Solo Exhibition

somewhere out there, a solo exhibition by kara nelson
april 6th 2010
6-8pm

Moishe House Oakland
636 Santa Ray Ave.
Oakland, CA, 94610


My first solo exhibition is set in a house off of Lake Shore Ave in Oakland. I am excited to be presenting new work, in conjunction with some older work. Paintings will span two levels of the old house, evoking the feeling of home.

Costume T-Shirts

New Hobbie! This October as I started my annual brainstorm for personal, and meaningful Christmas gifts I came up with a (in my opinion) brilliant idea! Costume-T shirts.
Giving gifts to the men is my family almost always brings me to the same question: What can I make out of my old clothes, and bits of paper that is masculine? Although my gifts in the past have always been appreciated, the time it takes me to come up with an idea leaves little time for execution. But not this year! This years idea gave me such great enthusiasm that making them was a blast, and happened in a flash.

This weekend I spent a good amount of time thinking about what I am going to give friends and family members for Christmas. As I am a lover of giving homemade gifts it is important that I start early in oder to finish everything in time. Last year I gave hats made out of felt, which were a big hit and in my opinion were adorable ( and super cool) but I am not sure they are used. So this year I am striving to make gifts that will be loved, but will not just sit in a closet. just sitting and thinking I came up with very little, so I went through my crafting supplies. I sorted, I examined my fabric, paper and piece and as it turned out not only do I have a lot to work with, but some great ideas.

freaking out

At the end of my allotted painting time this week I looked at the work that had been done and noticed I did something strange. I had put a paper border around the edge of the forest, and promptly freaked out. What had I done? Why did I just spend so much time on this border? Had I ruined the painting? After calming myself done I decided that it didn't look bad, and that the painting wasn't ruined, but just headed in a direction not yet traveled by my work.
It is important to reassure myself that new is a good thing. That using different colors than normal won't make the painting awful to look at, but in the grand scheme of my work will create more diversity, and will ultimately, hopefully lead to richer paintings. Really, I should not freak out, or worry when I am unsure of the work I have just done, because in the end, even if the painting is terrible diversity is not a bad thing.

in the studio

I no longer need to work in my room because my new house has space for a studio. This is very exciting, and the difference in the amount of work I am producing has increased greatly. I feel as though a vail has lifted. It is wonderful.

2009