In the now, looking forward
A year-end look, part 1
Hi all and welcome to the final month of 2024! This also happens to be a special one for me as I enter into my sixth decade on the 10th. I’m happy to be where I am in life but, yeah, where did the time go? Honestly, I know where it’s gone and thank goodness for keeping journals and taking lots of photos because the amount of things that one can forget about over decades of living is pretty high.
Thankfully, I can say that most of it has been spent making art, one thing that keeps me curious and excited in life and provides a sort of self portrait over time. Even though I’ve kept personal journals over time, I’ve not been that disciplined about writing consistently. Life ebbs and flows and there have been times when I’ve needed to just be involved with whatever has been going on and not writing about it, or forgetting to do so. And that’s ok, everyone deals with these things differently. Many times words fail me and all I can do is work through experiences mentally and emotionally.
Something similar can happen with making art. Some ideas may not be best presented nor explored properly in one’s chosen medium. Sometimes, that can be frustrating, but it can also lead to some fruitful new experiences, if we allow ourselves to go down different paths. If we can deal with keeping ego and fear in their place, there’s a chance new worlds can open up for us.
Back to birthday musings, some years have found me with a complicated mix of emotions about my birthdays that I think a lot of people have regarding age at all stages of life. Over time, I’ve become much more celebratory and grateful in my approach to them. You’re only that age once and may as well make the most of it, not only on that one day, but I hope you can do your best to enjoy every day of the year as much as possible, or find one thing to enjoy about that day. I know I am.
Present
If you haven’t had the chance yet and are near or going to be near Mercer County Community College in West Windsor, New Jersey (right near Trenton, NJ) this month, make a plan to stop by to see Black Drawings & Other Things You Didn’t Know About before December 18th to see the show. The exhibition consists of works made since 2020 and many haven’t been exhibited until now, including two new wall collages made exclusively for this show (see below).
I was thrilled to learn that I was able to make a couple of new wall collage works, I Wanted You To Have This and There’s No Mistaking What Happened in the space. Once I saw the configuration of the gallery, two rooms on either side with a connecting space between them, I knew that I needed to make new wall pieces that would speak to each other across the space while also being in conversation with other works throughout the show. As with previous wall works, these new ones are composed of works on paper, clear acetate, frosted mylar and reflective mylar with additional pieces on unstretched canvas, cardboard and repurposed studio rags.
The Gallery at MCCC (campus map)
1200 Old Trenton Road
West Windsor, NJ 08550
Gallery hours: Mon., Wed.: 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Tue., Thur.: 12 to 7 p.m.
**All works, except the wall collages, are available through the Bridgette Mayer Gallery (Philadelphia, PA)
Print Center Benefit
I’ve donated an original work on paper to The Print Center’s 2024 Benefit, “unPRESSedented”. 41224.02 (2024), seen above, is acrylic and acrylic marker on paper, 9” x 9” / 22.86 x 22.86cm. “unPRESSedented” also includes work by national and international artists with bidding continuing until Saturday, December 7th at 8pm. Visit the Print Center’s website (link) for more information.
ARTBLOG ARTMKT last week!
The ARTBLOG ARTMKT is almost over! If you’re in Philly, stop by Moore College of Art & Design to view and maybe purchase some affordable art and help support solid art writing in Philadelphia. funds raised from artwork sales at ARTBLOG ARTMKT will aid Philly’s The ArtBlog with it’s mission “to create and foster dialog about art, power, value and truth, in order to promote a better future for all”
Love art? Want to buy a gift for yourself, your family, friends, special people? Come on over to the Artblog Art MKT, an affordable art market for everyone in a beautiful accessible space! Do you like prints? Ceramics? Paintings? Sculpture? Books? Comics? The Art MKT has it all. This exhibit and sale is organized by Artblog and co-curated by Jacob Chris Hammes, Terri Saulin, and Tim McFarlane. Together, we invited over 20 excellent artists and two renowned booksellers to participate.
Presenting artists and organizations include: Accra Zuberi, Alexis Nutini, Anthony (Seper) Torcasio, Beth Heinly, Chris Hammes, Justin Tyner, Kathy Halton, Lydia Ricci, Mackenzie McAlpin, Marta Sanchez, Martha Rich, Mary Gamble Barrett, Mary Henderson, Melinda Steffy, Michelle Harris, Mikel Elam, Misha Wyllie, Nancy Agati, Oli Knowles, Sean Lugo, Sophia White, Todd Stong, Partners and Son, Ulises, and the Artblog.
Future
I was really excited to be invited to participate in an upcoming group exhibition at the Clark Atlanta University Art Museum by artist Jemele Wright, Sr. “I’ll Build a world of Abstract Dreams and Wait for You” is an exhibition focused on the museum’s permanent collection of abstract art by Black artists along with works by contemporary artists. The show will be on view from February 6-May 2, 2025. More information forthcoming in a later newsletter.
Above: Vermillion Shores (2023), my contribution that was curated into this show. I was reading Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson around the time I made this piece. In short, Aurora concerns the voyage of a generational ship launched from Earth in 2545 to the Tau Ceti star system which is theorized to possibly have one or two “super Earths” in a habitable zone around the star. The destination is a moon of one of those planets that’s an analogue for Earth and it takes several generations of humans to get there. At a point later in the book, the sand of a beach on this moon is described as having a dark red appearance, which intrigued me enough to use that as the basis of the title this painting has.
Exit (but not the end)
There’s more that I’d like to share so a mid-month newsletter closer to the holiday(s) will be coming to you soon, containing some “thank you’s” and year-end thoughts.
Thanks for reading and if you’re looking for unique artwork for yourself, family or friends for the holidays, have a look at my website and/or my artist page on the Bridgette Mayer Gallery website. Contact the gallery directly for purchase inquiries: 215.413.8893 or bmayer@bmayerart.com. If you have any other questions about the work and/or would like to set up a studio visit, feel free to contact me directly: tim@timmcfarlane.com
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Thanks for lending me some of your time in reading this and I’ll see you soon!
It's always good to read your thoughts and inspirations, Tim. Thanks for posting and continuing to work forward!