Website

Visit my website here: www.beatricemodisett.com.

I have totally stopped posting...Graduate School is taxing and fantastic! I might be back around these parts more during the summer. We'll see. 

XO,
Beatrice

Interview on Free People

Amidst the long studio hours, the books, the critiques, the studio visits, the movie nights, the desperate attempts at deep sleep, experiencing a new city and making some incredible new friends, I was lucky enough to meet with Julie Sharp of Free People for an interview. Read it here dear friend! A huge thanks to Julie and Free People for the opportunity! 

XO, as always, 

Bea

On Reading Radicalism

I just read In the Break: The Aesthetics of Black Radical Tradition by Fred Moten. It was assigned reading for my Graduate Seminar here at VCUarts. It. Is. Dense. There were moments when I actually threw the book down in frustration because I felt like I had no idea what Moten was talking about. I was reading slowly and deliberately with a dictionary by my side and still finding it really hard to understand exactly what he was getting at. This was the first book I had to read for grad school and I wanted to NAIL IT. Then a wise acquaintance suggested that I read the book as if I was searching for the parts I was interested in and understood. When I found those sections that's when I could slow down and absorb. 

It worked. I approached this book as if I was excavating for a sentence, paragraph, page, that I could relate to, attach to. I found them. I read most non-fiction through the lens of an artist. I automatically put what I read in relation to what I do. How are Moten's words related to my painting practice? How can I utilize the language I use most to understand the foreign language (of black radicalism) that is before me?

While keeping this in mind, it was helpful to watch Amiri Baraka, who is mentioned in the text frequently, perform Somebody Blew Up America as well as The Revolution Will Not Be Televised by Gil Scott-Heron. I started to read the text as if it were a performance in it's own right...I read the words with the cadence and intensity of a spoken word piece.

With these newly established guidelines I began to make some connections. Below are a selection of passages that I underlined and revisited most:

The words Marx puts into the commodity's mouth are these: "our use value...does not belong to us as objects. What does belong to us as objects, however, is our value," where value equals exchange value. Marx has the commodity go on to assert that commodities only related to one another as exchange-values, that this is proven by the necessarily social intercourse in which commodities might be said to discover themselves. Therefore, the commodity discovers herself, comes to know herself, only as a function of having been exchanged, having been embedded in  a mode of sociality that is shaped by exchange. (Page 9)

It is not the metal in the coin that determines its value.  (Page 13)

What I've been specifically interested in here is how the idea of a black avant-garde exists, as it were, oxymoronically - as if black, on the one hand, and avant-garde, on the other hand, each depends for its coherence upon the exclusion of the other. (Page 32)

If something is to happen, you have to come unprepared, unarmed; but you don't come with nothing. You've got to bring something that adorns you even if it doesn't arm you. Just a very small phrase...(Page 75)

...this implies the possibility of a direct correspondence between the visual and the verbal that empowers one simply to write what one sees; it also implies that one has easy access to a language that adequately represents what one sees...(Page 110)

I didn't want to be absorbed as a collaborator, because that would mean having my own consciousness co-opted and modified by that of others; It would mean allowing my consciousness to be influenced by their perceptions of art, and exposing my perceptions of art to their consciousness, and I didn't want that. (From Adrian Piper "metaperformance", page 239)

You don't have to privilege the ethical over the aesthetic in art if the aesthetic remains the condition of possibility of the ethical in art. (Page 249)

In a book filled with information that I am just beginning to understand, these are some of the lines that I was able to relate to most. I was able to make a connection to them either in the way I live my life, the questions I ask myself, or the themes I explore in my painting. I felt like I read this book in a vacuum and I am really looking forward to a class discussion about it, to understand it deeper.

A few thoughts and questions:

I am very aware that I am a white person saying I don't understand this book about "blackness." I feel naive and a little exposed.

Reading this book while following the events in Ferguson and the shooting of Michael Brown has made my desire to understand that much greater. I can not believe this is still happening. We need radicalism, we need people to rise up and to question what is happening around us. 

I am not radical in my approach to painting. Do I need to be? When there is violence, poverty, racism and war happening all around me, in my world, in what way is my work in the studio significant? How am I contributing to the betterment of the world? 

How does a white person in the confines of an academic institution write about the black radical tradition?

Thanks for reading this...I know it's a bit different from what you're used to. 

Love as always,
Bea

New Post, New Painting

Bridge the Gap, oil on canvas over panel, 40" x 60". 2014

If you're local, and would like to see this in person, stop by Opus at 87 Washington Street, Salem MA along with ten other oil paintings. The show is up for the month of June!

M.I.A

Wow. Sorry about that. 

I've been working towards deadlines for the past year and a half. I had my show at HallSpace and then a show at Montserrat College of Art to prepare for. I was also feverishly working to apply to graduate school. 

I'm happy to report that the hard work paid off and I will be attending Virginia Commonwealth University (VCUarts) this Fall to earn my MFA in Painting.

I don't have any painting deadlines right now and while it feels strange, I am allowing myself to leave the studio and hang out with friends and experience springtime on the North Shore one last time before heading down south. 

Below are images for you to look at and hopefully enjoy. I realized I never posted photos of my show in Boston. I'll be back to blogging soon. I've got stuff to say.

You're the best, the absolute best. 

Field Work

The White Mountains: Remembered 22" x 30" Oil on canvas 2011

Field Work

March 19th - April 5th, 2013

Carol Schlosberg Alumni Gallery

Opening Reception: Thursday, March 20th 5:00pm - 7:00pm

Artist Talk: Wednesday, March 26th 11:30am

I hope you can join me for the opening of my latest solo show, Field Work. All events take place at Montserrat College of Art, 23 Essex Street Beverly MA 01915.

Find the Facebook event here.

Drawing

 Settling In Charcoal on Canson Edition white, 22" x 30" 2014

Those Homes are Gone Charcoal on Canson Edition white, 22" x 30" 2014

I like making these - despite the accompanying mess. 

As of February 1st, I have moved out of Porter Mill and back into my home studio. It's a smaller space but the light is wonderful and I have a small porch that I can stand on when I need a break. 

I am in the library right now and it's silent except for someone eating chips. It's driving me insane. Would this bother any of you? Is it just me? 

Love,

Bea

Upcoming Events

I am excited to be working towards a solo exhibition in the Carol Schlosberg Alumni Gallery at Montserrat College of Art. This exhibition will be on display from March 15th - April 6th.

Below are a few corresponding events. All take place at Montserrat College of Art, 23 Essex Street Beverly MA 01915. 

Contemporary Cocktail - Februrary 28th, 7:00pm - 9:00pm

What dynamic forces insert themselves into the creative process? The artistic impulses of control, surrender, perfection and illusion are explored in conversation by visiting artists Masako Kamiya, Bea Modisett, Antoniadis & Stone and curator Leonie Bradbury.

Opening Reception - March 20th, 5:00 - 7:00pm

Public Artist Talk - March 26th, 11:30am - 12:15pm

I hope you can make it to the exhibition or one of the talks!

Back to painting,

Bea

Website Update

Image courtesy of HallSpace

I just updated my website with images of all my 2013 paintings and a few install shots of my current solo exhibition. These paintings are on view in By Way of Bangkok at HallSpace through January 25th.

See you soon alligator,
Bea

Official!

Bea Modisett

By Way of Bangkok

HallSpace

December 7th - January 25th

Opening Reception: Saturday, December 7th 3:00 - 6:00pm

950 Dorcester Avenue Boston MA 02125

Thoughts of Kith and Kin, oil on canvas over panel, 2013. 16" x 20"

"By Way of Bangkok" features the paintings Modisett has created since March 2013 when she returned from an extended solo backpacking journey through Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Burma. Bea Modisett received her BFA in painting from Montserrat College of Art in 2007. She received fellowships to the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, Vermont, and Hambidge Center for Creative Arts and Sciences in Rabun Gap, Georgia. Modisett has exhibited at the Kingston Gallery, Boston, Endicott College Center for the Arts, Beverly, HallSpace, Boston, Decordova Museum and Sculpture Parks, Lincoln, and many other venues throughout New England. Bea Modisett was born in Washington, D.C. and lives in Beverly, Massachusetts. Find this on Facebook! Hope to see you. Xo, Bea

Interview with Temporary Land Bridge

I was very happy to collaborate with Temporary Land Bridge over the past few weeks to put together this interview. Head over to the site and check out some new work/words.

Love,

Bea

Upcoming Exhibition: By Way of Bangkok

The Steady, Quiet, Plodding Ones. 16" x 20" Oil on canvas over panel. 2013.

Hi All, 

Sorry for the crickets as of late. I am working non-stop in preparation for my upcoming solo show By Way of Bangkok at HallSpace (Boston, MA). I just wanted to drop by and let you know I am alive and kicking! Above is a painting that will be featured in the exhibition. 

Facebook page for the Opening Reception! 

See you soon, I promise,

Bea

PS - I got the title of the painting above from this gemstone. 

To Thine Own Self Be True.

 The Reconsideration of the Mike Davis Situation, acrylic on panel, 24" x 24" 2007

Mirthless Laughter, oil on canvas, 16" x 20" 2013

My paintings have changed a lot over the years. I know, visually, there seems to be a big jump between those two paintings up there (though I know they are surface and that the similarities outweigh the differences). Sometimes I think the paintings I made a few years ago are stronger than the ones I am making now, and that's hard to swallow. Then I remind myself I am making the paintings I need to make right now. This is what's happening. I feel I am moving forward and that is important. 

I told my dad the other day that I struggle with how dark my paintings have become, but that using brighter colors (and I have tried) makes me feel like a fraud, and that in using them I would be trying to trick people, or myself. It's just not in me right now, what I am doing feels right. His response, which I am thankful for:

Mother heard an NPR discussion about F. Scott Fitzgerald today.  One of the last things he did was list the works of literature everyone should read before they depart this life.  One such work was "Sanctuary" by William Faulkner.  I read it last year and it was one of the darkest, most depressing works of literature I've ever read.  Hemingway's masterpiece, "Farewell to Arms," is of a similar genre.  And I'm currently about a third of the way through "Richard the Third" by William Shakespeare, hardly an inspiring bit of upbeat drama, and it isn't even among his tragedies.  And speaking of tragedies, there are the Greeks who set the stage for all the literature that follows.  So my conclusion is that whether you're a visual artist or a verbal artist, you can't be perceptive and honest and still portray the world in bright colors.  On the other hand, Shakespeare, and the Greeks, and William Faulkner, also wrote comedies.  So unless we can also see or imagine a bright side, the world would become unbearable.

Back to Shakespeare:  "This above all else.  To thine own self be true.  Thou canst not then be false to any man."

Love ya!

Dad

Preach it Dad. 

This was good for me, maybe it will be good for you too? 

Love,

Bumble

Sustained Clarity

My mind is clear and somewhat settled. I am lost and searching and happy and confident which is showing in the work. Below is a recent finished painting.

Collated Experiences Oil on canvas over panel, 2013. 

I have been working towards my solo exhibition at HallSpace (December '13) since March. As of two weeks ago I am now also preparing for a March/April '14 solo exhibition at the Carol Schlosberg Gallery at Montserrat College of Art in  Beverly, MA. Whoop! Turbo mode. 

Thanks for reading sweetheart,

Bea

Progress

I am really happy about what has been going on in (and out of) the studio lately.  I had a great studio visit yesterday with the director of HallSpace where my solo exhibition will be this December and have two more visits lined up for next week. I'm not sure I am ready to share photos of finished works yet, so here is a quick shot of the studio to give you SOME visual proof of productivity.

Up, up and away,

Bea

Feeling Inspired

(Bagan, Myanmar*)

I had a great conversation with a good friend the other day. It wasn't necessarily an easy one, but I left it feeling optimistic and inspired and set on being the best person I can be. I wrote down four pages of notes to remind myself to hold on to those feelings. Below are some excerpts that, days later, resonate the most: 

Don't get too hungry, angry, lonely or tired. (The acronym H.A.L.T is used by individuals trying to cope with substance abuse, but I think we all can learn a little something from it.)

Call people.

Write more, read more, think more, paint more.

Be more giving of your talents.

Keep some happiness to yourself, but share some too.

Practice patience and loving kindness.

Don't stagnate. 

Stop making excuses.

Be honest.

I told myself I'd have a brush in hand by 12:30 today and that hour is fast approaching. 

Hugs and kisses,

Bea

*I can't believe I actually got to experience this in person. 

(Some of) My Brain Lately

I am lucky to have a lot of friends and acquaintances who are creative and I have been really appreciating and admiring that creativity lately. They don't all make things, but they all live and think and problem solve creatively and come up with projects they want to do in their spare time. They make me feel like a sham. 

I miss throwing piles of wood around and dragging pieces of garbage to the metal shop to take them apart and put them back together again in a different way.

I like that building my own stretcher bars and stretching my own canvas makes my hands and knees hurt for a week. 

My fingers used to bleed because I drew so much.

Next time I need a bookshelf I am going to build it. I think I needed one a couple of years ago, but the piles of books and magazines haven't started falling over yet. That'll be my indication. 

I do have plans to strip and refinish a metal cabinet I found in the trash and I am in the midst of "renovating" a room in my house.

The things I am most interested in are things I haven't figured out how to discuss out loud.  I'm quiet a lot and stare out of a lot of windows and up at a lot of ceilings. 

I've been writing lyrics that give heavy, heavy nods to some of my favorite songs.

Birds don't care about my problems...neither do waves. I look to both when I am feeling discouraged. 

I've been recording myself beat-boxing in the car about my name and where it came from. 

A friend asked me to be in his superhero themed art exhibition and I said "no I don't think my work would fit." He totally schooled my closed mind and gave me a brilliant idea. I wish I had said "yes, of course I'll be in your awesome art show" the first time around instead of the second, I just needed to do a little research. Lesson learned.

I love being devoted to paint, and don't think I have much of a choice, but when I go home at night I want another creative endeavor. I do like to write - I need to do more of that (this).

I like watching others work together to get to a magic spot. I want to start working on projects with other people. Like a band. 

I'm a ramblin' gal, and you're a patient reader.

Love,

Bea

My Life.

Stare, paint, stare, paint, cry, paint, paint, nap, paint, watch sunset. Below are all works in progress.

 

Handmade signs of encouragement on the wall:

- YOU CONTROL WHETHER OR NOT IT IS EXCITING
- embrace your tendencies
- MAKE YOUR BEST WORK TODAY*
- DONT BE A BITCH. JUST DO YOUR SHIT.

I have a fluctuating way with words.

*Advice given to Emily by a visiting artist. It stuck with her, and now it's stuck with me. 

It Bears Repeating.

The Men Who Don't Fit In
Robert W. Service

There's a race of men that don't fit in, A race that can't stay still; So they break the hearts of kith and kin, And they roam the world at will. They range the field and they rove the flood, And they climb the mountain's crest; Theirs is the curse of the gypsy blood, And they don't know how to rest. If they just went straight they might go far; They are strong and brave and true; But they're always tired of the things that are, And they want the strange and new. They say: "Could I find my proper groove, What a deep mark I would make!" So they chop and change, and each fresh move Is only a fresh mistake. And each forgets, as he strips and runs With a brilliant, fitful pace, It's the steady, quiet, plodding ones Who win in the lifelong race. And each forgets that his youth has fled, Forgets that his prime is past, Till he stands one day, with a hope that's dead, In the glare of the truth at last. He has failed, he has failed; he has missed his chance; He has just done things by half. Life's been a jolly good joke on him, And now is the time to laugh. Ha, ha!  He is one of the Legion Lost; He was never meant to win; He's a rolling stone, and it's bred in the bone; He's a man who won't fit in. I've posted this before but goshdang that's good.

A Painter Without Her Paint: Laos

 

I should say that I am a pretty...particular...painter. I am slow. I take months to finish a painting. I find myself spending lengths of time making the tiniest adjustments to a painting to make it just right. Just so. I love the process and I love searching for that punch in the gut that happens when you nail it (rare, by the way) but it can be frustrating to work day in and day out, for hours, and not have finished pieces to show for it more often. 

The photos above, though thought about and considered, are snapshots in comparison to how long I labor over a painting. They are awkward. Angles seem off and shapes and colors are disproportionate to what I usually create in my paintings. They are mostly vertical while my paintings are mostly horizontal in reference to the landscape. I'm thinking about this discrepancy, and trying to figure out what these, and other,  tendencies mean. 

While my paintings don't look anything like the compositions above, they are helping my painting. This attraction to things being "off" is nudging me into some new territory, where I am letting go a bit, allowing things to be as awkward in my paintings as they are in reality.

It's all really, very exciting. 

Eventually, you'll get to see the paintings that result from all of this. Just you wait...I'll wait too. 

Forever yours,

Beatrice