A Great Artist

A great artist once told me, make a mark, step back, and make another.  [Nils Lou]

I have found in approaching carving that is exactly what I needed to do.  I made my first gesture sketch, with chalk on wood.  I felt alive.  I followed the lines, the curves, the edges, with my gauge.  The great thing about carving is that the more you do it the more exhausted you physically become, but the more invigorated you feel.  You feel alive, and even though you are a sweaty mess, and hours have gone by when you exit the woodshop, you feel awake and alert.

I started my carvings knowing I wanted to create shadow.  I traced a shape with my chalk and then used a bansaw to cut that form out from the rest of the wood.  I carved the whole surface with a big gauge.  I wanted every inch to be touched and worked on.

I then worked my way to the smaller gauges.

I found a motion with a small gauge that I really enjoyed.  I created these scratch marks to cover the surface, every side, of the wood piece.

These scratch marks were very reminiscent of the marks I had made on art in former years.

I am very excited to continue carving.  Though I do not know how I will use these wooden pieces I know, in my gut, that they are very important to my current body of work.

(A Detail)

(A Detail)

Account Book

This book has delicate cut outs of various forms.  The individual geometric shapes mean nothing but together form an image, an ambiguous, more organic form.  I have bound it in the style of an account book.  I use grey and black paper, offset by a red thread for contrast.  I am really excited for this book to be shown!

Book as Sculpture

For an examination of book as sculpture I have taken excerpts from Dante's Inferno, and collaged it into a box.  There are two ways to view what is inside the box.  The first is through a small peephole under the word "hell."  The second is through the "gate" on the side.  This gate is guarded by two copper straps.  The idea being that there is more than one way to get into hell.  There is a tiny lightbulb shaped piece of plastic inside.  It holds silver and is surrounded by copper wire.  This is the temptation that can get us, the viewer into hell.  This is what I have come up with!

End of the Year Gallery Show

We have a gallery opening at the end of every year.  The Thesis students present their work in the main Linfield Gallery, and the Portfolio students present in the Student Gallery.  I have decided to present in the hallway leading up to the student gallery.

I have been working on hanging my installation for a little over 15 hours.  It has been a tough process as the structural supports should not be shown.  I have decided to hide the structural supports, and have some of them not there.

However, to make an effortless hanging piece that is in all actuality heavy and full of effort, is more difficult than I have previously thought.  I am very excited to unveil this installation and even more excited and nervous for my artist talk.

I am working with the lights in the space allotted but I also need to work on making the shadows of the piece itself more intriguing.  I have found that the new shape that is forming has overlapping shadows.  This is interesting in some places, but not in others.  I need to work on creating more dimension with this piece.

I hope this will be a fantastic opening, and wish all of my fellow artists the best of luck with their incredible art!   They are amazing people in this exhibit and I am blessed and grateful to be one of the many showing!

Artist Statement for Gallery

Object:  Let me comfort you

Maker:  Let me build you

Object:  A place where you can go to escape. 

Built of beeswax, the smell of our home. 

Sewn together, stitch-by-stitch. 

Illuminated with light

Maker:  Making the shadows seem less dark. 

Draped over you, like a warm blanket,

Breathe in and out, and feel its warmth. 

Object:  Let me comfort you

Maker:  In a way only I can.

                                                                                                  

Maya Luque

Object Maker

Artist Statement Rough Draft

(A letter to my inner child):

Let me comfort you.  Let me build you a place where you can go to escape.  I will build it out of beeswax, the smell of our home.  And I will sew it together, stitch-by-stitch, to show how much I care.  I will illuminate it with light, and maybe, just maybe, it will make the shadows seem less dark.  I will drape it over you, like a warm blanket, so that you may breathe in and out, and feel its warmth.  So please, let me comfort you, in a way only I can.

-Maya Luque

A Transformation

I have been working on this final project for some time now.  To be called A Transformation this piece has literally transformed the way I see my methods of art making.  I have learned to embrace simplicity and embrace a few key ideas with which to pull my inspiration from.  To avoid making white noise, I have made this piece and placed it in whatever way it would lay.  I turns out it looks very organic in nature when just left to hang.

To add a bit of intrigue light will be a key component of this piece.  Light and beeswax is what I am working with.  I have limited my language for this piece by removing the beeswax cut outs.

I hope to create a comforting feeling with this piece.  A new environment.

I hope to make a few bigger hexagons in the negative space.  After this the piece will be hung in the Linfield Art Department's main hallway by May 14th.