Rabbit Zodiac Sign for Chinese New Year Project

A month and a half ago I was selected to be one a over a dozen artists in a collaboration piece to create a totem of the Chinese zodiac symbols for City Hall here in Las Vegas. The work will be on display from November to February. The twelve zodiac signs will be displayed as three totems.

I was chosen to create the symbol of the rabbit. I drew my inspiration for this project from Chinese calligraphy work and fabrics as well as Beth Cavener Stichter's sculptural work. I began by acquainting myself with the anatomy of rabbits by drawing them from every angle. I found myself drawn more towards hares for their strength and musculature.

One of the many phases of the face.

Once I decided to jump into the sculpting of the rabbit it has been a roller coaster ride of highs and lows. For every thing I have been successful building, I have rebuilt it dozens of times. I have had the whole back end fall off, the legs fall off repeatedly, and have redone the face at least three times for every time I have worked on the sculpture. Whew! Yes, it has been and fight and a struggle. This piece is the largest sculptural work I have ever made. I have learned SO much by building this rabbit! I have definitely been learning how paper clay works. I've also been improving my building and sculpting techniques and processes.  You're constantly having to reevaluate the steps in which to build something of this scale. It has become a wonderful puzzle that has to go together in a specific order to make all the pieces fit.

Adding the cloud to the belly.

I'm currently in the home stretch of the building process and will hopefully be finishing it this week. After that it has to dry for a week or so to be ready for firing. Once it is fired, I'm going to paint it with oil paints.

I fixed the ear after I took this photo, but this pic shows off the upper cloud.

I love the line this ear creates! Finally starting to resemble a rabbit!

Kismet: Artwork of Constance Stotzer Opening Weekend

I want to say thank you to all my friends and family who made it out to see my show and to all of you that have been so supportive of my efforts! I am truly humbled and grateful for all the love and support that you have shown me! Thank you so much for all the encouragement and heart felt messages!!!! Words can not express how much all of this means to me and how much you mean to me!

Thank you for giving me the confidence to continue moving forward and continue living my dream!!!

Warmest regards,

Constance

PS. More pictures to come of the First Friday activities today!

Upcoming Show: First Solo Show!

I'm proud to announce that I have been invited to have my own solo show in April at Blackbird Studios here in Las Vegas. I've been hard at work getting it together. Painting and drawing into the wee hours of the night and again when I wake up before dawn. I have only been given 3 months to put this whole thing together. . . so you know NO PRESSURE or anything! I have so many brilliant ideas and things I want to create and NO time to do it all. I'm nervous, excited, and completely stressed, but loving it all!

On top of that I have also been asked to have my work displayed at Sunrise Coffee for the months of February and March. This is a huge honor, because the coffee shop is owned by none other than Amy Sol's brother! Eek! Again. . . NO PRESSURE!

Th current theme I am working on stems from my recent Grimm art. I am developing my own fairytale utilizing the imagery that I am obsessed with lately (i.e. woodland creatures, bargeboards, female figures, and auto-biographical traits). Instead of trying to choose one aspect of who I am to develop a show around, I chose to combine all of it. I wish this show to be an amalgamation of the childhood innocence and hopeless romantic aspects, but also my dark and twisty cynical side. I am drawing inspiration Grimm fairytales, the Brother's Quay, and architectural designs.

Wish me luck and I hope you are able to stop by and check out my art! I'll keep you posted when I get more information. For sneak peeks into the work in progress check out my Tumblr at http://constantly-constance.tumblr.com

Thank you for your continued support and I look forward to sharing more with you soon!

New Artist Interest

I stumbled upon an amazing artist and had to share His name is Josh Keyes. His work focuses on a hybrid of eco-surrealism and dystopian folktales that express his concern for our time and the Earth's future. His work articulates so much of how I feel about the saddening times of the planet and the growing number of animal species becoming extinct and the ever growing population of humans devouring the planet. Please check out this amazing body of work.

Stampede

Lifted

Writhing

Artist Discovery and Upcoming Show

Last night as I was picking up my painting from the Zombie show at Blackbird Studios and while I was there I had the opportunity to meet artist Su Limbert. She was bringing in her pieces for her upcoming show starting this First Friday Nov. 4, 2011. I found her to be amazing and her work is sensational! I love her pieces because of their folktale aesthetics and animal themes. If you're in the Las Vegas area, stop by and check it out! Check out more of her work at her Etsy shop Prettyville.

Artist Spotlight: Melissa Haslam

I seem to be on a roll for finding artists I have never seen before that inspire me. Melissa Haslam is from Melbourne Australia. You can also read about her process and such from her blog Cherry Fields. I love her passion and detail of foliage in addition to her tongue in cheek use of stuffed dolls in some of her work.

New Artist Crush: JAW Copper

WOW!! I just found a new artist to admire and study. She is amazing, I love her style! Her name is JAW Cooper and here is her website and her blog to be able to check out her amazing work and process. If you are in the L.A. area you can see her work in the L.A. Weekly. She has an amazing cartoon like quality to her work. I also noticed that all her lines are curly and curved.

Artist Find: Kristin Tercek

I just found a new artist that I think is really cool. Kristin Tercek started a company in which she sewed dolls and over time turned to painting them instead in an effort to explore deeper themes. I like the idea of a single subject to explore varying ideas with. They make me smile and remind of Garbage Pail Kids!

Artist: Frank Gonzales

I have mentioned that I love painting and drawing birds, but I also love other artists who do the same. Through my internet surfing, I came across Frank Gonzales. I love his attention to detail, as well as how his paintings are not traditional with the use of splashes and squares of color surrounding the birds. This gives it a more design aspect to the image. You can find more of his work at his website frankgonzales.net.