More Letters From Paris

Terribly disappointed not to be able to accompany my childhood buddy Deborah to Paris in March. I had thought I could go but it turns out the week she is planning to go is the week I will be  hanging a show I am curating. Big bummer. Given my pretty flexible schedule it is frustrating that this overlap happened but I must be here to hang the show. So instead I just continue to dream about going to Paris.
Here are more Letters From Paris

 as yet untitled, but I'm working on that. This lat one is "What For"

Letters from Paris

A series of small collages I have been working on using old letters I got in Paris, bits of maps and charts and other scraps.I am calling the series "Letters from Paris" as I think about the terror attacks and my heart goes out to Paris and all of France, with whom I have a history. Each 4 1/2 in by 4 1/2 inch collage is mounted on a 8 inch by 8 inch birch panel and is sealed but not framed, to keep cost down. I am asking $200 each and will give what I would normally give to a gallery for the commission (40%) to the Syrian refugee cause, somehow. I wish I could host a Syrian family somehow. Does anyone know if this is possible?

 Letters from Paris: Est l'un de nous en securite

 Letters from Paris: Je vais retourner

Letters from Paris:  La France, je t'aime toujours

 Letters from Paris: Mon coeur va a vous

 Letters from Paris: Nous sommes solidaire

Letters from Paris:

Votre Devoue

Back To Work!

Finally have had more hours in the studio. Before my Open Studio on October 10 I started a series called "Places To Sail Away To" and I'm posting some of those here. I have also been working on small (very small, 4 1/2" by 4 1/2") pieces surrounded by maps mounted on 8' X 8" birch panels. This is to eliminate the framing costs, which have reached astronomical amounts after all the collages this year and last. Then there are others that are the same size collage mounted on 6" X 6" panels, with the wood as background/border. Then others where I have covered the 6" X 6" panel with collage, so no border.I seal the collages with medium for protection and I tried was on some of these but I don't like the results so I am discontinuing that approach.

 Places To Sail Away To: Baha

 

 

Places To Sail Away To: France

 

 Places To Sail Away To: The Arctic

 

Places To Sail Away To: Turkey

Interruptions shape our hours

In graduate school I made a piece which I called "Interruptions Shape Our Hours." Making art in grad school was a choppy experience, but no worse than every day life these days.

Car accident, recovering from broken sternum and badly bruised knee, then a week's vacation, when I got back two days hanging the show in Bangor, then four days up at Haystack on Deer Isle, all this meant no studio time for a month. A month! Today I had to take my father to a dentist appointment, and yesterday was consumed by some essential studio clean up and painting. Tomorrow I have a volunteer meeting all afternoon. A few hours here and a few hours there this week. Maybe next week I will be able to devote the better part of every day to my art. I have a small commission, which helps. And the weather is cooling off, which also helps. Cold weather helps to get me out of the garden and into the studio every day, so bring it on. Above, the morning walk into the nearby blueberry barren. Soon all the blueberry bushes will be turning their glorious diverse shades of red.

Wow, what a month

Since August 20 I have been recovering from a car accident which totaled my car but fortunately didn't total me. A guy ran a stop sign and I collided with his vehicle, the air bag went off and broke my sternum. Still uncomfortable to cough but I can laugh again! This second accident has me having some deep existential moments, never mind driving anxiety, though I know it is just bad luck. So much for the good luck I felt surviving the plan crash four years ago. I watch the other drivers intensely now. So many people on their stupid phones not paying attention!! It pisses me off.

And here is a shot of the completed installation in Bangor, at the Sohns Gallery, 20 feet of it. The show includes a few mixed media constructions and collages. I will be giving a talk on October 2 at 7 (the reception start at 6:30) for the Bangor Artober art walk for about a half hour or so, public invited. The show remains up until November 1. I will be taking it down again on November 2--too soon!!

The other thing I had wanted to write about took place on August 13 when the Smith family, the U.S. Ambassador's family, from Qatar, paid me a studio visit. It was so generous of them to spend a part of their precious time in Maine coming to Appleton to see where "Library" was created, and to visit with me. What a great family! I so appreciated that. And Dana came the next night to the opening of a show I had in Damariscotta, at River Arts.

blessed

I've been blessed with some significant recognition for my work recently (the PMA Biennial, The Art In Embassies Program) and it's with just as much appreciation on my part that I announce here an Honorable Mention award I got for two collages I submitted recently to a juried show in Belfast. My collages tend to be abstract studies of the push and pull of verticals and horizontals in a small field of quiet color. The jurors for the show are four Belfast artists whose work I admire so I am pleased to have had the work recognized in this way. I am hoping one or both of the collages sell as the show is a fundraising event for Hospice of Waldo County and there is no group more generous than hospice volunteers.

Goldfinches

There are lots of goldfinches in the garden these days but sadly no sign of even one monarch. Last year I think I saw three. We have a large patch of milkweed in our fields and I have been hopeful about having monarchs, the way we suddenly spotted bobolinks this spring when we thought there were none. While the milkweed has pods I saw no caterpillars. Speaking of caterpillars, I should be watching for signs of the awful tomato hornworm. It's about that time of the season...

Post Memorial Day

Already over a month since my last posting....I have been working on a number of projects, none of which relate to my studio work...my family is trying to get my father's house cleaned out and repainted for tenants who arrive next week for a year. The house is looking great and it's good but rather sad to get this done. Meanwhile, another show I'm in (Jonathan Frost Gallery in Rockland) is about to come to a close (June 2). A really nice group show, "Season Opener" at the Betts Gallery in Belfast opened last Friday night. I have four collages and two altered books in that show, which will remain on view until June 22.

 The Texture of Time, 2015

The Spirit of Forms, 2015

An Evolutionary Trait, 2015

And there are more...

Where to see my work this summer

I will have work in a number of shows this year, between now and December. And there is the ongoing show in Qatar (!), if you can get there(!), and manage to get invited to the ambassador's residence...

• April-May: "Epilogues," two person show with Jessica Straus, perimeter gallery at Chase's Daily restaurant, 96 Main Street, Belfast, Maine (see previous blog entry)
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• May: "Conversations in Collage," two person show with Ieva Tatarsky, Jonathan Frost Gallery, Park Street, Rockland, Maine
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• May-June: opening show at Betts Gallery, Main Street, The Belfast Framer, Belfast, Maine
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• August: Stable Show, Maine Farmland Trust Gallery, Main Street, Belfast, Maine
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• August-September: "Aarhusians Reunited," Betts Gallery, The Belfast Framer, Main Street, Belfast, Maine
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• September-November, "Library: The Stories We Are," Sohns Gallery, The Rock and Art Shop, Central Street, Bangor, Maine

And another opening next week!

Next Friday, May 1, is the first Friday art walk of the season in Rockland. I am glad Belfast changed theirs to the last Friday so there isn't the conflict anymore. I will be showing collages at the Jonathan Frost Gallery on Park Street along with Ieva Tatarsky. The opening is from 5:30 until 8, I think. Come to Rockland and see the art! Hopefully it will be a nice spring evening...

 This one is by Ieva Tatarsky. I took the photo and it is uncropped. Sorry, Ieva!

 I'll be showing a suite of collages that I am calling Blue series, #1-#19. I don't know how many will fit on the wall, maybe half. The rest I will leave with Jonathan in case something sells. He can then just replace it with another as they are all the same exact size, 14" X 11", framed.

I'll also be showing some other recent collages.

Opening at perimeter gallery this week

Rhubarb brain. Spring is here, early spring anyway. Early narcissus in bloom. Grass greening up. Hooray.
Thursday this week, April 23, is our opening at perimeter gallery in Belfast, 6-8 p.m. Come see the show and meet Jessica Straus, who will be here from Boston.

perimeter gallery show in Belfast

I am posting some pictures of "Epilogues," a two person show at perimeter gallery which is at Chase's Daily restaurant in Belfast, Maine. It is a great open space with soaring ceilings and a long wall which accommodates large work very nicely. My work is paired with the intimate, hand carved pieces by Jessica Straus, an artist from Boston, who is a longtime friend. I love the way they hung the show, alternating the large with the small. Yes, that sculpture in the foreground is an obelisk. All my pieces are constructed with strips of book covers which have been stitched back together with linen thread to create solid forms or quilt like pieces. Jessica's pieces combine parts of old Yellow Pages books with hand carved wood forms. Note the nice shadows cast by Jessica's pieces.

Lots of robins, still lots of snow

It was 19 degrees this morning when I left the house for my morning walk. ARRGGHH! While there are lots of robins hop hop hopping about, there is also still a whole lot of snow piled, piled, piled about, keeping everything colder than it should be. Yes, the sun is higher and much warmer, when it is out, but there is snow and rain predicted for this week. I've had enough!

On another note, I just confirmed a show in May at the Jonathan Frost Gallery in Rockland. He is giving me and my buddy Ieva Tatarsky a few walls to show our recent collages. The opening will be the first Friday in May, which I think is the 1st. So, below, you see Ieva's piece, "Kitchen Sink" (uncropped, I took the picture) and one of the collages from my blue winter series (as yet untitled).

Though "Blue Winter Series" works for me.

Ahhhh, Spring

Flew south over the weekend to find Spring. Found it on Folly beach in South Carolina and in Charleston. Cherry trees, as well as azaleas, magnolias, redbuds and pear in bloom. It will be two months before we see that happening here. To add insult, it is snowing now...

Studio Tour by Erin Little

Erin Little, a professional photographer based in Portland, came to my studio recently and shot up a storm of images. She put the studio tour on her blog, which can be found at www.erinlittleportfolio.com. If you are a facebook friend of either mine or Erin's you can also get to it that way. I'll try to post some of the images she took here. In the meantime, here are four collages from a series (numbering around 15 at this point) that I have been working on. They are small, 6 inches by 4 1/4 inches.

Big snow and more snow

 Looking back toward the front door, after Bart succeeded in liberating the tractor from the garage where he had wisely stored it overnight so the block heater could be plugged first thing in the morning.

 So much for using the truck for the rest of the winter....

You can see why it took Bart two and a half hours of plowing to get the snow out of the way before the next storm--taking place as I write this morning--filled it back in. Maybe he'll get up the driveway but I doubt it.

So, I'm not sure why it has taken me so long to get back to my blog. Lots of distractions but maybe it's simply that I had nothing to report. But I do! I have been invited back to Doha, with more of Library, to have an exhibition and present more workshops. I'm delighted, but I could not meet the deadline of mid February as I had to make new panels to fit exactly into the remaining spaces on the existing wall where the rest of the piece is installed. I am maybe 90 percent of the way there now, though, and will hopefully have a chance to post a picture of those separate panels a little later today. First I must study the exiting piece, in place in the ambassador's residence to make sure the two "wings" will look good with what is already there. I don't expect that to present much of an issue, but I want to be sure.