Sleepless Nights in the Life I Love

It is 4:12 am and I have already been up for some time. I love the early morning but 2:30 or 3:00 is too early even for me. In the last couple weeks I have been finding it hard to live the life I love with the energy I generally have. I spend a lot of my days on my own with my list and haven't found as much time for creativity as I had planned. I've been wondering a lot how to bring people in and share this vision in a way that inspires people to create but somedays I don't feel that creative.

If anyone had asked if I would be so conflicted after nearly 3 months with our doors open and our first juried show on the wall I think I would have laughed. I love it...I hate it...I love it...I hate...Actually, hate is a strong word. It isn't hate rather it is trepidation that I may not be achieving what I set out to do. I know another strong word but a more accurate one. I know that worry isn't good and isn't truly profitable. In the last couple weeks, it has forced me to consider the reason creativity is a bit elusive these days. I think like many things in life it comes down to realistic expectations and real responses when things don't work out the way you plan.

In each we have a choice, to hide in a corner dashed or to re-evaluate and move forward with more knowledge thankful for the learning experience. If one is willing to re-frame one's paradigm and step back out with new energy, I think good things can come from dashed expectations.

I hoped to create a community of artists who wanted to make their livings making the art they love, so I built what I thought would be a community of young energetic emerging artists. Almost as soon as I had signed the lease on the most beautiful building, several in that community of artists (who couldn't "wait for me to open the door") walked away, for a plethora of reasons most concerning financial struggles. I am not trying to judge these folks. Life happens. That is not the point. The point is, instead of worrying about who I thought would join us and how they would be involved, I have an opportunity to go out and meet new folks who want to learn about the things we have to offer. It isn't really a bad thing when you think about it. Good business tends to be involved in good and consistent networking and so, ideally I've been creating a new or in some cases rediscovered network of folks who are ready to create art in a beautiful space.

Will this be enough? Who knows. I can't tell that in the little time that we've been there.  I do know that we are gearing up for some very fun and interesting projects and we are hoping these things will bring in a host of people who are excited about printmaking and book arts, drawing and writing. This past week I was blessed to be invited into a new community of artists, the Racine Art Guild to share what we are doing and the excitement and new energy, questions and interest gave me some new energy. This weekend we start life drawing every Friday. Next weekend the new book arts guild starts meeting. July's summer classes for kids are nearly filled and we are recruiting teen writers and artists for Pocket Renaissance. Now if only the sun would come out of hiding!

On a sadder note - This past week a dear friend went home to heaven. Sue was one of the most amazing people I have ever known. She has fought a very long battle with ovarian cancer, and I don't think I ever heard her complain. Amazing! Today as I contemplated spurring on my own creativity I have her words rolling around in my brain. Two weeks ago I stopped in to visit her at hospice. I wanted the opportunity to thank her. My precious friend thanked me for "living my gifts." Though, I don't think that being able to live a life doing what you love to do is something for which one deserves to be thanked. I am so humbled by this. I do not give a gift as an artist rather I am given a gift.

Thank you Sue for your reminder. I will try to go and "live my gifts." So many of us have been blessed by having known you and will miss you.

The First Week

I know my blog is "The Life You Love," but today, it should probably be called "Catch-up with Your Life."

I am sitting at home with my to do list (it's a mile long) and a headache wondering if it would be an awful thing at 10:17am to go back to bed. I have folded laundry all over my living room, pups who want to go for a walk, and many promotional projects for the Black-Eyed Press to launch. Yet my favorite corner of our tiny livingroom seems to be appealing to the closet couch potato in me.

It reminds me of the fact that our little home is a sanctuary. Somedays, it is just drudgery to make myself leave, because we've carved out a little piece of cozy for ourselves here in Mount Pleasant. The sunshine streaming into the window feels so very good against my face. I wonder if most people feel this way about their homes. I realize our little condo isn't glamourous, but it reflects little bits my family....organized enough to find most things, clean enough to be lived in, and lived in enough to be comfortable. No rooms are off limits in our 850 square feet of "kick off your shoes and stay awhile."

I hope today you have a few minutes to cuddle up in your favorite spot and to reflect on all the amazing things in your life. I know that I am blessed beyond my wildest imagination. I think I will sit here for a few minutes and just enjoy my spot in this mid-morning calm.

What's in a Name?

What's in a name? That is not exactly the question but rather, "Why the Black-Eyed Press? or What does the name mean?" So many people are asking that I thought today I'd try to explain.

The name first occurred to me while looking at a relief print I did in college of a black-eyed susan. I had so much fun creating it and the two other prints in the triptych for intermediate relief printmaking.  The triptych was supposed to be about my life. I decided to look into the connotative meanings of flowers. The black-eyed susan stands for encouragment, something I like to give to those around me. It's good it wasn't the literal translation from the Latin from the genus Rudbeckia: meaning rough and hairy.



Encouragement, relief print
Samira Gdisis



Creating the print was an encouragment to me. It hangs in my home workspace, reminding of why I am passionate about printmaking. I like the way the work allows me to focus. I like the feel of the linoleum tool pressing into the soft plastic. I love the smell of the ink and the paper when I print. I don't know if I can explain it well here. It may be something one needs to experience to understand. It might just be something to experience yourself by visiting us next month when we officially open for business.

The second reason that I loved the name is that as an artist and a perfectionist I am very hard on myself, in art and in life. Perfectionism is a never-ending figurative black-eye and as my colleaque Kelly Witte said once, "If I want to be an artist, I have to be hard on myself. The world will be." Kelly is an amazing artist using bold and saturated colors when she paints. She is an exceptional printmaker also, who creates in a technique called reductive relief. Each color is printed separately from a plain onto the paper, cutting out material between colors that is no longer needed. In the end you have generally just the outline of the image remaining and the plate, a piece of carved linoleum is generally ready to be tossed out. Several printmakers I know say that is their favorite part of the process.

I don't know how to explain the other reason here. It would probably be better in a picture. Let's just say at some point every printmaker has an itch on an eyebrow while working with black ink.

Featured Artist, Kyle Smith

      I went to Kyle several months ago with my idea for the The Black-Eyed Press and asked if he might be interested in helping me to build a local collaborative printmaking studio. I didn't know if I should expect much, but I had an eager reception and lots of enthusiasm. I know printing is a huge part of creating "The Life You Love' for Kyle. I've know this young talented artist through our art classes together at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside and better through interactions and critiques in Parkside's printshop. Kyle is very dedicated sometimes spending hours with a saw shaping copper plates, trust me this takes a dedication most of us don't have. Since he understands the print equipment through serving as the shop technician there, it makes perfect sense for him to slide into a leadership role as the Shop Guy at the Black-Eyed Press LLC. I promise you will all come to appreciate this young man, his straight-forward technique and his passion for printmaking. Read-on and if you have the chance please post a welcome aboard to Kyle.

To the Point:The Artist Statement for Kyle Smith

On average, I’m no ordinary artist by any means.  Knowing as many artists as I do, I know that I am different in how I see artwork and how although I may like some artist’s work, but I never really let it influence any of my work.  As to having no real outside influences, almost all of my work is based off of my life and events in it. When people look at my work the message or purpose usually is pretty obvious because that’s how I like to work. When I look at other art work, I like the ones that are easier to interpret and to the point, so that’s what I use for my art. I became an artist because it is the one true way I have always been able to express myself through something instead of my words. Throughout high school and the start of my college experience I was mainly focused in following my older brother’s footsteps into graphic design. It was until my 3^rd year in college that I started taking printmaking, and my interest shifted from the computer to the print lab.  But before this and along side of this, I have also grown to appreciate many other types of studio art including working with wood to make furniture and metals to make chain mail.

            After learning all they processes in the print lab, I established a fondness of Intaglio using copper plates and relief with linoleum plates. My passion is more with the intaglio printing, not only am I allowed to use my computer still to create images that I want to put onto a copper plate, but since I have never had great hand drawing skills I am able to trace a drawing of mine and transfer it directly to the copper and etch it into the plate making a perfect image that I couldn’t have drawn by hand. Any printmaker knows that there are two ways to put an image onto a copper plate one with dry etching which involves just directly free handing your image onto the copper and acid techniques which I am more fond of because the put a deeper line into the copper and you can make so many shades and textures on the image making it more realistic. Mainly I like my images when they are just the basic line etch because I am usually unsure of how using other techniques will change how my image looks.

            While creating my work, I like to document each step so I can see how the work that I am doing effects what I already had on the copper. In order to do this I take a picture of each proof that I make so that in the end I can show people what I did and how many steps it took to get it how it ended up. With every image, as I said before, is usually a part of my life with some images being on smaller scrapes of copper just random pictures that I just come up with on the spot. As my future with printmaking continues, I wish to be able to be a little more expressive with my works and work on my recent line of holiday cards that are pretty generic to say the least so that the buyer can personalize them for whoever they want them for or for a small fee I can paint them and personalize them for them. Whatever comes of it, I know that I will be printing for as long as I can while working on other forms of art on the side as a hobby.

The Plan

This idea for collaborative space was not a "plan" for the first two years. The plan was an idea and the idea seemed overwhelming. So...I wrote my ideas in my sketchbook and doodled around the margins and dreamt of what a day would look like if it were my idea of the perfect day.

Quiet time with my Bible, breakfast with my family, a few laps at the pool...after these things, I would get into my little car and drive to a space filled with the things required to make art. There I'd open the door to the gallery, check the email, facebook etc. and begin as others came in to share in the process of making prints. I might be teaching someone one-on-one or helping an artist develop a business card. I might have an easel set up to paint or collage. After lunch, a local school group might come in to learn about the art media of printmaking. Each student would either get to bind a small journal or make a small print. My day goes on until suppertime. Occassionally, someone stops in just to see the gallery. They purchase a print and a copy of an exquisite corps we've done with teen authors and artists to raise money for our summer camp. The print is one from an emerging artist who has not shown in a professional setting before now. I get to help them do that. Before closing, I proof the prospectus for the upcoming new artist residency and at five o'clock I head home happy to have served and been amidst other artists and ink. The aroma of the ink and paper still with me as I head home to spend an evening with family, completing homework and preparing for tomorrow. As I go to bed, I am thankful to be blessed to be part of the life I love.

For me, that would be the perfect day. Will running a collaborative be that smooth? Absolutely not. Everyday will be as difficult then as today. Will it be the thing that makes all the difference in my life? No that's what my faith in a loving God is about. However, I won't go about life living to work. I instead get to work in order to live doing what I love, making art and helping others to do the same. I better get started before my day today is gone. I hope you'll make the most of today. Life is short and fragile please go out and live today like it's your last.

PS Tomorrow I will begin posting introductions to the artists of The Black-Eyed Press LLC. Please check them out. They are an extremely talented bunch.

The Beginning of My Idea

It seems writing one's ideas should be a simple task. I've kept a journal for years, filled with the good and the bad as well as the accompanying prayers. I've encouraged others to do the same. I love the way a good pen interacts with a good sheet of paper. I love to sketch in the margins of my notes and books. Typing.....is more of a chore to me. I am not a poor typist. I am actually rather fast but composing as one types, that seems difficult for me. I skip words and mispell as I don't have the pen to slow me down and sometimes I type the things I am thinking aside from my writing which can be humorous but not so nice to figure out later. In any case this is my disclaimer passage for anyone who ventures to read this. I hope you will and that you'll find the things I investigate and share of some use whether entertaining or informative.

Here's what I plan to do. I want to use this space to have a discussion about printmaking. I would like to share items of interest, the process of building my new organization The Black-Eyed Press and to introduce the artists and members. Our potential instructors and their work. I will also include some historical prints and some of the provenance that surrounds them. Emile H. Mathis has agreed so generously to be part of my blog by allowing me the opportunity to take images from his amazing collection of more than 2000 works on paper. When I learn new techniques or about interesting things going on in town I will also write about those things. I hope that the things I present will engage you and help you to understand my passion towards printmaking.

I am Samira or Sam if that's easier. I am the owner of The Black-Eyed Press LLC. A printmaking studio that exists so far only on paper, but one that hopefully will soon have a home and be well attended and utilized by artists and community members alike. A few months ago a server at a restaurant where a friend and I stopped for lunch said, "If you do what you love, you will never work another day in your life." I want that and to help others to find that. Won't you consider coming along?

The Black Eyed Press will exist to provide independent artists with feasible workspace, community, as well as outlets for promotion, sales and exhibition in mediums of printmaking and book arts.

Please feel free to post questions and comments here or to email me: sam@blackeyedpress.com. I look forward to hearing from you and learning from you. Or check out our Facebook page.