Art Updates

Victory School Artist Residency

2008-05-01T01:05:00.000-07:00

Hello, everybody! I realize it has been a long time since I have posted anything on this site; nevertheless, despite the nonactivity of the blog, artistically things are still going strong. The book illustrations are in process, as well as my own personal paintings and commissioned artwork. Beside this work, I am also priviledged enough to work as an assistant artist at Victory School in South Milwaukee, hosted by the organization Artists Working in Education (AWE).

As an assistat artist, I am working alongside head artist and muralist Laura Easy-Jones. Together we are creating a wonderful art piece with k5, 6th, and 7th graders who attend Victory School, an Italian immersion school. This art piece will be permanently displayed in the front entrance of the facility for all to see.

Because Victory School has recently converged to become an Italian immersion school, the project is, fittingly, Italian themed. Combined, the artists and students are painting three five by five foot panels picturing famous Italian architecture (off to the side is one sample photograph the children are working from; it looks difficult, but the kids chose the picture and are doing an excellent job drafting it out). These boards will be framed and installed on the walls in the front entrance, becoming a mural. The kids are terribly excited about where it will be placed. They will be able to walk past the three paintings everyday and say to themselves, "Wow, I helped create that!" So far the paintings look beautiful.

Throughout this process, the children are learning to paint and how to work together as a community of young artists. An added bonus is the wonderful education regarding Italian history. Laura and I are greatful to AWE for this artistic teaching experience and cannot wait to see the end result. To explain further on AWE, the nonprofit organization has been around since the nineties, and continues to grow as it aids MPS in art education. AWE's mission is to "provide youth in the Milwaukee area with arts enrichment programs to enhance human potential, advance learning, and cultivate community." (AWE Newsletter, December 07). Overall, this project has become a fun group activity that Laura and I hope the children continue to remember for a long time. You can be sure to look forward to posted images of the finished mural in the beginning of June!

A Fun Way to Help Educate

2007-12-28T12:44:00.000-08:00

By: Caitlin E. Carroll

Happy 2008 Everybody! I am just writing to state that I am currently working on illustrations for a children's book titled It Was Only A Dream, by writer Bert Kelly. Bert and I have great expectations for this book. It is a fun story for children with whimsical dream scenes. The book is meant to teach children the difference between dreams and reality, while at the same time allowing them to truly utilize their imagination. I, the illustrator, cannot wait to have the drawings down and final. Bert and I are self-publishing It Was Only A Dream and donating some of the profit to different charities. We anticipate print of the book sometime within the next year, so keep you eyes open!! To the left is a thumbnail sketch for a scene in It Was Only A Dream.

Giving: A Community Benefit

2007-12-28T12:39:00.000-08:00

Opening Reception:
Friday, December 28, 2007
8 PM - 2PM

Exhibition Duration:
December 28, 2007 – January 17th, 2008

Hours:
Sun-Thurs 6am – 1am
Fri-Sat 6am – 2:30 am

Location:
722 E Burleigh Ave
Milwaukee, WI 53212

Information:
www.artbar-riverwest.com
phone: 414.372.7880

Summary:
Art Bar, located in Riverwest, Milwaukee, will be featuring artwork by select female artists for the next two weeks at their show Giving: A Community Benefit. The opening reception will be held Friday, Dec. 28th, and will feature a reggae band, Mt. Zion, playing to support female sports within local organizations.

Artwork displayed will be female subject matter, created by female artists, in support of the cause. Within this group of artists, I am included (Caitlin E. Carroll), and will be showing my Peach Series, portraiture of young and aspiring women I have established close relationships with within the past few years from around the world. I will also be exhibiting a montage of portraiture displaying the faces of renowned female minds from the past, such as Georgia O'Keeffe and Edith Sitwell. Please stop in and take a look! For more info, visit www.artbar-riverwest.com

Comments on the Alverno Show: Creative Paths and Influences

2007-12-08T22:55:00.000-08:00

To the left is an image of Ms. Georgia O'Keeffe. I created this painting out of respect for the artist's life accomplishments. Along with O'Keeffe, I admire and respect a handful or two of other female masterminds, some of them being Mlle Coco Chanel, Dame Edith Sitwell, and the legendary Murasaki. These women, although they were of different periods and cultures, all had something in common: they were each ahead of their time. These women were able to throw aside the roles normally forced upon females in what was considered male-dominated societies. They found courage within and followed their passion.

Chanel milled hats to survive and eventually started designing pants for women. Up until that point in time, there were only male designers, and these men were only dressing women in skirts and gowns. Chanel revolutionized women's clothing. Sitwell was also not afraid to be different. The Dame bedazzled people with her ecclectic tastes in fashion and her beautifully abstract poetry. She became renowned throughout England and the world. Muraski was also a poettess of, I beleive it was... 15th century A.D., Japan. Her father lost his place under the old emporer's regime and the family was almost forced into an impoverished state. Not until the newly appointed emporer caught wind of Murasaki's poetry did the family truly come afloat. She alone was able to bring respect back to her family, even though she was a woman. This was all a result of her passion for writing, normally recognized as a male skill.

After reading up on these individuals, I found myself gaining great admiration for each of them. I respect the high heads they have held through their own difficult and personal affairs. In painting these women, I am paying hommage to them. I do not believe that women would be in the position they are today and have the mindset of success in this newly developed western world without women who had similar drive to O'Keeffe, Chanel, Sitwell, or Murasaki. They each had ambition and were able to follow through on their goals. They did not allow society to repress their intelligence. I find these to be very admirable traits.

Over the past few years I have been reading up on these woman, and I find them, in a way, acting as my mentors. I have created a special place for them in my heart, especially Ms. Georgia O'Keeffe, native to my own country, native to my own home. Her paintings and the story of her life will continue to always intrigue me. I send my gratitude to these ladies of the past who were able to see into the future. I thank them for sharing with us their strength and for opening our eyes.

Note: The painting above was shown with a hodge-podge collection of other small-scale portraits hung on a wall of a gallery at Alverno College, in the state of Wisconsin. They were installed in such a way as to represent a Grandmother's wall-collage of her most dear ones, each framed in unique black frames of various sizes, two in red frames (as seen above), and one very special white frame.

About Caitlin E. Carroll

2007-12-08T14:50:00.000-08:00

Caitlin E. Carroll is a Milwaukee-based artist, and is a recent graduate from the Milwaukee Instituate of Art & Design. Within the past few years, she has dappled in the art of paper making and casting, sculpture, artist book creation, and printmaking. Her professional field is in the fine art of painting.

Although Carroll's current paintings are figurative, they are still saturated in concept. Her most recent oil paitings are abstracted portraits of young and aspiring women from her closer circle of friends. These women are shown nude, minus their typical female parts. Carroll turns them into amorphous figures, but the figures still remain obviously female to the viewer due to the delicacy of the limbs and the facial features. From the bodies of the women grow an abundance of fruit, to be specific, the peach. These peices of plump fruit represent the persons individual growth and independence. They also signify her sexuality while, at the same time, parallels the "fruitful" abundance of her mind. Instead of being the fruit, she, the woman, now produces the fruit.

Show in Febuary!

2007-12-08T14:43:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone,

I am pleased to announce that I will be showing pre-existing artwork at the gallery run by University of Wisconsin, Whitewater in the month of Februry, 2008. I will have more information within the next month or so. PLease keep an eye out for postings.