Tim McFarlane Studio Newsletter
September 2023
First step, new path
Welcome to the September issue of my studio newsletter. Fall is on the horizon and I’ve always thought of it as the real beginning of the year, and even though I sent out an update about this change, I thought it would be a great time to remind subscribers, new and old, that I’ve moved my studio newsletter and art blog to Substack. I’m hoping that by combining my newsletter and art blog in one place, there’s a better opportunity for you to get to know more about me and my practice in a more in-depth way. My monthly newsletter, which you’re reading now will continue to be the place for getting news about the exhibitions and projects that I’m involved with, along with first looks at new works and more.
My blog, Art & Life Stirred Vigorously, is published anywhere between 3-4 times a month and serves as a behind-the-scenes look into the everyday thoughts and routines of my life in and out of the studio. I hope you’ll continue to join me on my journey and I’m looking forward to making sure that your with me is well-spent. You can still find me on Instagram here: @timmcfarlane_studio .
A Short Summer Recap
One of the big events of the summer was the book signing event for the book Shifting Time: African American Artists, 2020-2021, in which I have work and an artist statement published about my experiences during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, was hosted by the Woodmere Museum of Art in the Chestnut Hill area of Philadelphia. The event was a great time for me to meet and talk with other artists that are featured in the book, as well as to speak with readers. One attendee brought the book to be signed and was giving it to her young daughter, an aspiring artist. Between the essays, artist statements about how Covid affected their practice and signatures from the artists, I thought this was a great gesture of support from parent to child to encourage them.
Holbox Redux
I was fortunate in getting to travel back to Holbox, Mexico this year and stay at the same place we rented last year. A great move because we didn’t have to relearn where everything was in the area. I’m grateful for this chance to do nothing for ten days except enjoy the ocean, read, nap, draw a little and do more nothing. I downsized travel art supplies to some colored pencils, graphite pencils, a sharpener and a sketchbook. At day three, I was relaxed enough to start what was to be my morning/afternoon sketching routine for the duration of the trip. I’ve been exploring new ideas and some of these angular forms have already found their way into new paintings and works on paper.
There’s a lot of street art around Holbox and I made sure to get photos of whatever interested me. I really loved the simple, but elegant linear faces on the wall that I found one morning. There were quite a few murals around that I didn’t see the last time we were there.
I brought a couple of books along and this time, I actually finished one. I devoured Octavia E. Butler’s Kindred in a matter of five days, reading off and on. Its story of a young black Baltimore woman mysteriously pulled through time to the pre-Civil War American south several times and the struggle to save the slaveholding progenitor of her bloodline while enduring the atrocities of slavery was an amazing read. My initial enthusiasm for Kim Stanley Robinson’s Aurora, waned about halfway through. The story about mankind’s first multi-generational interstellar journey to colonize a possibly habitable planet orbiting the star Tau Ceti. However, there were plot points and character development issues that lessened the thrill for me. I’ve read his book 2312 which was more engaging for me.
New In The Studio
Well, technically, this piece isn’t in the studio any more as it arrived in its new Chicago home back in late July. This is a commissioned 60” x 120" diptych that I completed just prior to leaving for vacation. The client originally wanted a 10 x 6 foot piece that I had, but after measuring, they determined that they wouldn’t be able to fit that piece into the building elevators, so they commissioned a two panel piece.
The studio is abuzz with new activity heading into the fall. New paintings and a new series of small works on panel (12” x 9” each) I’m calling “Soft Poems”. Floating the glyphs in somewhat indeterminate, transparent spaces is something that has appealed to me for a while now and I’m excited to see how this turns out. So far, I’m up to eight and hoping to get to about twenty pieces in the series. Documentation of these works and more has been done and you’ll be able to find them on my website soon. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next month!
Web: timmcfarlane.com
Instagram: timmcfarlane_studio
Contact: tim@timmcfarlane.com
Studio: 1400 N. American Street, Suite 409, Philadelphia, PA 19122
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