Upcoming Exhibitions and Anne Percoco

On July 29, I'll be exhibiting my work at Art After Hours, along with several other local artists.  Here's the brochure (click for larger view):

It's at the Campbell County Library in Cold Spring, Kentucky.  If you're in northern Kentucky, please stop by, enjoy the art, drink some wine (proceeds go to the library), have some hors d'oeuvres and fancy desserts, and listen to live music.  It should be a lot of fun!

And now, for something completely different.

This intriguing article and interview about artist Anne Percoco at the Artslant Rackroom caught my attention recently.   Percoco uses a variety of diverse media, from collage to sculpture to installation to public art projects, to call attention to environmental issues.  Her work melds art with social/environmental activism by re-using found or recycled materials, thus forcing the viewer to think about where those objects come from, and where they will ultimately go.

 For instance, her new series of collages, entitled Field Studies, depicts forests composed entirely of images from discarded phonebooks, which were once trees.

 I was fascinated by her series of Shrines dedicated to the drainage system at Rutgers University, which flows into a New Jersey river.  She's now conducting workshops for a similar project involving the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, as part of the Flux Factory's Sea Worthy events: "In this workshop, participants will convert an old boat into a mobile shrine, constructed from primarily scrap material, and will travel along the now EPA Superfund site of the Gowanus Canal."

Here's a very cool Blurb book about her Indra's Cloud project in India:

Indra's Cloud by Anne Percoco by Anne Percoco | Make Your Own Book

And more good news, with absolutely no segue.

 I'm happy to report that one of my monotypes, Prayer, will be included in an exhibition at the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft in Louisville.  Of the approximately 360 members of the Kentucky Guild of Artists and Craftsmen, the work of 52 artists were chosen to represent the guild in an exhibit celebrating the 50th anniversary of the KGAC.  The exhibit is titled Moving Forward/Circling Back: Celebrating 50 Years of the Kentucky Guild of Artists and Craftsmen, and will run from July 30 - October 15, 2011. There will be an opening reception on Thursday, August 11.  I feel very grateful and honored to be a part of it.  If you can come to the reception, I'd love to see you!

p.s. I feel I should apologize for the disjointed and disorganized structure of this post.  I also feel pretty sure you don't want to hear the story of how it turned out this way.  Suffice it to say that Blogger and I are no longer friends.

Altered Book Thingie Part 2

I finished the second part of the collage/assemblage/altered book thingie!  If you didn't see the first part, it's in the previous post.

Ingredients:  vintage book cover, monotype, caran d'ache crayons, watercolor pencils

 Soon I hope to have the middle part done, and then put it all together, so stay tuned...

My New Crazy Book Thingie: Part 1

I have embarked upon a new adventure, sparked by the great fun I had creating this altered book/assemblage/collage.  I'm not really sure what category these belong in, though.  They are altered books, but might they be too altered to be considered altered books?  I mean, I did alter them- if that's what you call ripping them apart, gluing stuff onto them (both 3D and 2D), drawing on them, cutting holes in them, and putting them together completely differently.  I suppose they're not really books any more at this point, so perhaps 'assemblage' would be more accurate.  Maybe I should call them 'deconstructed reconstituted former books.'  Or just 'mixed media' art.  That's pretty vague though...

Well, whatever it is, here it is!

 

Ingredients: vintage book parts, vintage child's writing paper, vintage sewing pattern fragment, image transfers, mica, embroidery floss, drawing pen.

So, what would you call it?  Stay tuned, part 2 coming up soon...

Workshop with Radha Chandrashekaran + The Pulse!

Last Saturday I attended a fun and fascinating workshop given by printmaker and mixed media artist Radha Chandrashekaran.  She taught three separate techniques: acrylic gel image transfers, kalamkari fabric painting, and takuhon stone rubbing.

Kalamkari is the ancient art of decorating cloth using a kalam (pen) to draw patterns; the tradition dates back to at least 3,000 B.C.E.  Above, Radha demonstrates how to make the kalam by winding woolen cloth around a bamboo stick, then wrapping the cloth in yarn or thread.

A piece of kalamkari- decorated cloth from India.

Radha demonstrates drawing with the kalam.  The wool reservoir holds enough ink to make a long line without "re-dipping" the pen.

Participants get to try it out...

and see what happens...

 

Here Radha explains takuhon, a traditional stone rubbing technique invented in China about 1900 years ago.  Rice paper is sprayed with water and placed over the surface to be printed,

then rubbed with a seed-filled cloth dipped in ink.

Workshop participant Kathleen Piercefield working on one of her pieces.


















This was so much fun that I got quite involved, and didn't take too many photos from this point on.  It's not that easy to participate in a workshop and photograph it at the same time!

A couple of the rubbings I did using Radha's laser-cut wood blocks.

This is a piece Radha was using to demonstrate gel medium transfers.  Please visit her website and take a look at her gorgeous work.



BA-BOOM, BA-BOOM...
No, it's not the sound of fireworks (good guess, though).  Nope!  Guess again...

It's the sound of a PULSE!   More precisely, the 5th edition of The Pulse -- The State of the Art -- "a survey in words and pictures of the online artist community [masterminded by Seth Apter of The Altered Page]. The Pulse is a collaborative project that aims to introduce you to new artists, help you get to know familiar faces even more, and allow you access into the creative hearts and minds of a very talented crew of individuals."  What could be cooler than that?  Get on over there and check it out!

Art Comes From the Making

I've been doing some small collages lately, most of which I consider to be primarily "just" practice and experimentation.  It took me a long time to figure it out, but I know this much is true: art comes from the making.  My undergrad drawing instructor used to say this all the time.  At first I thought it made no sense at all.  Of course the art won't be there if someone doesn't make it!  It's like the phrase so many people are saying now, "It is what it is".  I mean, that goes without saying, doesn't it?   Taken for its literal meaning, it actually denotes nothing at all, but the connotation is that you can't change the aforementioned "it" - you just have to accept it and move on; it's a given.  There is an understood meaning associated with those words which amounts to much more than the sum of the words themselves. 

OK, so what my instructor meant by that vague and seemingly meaningless phrase is that the only way to make better art is to keep making art.  If you're uninspired, make something; if you're blocked, make something; if you feel like giving up, make something.  Maybe it won't be great, or even any good, but if you keep going, it may, eventually, lead to something good (or even great).  Eventually.  In the meantime, you are honing your skills, and learning from each mistake, as well as from those things that, surprisingly, work out better than you ever dreamed they would. You'll take risks that you probably wouldn't take if you're thinking of it as a perfectly finished piece of art, and arrive at better ways of doing things.

I may have said all this before, but I think it bears repeating, mainly to remind myself of its fundamental truth.  For most of us, there are no shortcuts; as Einstein said, "Genius is 10 percent inspiration and 90 perspiration."  Don't sit around waiting for something to happen, for a bolt of creative lightning from the sky to enlighten you with some amazing idea.  It takes profound perseverance, hard work, and practice to achieve success.  So that's my little motivational speech to myself, and to any of you out there that may need one as well.   Or, if you're tired of hearing it, you can just refer it to the Department of Redundancy Department.


OK, I feel much better now.  So, here's my latest collage:

Wheels of Dharma

 ingredients: vintage book pages, map, watercolor pencils, image transfers, inkjet print

With that in mind, just for the heck of it, I decided to have another go at this one: 

 Impermanence

ingredients: vintage map, vintage book pages, magazine cutouts, watercolor pencils, image transfer

OK, now go make something!

I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it.  -Pablo Picasso

Moss, Hemlock, and Magnolia

We continue to experience soggier than usual weather here.  It's probably not a great summer for those who like to spend their time at the pool, but there is an up side to all this extra moisture- the plants of Shabo Mekaw are lovin' it.  For those who aren't familiar, Shabo Mekaw is our beautiful 60 acre paradise out in Lewis County, at the edge of the Appalachian plateau of Kentucky.  It is normally a more humid place than here, but I could tell that the droughts and hotter temperatures of the last few summers were taking their toll on the sensitive inhabitants of that delicate ecosystem.  Frankly, I was particularly worried about the health of the hemlocks, the big leaf magnolias, and the mosses, which seemed to be struggling.  But this year, they're beginning to come back.

 

I don't know the names of all the mosses that grow here,

 but I think this kind is called shining club moss.

 

The plant with tiny white branches is a mystery- strange, but beautiful...

I call this pillow moss, for obvious reasons. 

 

Close up, it looks like feathers, and does feel soft enough to lay your head on...

To walk through a hemlock glade is to feel peace...

...to see the world through a curtain of green lace,

...to be sheltered by an umbrella of giant magnolia leaves
(often longer than my forearm),

this is peace...

                     The Presence of Trees

                     by Michael S. Glaser

I have always felt the living presence
of trees
the forest that calls to me as deeply
as I breathe,
as though the woods were marrow of my bone
as though
I myself were tree, a breathing, reaching
arc of the larger canopy
beside a brook bubbling to foam
like the one
deep in these woods,
that calls
that whispers home

What is Art, Really?

Recently I saw a piece on a television news magazine which fascinated me, and has also brought up some interesting questions. It was about a four year-old artistic genius, whose paintings are selling for as much as $28,000.00. There are, and have been, many others. I'm not talking about older children whose work is obviously done with forethought and intention; it's the little ones who are touted as "abstract impressionist geniuses" that have me puzzled. Here is a short video about the aforementioned Aelita Andre, who began painting at the age of 11 months.



She's undoubtedly adorable, but is she really an artist? Wouldn't any toddler, presented the opportunity and access to materials, pour and splatter paint onto a canvas? It's hard to say, as most people don't allow their children to do this, and probably couldn't afford it even if they wanted to. I personally can't afford to buy that much paint for myself, and canvases cost a small fortune. Perhaps she is a genius, if only because her art has the sense of freedom and exuberance that most adults have lost.

A similar story from 2005 was that of 4 year-old prodigy Marla Olmstead, who may have been, it turned out, getting a bit too much "help" from her dad. 60 minutes investigated, and allegations flew:
"Her coach is her father, Mark, who is often present when Marla paints. He can be heard on the tape, directing her, sometimes sternly: "Pssst …. Paint the red. Paint the red. You're driving me crazy. Paint the red." "If you paint, honey, like you were … This is not the way it should be." You can read the entire story here.



There was even a movie about it, which I haven't seen, but I have put it on my Netflix queue.

These are examples of a phenomenon that has occurred many times, for who knows how long, but child prodigies aren't really my focus here. It's the nature of what we call 'ART' that interests me. Can a toddler create art? Is intentionality a prerequisite, or can monkey do it? What about an elephant?


I used to feel bad when I first heard about paintings by the elephants at our zoo, primarily because they sold their work for more than what mine sold for. But the ones in Thailand are a completely different story, and I don't feel I'm qualified to comment on whether or not the elephants are mistreated. The question is, are they making art?

Of course, there's no definitive answer, since the subject itself is rather- er- subjective. But here are a few definitions to consider.

Art is form and content. To quote Shelley Esaak of About.com Art History, whose explanation is about as straightforward and succinct as any I've seen:
"Art is form and content" means: All art consists of these two things.
Form means:

• The elements of art,
• the principles of design and
• the actual, physical materials that the artist has used.
  
• 
  
• Content, now, gets a little more tricky. Content is idea-based and means:

• What the artist meant to portray,
• what the artist actually did portray and
• how we react, as individuals, to both the intended and actual messages.

Additionally, content includes ways in which a work was influenced--by religion, or politics, or society in general, or even the artist's use of hallucinogenic substances--at the time it was created. All of these factors, together, make up the content side of art."

Kevin Cornell, of the very cool Bareskinrug blog, has come to believe that "art is not created; rather something created becomes Art. Something becomes Art when it is cherished; when we become attached to something for its uniqueness, for its faults and for its successes. An old fire hydrant, where the paint has cracked in a way you've never seen, where you stood and waited for the bus every day for 14 years, as familiar as family, can be as beautiful and unique and personal as a Monet. Those of us who are commonly termed Artists, are merely craftsmen, like a carpenter, or a plumber, or a journalist... if we're lucky, once in a while we do our job in such a way that it becomes unique, and it becomes loved for its uniqueness. Art is as often a product of accident as intent, and on the whole is mostly serendipitous." (italics mine)

Hmmmmmmmmm...


And then, there's the film "Exit Through the Gift Shop". If you aren't familiar, it's a documentary about a guy who accidentally becomes a famous artist mainly due to the fact that he likes to film- well- everything.



If you haven't seen this film, you really should. It will make you think, it will crack you up, and probably piss you off. It will definitely make you wonder, "What is art?"

What do you think?