniform. Blues music circled the room almost as fast as the busy lady in red trying to seat everyone. Our professor Gary, friend Karina and I waited out the rush and people watched as more and more fascinating jazz fanatics piled in. 

We spotted Christa across the room, and I hopped on over to say hello. After waving on the buzzing flight stewardess from the forties I got a chance to speak with our favorite host. She was delighted to see us from Fox. "Oh! I looked forward to your email's every week!" she continued to quote from Gary's standard intro "Good Evening Christa, it's Gary and the drawing class..."

She followed me back to the door and said hello to Gary and Karina. After we made a scene with the host herself the lady in red quickly made us a seat in the over packed house, even though we lacked reservations. Just as we were about to sit down we were carded... Though we may not have all been over twenty one that night we felt balzy getting kicked out of a jazz club. We told Gary he could stay and that we could have a night of our own but he just wouldn't have it. 

"To Jimmy Mak's!" we cheered. And to our favorite Figure Drawing field trip venue we ventured. 

The scene was just as lively and the people ten times less strange. Soon the The Mel Brown B3 Organ Group lit up the house with brilliant sounds, playing classics such as Stevie Wonder's "I Wish". We passed around my tiny sketch pad and doodled to the music till late into the night. 

Spontaneity is Key

Creative energy seems to be at a high as of late. Perhaps it is the amount of sleep that has now been seeming to find my eyes at night, but mostly I think it is the adventures traveled and people that have been near to me and my heart. 

A birthday weekend took three friends and I on a adventure to Bend. The rain was persistent the whole drive over, but the next day gave birth to the bright orb they call sun! Many hours of our time together was spent in contemplative creation. 

This piece was inspired by the rushing trees and rainy drive over the mountain pass. We wound around with the Santiam River through little towns like Idanha and behind large spraying semi trucks.


Our morning hike took us to a bank of the Deschutes river where we journaled and painted the morning on. Watercolor is by far my favorite medium, especially combined with ink. It is perfect for quick studies and taking with you anywhere. I think that I am going to chance it and trust these pieces to the USPS as postcards to friends who are far away.