The Intimate Conversation Series: International Collage Exchange 2009

Intimate Conversation 2 will be for sale at the International Collage site on April 1, 2009. I plan to donate the proceeds to the ICE cause. It is 6 inches by 6 inches.


Saying Yes is the one I kept for myself to commemorate this series of work. This one is 5.5 inches by 5.5 inches.



Intimate Conversation 1 is the piece for the permanent exhibit for this year. This one is 5.5 inches by 5.5 inches.





This is a collage of the pieces for this years exchange. They range in size from 4 inches by 4 inches to 6 inches by 6 inches.


An Intimate Conversation: The Artist's Statement

This series created for the International Collage Exchange 2009 is inspired by my value for connecting with people, which for me, is one of the functions of art. Using gestures as symbol, textures, a limited color palette, and creating from a meditative space, these pieces were created as conversations of nuance between the viewer and the maker. With these works I extend my hand in peace and friendship to you.

In The Bones

I don't have new art to show you today, so here is a photo of my studio assistant. He becomes quite insistent on my attention at times. So far he hasn’t jumped into wet paint….

In The Bones

I’ve just returned from an intensive work shop, and as usual I find it a bit of a challenge to reenter my customary life. This is in part because I have been changed by my experience, and in part because in the juice of a workshop, life is surreal, expanded, and intensified.

This was the 5th in a series of courses that, for me, began last summer. My class was called “In the Bones”. Yummy title, yes? I am renewed in my belief that each of us is unique, and that we have something to say. We are all tapped into the same life force, but what we bring from that is our unique expression of the deep well. Our intuition is our powerful guide to our biggest, most fulfilling life. The tools we talked about and experienced are authenticity, connection, aliveness and fierce courage. All of these attributes are ours to develop, and use in speaking our own resonating creative voice.

We spoke of and experienced breaking the rules, for the sake of greater authenticity, and being pushed to the edge where the possibilities exist. We spoke of trust and taking risks from the place of trust. I do trust my own creativity and my own process. I trust that my expression is through me, not of me, and is part of the flow. Just today I received an email from a fellow artist who said to me “Do not be afraid to take risks.” I know he speaks from experience.

Your own creative voice is with you at all times, as is mine. I am turning up my courage and following my expanded vision. And part of that is fueled by the connection I experience with other like minded people here in blogland.

True Confessions

Collage for the International Collage Exchange 2009 by Leslie Avon Miller

Okay, I’m going to have to confess. I have a problem with choosing. Specifically choosing people. Because choosing some people in, means choosing some people out. It goes back to the 4th grade. Now, I have a healthy dislike of having objects flying towards my face at high rates of speed. Seems pretty logical to me. It’s a reflex action designed to avoid pain. So, when baseballs are thrown at me, I duck. I flinch. I even close my eyes. (In the scary parts of movies too.) So, I was never picked to play on somebody’s “side” in the school baseball games, right until next to last. (That other girl must have had an issue with baseballs too.) I was picked for lots of things; the school play, to be a friend, to sit with on the bus, but not for baseball. And it never felt good, even though I didn’t give a hoot about baseball. But I did care about being part of the group.

I just came across this quote: “Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family: Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.” That’s by Jane Howard, and I think she is right! And that is part of what goes on in the blog world. We connect on some level; liked mindedness, similar sense of humor, similar obsessions with art, or images, or words, but we connect.

Holly Friesen has a great blog of her art, and the motivation for her art at The Roaring Inside. I do recommend you look at her current work, and her explanation for it. Very powerful. And I am truly honored that she is giving me the PREMIO DARDOS award. “The prize is given for recognition of cultural, ethical, literary, and personal values transmitted in the form of creative and original writing. These stamps were created with the intention of promoting fraternization between bloggers, a way of showing affection and gratitude for work that adds value to the Web.” And I am honored.

But my dilemma is that then I am supposed to pick 5 recipients on whom to bestow the award. And now I am back in 4th grade and I just can’t go there. So I am giving it to all of you. If you read this, you are an award winner in my eyes! Because I like you all, and I like our team. Just nobody throw a baseball my way, okay?

Her Studio Turned Red

Another yummy neutral piece for the International Collage Exchange.

Her studio turned red; the water, the work table, the towels and even her fingers. She dared not touch her tea mug for fear it too would turn red. Cool reds, warm reds, earthy reds, red reds. Reds she didn’t know she owned. Reds she mixed and said “hello” to. Were these yummy, or were these yucky? She didn’t know. She was learning to cook with a new spice. In the photograph, Mother Nature had done a spectacular job of adding reds in all tones to a vibrant but neutral winter landscape. Mother’s reds were so graceful, so eye-catching, and so satisfyingly perfect. Well, Mother had been at this longer than she. Intrigued, but spent for the evening, she was called to supper. Spaghetti red greeted her.

Found Reds

Inspiration for


Textures



Shapes




Color

and Lines