100 Prints moves to Cambridge!

My 100 Prints exploratory intaglio quilt has moved from the gallery in 601 Newbury Street at AIB to a storefront window display on the corner of Everett Street and Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge, MA! Me along with 4 other talented artists will be exhibiting our work in these store front windows between now and march :) so satisfying to see your work on display in different locations, gives it a whole new context.

These are some snapshots of Denise Driscol (http://www.denisedriscoll.com/Home.html) a very talented artist and teacher at the Art Institute of Boston, installing the 100 pieces that us students made for the 100 gallery that had been at AIB last month in honor of AIB's centennial! So thankful to have had this opportunity!

This is a view from the street! I really enjoy the orange background against my busy quilt.

Making of Medusa

This is the sculpture and the first stages of paint for a painting of Medusa I am working on. This painting is taking Medusa and seeing her as a victim. The first image is air dry terracotta base sculpture. The second and third picture are the first applications of paint. I was very inspired by this amazing sculpture artist Steve Gibson, you van view his work at http://stevegibson.eu/, absolutely amazing work, but I really wanted the painterly look for this sculpture, it is supposed to look as if Medusa is caught in the painting and she is trying to escape, so essentially a painting coming to life.

Website almost done!

http://cargocollective.com/kristinmusser

Here is my website! Feed back?

Final Spreads for The Goblin Market

These are the final spreads for my book project. We had three choices, Goblin Market, Blue Beard, and Little Red Riding Hood. Since I have a twin and we are very close, I really connected with Goblin Market, for it is based on a story of the love between sisters. This story takes it a little far, but it does express the tight bond between sisters.

I had a lot of fun sculpting, for these are my first pair of pose-able "puppets", the only thing I wish was done differently is better quality photography and working on the back grounds more for a better sense of depth and environment. I am going to re shoot these after finals week is done killing me. I have to turn these in now, but hopefully I will get around to finishing the entire book. Nice little summer project I suppose.

Egyptian Vulture Collar

This is my first time using gouache on tin. Modeled after the ancient Egyptian vulture collar.

Someone special's Christmas present :)

My first puppet with two different heads

These are a few shots of the new heads I have made for Lizzie, the second main character for my reiteration of the poem Goblin Market.

100 Prints later...

Some girls may have spent thier halloween weekend half clothed and way to drunk.... but this is how I spent mine. From 10pm to 8am printing my life away blasting Two Gallants being the only person in the upper levels of 700 Beacon.

Starting to stitch these little guys together. This is the point in time where I realized that I have to slow down on the over-ambitious projects.

My little plates took a 20 hour acid bath, poor babies are thin as paper, but made for some beautiful final prints. These held up quite well though for going through the press and acid 50+ times.

Gallery status! These are 100 prints made from the two plates hanging on the right of the quilt. Hanging in 601 Newbury student gallery. The theme of this show was 100 because of AIB's recent 100th birthday. Wish me luck, first place gets $150. Opening is on Tuesday November 13th!

Making of Laura

Laura is born!!! I am recreating the poem "Goblin Market" by Christina Rossetti. This poem was meant to be children's literature back when it was written, but I am not sure I would let a child read it. This poem is all about femininity, addiction, sex, sin, violence, and the love between sisters. It is a big challenge trying to create 3-D illustrations for a poem and turn it into a 32 page picture book, but I gladly accepted.

Bald and beautiful, first few layers of paint.

Practically twins!! Me getting into character. 

Needs hands and feet, but I am pretty proud of how my first puppet came out! Let's hope I have similar success with making Lizzie!! Stay tuned...

Making of "Fly Low Carrion Crow"

This project was inspired by my favorite band, Two Gallants. This scene is something that I actually saw in a dream. The song is Carrion Crow, and the lyric that inspired "so fly low ye carion crow and seize my body for to free my soul and drop me high into the depths below for the things I've seen no one else should know"

This is exactly how I saw this scene in my dream. They were just standing side by side in water surrounded by an embankment and a dark forest with the crow silhouette on the moon. The scene looked very haunting, but yet their faces were very somber, pensive, and reflective. It really connected to my own life.

This is the first time I have used air dry clay. It is very different from my usual choice of polymer clay, but it was a refreshing experience. I really loved how water cuts right through the clay and you can get really clean shapes, but the down side is that it takes 24-36 hours to dry and is very fragile.

On the small coffee table in my living room is where the painting is starting to take place. I have learned a lot of color mixing and painterly illusion techniques.

His hair was a pain. This was the second time it all had fallen off, but I guess third times the charm. I guess this is just what happens when you have to stand on the packed 57 bus.

 

 This is the start of the jungle background and the moon. I will post a final shot once I get access to the studio and lights. STAY TUNED!!

Making of "Protect Your Kid"

Spontaneous sculpture. I got out my tin foil and clay and just let me mind wander....

Direction I chose to go was to make this creature into a sea monster who is protecting her baby.

 The baby :) IT'S A GIRL!!

Starting to add texture and color. First color choices weren't my favorite, to it was back to the drawing board. I liked the texture of the skin though, so I decided to try and play off of that with the head in the next stages.

This is the picture that was chosen from about 600 photos. This is my first time setting up a sculpture with a background and lighting, so I might shoot it again once I am more experienced with photographing my 3-D illustrations.

Making of "Fly Low Carrion Crow"

First rough figure.

 

Figure sculpted and baked.

 

Starting to make the crow.

 

Crow baked and structure for the wings have been added.

Making of "Never Cease to Grow"

 

The first state of "Never Cease to Grow" these little guys started out as little floating heads.

Starting to make the bodies. With better plannig this stage was a challenge since I had done very little planning for the end result of this project, but I learned a lot of things and have adapted my method accordingly.

The bodies fully molded and baked! I learned that planning is a crucial step in making 3-D objects.

Finally ready for the first layers of paint :)