i love my new studio space!

i finally got the studio all organized (well, 80%, but that’s pretty good for a messy gal like me).

here are a few more photos!

it’s the best! i get great sunlight even! ah! and the train! i can even see into the dining car on the amtrak. and sometimes check out what’s being shipped north or south. it’s rather noisy, i’ll tell you what. the sound of the trains whistle is lovely from afar, but from 10 feet away it can be overwhelming.

here are a couple of new photos.

i’m super excited! if you’d like to have a studio visit to check out my art please let me know, we’ll schedule something.

best, katie

tendonitis? yikes!

hi!

so, um, i have some kind of tendonitis or something. no doctor, no insurance, but i’ve done research about how to heal. so i haven’t been able to crochet for the past month or so.
i’m doing exercises, bracing, icing, anti-inflamitorying… but i’m still all messed up in the arm bits.

i have been able to paint. but in case you were wondering what happened to the sculptures, well, they are on hold for now.

i am sad. but it is better to take a break now so i can get more work done later. i don’t want my arms to quit. i have to make a living, and i have to get as much of the art into the world as i can. one way or another.

thanks for your support folks.
i hope the recovery speeds up so i can show you something new soon.

best,
katie

yay! new studio!

hi folks, i’m excited, today is a studio day!

here are a couple of photos of my new studio. it’s not done being organized, but it’s getting there.

it’s so exciting! just looking at the photos makes me itchy for artwork!

i’m going to get going and work on the pieces in these photos.

best,

kathleen morrisey simpson spain

HELD ROCKS!

hi folks!

today i went to HELD Vegan Belts and was going to take down my sculptures… well, I reorganized them. so many of them are still over there. for now!

along with the wonderful work of robin and aran selki, which includes beautiful paintings and gorgeous amazing puppets!

micah perry, the fabulous, told me some great things about the sculptures too! he pointed out that they are made from petrolium, once alive (in ancient times), and when i retrieve them after their “life” in their discarded bag state – i breathe new life into them again! thank you micah! i need to quote him instead of summarizing. it was a very eloquent description and it made me nearly cry! so cool! micah is smart, and knows how to talk about art. he is awesome! he runs held, you should go talk to him, he’s often there. 3033 NE Alberta st, portland.

the sculptures will be moved around soon again too, for your viewing pleasure.

i also will be painting a little (ok, maybe 2 by 6 feet?) mural in HELD soon! stay tuned for details about this. i know, so far, that it will include birds smoking cigarettes and probably gossiping, and a rocket. maybe i will surprise you with the rest. should be fun!

i’ll post when i start, and maybe some drawings of ideas, then you’ll have to visit to see me working on it! i’m super excited. i really really really love painting murals, but haven’t worked on one for 6odd months! ahh! that long? that makes me feel weird. i need more big painting in my life. i just want to paint big! dang.

ok, have a great evening.

best,

katie

poems from 2009

hey there,

i was just going through some stuff from 2009, well mostly a little journal from the end of that year. and i found some poems, they are probably not done. and i haven’t been very poemy in the last 10 years, though i was quite poemy before that. it’s still in there. hopefully it’ll help to put a few of them on the blog. so, these are not quite new, but at least they’re not from the 1990s, eh.

oh! i had an idea! i will start a new blog with only poems! yeah! that will be fun! and it’ll help me organize these things. and i’ll feel good about it.

right on…

here’s a link: http://katiesimpsonspain.wordpress.com/.

just one up so far!

i’ll put more there soon.

new website!

Hi!

My new website’s up finally! It just got up on that ol’ internet like 5 minutes ago!

It’s at http://www.KatieSpain.com!

It’ll get fancier soon too! It’s only just the beginning!

Very exciting! Please check it out!

Hooray!

Best,

Katie

2010! dang!

hi there,

now it’s 2010. how strange! a new decade, and some new fun things to do! whoo hoo!

i just wanted to post something on jan 1 2010, for fun. not that i’ve got too much new to say this second. a few things i guess.

i just got back from trying to go to the movies, but no luck! it’s a holiday, and the movie was sold out! avatar in 3D, and we tried to go to a matinee, which is still really expensive, so we are going on sunday instead. and we almost went rollerskating, but realized that it is a rainy holiday so the rink will be full of little kids and we are clumsy and (i in particular) might fall on them. i have done it before. i do not want to injure anyone, or myself. so no.

but i think we are going on an outing soon anyhow. or maybe i’ll make more plastic bag yarn and casey will continue to work on that program he’s been working on 12 hours a day for the past 2 weeks… who knows, we’ll see what happens.

here is a picture of the plastic bag yarn i’ve just made.

i’m consolidating things, turning that giant pile of plastic that is my life into a smaller pile of plastic yarn balls. more useful. and i’m glad to have it wrangled, or beginning to be wrangled, so the art process will be more easy afterward. i’ve spent 10 or 15 hours in the past week cutting and looping and winding this huge amount of brown bags into double thick yarn. i also made 10 smallish balls of many colored yarn (well, like a pink ball, a yellow ball, a black ball, a blue ball, a “clear” ball – which is not clear after it is yarn that is crochet). also i’ve been working on finishing the last season of ‘buffy the vampire slayer’ while i make yarn. intense. that is a long series. i love it! it took me over 10 yeas after the series was on ty to actually watch it though. a few good friends convinced me how great it is finally. i love the multnomah county library, they have everything! i wish i could jump kick monsters in the throat like buffy, but i’ll just save the world in other ways. leave that kicky stuff up to someone else.

so here is a photo of my newest pile of yarn balls.

oh! i think i hear the sump pump in the basement. i should go check on my paintings down there. i’ve got this really big one, one of my favorites, on a couple guitar stands in a room with a hole in the floor. anyone want to buy it? anyone with a big wall? it’s really good and really big and needs a home. i’ll look for a picture of that to post too…

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love, Katie

this painting is looking for a new dry home.

that last picture, the “www.katiespain.com” part is superimposed, it’s not like that in real life, in case you are interested. let me know and we can negotiate. it’s maybe 5 feet tall by 8 feet long.

sweet slight studio move-over!

hi there,

i guess it’s been a heck of a while since i last wrote! yikes!

but, yeah, the holiday conglomeration and the wonderfully dark solstice and family and wonderful visitors have distracted me. also food! it is distracting when people are making so much of it and such a big deal out of it! mmm food!

also i have been distracted by moving my studio over a tiny bit! well, maybe 20 feet? 25?

i’m still at the switchyard, thank goodness. but now i am on the wall with the train against it every so (sometimes very)  often. i am very happy to have moved, and am so super not done yet, but at least i have moved out of my lovely old space (so someone can move into it soon)!

i’ve put all of my finished paintings in the basement of my apartment complex. it’s stinky, damp, gross and not the best place for things of value, but at least they’re out of the way. otherwise, honestly, i’d paint over them. then what’d they show at my big retrospective in 20 years?

i am sooooo excited though, so excited! it’s going to be great! the studio is pretty much square – my old one was long and skinny. there is a ton of light, and i’ve got little zones for different work set up. the painting zone, the plastic bag crochet zone, the drawing/bookarts/printmaking zone, the building stuff zone, and even a little spiritual zone with an altar and a comfy chair.

well, it’s not done being set up though. it is close though!

i’ve been at the switchyard for over a year now. in a year people like me (i can be fondly referred to as “trashy” because i find things on the street that will hopefully be useful later and bring them back with me) can accumulate a lot of stuff. a lot. especially me, with this plastic bag crochet work, i have so many bags!

and i don’t want to thrown stuff away. there is so much that goes to waste in this world. i am an idealist. i want to use all of it. but that is not possible! so i have been recycling, throwing away what really can’t be used again, and compiling a large box of things to give away. and yes, in the spirit of making more more more i have thrown some of those bad pieces that i don’t like away. you’re too late. i tried to give them away and sell them for $5 (over and over again guys! you missed it.), but this whole hanging onto terrible things for too long has to end!

ha! more room to make more art finally!

so, this evening, at home, i’ve been tucked in with my headphones on. making plastic into yarn! i had to take a little break from the crochet, repetitive stress of the wrist, but i’m going to be more careful, and i’m super excited about a show i’ve got coming next year. until then i’ll have a few little gems of shows but i’m mostly planning to work and make revolutionary art, still.

wish me luck! i’ll update this sooner than later this time, with news and new goings on. and photos of the new studio space!

best,

katie simpson spain

Seasonal Sale at Switchyard Studios!

Why hello there,

I wanted to let you know about the holiday sale coming up at my studio.

On thursday the 17th of December! From 5 to 9 pm!

That’s Switchyard Studios! 109 SE Salmon St, Portland, OR, 97214, on the first floor.

Come on over!

The sale will include many of the 37 artists who work at the stupendous studio, as well as food and music. We will be selling bargain art, new art, old art, materials, all sorts of crafty stuff, art and more art!

Hope to see you there!

Best,

Katie

You can see a few photos of the studio in one of my blogs about Portland Open Studios.

Photos of HELD show

Hi All Y’all,

Here are some photos of the show at HELD.

The art will be up for another week maybe, maybe less, so if you are in Portland and you do want to (but haven’t yet) see the work, the store is open 6 days a week, from 11 to 7. No mondays, you know, it’s Portland. The address again is 3033 NE Alberta.

Last night I had an event, and taught a few people how to make yarn from plastic bags. It was fun!

When you do go in to the store, you might get to talk to one of several good friends of mine who run the store. The belts are made from reclaimed discarded material. They are the strongest belts in the world, upcycled, amazing, and cute!

So, here are some pictures.

Best,

Katie Simpson Spain