Exhibition at Beyond Limits Berlin

Hello Artlovers,

End of July I received the opportunity to display some of my artworks at the culture center of Beyond Limits e.V. Berlin (Seumestraße 2, 10245 Berlin). This non-profit organization many events on a weekly and monthly basis (concerts, exhibitions, yoga and dancing classes, diverse workshops…). They further foster inclusion by providing a cultural space and events that help people with disabilities to connect.

On the end of every month, they give artists from different fields the chance to showcase their talent in the “Share”-event. This event allows artists to show their works in progress, discuss and network.

For the “Share”-event at the end of July, I decided to apply with two resin and two alcohol ink artworks. I still have the feeling that not many artists in Berlin use these kinds of media, and thus, I wanted to awake interest for these painting techniques. In the evening of the 30th, all artists got together to talk about their work or give a performance. Two professional dancers gave an impro-performance and another artist organized a collage workshop. There was even a small fashion show and a short movie with a dance performance and a follow-up discussion. I enjoyed the evening a lot and I do recommend everyone, who would like to share what they are passionate about, to participate. You can easily get into contact via their website (http://beyondlimitsberlin.eu) or the instagram account (beyond.limits.berlin).

I am currently planning my next exhibition, so stay tuned for another blog post!

My First Exhibition

Dear readers,

I am very happy that this year in October I received the opportunity to exhibit some of my artworks in a Pop Up store in Berlin Friedrichstraße. From October 8th to October 16th, five of my artworks could be viewed in the Pop Up store of the WeDress Collective.

The WeDress Collective enables fashion lovers to rent and lend beautiful high quality clothing and accessories. You can select the time period for which you would like to wear a certain piece and they take care of delivery, pickup cleaning of the clothes. I think this is especially nice if you need a nice dress for an event or seasonal clothes like coats. It prevents us from buying fashion that is worn maybe once or twice and then spends the rest of its life in our wardrobe. If you own such pieces you can become a WeDresser and open your closet to others and even earn a bit of extra cash on the side. I think this concept is really nice!

I am very grateful for the chance to present my art to the public for the very first time. I hope there will be many more opportunities like this one in the future!

First Experiences with Resin

Dear fellow readers,

At the end of 2020, I started to work with a new medium called resin (Epoxy). I am going to use this as a coating for my artworks as it gives the pieces a professional and expensive look. Moreover, and in addition to the acrylic varnish, it protects the colors from UV light and therefore they will fade less quickly over time. Apparently, alcohol inks are more prone to fading than other colors, like e.g. acrylics. Further, I am planning to color the resin and to thereby add more layers to the piece, resulting in more depth and an even more appealing look.

I informed myself a lot about the work with resin in advance and how to handle it, as it can be quite dangerous and challenging. Resin itself is also not that cheap, so I compared many different suppliers and prices. Furthermore, resin can be used for many different applications ranging from pouring whole tables over coasters, to covering floors and artworks. Depending on the application, the resin has different properties. When choosing your resin, you need to take the following things into account:

  • What will I use it for?

    Depending on the application, the time resin takes to solidify varies from 40 minutes to several hours. Take this into account as it can take quite some time to cover or create a resin painting. Avoid stressful situations by choosing a resin that can be processed within 70 min - 3h, giving you enough time to work on your piece. Please notice that also temperature influences the hardening process of the resin. Optimal are temperatures between 15 and 20 degree celcius.

    Also, clearity and viscosity are properties of resin that you need to consider. For covering alcohol ink art, I selected and ultra-transparent resin with low viscosity. I also chose a resin with an ‘anti-bubble’ formula resulting in decreased air bubble formation. Surely, there are still some air bubbles forming due to the process of mixing the solutions (resin and hardener) for several minutes via continuous stirring. These air bubbles can be removed with a heat gun quite easily after the resin has been poured.

  • How high is the layer I am going to pour?

    Not every resin can be poured multiple centimeters high. Some might not solidify over time if you pour the layer too thick. Check in advance which resin is suitable for your specific case.

  • How much do I need?

    It was very difficult for me in the beginning to estimate how much resin I will need to cover a painting. I was never sure how to interpret the calculations listed on the manufacturers’ website for my specific use case. From what I experienced, 66 g is enough to cover a 20 x 20 cm piece. Based on that experience, I now calculate the amount for other sizes. For a bigger piece of 100 x 70 cm, I used 1.5 kg (a bit more than I had calculated). This turned out to be a bit too much as a lot of resin dripped over the edges and accumulated on the protective cover on the floor.

  • Toxicity.

    I also made sure that the resin I am using is non-toxic, BPA-free and solvent-free. I still wear a respirator mask and encourage everyone to do so, as there is still formation of fumes while working with resin.

The first artwork that I was going to cover in resin was a small 20 x 20 cm alcohol ink painting in violet and purple with silver metallic effects on stone paper (‘Steinpapier’, based on chalk). I first mounted the painting on a gesso board (wooden art board already primed with white gesso). After the glue dried completely, the artwork is leveled so that the resin does not run down to one side of the painting. Then, put on gloves, respirator mask and long clothes that you don’t fancy anymore and prepare the workspace for the resin! Now, part A (resin) and B (hardener) are combined in a 2:1 ratio, respectively. Go by weight and not by volume! It is then really important to mix these components well before pouring the resin onto the artwork. The resin was applied to the painting by pouring and subsequently distributed using a spatula and heat gun. After pouring, everything needs to be covered to protect the resin from dust and particles, which would otherwise be enclosed in your piece forever. After 24h the resin will be hardened, but usually it takes up to a week until it is fully hardened.

For a short protocol you can visit my subpage materials and techniques.

The second and also larger project gave me a bit of a hard time though. First, stirring 1.5 kg viscous resin by hand for 6-8 minutes continuously and fast is kind of exhausting for my poorly trained arms! Second, after pouring the resin onto the painting, I recognized a change in color of the alcohol inks (especially the red tones). Honestly, in that very moment, I was a bit in shock and frustrated as I could not explain why this happened. After hardening, the color came back a bit, but was not comparable to the original saturation. Later, I read that the resin can react with certain alcohol ink colors and that I probably did not fix my painting well enough with the acrylic varnish before applying the resin. So, for the sake of keeping your colors saturated and as they are: ensure to fix the painting well with the acrylic varnish before adding the resin!

I have to admit that - even though I work in a lab - I was a bit worried to work with resin as I have read about some dangerous incidents that can happen. However, I am not quite certain if all of those things were true and if they apply to the kind of resin that I use. Overall, after all the reading and online tutorials, I found it actually straightforward to work with resin. Of course, it is more laborious than working with other media, but for now, I think it is worth the effort. I still need to work on getting a straight surface as I recognized some inconsistencies in the thickness of the resin throughout the artpiece. However, I love the shiny surface it adds to the painting and the colors look even brighter and gain instensity.

I am definitely looking forward to exploring this medium further and I will keep you posted on the results and the progress!

Thank you for reading and stay healthy everyone! :-)

Moving into the new studio

Dear fellow readers,

After quite a long period of heavy thinking whether I should move into a co-working space or not, I decided to give it a try. I was not sure whether I would really have the time to use the space as often as I would like to next to my PhD. However, it is just a bit of money for the monthly rent that I need to invest and in the end I have more to gain: e.g. getting to know new people, learning from professional artists, a space that fits my needs and that I have access to whenever I need it. So beginning of October I organized a table from ebay, took an old office chair from our basement and my art materials and moved into the new shared studio space.

The studio has this Berlin rear building atmosphere with bricks visible under the torn-down plaster on the walls and creaking boards on the floor. Just like you would imagine it to be. I appreciate that I don’t need to worry about paint dripping on the floor.

I am looking forward to many productive hours in my new studio space! By the way, the fox you see on the wall of the building was created by my studio colleague “Dared” who is a street artist. Check out his website to learn more about his work!