One week visiting artist mini-residency at Cleveland State University. 

March 2012

This started with a collection of 365 used, donated, men's work shirts. Film maker, Cigdem Slankard and myself drove to various 'Good Wills' and transported the generously donated shirts in bags, on hangers. in piles to downtown Cleveland where we began our 'work'

Once in our adopted studio (graciously loaned to us by Cleveland State University's Photography program) we began the laborious task of unpinning, sorting, de-hangering and piling shirts preparing for our first video performance piece (scheduled for that next morning)

 First performance: Ironing and folding all shirts in tandem. Video taken from 3 vantage point of artists hands and arms only.

Albany International Airport installation 

June 2012-June 2014

if you are flying in or out of Albany make sure to take a walk down to terminal B.

  Horizon Sample, cast and sewn pigmented silicone rubber with textiles. 12' diameter. 

Time. Space.Place

As mentioned I am currently included in a group exhibition at The Arts Center Gallery, Saratoga Springs, NY

Time. Space. Place is a material examination of our physical, social and natural environment by installation artists Sterz, Jessica Houston, Micaela de Vivero and Claire Sherwood.

Here are a few (more to come) quick installation photos.

New Work, New Shows

I (of course) have not been as prolific as I should be when it comes to posting. There are some exciting new projects in the works and I am happy to announce just a few:

on 1/30 I will be installing new work at Sartoga Arts Center http://saratoga-arts.org/exhibitions/gallery-upcoming.php

time.space.place
will include work by Sterz, Jessica Houston, Claire Sherwood and Micaela De Vivero

February 4 - March 31

Opening Reception  |   February 4  |  6-8pm
Discussion with the Artists  |  February 4  | 5pm



During the first week of March I will be traveling to Cleveland to make some new video and photo-based work and in early April I will be a guest artist at Endenboro College in Endenboro, PA.


Photos of new work in progress posted soon......

Betty

A portrait of Betty Crocker first appeared in 1936. It subtly changed over the years, but always accommodated General Mills' cultural perception of the American homemaker: knowledgeable and caring. The current image of Betty Crocker, according to the corporation, is actually a combination of 75 real-life women of diverse backgrounds and ages. These portraits were always painted, with no real person ever having posed as a model, and they never showed the character from the shoulders down.


First Face of Betty...Adelaide Hawley Cumming

The General Mills Company created the character of Betty Crocker in 1948 to answer baking questions American women sent to the company by letter. General Mills hired Cumming because it thought she represented the stereotypical image of the American homemaker. From 1950-1952 Cumming appeared on the half-hour Betty Crocker Show and in 1952 on the Betty Crocker Star Matinee and Bride and Groom. She also appeared in many commericals touting cake mixes and other General Mills products. General Mills billed Cumming as "America's First Lady of Food" until 1964 when it dropped her at the age of 59 for someone younger.

After receiving a Ph.D. from New York University, Cumming went on to a second career as a teacher of English as a second language.

Sloane

Sloane...needs acupuncture on her ankle 

Betty Crocker

I couldn't help myself.

While researching company information on Betty Crocker I came across this history of the faces of Betty Crocker.  I would like to find more company information-who was the artist that painted the first face of Betty Crocker? Was there a model-if so, who was she, who are all these women? They look stern, determined, actually they look like republicans.....

kate and annmarie

Kate...wants to start her own sleep consultant business

Annmarie...started a business with her husband

New Work

This past weekend I began a new body of work...

I have been using frosting as a medium for a while but I began a new photographic series this weekend. My intention is to show 10+ of these images along with a site-specific drawing done in frosting for a few upcoming shows that I am in. I have mixed feelings about the success of the early shots-have a few things to change and improve but wanted share the results nonetheless. Plus I have to thank the ladies who participated-they were so great and generous with their skin! They will be identified with first names only and a fact that I learned about them while they were being covered in frosting.

Penny...has trouble sitting still

Jess...sore from the 'warrior dash'

Many more to come!

You're not going to find anything...

During the installation of my work my camera stopped working...here are the only shots I have. This was part of a traveling exhibition curated by Ben Hillis of Salem Art Works (SAW). The text reads 'you're not going to find anything'. It is a quote taken from the 'Days of our Lives' soap opera and was extracted from a conversation between 'Sammy and Rafe'.  For over a year and a half I have been collecting quotations from the ‘Days of Our Lives’ soap opera that speak to women's (and mine in particular) reactions to staying at home with children. Taken out of context this overly dramatic daytime television dialectic is used as a jumping off point to discuss the realities and complexities of motherhood. I have just begun a new body of work using more of the frosting....some tests are in the works and I hope to post some progress shots soon.

Albany Center Gallery

Had a small piece of the installation after everything else (a small part of the whole) in Albany Center Gallery...won best of show.....
I think my 3 year old was the most excited.

out of you: paper boxes and coal dust: 6"x 108"

it's the winding that loosens: cast rubber and satin braids: 48" x 52"

Here are a few 'newer' images-work that never made it onto my website. What's here was made at the end of 2008.

cakes: cast rubber28" x 30"

alright...well I know it's been some time since I updated ANYTHING in my virtual world. The nine month old baby that I mention in my previous post is now 3 and a half years old and I also have a 22 month old daughter...needless to say it's been a busy 2+years. I will begin the long and painful process of updating my website over my winter break.

I'm no longer at Marshall University in WV- I am now teaching at the College of Saint Rose in Albany, NY and living very close to the cement factory I grew up across the street from.

Look for some new images and info soon.....I promise it isn't 2 and a half years away.

dirty lace

These are done using coal collected from along the railroad tracks of various coal trains in WV. Look for the dirty lace series to be added to my website soon.

drawings

Here are a few shots of some new drawings and projection pieces I have been working on. The symbol in the drawing has been appearing in almost all my work recently. It is based on a template taken from a Martha Stewart craft project. All my work is now made while my 9 month old is napping and so this symbol becomes a measurement of time and domesticity.

Opppidan Arts-newsworthy

Savannah Guz wrote an article about the local art group I am involved in: oppidan arts. It appears in this weeks Graffiti news.
Here is a link:
http://www.grafwv.com/WVSpirit/story/wvs21_65200715932.asp

new website

The new website is up now at: www.clairesherwood.com

Thanks to Brent Patterson who did the work on the site.
Check out his work at www.brentpatterson.com

There are still things we have to work on-let me know what you think.