#stephenmichaelhaas

So this year is coming to a close and I think it is time to express gratitude and talk a lot about things that are important to me.

I am sure many of you have been seeing a lot of the stuff I have been putting out. It is all the product of a year long Artist in residency I was fortunate enough to take part in. The whole thing has left me with a lot of room to learn. See I have had time to fail, time to do commissions, time to work under my Heroes and most importantly time to realize what making artwork means to me.  Around August I was utterly exhausted on making things and so I had to collect my thoughts. I was thinking that being an artist meant making things full time and being payed for them. That was a big misconception as I am sure you know. So I realized that making art (for me) isn't about how people receive it, it is about how you yourself feel when you make art. So I realized the best I had ever felt is when I didn't care at all about how the stuff was supposed to be received.. At that same time I realized that I had never made one concise body of work. So I set out to kill two birds with one stone (Im a savage I know). I would find said Joy through making my own body of work and so it all began. As all of the stuff kept progressing I started getting more and more ambitious and what was going to be a small show turned into a 5 month project, It would bookend my residency perfectly...A one year study on myself as an artist, I couldn't ask for a better life lesson. So anyway at that same time I had been starting to near the completion of an album I have been working on for the better part of four years.. And all of this magical stuff just seems to be lining up right with the closing of 2014. So now I am starting to see both the art show and the album as the closing of my first big chapter of life. I am 23 years old now and I believe that both the art show and album will say everything I have to say on life thus far.

So this year is coming to a close and I think it is time to express gratitude and talk a lot about things that are important to me.

I am sure many of you have been seeing a lot of the stuff I have been putting out. It is all the product of a year long Artist in residency I was fortunate enough to take part in. The whole thing has left me with a lot of room to learn. See I have had time to fail, time to do commissions, time to work under my Heroes and most importantly time to realize what making artwork means to me.  Around August I was utterly exhausted on making things and so I had to collect my thoughts. I was thinking that being an artist meant making things full time and being payed for them. That was a big misconception as I am sure you know. So I realized that making art (for me) isn't about how people receive it, it is about how you yourself feel when you make art. So I realized the best I had ever felt is when I didn't care at all about how the stuff was supposed to be received.. At that same time I realized that I had never made one concise body of work. So I set out to kill two birds with one stone (Im a savage I know). I would find said Joy through making my own body of work and so it all began. As all of the stuff kept progressing I started getting more and more ambitious and what was going to be a small show turned into a 5 month project, It would bookend my residency perfectly...A one year study on myself as an artist, I couldn't ask for a better life lesson. So anyway at that same time I had been starting to near the completion of an album I have been working on for the better part of four years.. And all of this magical stuff just seems to be lining up right with the closing of 2014. So now I am starting to see both the art show and the album as the closing of my first big chapter of life. I am 23 years old now and I believe that both the art show and album will say everything I have to say on life thus far.

So here was the first day of the hard core cardboard work.. Letters, signs and an artist statement.. Its coming together, and the more I see this happen the more pumped I am about making more. That's the cool part because well its crunch time and the only thing I really can do is make this stuck.

   So we are approaching december, december for me means that it is time to start focusing my work on the actual space it's self.. So here is the sketch for the first installation. I attached another PIC of the room it will be in! So just imagine this big boy standing in the room with all of the black and white paintings.

   Welcome all, So as an introductory post I am simply saying that this is where you will come in the next two months to see this idea of an art show go from paper to reality.. There are many things my team and I will be doing, so please feel free to check back from time to time to see what we have in the works.

  For those of you who don't know What SFTT is, It is a fully immersive art show that I have been working on since early August this year. Think of it as an attraction of sorts, I will be taking over the make space and turning it into something truly special. Paintings, Sculptures,videos, performances you name it. I am aiming to create a captivating experience that will leave ripples on its participants for years to come.. So as I bust my ass to bring all this together please check back in from time to time see what we have going.

Thank you sincerely,