Bob Hoke

pleasure patterns

A Creative Life, art exhibit, art gallery, artist book, artistic inspirations, books, ebook, fine art

About a year ago I began working towards my upcoming October exhibit at Caplan Art Designs. From a book I’d created years ago with Dr. Bob Hoke titled “Dr. Bob’s Emotional Repair Program First Aid Kit” (aka The First Aid Kit) I selected a ‘living well’ aspect to explore via fine art.  Then I spent the next year making art.

The aspect I’d selected from The First Aid Kit was: (and I’m paraphrasing) “happiness is not about getting what you want from the external world – it’s how you interpret the things you perceive in the external world”.  (You can see some sample pages from The First Aid Kit  here: https://sueclancy.com/artist-books/  – and you can see links for getting either an ebook copy or a print copy of it there too. )

So fast forwarding to now: a year’s worth of artwork has been created and/or selected by the gallery and I’m working on the paperwork  for my exhibit. The gallery likes to have an “exhibit statement” i.e. they want me to create some text based handle by which people visiting my exhibit could have a framework, a context, for understanding my work. I came up with this:

Pleasure Patterns

By Sue Clancy

(exhibit statement for exhibit at The Daily in the Pearl October 2016 via Caplan Art Designs)

I read somewhere that “Happiness is a skill to be practiced like the violin” and I asked myself “How do I practice happiness?”  Then after attending a friend’s mother’s 90th birthday party I began thinking about how our lives are made up of patterns; patterns in nature, patterns in culture, as well as our own mental patterns or habits of mind. So I began to collect, from my daily life, “pleasant patterns” of happiness and have recreated those moments for you.

firstluncheonofladiesredhats72

First Luncheon Of The Ladies With Red Hats by Sue Clancy

my artist books and libraries

A Creative Life, artist book, ebook, handmade books, words and pictures

My one-of-a-kind artist books have been included in several library special collections (most recently at the UCLA Fine Arts library – thanks to the 23 Sandy Gallery) – well, I’ve newly been included in the Washington State Indie Book Collection!  This means that two of my artist books that I’ve created in eBook form can now be accessed by the general public via libraries that subscribe to something called the Biblioboard! https://www.biblioboard.com/

The two of my books that have been made available for libraries are: “Dr. Bob’s Emotional Repair Program First Aid Kit” and “Coffee Table Book”

Both of these books are talked about at the top of the artist book page on my website – with links for more info etc.

Anyway, now that this possibility of library love exists for me as a book artist I’ve created a postcard about one of my books (Hint: the book “Dr. Bob’s Emotional Repair Program First Aid Kit” is my fave…) so I will have a card I can give away just in case I happen to meet a friendly librarian or two in the urban wilds.

Here’s the card:

Postcard about the artist book "Dr Bob's Emotional Repair Program First Aid Kit" that I can give to friendly librarians and other people

Postcard about the artist book “Dr Bob’s Emotional Repair Program First Aid Kit” that I can give to friendly librarians and other nice people

Verrry Big Reveal

A Creative Life, public art

Last night was the unveiling party for my “Verry Big Project” – a public art project I did for the Curtis Children’s Justice Center (CJC) in Vancouver WA.

Here is a photo of the essential installation crew – who helped me put the artwork on the wall in the lobby of the CJC about a month ago – the full photo here shows all of  the artwork the previously posted pic only showed part of the artwork.

The crew who installed Sue Clancy's artwork in the Curtis Children's Justice Center - we had just finished installation

The crew who installed Sue Clancy’s artwork in the Curtis Children’s Justice Center – we had just finished installation

Then we covered the newly installed artwork with white paper and kids artwork to hide it until the party. It looked like this for almost a month while the CJC arranged for publicity and invited people for the party.BeforeUnveiling

Then last night about (and I’m guessing) 50 or so people came! (“About the right size crowd” someone said.) The CJC director talked a while. Then I talked for about 3 minutes. And the wall looked like this (without the white paper covering the art).

Going Places, Getting There (two panels of a diptych together in the lobby of the Curtis Children's Justice Center in Vancouver WA)

Going Places, Getting There (two panels of a diptych together in the lobby of the Curtis Children’s Justice Center in Vancouver WA)

After all of the talking was done we stood around drinking punch, chatting and eating cake. I got to meet a lot of wonderful heroes and say “thank you” to each of them!  Then we all went home.

A link to a great newspaper article in The Columbian about this project is here: http://www.columbian.com/news/2016/feb/08/child-abuse-survivor-hopes-her-artwork-calms-others/

For more information about what Dr. Bob Hoke taught me (referred to in the Columbian newspaper article) see my book “Dr. Bob’s Emotional Repair Program First Aid Kit”. You can get a print version via my website here http://sueclancy.com/this-artist-studio/ or an eBook version here https://store.bookbaby.com/book/dr-bobs-emotional-repair-program-first-aid-kit

verrry close

A Creative Life, art exhibit, fine art, public art, words and pictures

Getting even closer to the unveiling party for my “Verrry Big Project” – a 4 foot by 8 foot public art project I’ve done for the Curtis Children’s Justice Center! So here are some photos of me creating the artwork and a downloadable pdf file for people interested in the full details of my working process on this project.

About creating the Reception Area artworks

constructing a character out of cut handmade paper for a public art project

creating a dog character out of cut handmade paper for a public art project

creating a cat character out of cut handmade paper for a public art project

creating a cat character out of cut handmade paper for a public art project

Here is an additional link about this project. http://wp.me/p5wztb-e8

Pictures of the art installation are here: http://wp.me/p5wztb-da

This public artwork is dedicated in memory of Dr. Bob Hoke – see also https://store.bookbaby.com/book/dr-bobs-emotional-repair-program-first-aid-kit

feeding good wolves

A Creative Life, books, ebook, fine art, illustration, published art

“Art is what we possess in the face of evil and the darker side of human nature.” – Milan Kundera (from his book “Encounter”)

Two Wolves

Two Wolves

The above artwork is from “Dr. Bob’s Emotional Repair Program First Aid Kit” http://store.bookbaby.com/book/dr-bobs-emotional-repair-program-first-aid-kit

 

Verry Big Party

A Creative Life, books, ebook, fine art, public art, visual story, words and pictures

As mentioned here – my Verrry Big Project artwork (4 feet by 8feet!) has been installed and now we’re waiting for the “unveiling party” on Feb 8th.  But I’ve been told that I can now spill the beans as to who this public art project is for:  The Arthur D. Curtis Children’s Justice Center (CJC) in Vancouver Washington. Here are some links: http://clarkjfc.com/ and https://www.clark.wa.gov/childrens-justice-center

Why it was important to me to do this project:

I have some personal history with dealing with violence in my biological-family home as a child growing up. Not getting into details just now because more will be revealed as publicity about this project unfolds; let it suffice here to say that as a young person I had the great good fortune to meet Dr. Bob Hoke and his wife Penny.  Yes, I mean the Dr. Bob of whom I write about in “Dr. Bob’s Emotional Repair Program First Aid Kit”.  (Access to both a print version and an ebook version is here http://sueclancy.com/this-artist-studio/) That little book contains so much help, solace and artistic inspiration for me – and is the backbone of why I do the kind of artwork that I do.

Epic saga short, Dr. Bob and Penny became “Dad” and “Mom” for me and we’ve remained family for each other for about 30 years now. Over the course of years Dr. Bob Hoke, Penny and I have talked about how “life is a journey” and how stories affect the ways we picture our world and our responses to difficulties encountered on life’s journey. Stories (and non-verbal visual artwork that communicates stories visually) can affect us positively, can be a source of comfort and encouragement…. (and I hope that my artwork for public places is a source of comfort…)

Fast forward a number of years and I’ve relocated from Okla to WA and had the good fortune of marrying the love of my life, Judy, so I wanted to do something for the WA community that had so warmly welcomed us.

Since I’m an artist with a history of creating large public artworks for children’s centers of one sort or another it made sense to look for such an opportunity. Through friends I heard about the CJC and the kind of work they did. So I discussed the CJC’s mission/methods with Dr. Bob and Penny and Judy, we all decided that the CJC would be a good recipient of my artwork – if the CJC agreed.

I met with the CJC director, made my pitch, and set about designing visual artworks that would help the CJC tell their story. That included creating symbols and imagery that would communicate visually the idea that “life is a journey – with many stops along the way, some good, some bad – and occasionally we all need help going places and figuring out how to get there.”  I also did a depiction of one of the “forests” that we all metaphorically journey through…  And you bet I discussed my potential symbols and metaphors with Dr. Bob (a psychiatrist) and his wife Penny (a mental health nurse).

Here are some of the early “mock-ups” of the art that I presented to the CJC, that was discussed in meetings and later with changes made (the changes are not pictured here) approved by the committee at the CJC.  These rough mock-ups are small, about the size of an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper.

I did two sets of large finished artworks for the CJC… each is 4 feet tall by 8 feet wide. Please note that these photos are of the mock-ups and NOT the final artwork with the changes …so there is still to be revealed – at the unveiling party!! (and yes, I’ll post stuff here too for those who can’t make it to the party)

Going Places Getting There

mock up of the Going Places Getting There diptych

Into the Forest

mock up of  the Into the Forest diptych

 

 

 

 

deadlines and verry big projects

A Creative Life, fine art, public art

In a previous post Caution: Artist At Work I posted pictures of me working toward a “Verrry Big Project” that had a deadline. Here are more photos of me at work – I’m meeting my deadline handily! Included in this post is what I keep in mind when dealing with deadlines. These tips may also apply to holiday stress.

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positioning cut paper, gluing the pieces together

Sue Clancy’s recipe for the Care and Feeding of Deadlines:

Set a schedule, break a project into small chunks and put each chunk on the calendar/schedule.  Make lists.

Work at the project a little bit every day until done. Read the lists.

Work first. Deal with the “inbox” when time permits. Unplug.

Work according to schedule not according to mood.

Prioritize self-care: remember to eat good nutrition, get enough sleep, hydrate and exercise. Remember to breathe and relax.

Practice Good Mental Hygiene Habits*.

Build in rewards. Game-ify things. Make it fun.

Remember; other people’s expectations/desires that you come do something, during the times when you need to work, are just that – other people’s expectations – their expectations are not your priority, your work is!

*My mental hygiene habits are listed in more detail here: Dr. Bob’s Emotional Repair Program First Aid Kit – https://store.bookbaby.com/book/dr-bobs-emotional-repair-program-first-aid-kit

GlueingDogCharacterOnBoard

 

 

Emotional Repair Kit Reviewed!

A Creative Life, books, ebook, illustration, published art, visual story, words and pictures

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Got a great review of Dr. Bob’s Emotional Repair Program First Aid Kit on Amazon.com!  Here’s part of what was said by a retired Marriage and Family therapist: “What a little powerhouse this is… so wonderfully illustrated by Sue Clancy and the stories are tiny treasures. It is truly a first aid kit for the mind.”

Wow! Made this artist’s day!

A paperback print version of “Dr. Bob’s First Aid Kit” (with a different cover) is here www.ondemandbooks.com  or search “Dr. Bob’s Emotional Repair Program First Aid Kit” by Sue Clancy

art books; reviews and previews

A Creative Life, books, ebook, shelfies, words and pictures, writing

ArtOfColorDesignbyMGraves

Since I often get asked for suggestions of “good books about art” I’ve decided to start reviewing books about various aspects of art on Goodreads.com now and again.  The photo is of one of my favorite “go to” books that I recently reviewed.

I may review cookbooks too as I think knowing how to cook is an essential survival skill to have as an artist.

And while I was setting that up I also made some downloadable “previews” of my 2 currently available ebooks available too:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7594198.Sue_Clancy

Of course you can also see info about my two eBooks on my website www.sueclancy.com on the “books” page.