What's New: Studio News
- sharmondavidson
- Sep 27
- 4 min read
27 September, 2025
Studio News: Work for Think Square 8
In this post, I wrote about my initial difficulty with making work in the 5 x 5 -inch format required for Think Square 8, a local art exhibit I participate in every year. Once I got started, though, I kept going until I had nine pieces that size. I shared five of them in that earlier post. The three I chose for the exhibit are Secret Garden 1, above, and Secret Garden 2 and Secret Garden 3, below. These are all monotype (monoprint) collages, made from cut-up monoprint scraps.
"Inspiration exists, but it has to find us working." ~ Pablo Picasso
Just Keep Working
We've all seen the quote above, or something like it, a thousand times. At the risk of sounding trite, truer words were never spoken. If you're not in your studio, putting forth your best effort to make something (even if it sucks), you're not going to be paying attention when the real magic happens. You put something next to another something, and bam! - a breakthrough. My teacher, Tina Tammaro, used to say, "Art comes from the making." Indeed.
So, in order to produce three pieces, I ultimately made nine in that format. I'm not so sure the ones I chose for the exhibit were the best ones I made. In choosing those that were in the same style and medium I'd always shown in the venue, I feel like I played it safe. Safe, and boring.
But all that water is now well under the bridge, so to speak. The last one of the nine is below, and includes quite a bit of stitching. I like the physical act of stitching because it calms me and gives me something to do my hands. I think I should have probably put this one in the exhibit, but you know - water, bridge. Time to move on.
One Thing Leads to Another
While working on those nine small pieces, a few other things began popping out of the process. Mostly, this happened as a result of searching through piles of monotype scraps. I began to see interesting possible combinations, and playing around with them to form compositions. In the interest of keeping this post short, however, I will share these with you later. I say this only to underscore Picasso's point: I hadn't originally set out to make these pieces. They came from "the making."
Other Studio News
In other studio news, I will be doing something new, exciting, and a bit scary this October. I was invited to participate in the West Loop Contemporary Fine Art Expo in Chicago. Since I've never done anything like this before, I said yes. Why would someone with a way more than the usual amount of anxiety do this, you might ask.
Well, just to make sure I've used all the most clichéd aphorisms possible (haha!), I told myself that if you keep on doing what you've always done, you'll continue to get the same result you've always gotten. This is only common sense, of course, but we humans are nothing if not creatures of habit. So, I felt this was a perfect oppotunity to try something different - to take a risk, and hopefully get a different result.
“So the next time you encounter fear, consider yourself lucky. This is where the courage comes in. Usually we think that brave people have no fear. The truth is that they are intimate with fear.” ― Pema Chödrön
Not Playing it Safe
So, while in the process of taking a big chance, I'm trying to play it as safe as I can. What I mean is, I'm doing everything I can possibly think of to ensure that all goes smoothly. I have already framed all of the artwork, far ahead of time. I also made a scale model of my booth, with scale models of the art pieces, so I can decide where they will all go. Also, the table, and the back of the car, to scale. Do you think that's going too far?
"You must do the things you think you cannot do."
My last 'trite and true' saying - wise words from the great Eleanor Roosevelt. I will let you know how things go as they progress. In the meantime, my friends, I wish you love, peace, and art.
"It may be that when we no longer know which way to go we have come to our real journey. The mind that is not baffled is not employed. The impeded stream is the one that sings."
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