I just had my first mentoring meetings with Kimberly Hocking, director of Greenly Art Space at my studio in Long Beach in late June and early July respectively. We spoke regarding the California Arts Council “Artists in Communities” grant that Greenly Art Space was awarded. We also had the opportunity to discuss some of the expectations of being the “Artist in Residence” for this grant as well as the plans behind my solo exhibition in October. As I work towards the culmination of this grant, I will be writing about my experiences within this process on a blog and posting my progress on Greenly’s social media pages.
In our meeting, Kimberly and I discussed the ideas behind my work, and we looked over some of the completed works for the show. Kimberly also had the opportunity to see some works and progress and shared some suggestions on working with different materials and sizes. One of my major goals for this show is to present a body of work that is cohesive yet shows my range as an artist. Kimberly really felt that my work is truly headed in that direction. She shared that the work as a whole was becoming a unified body of artwork not only material wise but also in the underlying meaning behind each work. She expressed that I was in a place where I could really continue to push my ideas and expand on them with many of my pieces as jumping off points for other bodies of work.
So I really feel I am in a good place creatively, as I work away in the studio. I’m very excited about the ideas that are developing and I’m so looking forward to seeing all this work completed. Initially, when I started this body of work, the ideas surfacing at the time were reactions to social, political, and economic facets that have given other artists like myself a need to speak up creatively. The further I go along though, the more I realize that it’s not only things on the outside that I am reacting to, it’s things on the inside as well; it’s thoughts and memories, it’s past and present. As I type this last sentence, I look forward to elaborating more on my practice, sharing new developments in my work, and documenting the journey of working with Greenly Art Space.
Juan Gomez
Any findings, opinions, or conclusions contained herein are not necessarily those of the California Arts Council.