art: drawings for october exhibit

As promised, here below are some of the pieces that will be a part of the October 2009 exhibit. So far I have resolved that, with some rare exceptions, all pieces will be under 4x6 inches and all will all be pencil drawings. There will be over a hundred of these babies; enjoy a sampling of the first batch.

inspiration: arts project australia

Just today one of our new floor staff at the Canvas, Sarah (up from Australia), introduced me to a website for a similar organization near her hometown she just found out about: Arts Project Australia. http://www.artsproject.org.au/

art, travels and inspiration

I wanted this blog posting to feature some of the new art that I have been working on for the upcoming October exhibit (which will feature Rick’s writing and my drawings), but I have misplaced my camera, so I will need to scan in the art later this week and post it all sometime during the weekend. Though I have not posted a blog entry in some time, I have been busy creating and also out adventuring on vacation. I had a marvelous, inspiring holiday down south visiting family and friends, playing in the outdoors, sunning myself, working on art, and visiting new art galleries and museums.

Artistically speaking, the highlight of my trip south on holiday was my visit to the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria, BC. I saw my first Picasso and Matisse art pieces up close and in person (among many other famous artists and ancient relics), a myriad of exquisite native masks, and even a re-created late 19th century town. When I arrived back in Bellingham WA, I found out I had about 50 lbs. of plaster cast I had ordered eons ago ready for me to take back to Juneau, so I mailed it up to myself and have intentions of working on some sculpture projects after the October exhibit is hung.

But perhaps before the plaster projects, I ought to give some thought to the Juneau Public Market at Centennial Hall! Olga, Josh, Rick and I are applying for a booth in November to sell our creative goods (books, soaps, cards, knitted things, etc etc). Rick and I will be creating books from the art and writings generated for the October exhibit, which I know will launch me into a book making frenzy around the end of September. v. exciting. More to come soon!

art: photo collage

Even better than the Silverbow, Rick and I have secured the Canvas for exhibition in October of this year! Very exciting! Already I have several sketches of scenes for our around the clock comic adventure and Rick has already started writing. I am thinking that a fun way to unite the disparate sections of the gallery space would be to use red tape from floor to ceiling that divides the space into 24 hour segments. This would also help move the viewer around the room with less confusion. I also envision the comic “strip” segments as individually and uniquely framed and maybe 4 or 5 of them to go with each hour-segment. This would leave a lot of white wall space above and below the pictures... maybe the words to the comic could be giant-lettered and take up several feet of wall space, as seen in large exhibits (ex. the bodies). Any thoughts?

In other news, and as briefly mentioned in my previous post, I have been working on more art photo album pages as a way to reduce the copious piles of photographs, personal mementos, and magazine clippings that I can’t bring myself to throw away. As might be expected, the theme has revolved around Danel and the annihilation of our life together. I like to think the process is therapeutic (but I can also recognize that sometimes its hard to see the full picture when your so close up to and in the middle of things). The pictures in this post are just a sampling; I realize some are largely egocentric and perhaps angry also, but I hope you can enjoy nonetheless.

process: theme

Rick and I have been plotting madly at a prospective art/writing exhibit at the Silverbow (or elsewhere) for this fall. We are thinking comic strips (that could also stand alone as art segments) about a person (or a couple) going about their daily (maybe yearly) business in Juneau Alaska. And we would like to turn it into a small book also. Maybe the best could be made into playing cards?

I have been fascinated lately with miniature frames (probably due to the fact that I have been trying to fit my most precious belongings into the small space of 6 flat rate boxes), and I love the idea of fitting the comic art sections into eclectic frames I find around town. Now I have a great excuse to find and buy more! As many already know, my work tends to be small anyway, and I have been more interested in drawing than painting recently. I have even been thinking about doing a comic series for the day habilitation art class I teach and Rick has been thinking about creating a web comic for a long time now. The ideas are all fitting nicely, if a bit scattered at times!

Making the theme something that applies to Juneau life and something a little less emotional than my October “Evensong” exhibit will likely appeal to a larger audience and will be a relieving break for me. As I will likely post later this weekend, most of my artistic endeavors of late have been creating collages involving more personal photographs (the last 2 years or so), an emotional process for me to be sure.

Stay tuned as the evolution of the exhibit progresses. More thoughts and details soon to come.

sketch: sermon notes

inspiration: constance b. hartle

Constance's work (alongside Barbara Craver) is currently exhibiting at the Canvas for the month of April. I had great admiration for her exhibit of landscapes in Nov. 2007 (also at the Canvas), but this time around she is exhibiting more portraiture, which I find infinitely more captivating. Part of what I love so much about Constance's work are the red undertones that she often lets appear through her layers, particularly as a lining between objects in her paintings. In this exhibit, she primarily paints with acrylics, which can be very hard to do when blending layers and she does it masterfully. In her Nov. 2007 exhibit it was almost impossible to tell the oil paintings from the acrylic paintings. http://www.constancebhartle.typepad.com/