GENERAL MOTORS NEW DESIGN WEST BUILDING COMMISSION WORK

There have been a few times in my life which I’ve been so honored and proud, it’s almost hard for me to put into words. This is one of those times. Many of you know I spent 42 years at GM, 22 years with Design Staff. I’m beyond grateful and so thankful to have been a part of the General Motors Design West, new building art project. A special thanks and gratitude to Michael Simcoe senior VP Design for selecting me, trusting me and supporting my creative vision. A huge shout out to the fabrication team, the wood shop, trim shop and paint shop and all the project coordinators. To Natalie Morath and Christoper Webb and the many others that saw this project through completion. I’m truly humbled. I have always loved and been proud to have worked for such a company that only helped one realize their dreams, and I’ve had many realized, I had the best career anyone could have asked for.
The pieces I share with you are two 28’ x 8’ wall installations. Titled, “ GM BLUES”, “COLOR MY DAY” . The next piece was a dream for me as I collaborated with my sister Liz Matthew’s and my brother Frank Navin, a 12’ X 4’ front and back tapestry titled “ STRATUM” which truly was a labor of love for all of us. I also left behind two murals for the design center parking garage. I am truly blessed to leave these pieces of me in a place I loved so much.

 

The playful and mischievous monkey, embodies the spirit of joy, curiosity, and the art of finding delight in the simplest of moments.

This is a series I've been working on for some time now, making tapestries of chimpanzees, monkeys and gorillas. Without any specifics, the monkey, the gorilla has a symbolic meaning to me. When I was young, during a dark period in my life, some friends had given me a stuffed gorilla. Seems strange, but it saved my life at that time. In the Chinese zodiac my spirit animal is a monkey, I also want to say in my work, (monkey see, monkey do)  I'd like to act accordingly, to model the person I wish to be. Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil means to me to be less judgemental, not to listen to negativity, not to be witness to it, speak kindly and less often. In a world where there is so much instability, and change, I need something that keeps me balanced, and free of fear. To rediscover the spirit of the monkey. To embody the spirit and the joy again in my life. Along with the tapestry work I'm exploring a 3D world, dabbling with AI to create the prayer monkey series. I then create a 3D model in Maya or Alias then 3D printed. Mainly self taught, learning tons from YouTube, google and asking questions. Enjoy and thanks for browsing.

                              Work in progress, a whole new world. 

I just picked up some 3D prints of my prayer monkey series. I'm exploring 3D and printing and learning as I go. Lot's to learn on this journey, not sure exactly where it will take me, but I do have some images in my minds eye of a little world that shows the spirit of the monkey.                                                

                                             Prayer Monkey 6

       

                                            First 3D Prints    

        

    Prayer Monkey 3

        

 Prayer Monkey 2

       r

 Prayer Monkey1

     

"Henry"

Yo, You want to see something cool? No, 

Well, I'm gonna do it anyway.........   

Textiles and Tapestry Work

"Katherine" 29.5" X 20"

 Over the last couple of years I had the honor of being among sixteen artist that were commissioned to make art for the new GM design building. I'll soon have photos to post after the reveal which will take place late in February. The work I did for the building was two 28' X 8 ' wall installations, and a 12' X 4' front and back hanging tapestry. It was a honor in deed, but also I was able to collaborate with my brother Frank a textile artist, and my sister Liz a master quilter. That in itself was beyond anything I could've imagined. Also, leaving a living legacy three permanent installations for the new building, After two years of working on the pieces it solidified a love of textile work and has sent me in new directions artistically. After I finished the tapestry for GM, I took an online class on portrait quilting. Here's where it all began and I have to say, I really love working in fiber. I've done some portrait quilts, but mainly my subject is chimpanzee's monkeys and gorilla's. They are symbolic to me, more on that another time. 

"Mama's Baby" 50" X 45"

"Chimp" 42" X 56

"HNESNESNE" 72" X 45"

    "Patch" 29" X 31.5"

"Blue" 29" X 29"

 

 "Big Boy" 54" X 66.5"

 

                                              "Fur Monkey" 30" X 30"

"The Chair" (Don)  28.5" X 22"

"Earl" 19" X 19" 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Neil" 19" X 19"

 New Digital Work November 2021 

                                      Solo Opening at GM Technical Center, GM Design

Mike Simcoe and me

Cal

Taurus Burns and me

Karysa and Sharon

Aaron Bunch and me

My posse Neil, Reid, me, John and Debra

the girls Karysa, me, Jen, Felecia

I was overwhelmed by Mike's talk about me

Natalie and intern

                                                          Solo Exhibition GM Design

I was asked to be a part of a project that started this serried for me. Primarily focusing on the spiral for many reasons mostly personal to me. The spiral represents evolution and growth of the spirit. It is a symbol of change and development, which I have been going through over the last year or so. These times are difficult with everything that's going on in the world, so delving back into art has been s savior to me. MY language as it were. Please enjoy and comments are welcome. 

                                   “Blue Circles within a Blue Circle “ Celebration to Saarinen.

 This piece is called “Going Green” about saving the planet..  

 

 

This piece was a study on putting colors together. Out of this came the other spirals. 

     " Spiral 1"

                                       " Spiral 2"

                                     "Spiral Three" 

"Spiral Four" 

 

"Spiral Four"

I never know what’s going to inspire an idea for a piece. I work at a high school and observe romantic exchanges between adolescents at times. I read an article and out of it came this piece. Titled after the name of the paper. “Chains of Affection”.  “The structure of Romantic and Sexual Relations at “Jefferson High School “Each circle represents a student and lines connecting students represents romantic relations occurring within 6 months preceding an interview. I didn’t include numbers the pattern was observed. There were however 63 pairs unconnected to anyone else.

                           “Chains of Affection “ 

                        "Colored Rectangle Spiral"     

 

                                                               “Colored Rectangles”

"Colored Dots"

               

                                                       “Sunflower”   Phyllotactic Spiral   

 

 

“Blue Spiral” 

 

"Cracker Jack Spirals" 

                           “Black and White Spiral”

                                  "Optical Piece"    

 

 

Playing with Repeating Patterns 

 

  

 

 

 

 

"Retro Spiral"