LUDO design

This is a potential design for the awesome band: LUDO.

This Is Me: A Senior Art Thesis

My show goes up tonight. I am excited not only for myself, but for all of the senior Coe College (Cedar Rapids, IA) students showing tonight:

Marvin Cone Gallery:
Mark Wiezorek-Ceramics
Meredith Toay-Digital Art/Installation
Serena Hanson-Painting/Drawing

Eaton-Buchan Gallery:
Drew Otto-Photography
Serena Hanson-Painting/Drawing
Nick Jared-Sculpture/Collage/Assemblage/Performance

The show opens tonight (Friday, April 29th), from 5-7 pm in the Sinclair Galleries (Coe College). The gallery hours are 3-6 pm daily until May 6th. I've attached some photos of use installing during the week. I thought it would be interesting to see the artists setting up, especially since we have 5 artists in two gallery spaces.

BUG-written by Tracey Letts

So this weekend (April 22-23rd), if you are in the Eastern Iowa area, I have one suggestion for you. See the production of Bug, written by Tracey Letts. It is a well written script about Agnes, who lives alone in a motel, with her son missing and her husband in prison. But when a stranger, Peter, comes into her life, he brings more than just companionship, but something else. For those of you who love horror: blood, death, sex, drugs, and pure paranoia; this show is for you. It's a full main stage production done in the Mills Experimental Theatre of the Dows Fine Arts Center at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, IA. The show is at 7 pm on Friday, April 22nd, and Saturday, April 23rd. Admission is free and open to the public. Seating is somewhat limited, so get there early! This show is purely student made too. This is the director's (Trevor Ketteman) last production at Coe College. I am the stage designer for the production, and Dylan Luke is the Technical Director. Jenna Murphy is the Stage Manager, and our entire cast is made up of Coe students. We would like to thank Tracey Letts, the Coe College Theatre Dept., Coe Offstage Players, and Sphere Studios for their help and support of the production.

Update on Senior Thesis Work

So the deadline for my thesis is coming up soon and a lot of work is getting done. Here are some updated pics on the work for the show. And just a heads up for my show, which opens next Friday (April 29th), there will be lots of interactive pieces, as well as a performance piece. More info should be coming soon, as long as I don't pass out from the mixture of excitement and anxiety. Here are some studio shots to give you some idea on what's going on.

detail of Home #2

If you want to look me up on facebook, here is my profile page: facebook.com/nick.jared

Lots of Changes

So I have officially started two new blogs to separate my art portfolios. I'm keeping my Art and Design Portfolio up for a little bit, for anyone who might be checking in on it. But the two new blogs are as follows:

Nick's Illustration and Graphic Design Portfolio:

nicksillustrationanddesign.blogspot.com

Nick's Visual Arts Portfolio:

nicksvisualarts.blogspot.com

I will still be using this particular blog to update on any projects that I'm working on. So if you do follow, there are many things coming up, and I'll try to keep you updated!

Update: 4/7/11

So here is a brief update on my progress as a blogger of art. I've been very busy lately creating the pieces for my Senior Art Thesis that is coming up pretty soon. I will try to put up some photos of how those are progressing. Also, the Eco-Arts Festival in Cedar Rapids, IA is coming up pretty soon (April 16th). I am showing in the Arts Competition and am showing 3 of my biggest pieces from early this year/late last year. I believe the showing is from 10am-2pm in the Cherry Building, located near downtown Cedar Rapids. I am have a draft, that is almost complete, for an artist for this month/last month, and I might add another just because I've been slacking in the blogging portion of my life. I am also planning to blog about a couple of theatrical productions that my friends are putting on very soon. So keep in contact with this blog if you like hearing about my work as well as other creative peoples' work.

"Do what you love, no matter what!"

Senior Art Thesis: studio work

This is merely a sketch (although it is a complete work). The way that I wanted to sketch this semester was by creating smaller pieces in a small amount of time, really trying my skills of visual arts when it comes to color, space, composition, materials, etc. I am also doing these sketches out in the open on the Coe College campus (you could call it performance art...I just call it art).

Finally, X has been completed and I am finally happy with this piece. Its gone through many changes, but I am satisfied and you can look for this piece at the Cedar Rapids Eco-Arts Fest on April 16th, 2011. There, it will be showcased and judged along with a couple other pieces in a Recycled Art competition. This will be on sale there, so if you think you might be interested, come to the Eco-Arts Fest! more info on this event can be found on newboczech.info.

This piece actually looks completely different from when I took this photo. I don't have a name for it yet, but it is near completion (the photo doesn't do it any justice). It's an 8' long piece, so its the biggest piece that I have every done to this date. This is going in my Senior Exhibition

House #2 is one of the newest pieces I've been working on. It is one of the pieces to be shown at my Senior Art Exhibition on April 29th, 2011.

Home #1 is also going in my Senior Show in April, I am planning to use details of this work for my invites to my show, so if you would like one, email you address to my email address: njjared@coe.edu.

Finally, an update on this piece: Doorway. It is completed and it will accompany two of my pieces at the Recycled Art Show at this years Eco-Arts Festival in Cedar Rapids, IA. Come celebrate Earth Day and see my current work!

Update on my Art

So I've finally decided to update my blog with the progress I've been making in my studio. Below are some photos of my studio, to show you the world through which I create my works. Every artist's studio is different, but sometimes, I think mine is cramped and full of the strangest things, and I like it that way. New photos of my work are coming soon...as in minutes.

Artist Spotlight-Troy Paiva-Photography

Troy Paiva

Since 1989, Photographer/Graphic Artist, Troy Paiva has been photographing the desolate landscape of what used to once be a part of flourishing American life in the West. Old gas stations, deteriorating cars, and obliterated buildings are just some of the subject matter of Troy Paiva's view of the "Lost America". Troy uses a technique of lighting with colored gels on either flashlights or strobe lights with a long exposure to create an eerie look with a surreal background (created by the long exposure).

I found out about Troy randomly while searching for graphic artists as a part of my research into digital artists for college class I was taking. I immediately loved his technique because it involved unique lighting for each photo. Partially being a technical theater nerd, I love any art that involves lighting effects. I always like to point photographers in the direction of "light painting", since you can get some very interesting effects.

You can see more work by Troy on his website: lostamerica.com