Dreaming You a Happy New Year!

On this New Year's Eve I am thankful to live in a free county where a diversity of opinion is allowed, for family and friends that I love and who love me, for a roof over my head and some food in my belly.  I'm thankful for paint and paintbrushes, although I know I would figure out a way to create without them,  and for a studio where I can put dreams to paper.  I'm thankful for a laptop and an internet connection, for fingers and eyes, and for a brain and legs and arms.  I am thankful for life.

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year full of love and life and dreaming.

Seated Nude
Richard Diebenkorn
1966

My freedom consists in my moving about within the narrow frame that I have assigned myself for each one of my undertakings. 

 Richard Diebenkorn

Light

American Dream

11"x14"

(Collection of Pete and Linda Stoner)

This painting is the first in series of approximately 15 paintings that I began around January of 2009.  As this year comes to a close it's time to reflect back on what has taken place during the past twelve months.  Recently Linda Stoner, who bought this painting along with her husband, Pete, told me that she thinks of the structure in this painting as a tower of radiating light. Given that it was painted during some of the darkest days of the year, following the beginning of one of the worst economic downturns since the 30s, it now seems clear where my subconscious was going at the time.  Sharing this painting with you today is my way of sending a little light your way in the coming year.

Trust Your Gut

Art can only be truly art by presenting an adequate outwards symbol of some fact in the interior life.

Margaret Fuller


But how does that happen?  For the artist I believe that it comes from rooting around for honesty, beyond ego, not an easy place to find.  For the viewer maybe it comes from openness to seeing whether a work of art contains that "outward symbol" of authenticity.

Does it follow that if you can spot an authentic person, then you can spot an authentic work of art? Getting to really know a person requires you to spend a little time with her or him.  The same is true of a work of art.  Sometimes you get further into the relationship and find that it doesn't hold up, and yet other times you find a true friend.  With a work of art maybe it has to be something that you can come back to over and over again and still feel satisfied and/or challenged.  In both cases a deep relationship can be formed.

I suspect that at the gut level we all know honesty when we see it, before our thoughts get in the way.  Maybe understanding art is just as much about trusting our gut as understanding it's context.  In a relationship, when you get to know someone you want to know about their family, where they grew up, where they work, etc.  Although you may not judge whether you like someone based upon whether they grew up in New York or Minneapolis, that context is relatable. Getting to know a work of art can also involve similar social and/or historical context.  It's all a part of the story.   Gut and context.  It's all a part of life and art.

Happy Holidays!

I Must Confess

I cannot stop looking at the paintings of Kristine Moran.

Annie Dillard on Reading

"She read books as one would read air, to fill up and live.  She read books as one would breathe ether, to sink in and die."

Annie Dillard, The Living

Here are a couple of books that I read this year and enjoyed, but I've yet to read one lately that sucked me in and filled me until I was finished.  Pitty that!

Mary Heilman: To Be Someone by Elizabeth Armstrong (Inspiring story, in the vein of never giving up your dream, of an artist who worked for years without recognition, but finally got it.  There's a related story here about yet another artist whose currently a hot ticket, finally, at 94 (yay) here).

Pride and Prejudice and Zomies (Named at the risk of offending all the Jane Heads out there but, what can I say, it was pure fun to read).

Have You Recently had a Close Encounter?

Holiday distractions abound.  That means less time spent in the studio or at the computer blogging.  The trade off is time spent with family and friends, and tipping back some eggnog.  In honor of the holidays I'm sharing a family portrait.  Some explanation might be in order says my significant other.  People might wonder what the heck kind of family this is!

Lately I've been able to relate only too well to the characters in the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind, building the same shape over and over, compelled to do it without understanding why.  My artist training has taught me not to question but to just build.  Having said that, if I disappear, you’d better look to the sky for the mother ship. 

This strange shape surfaced about 18 months ago during a workshop where we were instructed to select our own shapes and compositions, but the process for generating them was completely new to me.  Since then this shape has repeatedly shown up in my paintings.  While I have yet to resort to mashed potatoes it has now been born into three dimensions and is becoming a sweet little family.  More members are on the way because this shape is not done with me yet.  Maybe it's time to put some water on the stove to boil and peel potatoes.

Impossible Things

From Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll: 

"There is no use trying," said Alice.  "One can't believe impossible things."

"I dare say you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

The name for WD-40 came about because it's inventor, chemist Norm Larsen, finally achieved his goal of creating a water displacement fluid that would prevent corrosion on the 40th attempt.  Seems he believed in the impossible too.

I've decided put the Carroll quote on my studio wall so I can read it first thing each morning when I arrive.  It is, after all, good to be queen for a day.

Simple Pleasures?

Everyone wants to understand painting. Why don't they try to understand the singing of birds? People love the night, a flower, everything that surrounds them without trying to understand them. But painting - that they must understand. 

Pablo Picasso

Amazing!!

The art walk at Building C Studios yesterday and last night was amazing! The studios of 20 artists and halls were filled with art lovers, friends and family.  The music provided by Brad and Todd of Jazz in the Corner was a perfect accompaniment to the event.  I'm sending out a huge thank you to everyone who stopped by!  It was great to see you and catch up and, in numerous cases, to meet you for the first time.  Hope to see you all again soon.

Today's the Day!

Don't miss the fun from noon to 9 pm!  For more information and directions, please check out my website or the Building C website here.  Jazz duo, Jazz in the Corner, will perform live from 6-9 pm.

Mentors of Mine in No Particular Order: Norma Lee Labbe'

Norma Lee had a career as a nurse, raised a family and by the time I met her had been married to Bob for longer than I'd been alive.  We met at a non-profit where we volunteered and counseled people who were without homes or on the brink of losing their housing.  She handled these clients the same way I imagine she handled her patients; with compassion, but unafraid to ask tough questions.  I believe her lack of pretense caught people off guard, and her kindness made them feel safe enough to tell the truth when they were feeling particularly vulnerable.  Not an easy feat.

Norma Lee would most certainly reject the title of mentor, but to that I would respond “tough” (with a smile, of course).  We shared some core beliefs but there were subjects about which we strongly disagreed, resulting in some passionate discussions.  Beneath all our verbal banter was a foundation of deep mutual respect.

I miss those discussions and I miss Norma Lee.  She died almost five years ago after a short battle with cancer.  For a time after her death I imagined running challenging questions by her and trying to determine what her advice would have been. It took me a while to realize that her advice was less about giving her opinion and more about quickly assessing my true concerns and asking questions that lead me to find my own solution.  Those are characteristics that define a mentor and friend to me.  What, I wonder, would she have said about that.

Be Humble About It.

. . .  Paint the color tones as they come against each other, and make them sing, vibrate. Don't ask me to look at those self-satisfied, pretty things.

Charles Hawthorne

If You Believe in an Arts Education

 Untitled - acrylic on paper - 2008

Jay W. Ellis III, age 3

Micro lending for school room art projects is a brilliant idea.  Please visit this website, set up by Modern Art Notes, to learn how you can help to fund an art project for children who might otherwise not have access to an arts education.

New Jersey Bound

Home Symbols #1

Acrylic on paper, 2009

This morning I received a phone call notifying me that the above painting was awarded an honorable mention in the 24th Annual International Juried Show at the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey.  What an amazing honor!

The juror is Susan Kismaric, Curator of Photography at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, NY.  The show runs from January 15 - March 19, 2010 in Summit, New Jersey.

Eirik Johnson at the Henry Art Gallery

Maybe you’ve already read about Eirik Johnson’s exhibition of photographs at the Henry Art Gallery so you know that it’s received good reviews.

As someone who was born and raised in a Northwest mill town, these photographs are a powerful and evocative reminder of another time.  Back then we were taught, and believed without question, in the benign stewardship of Weyerhaueser, who provided mill jobs, meal tickets for a family of nine who would otherwise not have enjoyed dinner out at Brad’s Buffet on a Sunday night, and funded scholarships to local universities.  They cut down old growth trees and replanted them like a kindly uncle, all the while explaining that trees were a renewable resource.  My family camped near forests that had been clear-cut and rode Honda 90 dirt bikes on the roads left behind.  We visited Spada Lake, driving up the steep, narrow gravel road, skidding to the edge as logging trucks, fully loaded, came careening around the corner.  Our parents cussed under their breaths but continue up the road to the funnel spout at the reservoir, knowing that this was the risk, the cost of making a living.

Times have changed of course.  We now know that forests cannot be renewed in a healthy way without taking into account the entire ecosystem.  Clear-cuts lead to mud slides and flooding.  Eirik Johnson beautifully captures the impact of logging on the land and the communities that were supported by it.  He looks at its impact full-faced, capturing the poignancy of the people who were left behind picking up the pieces.  His photographs are honest, stunning and unflinching.  Don’t miss them.

Website Wackiness

There have been a few kinks with the newly designed website. In the virtual world, apparently the old website can slip back in while you are sleeping.  Maybe if I make enough sacrifices to the computer gods, the new will become new again and stay that way.  I'm now bowing down now.  Wish me luck!

If you look at the website and the front page has rotating images and orange lettering then the sacrifices worked!

Stress Be Gone

At the risk of sounding like I'm giving advice, because after all this is not an advice blog, I'm lobbing this idea into the blogosphere.  Need to reduce your stress?  Why not cultivate your curiosity.  I'm not just making this up as a self-serving artistic-type, although I do know from personal experience that it works.  According to research, cultivating your curiosity can actually reduce your stress level.  No more excusses!  Get out your crayons.  You can read the original article is here.

More on Dreams

What else are we gonna live by if not dreams?

Jill Robinson

Seems Right Vol. 2

After writing Seems Right Vol. 1 I came across this quote by artist Richard Diebenkorn who seems to be saying the same thing with fewer words:

If it doesn't sit right I'm not really saying it. Getting it to sit right is another thing – complicated, time, consuming, wasteful.  It comes around to what is contained in 'sitting right.' This is what the picture is about. 

E-mail Service Interuption

Due to technical difficulties there was a brief problem with my e-mail service during the past 24 hours.  If you sent me an e-mail and it bounced back with an error message, please give it another try.  The problem has now been resolved.

Thanks for your patience!

Ch-Ch-Changes

The old website format is history!  Please check out the new look here.  You can access this blog directly through the "news" tab on my website and see my current work in the galleries.  Now that the update is done I'll have more time to write blogs!

Group Show at Lighthouse Roasters Cafe

Home Symbols #21 - acrylic on panel - 8"x10 - 2009

 

 Home Symbols #22 - acrylic on panel - 8"x10 - 2009

 

Home Symbols #23 - acrylic on panel - 8"x10 - 2009

Nine artists are offering small works for a heck of a deal, only $120 each.  Where: Lighthouse Roasters Cafe on the corner of Phinney Ridge and 43rd Ave N. in Seattle through the end of December.  These three paintings are my contribution to the show.  Please send me an e-mail [sue@suedanielson.net] if you are interested in purchasing one (shipping costs are extra).

And don't forget to stop by Building C Studios for open studio on Saturday, December 12 from noon to 9 pm.

Dr. Turner on Dreams

Dreams are renewable. No matter what our age or condition, there are still untapped possibilities within us and new beauty waiting to be born. 

Dr. Dale E. Turner

BUILDING C STUDIOS HOLIDAY SALE: 20 Artists and Live Music

Don't miss the fun!  For more information and directions, please check out my website or the Building C website here.  Jazz duo, Jazz in the Corner, will perform live from 6-9 pm.

A Musical Interlude for Your Holiday Pleasure

The Muppets rock it out  here (just learned that I cannot download a video into my blog).

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Why an Arts Education is so Important!

Why are the arts still considered a luxury in most schools?  Daniel Willingham, a University of Virginia cognitive scientist and author of "Why Don't Students Like School" recently wrote an article that summarizes the results of a conference that brought together neuroscientists and researchers to consider the impact of arts on the brain from an educational standpoint.  He listed six practical reasons why this education makes for more well rounded students, better thinkers and human beings.  Read the full article here.

In Favor of Danger

 

If a little dreaming is dangerous, the cure for it is not to dream less but to dream more, to dream all the time.

Marcel Proust

Color

 

 Mont Sainte-Victorie (La Montagne Sainte-Victoire)

1885-1895 - oil on canvas - 28 5/8 x 38 1/8 in.

"Color is my day-long obsession, joy and torment." 

Paul Cezanne

Mentors of Mine In No Particular Order: Paul McCall

I'm a lucky dog.  Over the years I've been fortunate enough to have been mentored by some very cool people.  One of those was my first painting mentor, Paul McCall.  I only say "was" because of proximity.  Paul moved out of state a few years ago with his lovely wife, Dominique, so she could pursue her own dreams (I've almost forgiven them).  Since then we've all stayed in touch and continue to be good friends.  While Paul no longer critiques my work I continue to value his opinion.  He is honest and generous.  He's the guy who first told me to stand behind my paintings no matter what and to trust him when he told me that I had the soul of an artist who would be painting my entire life.  I plan on living a long time so we'll see about that, but I suspect he's right.  It never crossed my mind back then that I would have my own studio where I'd go to paint most days. 

Another reason that I admire Paul is that he is a strong advocate for social justice and does not shy away from speaking the truth.  These beliefs are reflected in his paintings.  Shortly after moving down south, Hurricane Katrina hit the town where Dominique and Paul had relocated.  In response to that experience, Paul made a series of very powerful and evocative portraits called Survivors of Hurricane Katrina.  Below is my favorite.  You can view the entire series here.

 

  Clarence Johnson, Survivor of Hurricane Katrina
Charcoal on 50 lb. acid free paper - 28"H x 24"W

In 2007, Paul was honored with his first museum show at the Birmingham Civil Rights Museum.  Only a serious family illness kept me away from seeing this show where 40 of Paul's paintings from his Unspoken Realities Series were on display.

Technique can be learned many places and Seattle has some terrific art teachers and schools.  Paul can teach technique too, he's got the chops, but not everyone can instill confidence, especially when you are just getting the hang of having a long, skinny appendage attached to your hand.  Paul did that for me.  Thanks buddy!

By the way, Paul recently jumped on the blogging band wagon and it's worth checking out here.

Art in the Virtual World

Drawing on Air (Image: Daniel Keefe)

News flash: artists aren't generally very adept at creating art on the computer because the thought process required for the creative process is interrupted by the commands required by the computer.  But there is hope.  Perusing the internet recently I came across this article in New Scientist about recent developments in software that will allow artists to interact directly with the computer.  There's some pretty cool stuff coming down the pike.

Already in use is the sketchbook application on the iPhone.  I don't have one by the way, but many artists have been using this application to make electronic sketches to e-mail to friends, most notably, David Hockney.  My friend and long-time mentor, Julia Hensely, did a nice self-portrait here.

Two programs in development that look even more exciting are Drawing on Air and claytronics.  Drawing on Air is just what it sounds like.  This software will allow artists to use a virtual paint brush, a hepatic device, to paint 3-dimensionally.  How exciting is that!

claytronics, being developed at the Carnegie Mellon University, "combines modular robotics, systems nanotechnology and computer science to create the dynamic, 3-Dimensional display of electronic information".  By using particles (programable matter) the size of sand, the developers of this software hope to give artists, engineers and designers the capability to use virtual materials, such as wood, steel or clay, to create sculptures or models through a process that mimics the real experience but avoids the mess and removes concerns about weight and gravity. 

Read the full article here.

Make Your Mark

Here are some photographs from the Drawing on the Walls exhibit at the gallery at Up Front Gallery in Issaquah.  It turned out pretty darn cool!

Seems Right

The commute from home to my Ballard studio takes me over Phinney Ridge and I often stop to photograph the houses along the way.  If you live on Phinney Ridge it’s possible that some day you’ll find your home in one of my paintings.

Sometimes the houses that interest me are those that I can't really see, the ones hidden from sight behind bushes and trees.  It’s intriguing to consider why people choose the landscaping that they do.  The house pictured above happens to be near a very busy intersection where two roads pass by it on either side at 90-degree angles and converge just north of the property line.  Consequently, the house doesn’t have much of a front or back yard but the skillful placement of trees and bushes hides it from the view of passing motorists like me.  That seems right.

Here is another home that has appeared in a number of my paintings.  The practical side of me wants to remove the trees to clear my view but they are lovely and have a Bonsai-like quality that's a bit irresistible.  Yet, they seem misplaced in front of this house because they are too large for the space.  I find myself straining to see what is beyond.  I want to see the multi-layered structure with its peeks and valley, it's windows and doors.  I want to see what makes up this home.

Home Symbols #5, which is the painting below, is one of the paintings inspired by this house.  As you can see, I've simplified the structure and adjusted the landscaping until it somehow seems right.  The original trees are waiting for another painting.

Home Symbols #5 - 8"x 11" - acrylic on paper
Image by Art & Soul

Maybe I should have become a structural engineer or landscape architect, but a lack of mathematical aptitude put the kibosh on that idea.  When I was a child I used discarded 2x4s to lie out floor plans on the grass where my sisters and I would play house.  I spent hours shifting boards around in an effort to create the perfect space.  All these years later it occurs to me that I'm really doing the same thing with paint.

The urge to build a three-dimensional structure has recently been nagging at me and I’ve made a few mock-ups of the monolith that has appeared in a number of my paintings.  It’s too soon in the process to know what will happen with those models, but the process is great, messy fun.  Landscaping will be an issue to consider.  How much will be revealed.  How much will be concealed.  In the end it has to have a sense of home, a metaphoric habitable space.  Something that seems right.

Ballard Art Walk

Home Symbols #2 - 8" x 11" - acrylic on paper - 2009
Image by Art & Soul

It's time for open studio again this Saturday.  Please stop by and say hello.

Where:  Building C Studios
              4818 - 14th Ave NW
              (entrance to the building on the south side)

Time:    6-8 pm

Mind/Body Connection

Here's another quote from Janine Antoni, from the October 2009 Art in America interview (original quote referenced here; I had to get a copy of the magazine so I could read the full article):

The body holds memory differently than the mind.

Here is a photographic self-portrait of Antoni entitled Inhabit.  In it, in case the link doesn't work, Antoni is suspended in a child's room with her hips and most of her legs trapped inside of a doll house, all trapped inside of a web made up of ropes tied to the halter she is wearing.  I am inspired by the way that Antoni successfully visualizes the way we humans hold onto memory, how we inhabit space, and how all of that makes up who we are individually and collectively.

An Experiment in Figure Drawing on the Walls

On Monday 30 artists gathered throughout the day to draw figures on the walls of the artEast Gallery at Up Front Gallery.  No one signed his or her drawings so it was a truly collaborative effort. 

When I arrived at 1:30 pm, the gallery walls were already filled with wonderfully expressive figures that had been drawn by other artists that morning.  The afternoon groups were challenged with incorporating those drawings into our own to make a cohesive whole. We were handed water-soluble graphite crayons and went to work for 45 minutes.  I had never worked with these crayons and was excited by the possibilities. After drawing, smudging and washing the marks with water, I’m adding them to my shopping list.  

The energy in the room was buzzing.  It was an honor to be working with Ellen Borison, Kate Cologna, Susan Melrath, Isabel Stout, Gretchen Van Dyke, Camille Vonnegut, and Bob Welsh.  And thanks to our model, Ruth Yetner.

So come see the final result.  artEast Gallery at Up Front Gallery, 48 Front Street North, Issaquah; November 3 to 30th; opening reception: Friday, November 6 from 6 to 9 pm.

Home Symbols

 

Home Symbols #20
16"x 20" acrylic on paper

Image by Art & Soul

Earlier this year I began a new series of paintings called Home Symbols as a continuation of my exploration into the elusive gap that can arise between reality and our mental concept of home.  I believe that imaginings of what makes up home for each of us can be represented in visual symbols that stand in for ideas of love, security, trust or safety. You might call these my own version of the Morse code.

City of Seattle Proposition No. 1

Simply put, please vote yes to renew the Low-Income Housing Levy.  This levy is necessary to achieve the goals of the Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness and to keep the most vulnerable people in our community in housing and off the street.

What Color is the Universe?

Beige?!  Well "a conditional shade of beige" to be more accurate.  If you were take all of the colors in the sky, squeeze them onto your palette and give them a good mix, this is the color that you'd get.  Who says?  Karl Glazebrook and Ivan Baldry.  They challenged themselves to determine the average color of the universe and then went to work crunching numbers. According to Astronomy Picture of the Day, "the resulting cosmic spectrum has some emission in all parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, but a single perceived composite color." 

So all of this leads me to ask: What color is your universe? Today mine is gray but I'm hoping for blue sky, or maybe I should say beige sky.

Congratulations Mary Heilmann!

Surfing on Acid 2005

Mary Heilmann

"Painting a line across canvas with a brush is similar to the motion of a wave breaking."  Mary Heilmann

Hip hip hurray!  Congratulations to Mary Heilmann.  She recently was named Artist of the Year by the Gueiggenheim during its inaugural Annual Art Awards.  As you know, Mary Heilmann is an inspiration of mine (see my Oct 11, 2009 post) and I could not be more thrilled that she was chosen for this much deserved honor. 

Here's what Douglas Britt at the Houston Chronical has to say about Mary Heilmann's appearance on Art:21:

". . . she's just the perfect combination of lively, mellow, battle-scarred, funny and down-to-earth. You could hang out with her forever. And she's someone who was able to learn from artists who had lost faith in painting without giving up on it herself. She's also one of the few artists this season who's not surrounded by an army of assistants. Not that there's anything wrong with the latter approach, but it's still a pleasure to see Heilmann plugging away on her own."

Drawing on Walls

 Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)

On Monday, November 2, artEAST in Issaquah is giving it’s members permission to do just that.  A live model will be on hand for inspiration.  Each artist has 45 minutes to make our individual contributions.  Sounds like fun to me!

Although the public won’t be allowed into the gallery during the process be sure to stop by and see the results before the walls get painted over again. 

Opening reception: Friday, November, 6 from 6-9 at the Up Front Gallery on Front Street.

The Holy Trinity

 

WARNING:  THIS BLOG MAY BE HARMFUL TO YOUR HEALTH

Sugar, flour and butter.  In other words this is why I ultimately became a painter instead of a pastry chef.  It was fundamentally in order to avoid the inevitable obesity that would ensue.  The proverbial battle of the bulge is still an issue but it’s just not all out war.  After all you, can’t eat paint.  This photograph was taken outside of the Magnolia Bakery in New York where I had to wipe the drool and fingerprints off of the glass before taking the picture.  The line out the door was so long that the photograph is all I got, but it did save me about 1,000 calories.

I’ve been pondering the shared alchemy of baking vs. painting and how avoidance of one may have led to the other.  My relationship with sugar is a bit addictive, but you can say the same thing about painting.  They both require mixing together individual ingredients with specialized tools and technical skill in order to achieve success.

Before becoming a painter I did make a foray into the food service industry.  For five years I traveled to the homes of my clients loaded down with sacks filled with, among other ingredients, bright orange carrots, deep green chard, tangy goat cheese and sweet ripe strawberries.  I would pile these ingredients onto the counter where the mixed aromas of the fresh veggies created an earthy perfume that I adore.  Then I would set about transforming these ingredients into a week of meals.  This process involved all of my senses: the bumpy skins of the turnips; the bright reds, greens and yellows of the veggies; the sizzle of sautéing; oh the smells (sautéed onions and mushrooms in butter is my favorite); and, of course, taste, required to tweak the seasoning in each dish to achieve a good balance of flavors.

Painting edged out cooking as a profession because while food is wonderfully nurturing and a creative endeavor, it involves hours of labor only to be gobbled up.  Paintings are more enduring.  Making them, it goes without saying, also involves plenty to look at and ponder with all the endless variations of red, yellow and blue, and plenty of mixing to get just the right shade.  As for touch, there’s the raw canvas to run my hand over or glue or paint or paper to mess around with.  Smells are a bit of an issue, more chemical in nature, but I’ve grown to love them all the same.  And there is the sound of the brush across the canvas or ripping of paper.  Taste? Well, no blue tongue for me.

When I became a full-time painter the question that a number of people asked me was what kind of food would I paint.  It did seem like the natural progression.  I once painted a still life that included a quarter of a watermelon, but that was early on.  I was so slow at painting then that the melon began to liquefy before I finished.

So getting back to alchemy, baking (and cooking) and painting it seems to me are all about the same thing, taking raw ingredients and transforming them into an entirely different thing, albeit one is edible and one is not.  What’s wonderful is that I can make a painting, hang it on the wall, bake a cake, sit down and eat it while pondering the painting.  This is now my preferred way to mix food and art.  After all, it allows me to have my cake and eat it too, which is a kind of spiritual experience.

It's a Mystery

Thanks to my friend, Margaret Watson, for sending me this quote:

Sometimes I have to get out of the way.  It's beyond letting go of control.  It's about waiting and following one's intuition.  The creative process is a mystery, something that seems to happen on the periphery of thought.  When conceiving a work, I don't try to home in on it too quickly.  In fact, I do the opposite.  I try to stay as open as possible for as long as I can.  This state is full of potential, but it's a terrifying place, too, because all I really want is for my ideas to solidify.  I have so much doubt and fear, and yet the more I can just watch the unfolding with a light touch, the more the piece seems to make itself.  At a certain unexpected point, something comes to the forefront.

Interview with Janine Antoni, Art in America, Oct 09, 2009, pg. 127

Mr. Spider and Me

During my residency at Centrum I shared my cottage with a monster spider. Okay I'm using a little artistic license but he was big as you can see from this photograph.

One morning before I was really awake I was fumbling around in the kitchen, first dropping the lid to my coffee thermos and then my glasses.  While pouring coffee into the press pot, half of the grounds spilled over the side onto to counter and area rug below.  In exasperation I carefully lifted the small rug and opened the back door to shake it out . . . and ran smack into the spider’s web. What ensued was a brief but intense period of morning aerobics as I removed the web from my head.  The web shouldn't have been a surprise because I’d walked through it the day before after returning from a brisk walk on a sparkling autumn afternoon.  But in spite of my reign of terror, my determined "little" roommate had gone right back to work.

After the second web walk through I kept a careful eye on the spider. He became inactive for a few days with no signs of web building and stayed huddled in the center top of the doorframe. I inspected him for signs of life, which I executed by blowing on him (brave huh!).  No movement. Hmm. I deduced that he was a goner and left him alone. A couple of days later when my husband was visiting we used the back door again and he led the way. You guessed it, he ran smack into the spider’s web. Seemed the spider wasn’t dead after all.  Yes I was secretly happy that it wasn't me this time.

The next morning when I woke up the first thing I did was look out the back door window. Sure enough there were intricate threads laced together into elegant webbing, each strand catching the morning light.  It was magical.

Spiders used to scare me but over the years I've gradually gained respect for them.  My rational and emotional brains seem to have caught up with each other in this regard.  After all, no relatively miniature creature that has a non-poisonous bite is going to harm me.  Sure, spiders can be a hassle.  A friend who has dozens of them living outside her house where they leave marks on her siding that are difficult to remove pointed out that they are a pain in the butt.  Least we forget about walking into their webs or the fact that they do look scary.

But let's give credit where credit is due.  Spiders persistently make and repair their webs no matter how many times they are destroyed, each one elegant and beautiful. They are good at catching pesky bugs and they seem to have a strong sense of self in the face of difficult odds. I know that I'm being a bit romantic.  A spider spins a web to catch food in order to live.  But how different is the spider from an artist or anyone who is pursuing their dream despite the odds of success.  We all do what we have to do.  Receiving a bit of unexpected encouragement never hurts though.  That day Mr. Spider inspired me, so in his honor I dubbed my residency cottage Spider House.

Construction/Deconstruction/Construction

Glass, Guitar and Bottle, Paris, early 1913

Oil, pasted paper, gesso and pencil on canvas

Pablo Picasso

Going back to the guys who started collage, here are some photos that I took at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) when I was in New York recently (please forgive the bad photography).  MOMA is on the side of Picasso as the “guy who was first to make a collage” debate.  That means that Braque was the guy to follow suit.  Who am I to argue with the art historians at MOMA.  Of course, maybe some other artist who didn’t get a mention in the history books started collage and Picasso is getting undo credit.  But I’m an artist not an art historian and didn't plow through records and examine paintings and all they things they do in an effort to get the record straight.  I don’t want to go creating some crazy conspiracy theory after all (did I mention that I was an X Files fan).

 Guitar, Summer 1913

Gesso, pasted paper, charcoal, pencil and gouache on canvas

Georges Braque

And speaking of who was/is first, it is of course nice to get credit for being first but the truth of the matter is that we are are all influenced by the world around us.  It's a human condition as far as I can tell.  I'm the first to admit to being very easily influenced, like a bird going after a piece of something sparkly.  Yet it's also true that we all can't help but be our original selves by just breathing.  No one else breathes like you do.  Despite influences, I believe that if we work very hard to absorb them, respect them, hold them up to the light and examine them, we can then step back and influence how the influence will influence us.   You might say it's a form of construction/deconstruction/ construction. 

Cezanne had this to say about a new take on an old idea: "The day is coming when a single carrot freshly observed will set off a revolution." Go paint a carrot!

Last Chance to See October Shows

Red Hot

11x14" acrylic on paper, 2009

It was a mere 18 months ago when home values were still escalating so quickly that the listing prices were going up in smoke, left in the ashes of bidding wars and artificially inflated home values.  Those were heady times but then reality hit. People began to loose their homes and homelessness climbed, both realities that continue today.  The Dislocation Series about the disparity between reality and dreams of home in part arose out of these circumstances.  That's when I painted Red Hot.

My solo show of the Dislocation Series at Sightline Institute ends on October 30 so there is still time to stop by before it closes.  Sightline is located in the Vance Building, 1402 Third Avenue, Suite 500, Seattle.  The viewing hours are 10:00 am to 3:00 pm Monday through Friday.

The 11th Annual Art Port Townsend Exhibition where Vortex, which is also part of the Dislocation Series, is on exhibition until November 2.  For more information check on my October 9th post.

Deconstruction/Construction V.2

Whisper, 30" x 22" - Collage on paper - 2007
Robert Hardgrave

Dumb luck landed me in a studio across the hall from Robert Hardgrave.  I am frequently inspired by the amount of creativity and work that is generated in about 300 square feet.   Robert’s paintings and collages are amazing and unique.  His collages are pieced together from discarded drawings and/or paintings that he felt weren’t up to his usual high standards.  He cuts them up and reassembles them into new life forms.  Just another example of destruction/construction.

Destruction/Construction

Interlaken - Collage Painting - 2009
Julia Hensley

Being an artist means welcoming destruction. The only way that many artists I know can create freely is to set aside the fear that comes from destroying something precious. It’s a bit ironic that creative magic may only happen after something seemingly special has been laid to waist.

It’s also true that the debris of destruction can create another kind of magic. I’m often left with scraps of paper when I judiciously rip off a section of a painting on paper in order to make a compositional correction. Those reject pieces often find a new life in a collage. While it would be nice to claim this unique process as my very own it’s far from the truth.

The first known collage was created by one of two guys with familiar names, Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso, who started using collage elements when they were putting together the concepts of Cubism. Oddly enough there is still an ongoing debate about which of these guys first glued a piece of material onto a painting or drawing. Since then collage has gone on to be used by everyone from Matisse to Koons, with all matter of materials, sometimes blurring the line between collage and sculpture.

Julia Hensley is a Seattle artist whose collages have always intrigued me for their simple yet complex colors and compositions. When I first met Julia she was creating collages of cityscapes that she then put into oil paint. More recently she has embraced collage whole heartedly. Check out her website for more samples of her work, including a journal post about This Storied Heart, an installation collage that was shown at the Form-Space-Light Gallery in Fremont last summer. The colors and emotion contained in her current series of collages represent a love affair with paper and paint.

In my next post I'll share with you another local artist who works in both paint and collage.

Mary Heilmann

Many artists have influenced me over the years but most recently I’ve been inspired by Mary Heilmann, an artist who was marginalized most of her career but who recently has gained much deserved recognition. That’s not a unique story, of course, but she is a unique talent. She is one of the highlighted artists this week in the second installment of the new season of Art:21. It will air in Western Washington on Channel 9 at 10:00 pm tonight and Wednesday at 4:00 am (this is not a type-0!).

Part of what distinguishes Ms. Heilmann from my list of influences is that she is purely an abstract painter. She began her career making sculptures and then moved on to painting in the 70s when it was largely viewed as an act of defiance because painting was considered on it’s way out . . . again (yawn). Ms. Heilmann’s influences included Modern Art, many genres of music, popular and California beach culture. Her innovative interpretations of these subjects through the use of vibrant color are what particularly inspire me.

One of my favorite Heilmann paintings is called Surfing on Acid. Here’s a link to the Wexner Center for the Art where you can see this and other images of her work. My recent collage series, Little Pieces of Happiness, where done while I was reading To Be Someone, the book put together in conjunction with the Wexler retrospective. You might notice the influence but, as a point of clarification, I was not working from the imagery of waves nor, uh hum, was I on acid. As further disclosure, I have no knowledge of Ms. Heilmann’s state of mind when she was inspired to make this painting. Maybe we’ll find out the real story when we watch Art:21.

Little Pieces of Happiness and Ballard Art Walk

Little Pieces of Happines #1, collage, 5"x7"

This is one of a series of eight collages that I created during my Centrum residency earlier this month. My experience at Centrum, as you might have guessed by the title, was wonderful. I would love to share these pieces with you. Please stop by open studio tonight at Building C Studios in Ballard between 6-8 pm and take a look. You can find me in the Annex down the back stairs.

Vortex

Vortex -12"x12" - acrylic on canvas - 2009
Image by Art & Soul

I just returned from a week long residency at Centrum located at Fort Worden State Park near Port Townsend, Washington. One of my goals during this residency was to get to know a few of my paintings better. Normally when I’ve finished a painting it gets hung on my studio wall for a time, then put into storage or shipped off to an exhibition or to a client. It’s a strange but true fact that at the time I make any given painting or collage, the specific driving motivation is, well, unknown. I've learned not to question this but to just work. Sometimes, like with Vortex, the meaning seems pretty obvious after the fact. It is a painting I did earlier this year after learning that someone I hold very dear to my heart had a recurrence of cancer.

Vortex is about those times in your life when you receive news that sends you into a place both emotionally and physically that you could never have imaged. Vortex is about your house burning down or the foundation of your life being kicked out from under you even though you watched the wrecking ball approach. Vortex is about the white-hot emotion that brings you to your knees. It is about the darkness that envelops you and even though the pain is heartbreaking and seemingly unbearable, it is some how the thing that keeps you alive. Vortex is about all engulfing emotion that sends you tumbling headlong into life.

Vortex was recently accepted in the Art Port Townsend “Expressions Northwest” 11th Annual Juried Exhibition, which runs from Oct 2 to Nov. 1 at the Northwinds Art Center in Port Townsend.

The Hesitant Lemming and A Name

Well, everyone says to do it after all. Blog. Call me the hesitant lemming. Here I go . . . over the cliff.

Hold on! What about the name. Has to be about what I'm painting and thinking about. Those two equal breathing in this body of mine. Art and architecture, artists, painting and paint, places and food, and people, of course, books, music, with random bits of miscellaneous information for fun. And home.

Oh, yeah, the home thing is a personal obsession. Not remodeling. Not buying and selling. Defining space. Defining place. Discovering what it means to myself, but mostly to others. Is is just physical place? Is it pure emotion? Where do the two intersect? How oh how can I get that down on a canvas? That's what it's all about for me these days. Dreaming home.


One, two, three . . . jump!