So, here’s something crazy weird and great – I will be exhibiting artwork in three locations during the month of April 2017. Showing watercolors – the ones with the baseball themed titles – at the Half Moon Bakery and Bistro in Jamesville, New York. No date as of yet for the reception, but I am hoping they will do a baseball cake or cupcakes for it. That will be fun for spring, right?
I’m installing an exhibit at Dolce Vita World Bistro in Syracuse, New York on April 2, 2017. It would be nice to keep them up longer than a month, but no deets on this yet. I would love to have a gathering one evening, maybe fill the dining room with friends and have music too, but I haven’t planned that far ahead. Art shows are a great excuse for a party! I will either exhibit the encaustic crown series from 2012 or something more retro – oil & collage paintings from 1998. I don’t remember what I called this series. I made them in the 2nd bedroom of my apartment on Woodbine Ave. during winter break that year. Does anyone remember anything pre-new millennium?
Crowning Glory, 18″ x 15″, 2012, encaustic, $125Karen Tashkovski, Life. Liberty. Happiness., 1997, oil & collage, $675
And finally, my 1997 oil & collage series of paintings Messages (From the Other Voice) isup in the Chittenango Middle School library, Chittenango, New York, for the next two months!
So happy to be able to share my artwork in public spaces (you know, to captive audiences). New work is actually coming soon. My sister is opening a yoga studio around the corner from my house. I will be making encaustic paintings to exhibit and sell there. I’m going to be turning my kitchen into an art studio during spring break next month to get those (horseshoe paintings and maybe hearts too) ready for Syracuse Yoga’s opening in May 2017.
On Tuesday, I gave each of my twelve Studio in Art students a valentine. I prepped 3″ x 5″ canvas panels with a few layers of beeswax. I carved in a heart stencil. I thought this would be a quick and fun way to introduce them to encaustic painting.
I took an encaustic course (graduate level) at Syracuse University in 2012 with free credits I’d earned for hosting a student teacher. Davana Robedee was my instructor. I love incorporating this relatively new-to-me media in the art classroom.
Students melted oil pastels on pancake griddles (all the windows in the room were open and the fans were on high) and went to town tackling their tiny canvases. The thing about wax is that when warm, it produces a luscious liquid color on the brush – but as soon as you remove it from the heat source, it solidifies, so…that brush stroke needs to be a quick thinking confident one – needs to count! They really loved the process. We decided to add a second day of it, which gave them time to process the process and make better decisions once they got the hang of it.
I painted 11″ x 14″ canvas panels with black acrylic paint for each of them and glued wooden plaques to the centers. Students carved into their encaustic paintings with clay tools to enhance the texture then added mixed media items to it and/or to the black frame. We brought the encaustics in for the landings with Elmer’s glue.
I am in love with the decisions they made and the fact that in three classes they all created these wonderful emotionally-charged finished products. So beautiful. I love heart energy! <3
The reception I planned for my art exhibition at the Half Moon Bakery & Bistro in Jamesville, New York on Thursday, October 20, 2016 was more a birthday party for my mother and a chance for my friends and acquaintances to come and experience this quaint business on the corner of East Seneca Turnpike and Apulia Road. It is a tiny place and quite honestly, I did not expect such an amazing turnout for the hours of 3:00 to 5:00 pm. Thank you so much!
I am grateful for all of the wonderful people who came to celebrate and to support me and my artwork, and to eat delicious cake made by proprietor Debbe Titus. I gave her full reign on the design of the cake and she created something spectacular for my mom and for us to share with the thirty + people who attended the event.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Thank you, Debbe, for all of your hard work and for the opportunity to exhibit in this space. I don’t actively seek out art exhibition opportunities – they tend to fall into my lap serendipity-like. I seem to spend more time these days with my fashion interests, as well as supporting other artists, and so it meant the world to me that so many people took the time to spend an afternoon chatting with me about my artwork.
The Talisman series is about seeking love, the desire to be loved. I created the paintings in 2008. I’m finally breaking free of my lifetime of limiting beliefs regarding love in relationships, realizing that it is in fact, all around me and living inside of me. I love my life and spending time with friends and family. Love my world – that I can create magic – see magic all around me every single day. And that is just really fun. I am truly blessed. Thank you! <3
Twelve of my Talisman series paintings are hanging in the Community Room of the Sullivan Free Library in Chittenango, NY. I installed the show yesterday and the work will be there until I go back to school in September (2016).
I love my connection to the Chittenango community and with Karen Fauls-Traynor, who pops me into the calendar every July! The Community Room can be rented out for events and so, there are always people in there. It is part of the library but is accessed through a separate door at the entrance. I heard there will be a graduation party in there today! They also have afternoon movies (free) every Wednesday at 1:00pm.
The paintings are $200 each. They are 18″ x 24″ mixed media pieces comprised of oil & collage and chalkboard paint. I created them in the summer of 2008 in a studio space on my front porch while the television in the living room played Harry Potter videos 24/7.
It is pretty fascinating how positive energy and the idea of magic can create magnificent outcomes in our lives. One of my friends told me I need to immerse myself in painting again, but I don’t feel ready to go back to that type of isolation. I would need to sell quite a bit of art to fuel that inner motivation again. That seems to go against the grain of how other artists see themselves – as though art making is a desire that surpasses all consequences of the act.
Oh well. It is what it is. The idea of someone else valuing what you do, what I do, is what I crave. My friends in Florida have several of my paintings in every room of their house. I visited them last month – I hadn’t been there in thirteen years, so seeing my presence in their home filled me with so much gratitude and love. The idea that I matter to people. I don’t know how else to explain it. I just don’t want to make a bunch of art that sits in a pile in a closet somewhere, unable to breathe or see the light of day until I am gone or something. That just seems yucky to me.
If you are interested in purchasing one of these paintings, contact me. I can sell it off the wall and replace it with another. There are twenty-four pieces in this series. And they all need homes…. <3
The Sullivan Free Library is located at 101 Falls Blvd., right off Route 5 in the village of Chittenango, NY. It was the former State Bank of Chittenango. Click the link at the top of this post for hours of operation.
Let’s face it – back to school is all about the fashion. And it’s not just me. I’ve had plenty of conversations in the last two weeks with my colleagues where we spend time between classes complimenting each other’s outfits and that’s with both men and women. The new principal walked by me twice in a day and said, “Talking about fashion again?” (I was…to two different friends).
I love what the kids are bringing to the table too. The boys wear shorts, socks and sneakers that all match in colors like bold yellow and turquoise. The girls like what I call shimmer-shammer, tops with sequins in heart motifs or positive message text. Of course, my favorite thing is when someone is wearing cammo sandwich (head-to-toe camouflage) and I say, “Whoops, I didn’t see you there.” Yeah, that joke never gets old.
The day I wore the above outfit, I was up on my step ladder finally adding posters to the walls of my classroom once the humidity died down a notch (no aircondish). I literally fell off…and landed perfectly on my four inch heels. Alex, one of my students, is still talking about that. He was like, “How did you DO that?”Answer – cat-like reflexes, if cats wore heels.
BCBGMaxAzria dress, BCBGGeneration sandals
As you know, I’m attempting to save money so that I can start a sentence with “One time, in Greece….” My friend Shelly said I should start by not buying any new clothes. She’s right. No one in Greece has seen me in person in these clothes (except my cousin Michele) so there’s that. But I will literally die if I don’t continue to buy new stuff. I’d rather do that than eat or fix the brakes on my car. I’m honestly not sure how I will manage.
BCBGMaxAzria dress, BCBGGeneration sandals, Honora watch, Coach tag on velvet necklace (homemade/one-of-a-kind – my cat ate the string; pooped it out the next day!)
There is a way I could have both new clothes and the trip, and that is to do with the business of selling art. In a dream scenario, I would sell every painting I have for sale at Natur-Tyme before the witching hour.
BCBGMaxAzria top Banana Republic pants, BCBGGeneration sandals, Fossil bracelets
I take them all home next Saturday, September 26, 2015 at 9:00 am. Right now, aside from the very reasonably priced 18″ x 18″ cat paintings ($75), I am selling unframed watercolors in different sizes for between $75 and $200. I only need to sell ten of the latter for that ticket and some pocket money. And we all know how much better these abstractions look in multiples, right? I know there is someone out there who wants to help me. I can feel it.
Lifeline, 18″ x 24″, watercolor, 2002, $200
Also, I have cards there for only $5. Those cards are an absolute steal at that price since they take me close to three hours each to create.
I am soooo happy. The accolades have been such a gift. So many people telling me they love my artwork. So many people congratulating me on the article in Women of Upstate New York. The summer has been seriously laced with magic. I am so grateful for all the adventures, for the love and the friendships and for the amazing things that happened with regard to my art career. Some of the best times of my life…moments I will cherish, and never, ever forget for as long as I live. I am a very lucky person. I know that.
Trina Turk dress, BCBGGeneration sandals
I wish I could just give the artwork away and if I didn’t need the money for this trip and another romantic notion – to go to Paris, you know I would. Like if travelling was free.
The only way to manifest those dreams is with your help. I will be forever grateful and you will have a Tashkovski original, a piece of my soul, kinda like a horcrux only better because it was made with love.
Bailey 44 top, Trina Turk skirt, BCBGGeneration sandals, Fossil bracelets
The thirty-two framed paper collage and watercolors will remain at Syracuse Tech Garden until October 9, 2015. Contact Steve Nyland to make a purchase – gallery.ttg@gmail.com.
The hardest part of this Shopify business is reading the instructions. I’ve been working on it all afternoon and it’s still not in any way perfected. I just get really frustrated with my lack of computer savvy, which means I definitely need to take a break. I have uploaded twelve paintings to the site, but I’m confused about how to use their templates and I’m sure it is the simplest thing in the universe, and…blech.
Domino, 18″ x 24″, 2008, mixed media
Hopefully, I will get it together and it will all be good.
Perfect Fit, 18″ x 24″, 2008, mixed media
Here is the link to the sugar shoppe – http://karen-tashkovski-visual-artist.myshopify.com/ I uploaded the Talisman paintings. There are twenty-four in the series but I only picked twelve. The challenge will be getting those paintings to the customer with as little erased chalk as possible. But when I added the chalk text, it was inevitable that the paintings would eventually erase. The idea that love is fleeting, I guess.
4 Ever, 18″ x 24″, 2008, mixed media
What is your opinion about the duration of art? Because these paintings have more than one fragile element. I decided that I would not allow returns. Not sure if that’s a bad idea – I mean, I can always change it – but who buys a painting and then thinks it is disposable? The artwork could get damaged. Pieces could fall off. But I am not the art repairman, am I? I know that Jasper Johns doesn’t offer to repair the found objects that break off his art. If they do at all. I’m pretty sure they are handled so carefully by art gallery and museum minions in white gloves.
It is the Dadaist perspective, like when the glass broke in that Duchamp piece, and he actually thought it enhanced the work.
I would need to find the kind of patrons with disposable income who really understand this mindset and their responsibility in acquiring art. I see the new owners as the guardians of…I was going to say my children, but that sounds so cheesy even in written form.
But if they are like children, then the analogy is the one out of SATC, when Miranda tells Steve, you try not to kill Brady when he’s with you and I’ll try not to kill him when he’s here. I’m paraphrasing – can’t remember the exact line, but you get the gist.
When you suffer a disappointment, the trick is to throw yourself into something that is fun, something that maybe you are good at, something that you love.
I made a painting.
Lost & Found, encaustic on canvas panel, 11″ x 14″, 2014
I’m doing an encaustic lesson with my 9th period classes, using my own supplies from home – crock-pot of wax, two pancake griddles and my messy wax-only brushes. The melted beeswax was seducing me with its pungency. That plus thinking about Linda Bigness enjoying the bliss of mark-making. She sold the painting that I watched her create during that video we made.
And so, when my friend Stephanie asked for a bigger painting of a heart, I complied.
I lacquered it and mounted it to chalkboard-painted masonite and added the dominoes as a frame. It will be ready to ship to Florida in about a month. Steph is officially a patron, owning four (and soon five) of my paintings.
I want to make another series of heart encaustics now (no doubt due to my obsession with making a dozen of something – I know you were thinking it!).
In 2012, when I took that Syracuse University graduate course on encaustic with the amazing Davana Wilkins as instructor and mentor, I had this idea that I would just make a bunch of heart paintings. She convinced me to push myself out of my comfort zone and create other iconography, the result of which were the horse and cow paintings.
I’ve sold all but two of the heart paintings. I need to take inventory of the rest. I think I have sold four of the twelve horse paintings now and I gave away a cow painting to one of my favorite students, Zachary, who lives on a dairy farm. The cows are more of a tough sell, I guess.
But hearts, now that is the motif of motifs. You gotta love a heart. <3
Most teachers can relate to this simple fact. Students always react strangely when they see us outside of school. It’s either a hyper-freak out – OMG! Ms. Tash, Ms. Tash! or the total reverse; a shy backing away and a chorus of whispers – I think that’s Ms. Tash! What’s she doing here?
Do they think we are robots that are turned off and put away at the end of the day, like a stack of I-Pads? I talked to my sister about this and she said, “Look at it from their perspective. Seeing you outside of school is like seeing a unicorn.”
I am a bit of a unicorn. Because in this day and age, in a culture of me, me, me social media and with it the belief that we are all the stars of our own reality shows, it seems that everyone wants to be recognized for their individuality. Their spirit, creativity and the like should make them the black hole of the universe, sucking everyone else inside their vortex. Everyone wants to appear cray-cray, the risk-taking artist that deserves all that attention.
Maybe I’m the opposite. The crazy person who just wants to be normal. Am I crazy? Sometimes people say I am, but maybe I’m the only sane one in the room and everyone else is crazy. My last blog post generated a flurry of comments in the group postings on www.linkedin.com. Mainly camaraderie in despair, which really made me wonder if they understood me at all. Something made me feel sad last week. I’ve had my share of ups and downs, wearing my heart on my sleeve and on the walls of my home, as I’ve shared in a previous blog post. But my emotions don’t swing on a Vincent Van Gogh-caliber pendulum. I’m still sad about that particular thing but it’s compartmentalized now and I’m, yes, perfectly normal.
Emotion certainly plays a chunk part in the world of art, though, and it’s funny how important it is to many that they are perceived as more emotional than another. It’s not a competition, you know. There are all sorts of emotions that come into play when making art. It doesn’t have to be sadness. It can be serenity, anger or euphoria….
Whatever it is, it should be nurtured and supported. I have not been doing this as often as I should. I get invited to local art openings and events all the time and I just don’t go. I want to be a better friend. This Friday from 6-8 pm, the Edgewood Gallery is holding a reception for an exhibition and sale of artwork by Amy Bartell, Linda Bigness and Todd Conover. Edgewood is located down the street from my parents’ house – you can see the house from the gallery’s front door if you look east. It’s on Tecumseh Road in Dewitt, NY, right across from the Nottingham shopping plaza.
On Saturday from 10 am-4 pm, the Delavan Center will open its doors for a holiday event and sale. The Delavan is a building filled with local artists’ studios, many of them are Facebook and personal friends of mine. Linda, of course (find the link at the end of this post to the video we made on Columbus Day weekend), and Amy plus Laurel Morton and a slew of others.
This unicorn plans to make a cameo appearance at both events. I’ll be in black, naturally, but I draw the line at wearing a beret on my horn. That’s way too cliche, don’t you think?
This morning I woke up in tears, the kind typically reserved for when Oprah interviews you. I guess my life sometimes feels like I’m in a labyrinth, one that seems to be a lot easier for other people to navigate but incredibly road-blockey for me. I’m sure I’ll find a way to laugh about this later but not now. The crummy weather day is insisting I remain miserable, sad and hopeless.
The good news is that I’m going to try to bottle the feeling and use it later as an element in a new series of paintings. I have a vague idea of what they’ll look like – I often tell my students that I tend towards having psychic visions of future work, which helps to focus me during the process of going from thumbnail sketch to reality. There are no thumbnail sketches yet. Just feelings, colors, and fleeting imagery. The planned series will be titled Futura, which is funny that I know that – the way I knew I would call my cat Jasper before I met him.
I didn’t have a working title for a series of paper collage works I displayed back in 2004. I received a grant from Senator John DeFrancisco and subsequently was granted a lot of press on the show that accompanied the artwork. It didn’t actually work that way, but in reverse. I made the art a couple years before, secured an art show at Pastabilities restaurant in Armory Square (downtown Syracuse), charged up a storm to frame the art then applied for and received the $1,000 grant (or was it $1,500? I don’t remember).
I used to teach at Bryant & Stratton, my second job out of college, in the long-defunct Fashion Merchandising program where as a business college professor, I learned and taught students to write press releases that would get them noticed. I had a lot of success with my own press releases, frequently getting follow-up articles about my work published in the local papers.
John DeFrancisco is someone I’m following on Twitter. Yeah – I tweet now. You can see the link somewhere on the side of this blog post. It’s https://twitter.com/karentashkovski. I’m @KarenTashkovski. I’ve tweeted a handful of times, mainly links to my social media activities – Pinterest, Facebook, here, etc. I’m learning the whole hashtag culture or as I refer to it – number sign. And I’m re-tweeting and following back. Cyberspace is a vast black hole but it has the dichotomy of being a small world as well. Kim Kardashian (yes, I’m following her – who isn’t?) could easily flick a thumb and retweet to her universe and all of a sudden as a consequence because we’ll become besties, I will be able to identify a Kanye West song (or not, probably not. I’m more of a classic rock/alternative person). Hopefully the real consequence will be resulting sales. People have a lot of power at their fingertips, to friend you, connect with you and know you or at least your on-line persona.
I have a google email now too. It’s ktashkovski@gmail.com. I needed it for something, I can’t remember what now – and used it successfully to send Linda Bigness those videos through google docs. So they should be up shortly on You Tube and on here. Oh yeah, that’s what it was. I’m on You Tube. I have a channel (meant to be said with a posh British accent). I posted three videos, two of them of my students in my super secret (not so secret) Harry Potter club at school.
The hope with that is to seek a fairy-godmother-wizard person who will pay to send my students and their families to Harry Potter World in Florida. Oprah, are you listening? Because I’ve mentioned you twice now. And if you want to do a surprise interview first, then I will be well prepared. I have mastered the ugly cry and everything.
