It's hip to be square

Of the 500 or so images I've created during my MFA program, 80% are in done in a square format. Of the many critiques I've participated in, I've been ready with a thoughtful answer to the question..."so why are you painting in a square composition?"

Yet, no one in the past two years ever asked me or challenged me on why I was painting in a square format. The first problem an artist needs to address before beginning a work, is what size and shape the work will be. The shape of the frame an artist chooses influences the final image and reveals something about that piece of art work.

I consciously choose a square format as I think of the square as a unit, a part of a whole, that has the same properties whole as it does in its parts. It makes up a grid and is considered emblematic of modernism. Square compositions can be both complete and incompleted, as you can always add another square to an already existing one.

A square format does not favor the dynamic vertical or calm horizontal plane, it is stable and supports the image in equanimity. The equal sides allow the image to be, without too much input from the frame. It is a simple, regular and familiar geometry. In Socrate's Meno, doubling the square, he says "This knowledge will not come from teaching, but from questioning, he will recover it for himself." Guess there are some questions you just ask yourself.

Thesis Idea...after the fact

All last fall I was wracking my brain to come up with an original, cool, mind blowing presentation for my thesis show. My thesis show was in January, so the time for it has past. Not so with my brain still under the directive of come up with an awesome idea for a thesis show!

I was frankly so busy writing and creating art work that I didn't have extra energy for "what if's" and "wonder what that would look like" thinking, that is until now...

With the pressure off, the floodgates of ideas run rampant! What do you think of this idea? A body of work consisting of static pieces of 2-d work hung on a wall (ie a painting, photograph or illustration) and at the four edges of the frame, seamlessly projecting video imagery related to and dynamically extending the 2-d work. Going beyond the frame into movement and time. I envision painting and video of painted imagery together because that's my medium, other media could work.

What it would take to get those two media working together? In my mind, it looks pretty great, perfect for a thesis show or maybe not... physical reality might not bear me out.

Devoted to Fine Art

After giving it quite a bit of thought and wrestling with code, links and flash photo galleries that don't work (see below), I have finally decided to have a separate Fine Art web site devoted to my work as an artist.

I didn't actually create it from scratch like I usually do, instead I've used a web based site for artists called icompedium.com. I must say how delighted I am to not have to build a new site from scratch and that its design is what I would have eventually come up with after weeks of designing and re-designing or maybe not at all. It doesn't matter, check out the spotless information design that allows my work to shine through. www.rebeccajmoran.com

After this shamless plug, I can get back to painting...

Eastern Seeds, Western Soil: A Path to Transcendence

I have been getting requests to see my latest work. My newest works can be seen in this presentation and will give you a good idea of the themes and media I've been been working in. Artist Presentation. This artist talk was created as part of a thesis presentation for my MFA at The Art Institute of Boston.

The Slater Museum

One of my thesis panels Water Makes Rock II has been accepted into The Slater Museum 66th Annual Connecticut Artists Exhibition.

Artist Ron Cruzan juried the show which features paintings, drawings, mixed media, sculpture, graphics and photography by resident artists of Connecticut.

It's a wonderful show with artists from all over Connecticut. You are invited to attend the opening reception and awards ceremony on Sunday, February 22, 2009 from 1:00 - 3:00 p.m at The Slater Museum in Norwich Connecticut. See you there.

Detail of Water Makes Rocks II

Released and Emerging

I have graduated with an MFA in Visual Arts and am released from The Art Institute of Boston into the art world as an emerging artist.

This program is one of the best kept secrets for graduate study in Fine Art. I am still in a daze from the whirlwind of the past two years. My work has grown in proportion to the hours I have spent making it. I have discovered who I am as an artist and am ready to find gallery representation. The most affirming part of this experience was that I kept growing as an artist, worked with faculty who really cared about me and sold work as a student.

I created a body of work for a group thesis show, gave an artist talk summarizing my thesis and had to defend it in a thesis defense. My defense was with a traditional painter, abstract painter and conceptual installation artist. I have discovered that I am what I call a "transitional" painter. I walk the line between representation and abstraction in my imagery, so I am not fully a representational painter, or fully an abstract painter, nor do I fit in as a minimalist and work with both digital and traditional media as the idea dictates.

The thesis took me four months to write, I am proud to present it as Eastern Seeds, Western Soil: A Path to Transcendence. In it I have written about the nature of perception, impermanence and the role of emotion leading to the ineffable. I talk about the spiritual in art as my motivation to create art. It is a genuine discussion of my growth as an artist fueled by my concerns as a human being.You can read more by clicking on the thesis title and downloading the pdf file.

This blog will morph into a journal of what is next, as I figure out my artist life after graduate school.It is vital to my artist life that I connect with other painters who are on the same path I am and that I find out who my artist community is. Your comments, suggestions, ideas and feedback are welcome as I grapple with the bigger question: WHAT IS NEXT?

Certificate of Authenticity

I have started to provide buyers of my work with a Certificate of Authenticity. It looks very cool with an official embossed seal on parchment paper. I designed it and hand made it small, 5"x 7" so it is a nice size to fit in an envelope. If you look close you can just about see the seal in the lower right corner. Quite the professional, eh?!