Suburban Sunday Drive-Around

Drove around the suburbs of Maple Grove and Osseo today...

Substation

A pretty large substation in the suburb of Maple Grove. Plan on making some drawings and prints from this imagery.

New Painting

acrylic, oil, and mono-prints - based of imagery from Maple Grove transmission lines and the Anoka water tower

Champlin Water tower

This is one of the water towers that I probably live closest too, so I see it quite often. I'm interested in the "antenna's" on top. Reminds me of a city scape...repetition of varying forms...

some new stuff

Here's a couple pictures of some newer works. Both are paintings/mixed media mono-prints.
The first one is a detail of a much larger piece.

New Painting

Working on a larger painting combining some imagery from my photo research!

Asphalt Line close-ups

Click on the picture for a close up

"Suburban Summer Job"

So, I find this really amazing! I happened to land a part-time job where I actually get paid to drive and walk around Suburbia!!!! Yeah, that's right!

What's funny, is that people think I don't work in the summer because I'm a teacher. That is not the case. I am only ADJUNCT, which means, I ABSOLUTELY need to work in the summer:) I have heard the question, "So do you just sit around and make art all day?" The answer is no. But, I do consider my summer job making art. More of an ongoing performance piece, where I'm also researching suburbia as I work.





Here's the deal...
I am delivering fliers for a local asphalt company!! This is what I do...
* I go to my assigned suburb
* drive around
* find driveways that need asphalt seal coating (yes, I've been trained on this!)
* and put a flier on their door
* I'm not allowed to talk to anyone, so I'm just alone all day, getting paid to get a tan and exercise.

One of the best parts is, I only go to the suburbs.
I actually started this job right after I finished grading for the spring semester, so I've been doing this since mid-May. I'm really enjoying it and looking forward to doing it again next summer!

Here's a list of the suburbs I've visited so far...
* Plymouth
* Maple Grove
* Champlin
* Brooklyn Park
* Andover
* Coon Rapids
* Blaine
* Lino Lakes
* Oakdale

One of the things I have to do while working, is color in the lines of the streets in my map, so I know where I have already delivered the fliers too. Ever since my first day, I've been extremely interested in the linear aspects of these "drawings." And every day when I get home, I trace these lines onto a piece of glassine paper. The attached images show just some of my drawings made so far. I'm not completely sure what I will be doing with these drawings, but I have some ideas (mixed media screen prints) and so far like them just like this.

I'm amazed every day how much I'm learning about the suburbs while doing this job. Something I've learned over time is just by looking at the kinds of lines that the roads make on the map, I can decipher what "type" of neighborhood I'm going to be in. For example if the houses are going to be from the 70s or more recent. The "easiest"/quickest type of neighborhood to deliver in is one just like mine. I live a a 90s Cookie-Cutter neighborhood where all the driveways are extremely similar in size and condition of asphalt.

Pretty neat, huh?

Well, that's it! My little somewhat secret summer gig! I love that many people didn't even know that I've been doing this for the past 2 1/2 months! It's fun, I'm enjoying it (though the recent 100° temps and 75% humidity have been making it a little difficult). It's been nice to do something part time while also having time to work on my other art, lesson plans and attend all the weddings we have this summer.

The life of an adjunct leads me to things like this. Teaching college part-time is very unstable, but I love it more than anything! This gig is supporting my art, process, and research! I am so thankful to have stumbled across something so great and perfect for what I've been doing! Life really does mimic art!

"Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life." ~ Confucius

Google Images

I love some of the images I find online when I google "Suburbia". The linear quality in the aerial ones I find completely fascinating!

Lonely Mailboxes

Found this new development that's nearby our house a while ago. There is an entire street of mailboxes and no houses. Very interested in this idea.
The first image, I photoshoped to make it look a little more "fake." Was compelled by the the mailbox that said "lot information," opened it up to find nothing to my disappointment.

water tower prints

Well, time is flying by this summer and I'm not getting to spend as much time on my suburban project as I wanted, due to the 9 weddings we have!! But, just a couple days in the studio and in suburbia is good!
One thing I would really LOVE to do with this project is to translate many of my images to prints. I have been missing the print studio like crazy since graduating from school a while back and dream of using a press again. Since then, I have come up with my own printing techniques here, where I can use mono-printing as my inspiration. I'd love to screen print some of these and start combining imagery from my Suburban travels. Maybe one day...

Here are some images using my home-made mono-printing technique and combining it with glassine paper (which I love). I feel this is a small sketch for a larger piece I would like to work on. Possibly for my Augsburg show coming up this winter??